Helena Hunting: Cracks in the Armor

If I was honest—which I wouldn’t be with him—it was hard not to be jealous. I hadn’t dealt with any of the extremes he had; not the severe losses or the huge gains—like finding Tee had been for him. I just had a steady supply of crappy, followed by periods of mediocrity. Sarah was the best thing that had come my way in years, but she worked so much I didn’t see her often. Being alone was worse, though. Especially now that Hayden couldn’t be my wingman anymore.

“You want the full tour?” Hayden asked once he’d shown us all the cool stuff in his kitchen.

“Sure thing,” Jamie said, and I nodded, going along for the ride.

The main floor was open concept. The dining room was to the left of the kitchen, the living room straight ahead. Hayden’s massive flat-screen hung on one wall.

“I’ll need you to take a look at that later.” Hayden gestured to the entertainment system below it.

I paused as we passed, checking out the pile of cords shoved between the unit and the wall. “What’s going on there?”

Hayden didn’t so much as glance in the direction of the TV, but I could see that jaw working again. “Tenley was trying to be helpful. Come on.”

Jamie and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us said a word. It must have been driving Hayden mental. That he’d waited this long before he asked me to fix it showed exactly how important Tenley was.

We followed him upstairs. There were two spare bedrooms, fully outfitted with queen-sized beds. Some of the decorative elements were clearly a product of Tee’s involvement. Aside from some gradient of black to white, the only colors I’d ever seen in Hayden’s condo were dark blue and red. Any deviation from them had to be Tee’s picks.

Hayden’s master bedroom was so big that it dwarfed the massive, solid wood king-sized bed frame. TK, their little orange furball, was curled up in the middle of the pillows. She lifted her head at the disturbance, mewed, and then tucked her face under a paw.

The windows on the far side of the room were huge, spanning from floor to ceiling. Lights were on outside, so I could see the backyard landscaping from where I stood, just inside the door. It would be awesome in the summer. I glanced around the spacious room. Beyond the view, the mammoth bed, and the sparkly chandelier hanging above, were a set of life-sized photographs in black and white.

The subject looked familiar. “Is that Tee?”

Hayden put his hand up in front of my face. “Don’t look at those!”

“Kinda hard not to when you hang them on your bedroom wall,” I said, but kept my eyes on the floor.

I remembered when I’d seen one of the photographs before. Tee had given it to him for Christmas. He’d opened it, his jaw had hit the floor, and he’d rushed to cover it up, but not before we all got a good look. That one was tame in comparison to the others. While I couldn’t see anything important, there was a load of bare skin.

“Lisa’s been taking photography classes. I think she did a great job,” Jamie said.

Like it was no big deal there were huge pics of half-naked Tee on the wall.

“Uh huh,” Hayden said and hit the lights, submerging the room in darkness. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

On our way to the landing we bypassed a closed door. “What’s in there?” I asked.

“That’s Tenley’s office,” Hayden muttered.

“I thought we were getting the full tour.”

He shrugged, acting nonchalant, but his posture told me otherwise. “It’s nothing special. Just a desk and some bookshelves.”

“So it’s cool if we see it, then?” I prompted.

Hayden sighed and turned the knob, pushing the door open. It was dark, but there was this strange pink glow inside, allowing me to make out the shapes of furniture. Hayden reached inside and flicked on the switch.

“Whoa.” Jamie cringed. “That’s, uh . . .”

“Yeah.” Hayden shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Did you let a unicorn with the stomach flu loose in here?” I asked. I was only sort of kidding.

“It was perfectly fine when we moved in, nice and neutral, but then Lisa offered to help Tenley paint it last week.” Hayden directed a glare at Jamie.

“Why are you looking at me like it’s my fault?” Jamie asked.

“Tenley might have picked a different color if Lisa had bothered to argue against this.” He gestured to the walls.

Jamie snorted. “Not likely.”

“Lisa could have at least tried. She’s supposed to be my fucking friend.”

I gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Sorry, H, it looks like it’s chicks before dicks on this one.”

One wall was painted black. The other three were a shocking electric pink. The room was difficult to look at, it was so bright. On the hardwood floor was a zebra print throw rug. The white stripes appeared deceptively pink, due to the way the walls tinged everything. Two of the pink walls were lined with bookshelves. It helped break up the color. Not really.

Tee must have picked the color purposely to rile Hayden up; the rest of the house was painted in the same neutral tones he always went with. It was kind of ironic, considering the sleeve on his right arm was so vibrant and eye-catching.

I looked around the room and noticed a cardboard box on the floor beside Tee’s desk. “Xbox and games” was written across the side. “Tee’s into video games?”

“Huh?”

I crossed over and knelt down beside the box. The tape had been removed, so I opened the flap. Carefully packed inside was an Xbox 360. It was a couple of years old, but it came loaded with games.

“Score, brother!” I rifled through the contents. “Are you telling me you didn’t know Tee had this?”

“Tenley and I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the TV.”

I had a million comebacks, all of which would probably set him off. I kept them to myself. “I’m hooking this up and we’re playing tonight.”

“I don’t know. This is Tenley’s stuff . . .”

“Why would it matter if I set it up for her? Besides, wouldn’t you rather I do it now, than have her take care of it later?”

He mulled it over before he finally relented. “Fine. Whatever. Hook it up if you want. Just let me shut the door. This room gives me the spins.”

I tucked the box under my arm and followed Hayden into the hall.

Five minutes later, I had a fresh beer in my hand and I was staring at the mess of cords behind the entertainment system again. “You said Tee was being helpful?”

Hayden shifted uncomfortably on the black leather couch. It was the same one from his condo, except now it was accessorized. I had no idea what the deal was with all the frilly pillow shit, but girls seemed to like them a lot.

“No. I said she was trying to be helpful.”

Hayden yanked a throw pillow out from behind his back and tossed it to the other end. Then he glared at it for a couple seconds, leaned across, and rearranged it so it wasn’t cockeyed. He repositioned it three times, muttering about the “fucking pillows.”

Meanwhile, TK, who had followed us downstairs, jumped gracefully onto the arm of the couch and trotted across the back. She rubbed herself against Jamie and continued to Hayden. When he didn’t pay her immediate attention, she head-butted the side of his face and climbed down his chest, curling into his lap. He cooed at her and scratched under her chin. He’d turned into such a sap. It was good to see.

I held up the nest of tangled cords. “Everything you own is wireless. Why are there so many damn wires?” I’d already done this for him once before, when he bought the condo. Things had been set up perfectly. All he had to do was move it and hook into the new system.

Hayden didn’t bother to answer. Honestly, what could he say that would make any sense? Instead, he drained his beer, picked up TK, and draped her around his shoulders like she was a scarf. Then he pushed up off the couch and headed for the kitchen.