Two

The man next door was dangerous. And she would have to do everything, short of moving, to keep away from him.

He was wounded, and a tortured man was Haley's weakness. Not that she dated very many. Haley barely dated at all, but she was always, without fail, attracted to good looking men, who had been hurt before, and only needed the love of a good woman to save them...before they moved on to someone else. Or, worse yet, went back to the women who hurt them in the first place.

It was a sad fact true, but Haley James was the rebound chick. She had a keen sense for a wounded man almost as good as the acute sense she had when it came to rule breaking, own law making, bad boys. If her neighbor was sending off vibes than the man had most definitely been hurt by a woman.

She was tired of being the "recovery chick." For once, Haley wanted for a man to have to be recovered because of her.

"Like that's ever going to happen." She muttered to her reflection.

And why not? Haley wanted to know. She was an alright looking woman. Better than alright when she went all out and did herself up. Many of recovered men had complemented her on her eyes. Saying how they were the color of melted chocolate. Or her hair that had natural red highlights when the sun it her curly strands, thank you very much. And she couldn't count the many times she had been compliment on her 'barely tanned skin'. She didn't know where the "barely tanned" came from. Personally, Haley thought that she was as pale a white bed sheet. It wasn't like she could get any sun when she was working damn near every time she turned around.

She couldn't complain. Haley loved her job. Today was her day off, if you could believe it. Haley was a teacher/tutor on Saturdays down at the rec center a few times a month. In addition to her profession it was as close as she could get to having kids without actually having any over her own.

And sure; she wanted babies...someday. But she had to have a husband to have children, and the men that came her way obviously didn't see Haley as wife and mother material. She sighed as she stepped out on her porch. She was resigned to the fact that she would forever and always be the ultimate aunt. At least until a miracle happened to make it otherwise.

Pulling her hair up high on her head with a rubber-band, Haley stepped from the porch into the late morning/early afternoon heat. Walking to the side of her house, she turned on her water hose, then, with heavy, green, snake-like material in hand, she moved toward her drive way.

Her truck was pure indulgence. A cherry red, Dodge Ram Quad Cab. It looked like something a guy would drive. Way too big for her, but it was Haley's paid in full. What could she say? She was a short woman who liked riding up high.

Like the day before, this day was going to be a real hot one. Getting her car washed before noon was priority. She smiled. Not like washing her car was a chore. It wasn't. For Haley, it was a bonafide release. Her brothers, who all of which dreaded the job, thought that she was nuts for liking it so much. Her sisters, whom all could be classified under the word priss, Taylor included, but only marginally, thought that Haley was out of her mind for having a car that swallowed her whole. They didn't know how she managed her "monster truck."

She was halfway through toweling off her wheels when she heard the sound of a door opening. Looking over her shoulder, Haley watched as her next door neighbor stepped out on his porch. All six feet plus inches of him.

Her mouth when dry and her palms started to sweat under the heavy cotton of the towel she held in her hand. And it wasn't like the guy was naked or anything. He wasn't even shirtless...

But damn...

The T-shirt was damn near molded to his body like a second skin. The man was hardly body builder material, but anyone with eyes could see that the guy took care of himself. Not a gym rat per se, but Haley would put money on the fact that her neighbor had a set of weights in his place.

A quick glance at the man's face had Haley fighting a blush. He was looking at her, too. His eyes were an eerie shade of gray and blue. How she could tell from where she was, not even Haley knew. Those eyes weren't quite blue. But they weren't all the way gray either if the way the sun played off them was any indication.

Cal Ripken Jr. Haley mentally snapped her fingers. That's who neighbor guy's eyes reminded her of.

At the moment, though, it wasn't the man's eyes, but the quirk to his lips, the crooked little half smile that had Haley battling embarrassment. He was watching her watch him. And oh, oh he was wounded one. That little smile didn't come close to his eyes.

Damn. It wasn't every day that Haley ran into a man who fell into two of her magnet categories. What was it about men who made their own rules while coming off being hurt at the same time?

She was seriously twisted. That was the only explanation for it.

Haley mentally shook her head, giving the man a small smile of her own, she turned back to her car.

Damn! She'd looked too long and the water had spotted on her car. She'd have to start again. But that was okay, because maybe, just maybe, the repeat would go toward pushing those intriguing eyes from her mind.

Haley cast another glance over her shoulder. He was still there. Still watching her.

She sighed.

"Or not."

His feet pounded against the hot pavement, and the sun was still in his eyes, even though his shades. Nathan used to run nearly every day before his surgery. For some reason it was like everything came back to that.

It was a part of him, sure. And like most parts of him lately, Nathan wanted nothing to do with it.

His mother had called again this morning. Hence why he was running for the first time since setting foot out of the hospital almost eleven months back.

Running for the first time physically.

He didn't live in denial. Nathan knew what he was doing in regard to his family. It wasn't his father that Nathan was running away from. He beat the man. There was nothing that Dan could do that would push Nathan over the edge anymore. It was his mother that he never understood.

She had all the power in the world to hurt him. Nathan didn't hate her the way that he hated Dan. But that didn't mean that Nathan forgave her. She was in the house with them. Why didn't she leave? Nathan would have gone with her. In a heartbeat. His mother wouldn't have had to ask him twice.

The reason she stayed had the bitterness churning inside him again. He knew why his mother stayed. She stayed so that she could be near him. The other man. Her lover. She was the one with the money. His mother could have walked away.

She didn't stay in the marriage for him, Nathan knew. And Dan couldn't have used her affair against her to sue for custody. Nathan had been old enough then to choose where he wanted to be. Whose home he wanted to live in. It damn sure wasn't his father's. And, looking back on it, it wasn't his mother's either.

It didn't really matter, because in the end, his mother chose to stay, and Nathan chose to go. He moved out and into his own place. It was no bigger than a shoe box, but it was his for the rent he paid every month. It was away from his parents and all that used to be his life. His father's competitiveness, his mother's affair. None of it had exist in Nathan's walls. He hadn't let it. But as soon as he stepped outside those walls, closing the door behind him, he was back in it again.

Being emancipated was the best thing that he could have ever done for himself. Living in that house with his parents had already made him an adult before his time. Nathan had taken it one step further and made it official.

When he had finished running, finding himself in front of his house again. He had run in a complete circle. A glance to the right told him that his neighbor wasn't home. Her truck wasn't in the drive, and she wasn't doing yoga in front of an open window.

Nathan felt a smile pulling at his lips when he thought about how he'd caught his neighbor looking at him earlier. And he was seriously thinking about asking her out, now that he knew that she was interested.

His phone rang just before Nathan could put the key in the lock, but he wasn't in a hurry. That's what answering machines were for. And he didn't want to risk picking up the phone only to have his mother on the other line.

This was one instance where he would own up to being a coward.

Tossing his keys to the top of the entertainment center, Nathan pulled his shirt over his head as he closed the door behind him. Wiping his face, neck and chest with the damp cotton as the answering machine picked up.

"This is Nate. I'm not here. Get to it..."

"Mr. Scott?Nathan." The voice corrected. Nathan frowned at the both the unfamiliar woman's voice and nervous laugh that followed. "Rach said that you hated that name.Not...not Nathan," there was that nervous laugh again. "But Mr. Scott.Listen, if you could call me at this number, 555-..." Nathan knew the number. It belonged to the hotel. Jake stayed there.

"I would very much appreciate it." The voice continued. "It's very important that you get back to me as soon as possible on this-"

The woman hadn't left her name, he thought as he listened to the message over again. But she had mentioned a woman named 'Rach'. Nathan knew someone who went by that name. She was the relationship. The woman who had walked out on him after he had his accident.

Why was she trying to get in contact with him now? And why was she going through someone else to do it?

Without thinking, Nathan picked up the phone and dialed the number. The phone rang six times before it was picked up, then the line rang three more times after it was transferred to the room the woman said that she would be staying in.

"Yes?" The new, now familiar voice asked.

"Uh...yeah. This...this is Nathan, Nathan Scott. You left me a message?"

"Yes." The woman replied. "Yes I did."

"How do you know Rachel?" Nathan wanted to know.

"Rachel Gattina was my best friend." The woman replied.

Was?

"Mr. Scott, Nathan," she corrected herself again. "I called because there is something that you need to know."

Nathan felt his whole body grow cold. "About Rachel?"

"Among other things."

"Okay." He cleared his throat. "Okay." He said again. "Tell me."

"This isn't the kind of thing you tell someone over the phone."

"So you want to meet?"

"At the hotel as soon as possible."

As soon as possible was that night. Whatever it was, Nathan couldn't until the next morning as this woman had suggested.

"We should do this in the morning.It would be better."

"For who?"Nathan asked her. "I won't be able to sleep.I'm coming to you, right now.Do you have a name?"

"Anna."The woman replied. "Anna Delgado."

And as he sat out in the parking lot of Tree Hill's only hotel, Nathan was rethinking the whole waiting until the morning thing. Whatever this it was that this woman had to tell him, it had him scared. Scared enough to admit that fear to himself. Scared enough to make him want to turn his car around and go the hell home. To deal with this when the sun came up.

But he couldn't do that. He wasn't lying about not being able to sleep if he didn't get this over with right now.

Just open the door and get out of the car and get this over with, he berated himself. Do it now!

What if she had been sick and didn't tell him? Nathan knew that he was okay; he got checked every six months. But what if it wasn't anything like that? What if Rachel had been sick and that was the reason that she walked. He didn't know why, but it hurt. It hurt to think that she didn't trust him enough to let him be there for her if she was hurting. He didn't do a lot of things right by her, and she by him, but Nathan liked to think that he would have been there for Rachel, even if she hadn't been there for him.

Unable to sit in his car any longer, he got out, closing the door smartly behind him. For what seemed like hours, Nathan just stood there. He couldn't make himself walk those few steps to the room the woman was staying in.

To the room where a secret lied.

More than once, he made the trek, twice, raising his hand to knock, and twice chickening out. He got in his car ready to drive away, and then he saw the woman standing in the window. Was she looking out for him? Nathan didn't know. He couldn't see a whole lot of her, but he could see that she had long hair. Dark hair that was braided into a long rope at the back of her head. When their gazes caught, Nathan knew that the she knew that he wasn't just some guy sitting in his car. He couldn't leave now, so once again, Nathan left his car and made his way to the room. The door opened, and the woman from the window, the voice from the phone, stood in front of him.

If he had to describe her in one word it would be exotic. Her eyes were almond shaped, and the color was of pure onyx. Her skin tone was that of maybe a South American goddess. Nathan had never seen any woman with looks like hers that wasn't in some magazine or something.

She said nothing, just stepped back in from the door. Her way of telling him to come in.

"Rachel told you about me?" Were Nathan's first words. The woman only shrugged her shoulders.

"We were best friends. We talked about everything."

"You keep saying 'were'." Nathan watched as a shadow crossed the woman's eyes.

"Rach is dead." She said. "There was a car accident, and she didn't make it."

Nathan sat down hard on the bed. He rubbed a hand over his face, the back of his neck. "I'm sorry." He in a voice that was so quiet, it could barely be heard. The woman, Anna, only nodded.

"If Rachel is dead, why are you here? Why did you come looking for me? What's this thing that I need to know?"

"When she died, she left a lot behind." She left a lot behind before she'd left the Earth, but Nathan kept that little thought to himself. "What does it have to do with me?"

A sound in the next room caught Nathan's attention. A cry? He listened harder as it sounded again. It was a cry. A baby's cry. He got to his feet, watching as Anna walked into the next room, her voice was soothing as she talked to the child in the next room. Nathan didn't know a lot about babies, but he didn't want to be trapped in a room with one.

She came out with the child on her shoulder. A boy from the looks of the blue blanket the baby was wrapped in. He couldn't see the baby's face, but he could see the top of the blue hat on the child's little head.

"You have a kid?"

The woman shook her head. "No." She said. "You do. This is what Rachel left behind. A child. Your son."