Page 52 of Needing More
Vic:You looked a little pale this morning. I want you to eat something.
Before she was even done reading another text came through.
Joel: Don’t think I didn't notice you hardly ate your dinner last night.
Sapphire let out a groan. The group chat was something they started a few days ago. Between the three one-on-one texts with each guy and now this new group chat between the four of them there really wasn't a time of the day when her phone wasn't going off with a notification.
Me:I wasn't hungry last night.
To be honest, she wasn't hungry now, but she typed in the lie they wanted to hear anyway.
Me:But I'll eat something when I get home.
Pain twisted in her stomach as she looked at that word. Home. Today they were spending their evening at the farm, and she just called it home. Getting to the truck, she unlocked it and climbed inside and sat in the overwarm cab.
For a moment, she just stared at the phone screen. Did anyone else notice the slip-up? Dropping the phone in her lap, she folded her arms on the hot steering wheel and leaned forward, staring out at the row of cars ahead of her, losing herself to her thoughts. It did feel like home, though. Besides the constant presence of Vic's father upstairs, a man she had still not seen, the house felt like an oasis from reality.
At the café house, she could feel the very real separation in their unusual relationship. There the bedroom she shared with the guys stood out like a beacon, constantly reminding them all that Vic was just a guest. But at the farmhouse things were different. Together they all seemed to play a silent game of one big happy family only allowing reality to settle back over them when the three of them left for the night.
Home. Such an innocently loaded word that encompassed all the things she secretly wanted. Turning her head, she let the hot plastic of the steering wheel press into her cheek savoring the hot burn of it.
*ding*
Leaning back, she looked down at her phone.
Hayden: Tonight you will eat. Or...A chair. Some ties. And me with a spoon.
Her stomach flipped as she recalled the silk necktie Vic had used around her wrists that day.
Me: I don’t think all of that will be necessary.
Joel: Damn. And I was already starting to look forward to it.
Sapphire could picture Joel's smile and it falling away into a mask of rage if she knew what Vic had done to her—what she had allowed. Her head began to throb.
Me: Okay I'm going to stop texting now. Heading back.
Three rapid dings vibrated her phone.
Joel: Love you.
Hayden: Be careful.
Vic: Drive slowly.
Tears stung the back of her eyes and her throat felt as if it were getting smaller. Even a city away, Sapphire could feel the love from each one of them and could picture their faces as they typed in their texts.
She didn't deserve any of them.
Sapphire was parked on side of the road sitting at a precarious slant. No, parked wasn't the correct word, more like marooned. The headache that had started off as a tiny warning alert earlier was a full-blown blaring siren now.
Adjusting in her seat with a grunt, she stared at her phone. She had been sitting here for ten minutes now.
The sunny stretch of highway was beautifully deserted. With large open fields on either side of the road, she was well past any sort of business or residence. Just bright sun, asphalt, a rocky shoulder, and a sea of what looked like wheat or something.
Rolling down the window, she leaned out and looked down at the very flat driver side tire. Pretty soon the guys would start calling her when she didn't show up at the house.
It was all her fault. She had been lost in her thoughts, battling the guilt that was threatening to drown her when she ran off the road and hit some sort of object on the shoulder. The heavy metallic clank of whatever it was hit her tire and made a loud thunking noise before hitting the underside of the truck as she drove over it.
