Page 49 of Needing More
Joel and Hayden froze. Even Gunther, an older man and regular who had been going to the bar for nearly forty years, froze before mumbling something under his breath and politely standing up to move down to the other end of the bar.
Hayden looked from Gunther and back to Vic with a vicious snarl. "Goddammit Vic, I told you to give it the fuck up. She's not yours."
Beyond tired of dancing around this subject, Vic stepped over to the man, his chest inches away from Hayden's. "You don’t think I'm aware of that? How the hell am I just supposed to stop feeling what I fucking feel?" he snapped.
Joel's phone rang but neither one looked at him. They kept their eyes locked on one another.
Hayden shook his head. "I should've never let you come around her," he said through clenched teeth.
Anger boiled inside of Vic and he wanted to punch Hayden. He could feel the stares of a few people in the bar as they watched them both, sensing their animosity. But Vic didn't give a damn.
Joel's sudden angry voice was the only thing that cut through the storm of anger catching both of their attention.
"Fucking hell, Jennifer, are you really trying to blackmail me right now?" Joel asked, exasperated. Although his voice seemed only annoyed, Vic could see the anger written into the lines of his face. Hayden, who was filling out an order with the attitude of a raging bull, sent the customer scurrying away before coming over to stand next to Joel as he continued speaking into the phone. "Yeah? And where exactly would you stay? And secondly, why would you being in Holter change a damn thing with what we have with Sapphire?" Now the anger began to seep into the man's voice.
Still angry at Hayden, Vic held out his hand to Joel silently demanding the phone. Snatching the phone out of Joel's hand he held it up to his ear and listened as the woman on the other end kept on talking.
Her voice was smooth. A type of seductive that was practiced, nothing at all like her daughter's husky voice, that brought images of her mean little scowl to mind.
"I'm sure the people of Holter will mind very much when Sapphire's concerned mother has something to say about the illicit relationship between her daughter and the men she trusted with taking care of her comes to light," Jennifer explained arrogantly. "So don't make this a bigger deal than it has to be, Joel." She said the name with so much contempt Vic could imagine the woman twisting her lips. He had only been able to stomach a couple dozen of the photos of herself she had plastered on her social media account but Vic had a clear enough picture of the selfish slag. "I know you guys own pretty much all of that shithole town," she continued. "You can spare me a couple of bucks."
Seeing more people come in through the door, Vic stepped back toward the wall of liquor and spoke calmly into the phone. "I'll give you some money," he said easily.
"Wait…who is this?" she demanded.
Vic ignored her and looked at Hayden and Joel who were both trying to listen to the conversation and serve the new customers. "But this will be your first and last payment, do you understand? Because, unlike Joel or Hayden, I have absolutely no scruples in coming to find you," he informed her, making sure she could hear the mean smile in his voice. "I’ll make sure the last thing you see is my smile as I hold you down by your scrawny neck and drown you in the sea. Do not call again. And if I find out you've turned to Sapphire asking for money, I’ll come for you."
Jennifer paused, clearly stunned. "You can't-"
"Do you want the money or not?" he pushed, more than ready to get off the phone with her.
Jennifer hesitated and Vic could feel his grin go cold. He could imagine her now, weighing her options with whatever poor bastard she had dangling on the hook and the need for surefire cash now.
Eventually, she spoke. "…how much?"
Scribbling her details onto a napkin, Vic hung up the phone without bothering to listen to anything else the vulture had to say.
Both Hayden and Joel walked back over to him.
"Well, that's one way to handle her," Joel laughed.
"The only way for someone like her," Vic grinned even if the thought of that woman being Sapphire's mom pissed him off. No wonder Sapphire was so guarded.
Hayden stared at him, a muscle in his jaw ticking in restraint. Finally turning away, he mumbled. "This changes nothing."
Chapter 15
"Okay,I'llbebackafter I finish fixing all the shit wrong at Meadows and Woodland Lane." Joel scowled and Sapphire knew he was thinking of all the stuff he had on his list to do at each property.
The guy that usually handled all the maintenance issues was off work for the next few weeks due to the fact his wife went into labor. So now the tasks were back on Hayden and Joel's begrudging laps.
"And after that," Joel grinned at her. "I'll be back for you, sweetheart."
Sapphire crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the corner post of Vic's porch. "For some reason when you say it like that it makes me sound like a kid being dropped off at daycare."
Joel made a disgusted face. Even Hayden, who was standing off to the side of the porch on the phone with some sort of supply shop in Stardust, made a face at her at that.
"Ugh, don't say that," Joel grimaced.
