Page 53 of Wanting More
Somehow, she just doubted that. They were too good-looking, young, and popular to just be sitting around without something to do—or someone—she added bitterly.
As if sensing her doubt, Hayden leaned back in his chair and gave her a serious look. "I had a great day. I promise. Honestly," he paused, his grey eyes darting away from hers and staring off to the windows on the far right of the restaurant where the large windows overlooked the deck and the ocean beyond. The sky was a palette of fiery oranges and dark blues as the sun slowly dipped beyond the horizon. Hayden looked back at her. "It was nice getting to see you smile and look hopeful for once."
There was nothing she could say to that. Her tightening throat wouldn't let her.
After a brief argument on who would drive and exchanged threats on said quality of driving and not endangering lives, Joel begrudgingly agreed to drive them home without speeding.
Nestled between the two men once again, Sapphire blinked against the heavy pull to her eyelids and tried to focus on the dark road beyond the truck's headlights. It was damn hard, though. The heat of the two men on either side of her and the low soothing sounds of the country song on the radio was like a drug.
Sapphire tentatively looked up at both of them. Joel was focused intently on the road while Hayden, seemingly sensing her look, stared back at her in the dark. She blinked tiredly and dropped her gaze to his arm. Carefully she leaned her head against it and closed her eyes.
Chapter seventeen
Theweeksthatfollowedthat visit to Stardust were nothing like the first few weeks of Sapphire's arrival into their life. Joel couldn’t help but watch the beautiful young woman slowly adjust and settle into her new life as if allowing herself to finally take a deep, relaxing breath for the first time.
The guarded walls she initially met everyone with seemed to have fallen away as if overnight. To Joel, she looked somehow softer, calmer around them. Instead of the icy exterior, the frosty armor seemed to melt away under the bright, almighty force of her genuine smile. It wasn't even the sharp, knowing half-smile that gave bare warning to soon-to-be victims that they were about to be skewered alive with her cutting words. Not even the flat line of suppressed disapproval. No, this was a genuine smile of happiness not coaxed on by a joke or triggered by an event—it was just her being comfortable enough to smile on her own accord.
And it was fucking glorious.
The great thing was, her happiness came with perks both he and Hayden weren't quite expecting. After receiving a text message from her one night while Joel was working at the bar, she had asked him for permission to explore the storage rooms. He and Hayden were both surprised to come home that night and find that there was a coffee table sitting in the living room. Night by night, the little homey additions were added here and there all over their place until it became almost a game between them to find what would be changed next.
The blue and white old rug that lay rolled up in one of the rooms was now vacuumed and cleaned, lying underneath the kitchen table. In the far corner of the living room, behind the couch, now stood a gold floor lamp, adding a soft intimate light to the living room. Joel remembered the ugly thing from when they first bought the place. It had come with the place sitting onto its side in a forgotten corner of a room with an ugly lamp shade from the seventies and covered in grime. Now it was shade-less and gleamed, looking modern and new.
She was turning their grungy mismatched place into a home, and it felt good.
But it was the cooking that really captured their full attention.
Coming in so late at night, the street was quiet and the building dark. Hardly anyone in the town was awake. Even looking up from the backdoor and up to the third-floor windows, Joel could see her room was dark as well. Quietly, Joel followed Hayden up the stairs and onto the second-floor landing. They both stopped and inhaled. Lingering in the air were the remnants of something so savory it made his mouth water. Like trained dogs, both men walked over to the table and stopped before it, staring down at the heavy Dutch oven dish and the little note taped to it.
Hayden plucked up the note and read the neat and girly bubble letters. "Chicken and vegetables in wine sauce. Store would not let me buy wine, not even cooking wine. Had to have Julie do it. If you like it, buy me two bottles of white wine." Hayden read the words aloud with a smirk.
Joel grinned and lifted the lid and groaned at the puff of aroma from the still-warm food. "Fuck yeah, I'm eating this now."
Hayden made a noise of agreement under his breath as he walked over to the cabinet. Joel glanced at him and caught a flash of pink as Hayden carefully stuffed the folded note into his pocket. Grabbing two plates and a handful of silverware, Hayden turned back to him. They ate in silence like two starving hobos who had spent the night hopping freight trains. Blissfully full and beyond happy, Joel helped Hayden wash and clean the dishes and put the kitchen, which he noticed had also been meticulously cleaned and organized, back to rights.
Joel paused midway to his room, and Hayden looked back at him in silent query. Pulling his wallet from his back jean pocket, Joel pulled out a couple of hundred-dollar bills and laid them on the table. Snatching a piece of paper from the notepad on the fridge, he wrote down his own note of thanks and instructions to buy as many groceries as she wanted, and he would get her a whole case of wine if she needed it.
After that, the menu seemed to explode. Pasta, roasts, casseroles, and more greeted them each night, each even more delicious than the last. It was surprising how nice it was to come home to a home-cooked meal. Even if the cook in question was nestled in her bed right above his room and the house quiet, Joel more than liked the feeling of being thought of and judging by the way Hayden hoarded her nightly notes like secret trophies, he knew he did too.
Unfortunately, Sapphire's new found contentment in her life and not to mention her earth-shattering smile, wasn't just contained in the house. Sadly, she brought its glorious splendor down the stairs and into the café each day, and in turn, that brought the worst kind of customers—men.
Once upon a time, Joel loved spring break. He loved the new customers it brought in and loved the fresh drove of new, legal drinking age college students that swarmed into the bar on the weekends. Young kids who drove from Stardust Cove, bored with the local drinking scene and looking for a realbiker dive-bar experience, as they put it. Oh yeah, a bunch of eager young girls with their tits barely concealed, flouncing all over the bar. Yeah, spring break was a magical time—or at least it was once.
Now, as he stood on the other side of the coffee shop next to Hayden, scowling at the sea of high-schoolers with nothing to do for a week filling up his coffee shop with their loud presence, he watched with growing fury as a line of boys stood at the counter.A goddamn line!!Going out the goddamn door, for Christ's sake! All of them buying coffee they probably didn't even drink. All because ofher!
Texas weather being ever volatile and unpredictable as one could expect, the temperature outside was in the high seventies as if it wasn't just ball shriveling cold a week ago. Bright and sunny the beautiful conditions lent to all the girls wearing shorts and summery dresses, but not Sapphire. Ever the dark horse, the girl wore a pair of tight, ripped at the knees black jeans and a black T-shirt that had their café logo on it, "The Grind." The once long T-shirt had been cut in half and frayed at the edges allowing anyone to see the glimpse of her soft midriff. The little flashes of golden-brown skin here and there as she reached and turned and bent had the line of boys drooling like dogs.
Of course, Julie, who was dressed similarly but with a full unaltered shirt, was smiling ear to ear as she happily bustled about fulfilling orders. Why did they ever decide to pay that traitorous woman commission? She should be yelling at Sapphire about her dress code, not envisioning the size of her paycheck as she hurried to serve the kids.
By the time each boy got to the front, Joel wanted to vomit. They each took their chance trying to suavely chat up the curvy girl behind the register with the long-highlighted curls. They were entranced by her soft smile and shimmering eyes. Was it because they had never seen that happiness while she was attending school? Or were they realizing now in the warm light of day just how royally they fucked up for not letting a girl—no—a woman like that feel welcome at their school?
God, Joel wanted to punch them. He wanted to start at the beginning of the line and grab them each by their collars and start punching their little shit faces one by one. Because it wasn't them who made that smile, goddammit, he and Hayden did! They were the ones that plucked her from the motel and gave her a safe home. They were the ones that gave her the comfort to actually relax and not live on the edge of fear anymore. They were the ones that endured their brand-new morning ritual of being woken up by godforsaken eighties music each day.
Knowing he couldn't start going down the row and punching the little shits, Joel walked out through the front door, barely resisting the urge to body check a few of the eager-faced pimples standing at the door. Joel groaned with a smile as he thought again about how both he and Hayden had been waking up for the past few days.
Since Julie opened and Sapphire had been coming in later and staying late to close, that gave Sapphire the opportunity to see them when they woke. Evil girl, Joel grinned. It was as if she timed it. Knowing they usually got up just a little after nine, the stereo in the living room began to go off each day right at nine-thirty with their final wakeup call—usually with Kenny Loggins.
The first time it happened, Joel had no clue what to think. He had just opened his eyes and was going through the notifications on his phone when he heard the first notes ofFootlooseblaring down the hallway.
