Page 68 of Wanting More
Having discarded her black hoodie on Sapphire's bed, Finn's toned arms were exposed in her black tank shirt as she helped Sapphire clean out the large pile of boxes in Sapphire's room. Inwardly, Sapphire could just see some of the girls around town lusting after Finn's boyishly feminine frame.
"Yep," she replied breezily.
Walking past her back into her room, Sapphire grabbed another box that read Vic in sharpie letters on the side. If she was going to keep staying here, for the time being at least, she saw no reason why she couldn't politely move his stuff to one of the other empty rooms.
Walking back in, her arms free now, Finn stopped in front of the now smaller pile of boxes and looked at it with her hands on her hips before tossing a pointed look at her. "I mean…it’s just that Hayden and Joel look…"
Sapphire stiffened. She knew exactly what Finn was trying to say. It was nearing a whole week since that night they slept together. Their initial awkward attempt at distancing themselves from her was disintegrating with every day.
Sapphire had watched them both behind the cool mask of indifference she erected between them and watched with satisfaction as they faced the consequences. At first, it had been soothing to her ego. Watching them secretly try to carve out time alone with her, doing their best to rekindle their easy-going friendship with her. Every day each one of them would come down to the coffee shop while she set up for the morning or through the small lull in customers and try to spark up a conversation. But it wasn't the same, not like before. She knew she was being a petulant child about it, but she couldn't make herself stop. She purposely kept the conversations shallow, her responses short, and her eyes vacant as each man attempted to mend what they once had
—even if it broke her heart each time.
They were the ones who wanted space, dammit! Did they think she didn't know what they were doing? Did they really think she couldn't guess from that one night of simply sharing a damn bed that they were either horrified or disgusted by her? Whatever their exact reasons, they were the ones that pulled back from her.
But now, things were a bit different. With every passing day, it seemed her "cold treatment," as she liked to call it, was having an unexpected effect. Pausing in front of the box, she just sat down. She let out a tired breath and thought of Hayden's hulking, silent figure that morning. He hadn't said anything to her that morning as he stepped out of the stairwell in the empty café. It had been early. So early, she wondered if he even got three hours of sleep, judging by the time they had both come home last night. With just a look her way, as if confirming she was still not talking, he had stalked out of the café and toward their gym across the street.
It was as if he was reverting back to the silent shaggy-haired beast of man she had met when she first arrived. And Joel was no better.
Gone was his dashing dimpled smile that brightened the very air around him. Now with his serious face and sharp cobalt eyes that held hers, he looked every bit like the gangster rumors painted him as.
"Feral?" she offered, running a hand over her hair until it stopped at the base of her ponytail.
"That's exactly it," Finn exclaimed with a snap of her fingers and pointing at her. "Joel didn't even say hi to me when I saw him earlier coming out of their gym."
Sapphire twisted her lips. Guilt gnawed at her. "Yeah, well, they'll just have to figure it out on their own."
Stacking two lighter boxes on top of one another, she hoisted them up and marched out of the room, purposely avoiding Finn's penetrating gaze.
Finn, however, would not be deterred. Sapphire heard the thumbs of her boots hitting the floor a few paces behind her as they went down the hall past her bathroom and into the room next door. Still pretty bright out, the room's windows were letting in streams of light that showcased the dancing motes of dust in the air.
"And what exactly is that?" Finn pressed. "They get so dejected from your ice queen act that they come groveling back?"
Stung, Sapphire stood up abruptly from where she just sat the boxes and turned to look at her.
Finn ignored the hurt in her expression and narrowed her eyes. "Let's be honest, you know that's what you want."
It was, but Sapphire didn't want to hear it aloud like this. Out loud, it was startling and blatantly immature.
"I…" She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Finn gave her a considering look. "I think you should really think about how far you want to take this. It's damaging all three of you."
Sapphire's breath caught in her throat like a building storm, and she blew out a breath that puffed her cheeks. Stomping over to the wingback chair they had unearthed from the far depths of the room, she grabbed it with both hands, her fingers digging into the embroidered fabric. Using her frustration, she pulled the heavy chair on a piece of cardboard she had placed on the floor, out of the room and down the hallway.
With a heaving exhale, she stopped just inside her door and stood there breathing. "I didn't start this," she muttered, knowing Finn was right behind her.
Finn nodded sagely. "Yeah, but you can end it."
Done catching her breath, Sapphire grabbed the rolled-up rug and laid it down in the now empty space of the bedroom. "Whose side are you on?"
Going to the other side, Finn straightened the other end of the rug. "On the side of peace."
Still sounded traitorous to her, Sapphire thought sourly. Although not so deep down, Sapphire knew she was right.
With the cream-colored rug down and the wingback chair embroidered with its blue and green peacocks sitting on top, they worked in silence as they finished styling the now open section of the room. It took a half-hour more of rummaging in the second storage room for Finn to produce an old peach crate and Sapphire to find a plain glass lamp missing its shade.
Setting it all up, they both took a step back and admired the cozy reading corner. Situated by the windows, the wingback chair and its eclectic side crate table looked as if it always had been there.
