Page 79 of Wanting More
Narrowing her eyes, she gave Vic a cold, almost feral smile. She didn't miss the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes as he watched her.
"You," she pointed at him, "dear sir, are the one who is sorely confused. You obviously have no idea that this isn't merely a Batman shirt," she fanned her fingers in presentation toward her t-shirt. "This is theGrim Knight,"she emphasized each word. "Maybe you didn't notice the fact that he is armed to the teeth in guns and has two bullet belts crossing his armor. This isn't just Batman. This is DC Multiverse at its finest," she explained as if he were a child.
Hayden couldn’t hold in his laugh at Vic's stunned expression.
Gathering himself, Vic gave her a considering smile as he viewed her in a whole new light. "So, I guess asking if you prefer Marvel over DC would be pointless, right?"
"Oh my God," she exclaimed, shaking her head in bewilderment. She looked to Joel and pointed a thumb to Vic. "Who is this guy? No, really. Because he cannot be one of the infamous Three Heathens I heard so much about," she said, throwing Vic's earlier words back at him. She ignored the tic in his jaw and pressed on. "For your information," she began evenly, "Marvel is for children with both of their parents who want to fall asleep each night thinking of rainbows and better tomorrows. DC is for people with broken homes, shattered dreams, and taking comfort in the fact that the real world is a real bitch. DC or Marvel?" she scoffed at the question as she scooted off the truck and landed between Joel and Hayden. "How dare you ask me something so insulting."
Turning to Hayden, she looped her arm in his. "Now, let’s go to the beach, please," she added sweetly to Hayden.
Shaking his head, Hayden led her to the truck and unlocked it. "You heard the lady. We gotta go."
"Bye," Joel called back as he hopped into the driver's seat.
Though she told herself not to look back at him for effect's sake, Sapphire glanced back at Vic and was startled as his eyes met hers. The shock was quickly melting away from his lupine features, leaving something she was too alarmed to place. It was the look of a man who had found what he was looking for.
Chapter twenty-three
Leaningagainstthebroomhandle, Sapphire looked around the empty bar. Finally, she got to see the inside of Heathens.
It was surprisingly bigger than she expected.
The front door opened, spilling in the late afternoon sun as Hayden shouldered his way inside, carrying a heavy-looking box. Sapphire watched in silent appreciation as his big shoulders hunched and his arms bulged at the task. Long, strong fingers gripped each corner of the box as he walked through to the back, and she couldn't stop herself from thinking of that day at the beach earlier that week.
It had been a glorious hell that left them all irrevocably changed.
Leagues away from anyone else, they had easily chosen a spot on the thick sand and laid down their stuff. With three towels and a large umbrella, they relaxed in their swimsuits, soaking in the warm day. The conversation was easy. With Hayden to her right and Joel to her left, Sapphire stared up at the sky as they talked.
Unsurprisingly Hayden had asked again about the dog attack, and she had shown them both the jagged white scar on her thigh. Sapphire would have never guessed how quickly the mood of the conversation would have changed. Or maybe she did. Maybe on some level, as she sat up against her blue and white towel on the lumpy sand and pointed to the scar on her thigh, she knew exactly what she was doing.
Sitting up beside her at once, both men took a better look at the mark. Her breath had caught in her throat as Hayden's big hand wrapped beneath her knee, lifting her leg up higher for inspection. At his touch, the yellow and green bikini faded from her senses, leaving her feeling bare and exposed. But if Joel or Hayden noticed her goosebumps, they said nothing. Instead, they both continued to hover over her, their fingers taking turns to trace the scar as they pried out the details from her from that day.
Leaning back against the sun-warmed towel, Sapphire had stared up at them, watching as their expressions shifted from worry to anger, then back to that hunger that had been growing between them. She had to bite her lip to keep from making a sound as Joel placed a comforting kiss on the old wound, promising her that nothing like that would ever happen again.
Even now, her entire body flushed at the memory.
Sapphire walked back further into the bar near the back where the pool table and bathroom doors were and turned her back to the front as she began to sweep. She didn't want them to see her face as her memories continued to race from that day.
After settling back beside her, they had both answered her questions about themselves.
Turning to Joel, Sapphire settled comfortably under the umbrella's shadow while Joel purposely angled himself under the sun with his arms behind his head.
"When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?" she asked playfully.
With his eyes closed, Joel grinned, deepening the dimples on his cheeks. "I wanted to be a radio DJ."
Sapphire smiled at that and turned to look over her shoulder to see Hayden's reaction. Her heart stuttered in her chest as her back met his bare chest. He was on his side with his head propped up with one hand directly behind her. She cleared her throat nervously, but she did not move from against him. She kept the searing contact of his skin against her back as she looked back at Joel.
"Why a DJ?" She wondered if they could hear the small breathless hitch in her voice as she could.
Opening his eyes, Joel turned from the bright sun and looked at her. Sapphire held her breath as she watched a shadow pass over his eyes as he took in Hayden's close proximity behind her. Mirroring his position, Joel sat up on his side and braced his head with one arm, his thick muscles bunching at the task. Thoroughly boxed in now, Sapphire shivered at the surrounding feeling.
She wanted more. Closing her eyes, she had sunk back down onto the towel and looked up at them both. She wanted to reach up and touch them, but doubt stayed her hand. What if they reacted badly to it? Or what if they reacted exactly how she wanted, how she fantasized, but ended up regretting it afterward?
In the end, she did nothing as Joel casually explained that when he was a kid, a man came to his school on career day and explained how cool his job was working as a radio host.
She had asked Hayden the same question, and his answer nearly broke her.
