Page 13 of Sinister Hearts
“What can I get you, Jax?” I asked him from behind the bar, trying to seem aloof by his presence.
“Damn not even a ‘hi’ for your small-town sweetheart? Ouch.” He took his hand to his heart as if I’d broken it. The truth is, what happened was the opposite. I tried to seem unfazed.
“How have you been, Grimwood?” I asked, trying to calm the brazen dragons in my belly.
“So, we’re on a last name basis again? You know I’ve seen you naked, right?” he replied, smug. I nearly choked, throwing my bar rag at his stupid handsome face.
“Well, I guess some things haven’t changed, including that dry sense of humor of yours.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“It’s no humor, Faye, it’s a fact.” He stared at me in my soul and licked his lips. I tried to catch my breath.Ignore him, ignore him,I told myself, feeling my core ache and clench. My punani and I would be having a serious talk later. I’d had enough betrayal this year, the least she could do was abide. But this damn rebel cowboy and that damn beard. I wanted to do nothing more than sit on it so he would just shut the fuck up for once. It wasn’t fair that after all these years, he still had this effect on me, while he sat there in his jeans, pleased with himself.
“Jax, are you going to order something or not?”
He smiled in response, “You were always such a hard-ass, Faye Robles,” Jax replied, eyeing me up and down slowly, gulping.
“I thought we weren’t on a last name basis?” I attempted to shake off his comments.
“Ah, there she is, there’s the spice that had my heart in a tumble.” I swear my heart skipped a beat. I ignored his comment, like I ignored the ache between my legs. “You know what I like.” He winked at me.
I could have melted right there.
I whipped up aNo. 2 Jack Daniels, chilled, with a splash of Coke. He just eyed me and watched from across the bar. I felt like my ass was on fire.
“So, what are you, Clark Kent by day and Thanos by night?” I eyed his patched peacoat, while I handed him his drink. Jax seemed pleased, looking at his glass and smirking, as he twirled the liquor before taking a drink.
“Nope, just Jax.” He glanced at me from the glass as he took a sip. “Attagirl. It was nice seeing you, Faye.” I noticed his silver Reaper ring on his tattooed fingers when his fingers brushed up on mine giving me a twenty dollar tip. We caught each other’s gaze just for a moment. I had to look away before I melted right there. I had to put myself on some damn ice.
“Tell Ma I said hi,” he quipped, before walking off with his drink… and my heart.Damn him.
He went and sat at a booth with his brothers; they were all wearing the same long black peacoats. Nothing about the looks of them were funny when looking at these bearded and tattooed men. In fact, if I hadn’t known the Grimwood’s from the past, I may have even considered them intimidating. But I knewhim. That cowboy, from Grimwood farm. I watched as they saluted each other, and chugged their drinks in a Viking manner.
“Hail Odin!” They cheered as they clashed their mugs together.
I recognized the other two men instantly—Creed and Ryker Grimwood. Jax was the oldest, but Creed and Ryker surpassed him in height. Ryker stood at six-foot-five and was the tallest among the three brothers, which was hilarious because we used to call him little Ry. The Grimwood brothers looked like Viking gods in the flesh. They were notoriously known in the town for their last name and their farm that took up almost a quarter of Grimstone. The Grimwood’s settled here right after the Robles’ bloodline did, making them the second founding family. Creed dated all the town's girls in high school and was a real dick to be around to be honest. He was the sports god of the town.
As for Ryker, he was my favorite of the bunch, like a little brother in a way. He was always the timid one—intelligent but quiet. Ryker had more green hues in his eyes than all three of the Grimwood brothers’ hazel eyes.
But Creed’s dimples were the real killer, especially when he smiled, which was a treasure if you did catch it.
I tried to make myself look busy, and not like I was watching them. These guys were a smoke show and were dangerous together, always had been. They were the trio of the town, just fifteen months apart from each other, and here they were, in this bar. Nothing changed in this damn small town.
They huddled at the booth, in their cowboy hats. What the hell was this? Halloween? They couldn’t be serious. I rolled my eyes, sick of their masculine otherworldly beauty. Who did they think they were?
I was serving up a few drinks to some customers, when I noticed two girls walk up to the booth. The blonde one sat on Jax’s lap, making my tummy twirl in ways I didn’t like.What was this, jealousy? The audacity of me. Stop it right now, Faye. I tried to ignore them, but the blonde’s fake giggles were like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to grab her by her ear like a school girl and throw her out of here. He took a swig of his drink while smacking the girl’s ass sitting on his lap. Jax took notice of me glancing as he eyeballed me intently, smirking devilishly, and I quickly turned away. I wanted to hurl at how desperately he was trying to get a reaction out of me.
Jaxon Grimwood wanted to play games, did he? Oh, we’d fucking play.
After a long night shift, I was finally closing out the bar and cash register. I headed to the locker rooms to dress out and caught Avi getting dressed.
“How did it go tonight?” Avi asked me as she dressed out. The locker was full of everyone changing. The nudity didn’t phase me like I thought it would after so long. All the girls seemed to get along. It was like a family. A family I had missed—it was a sisterhood. A lot of these women were mothers, college students, some even nurses needing the extra cash. The locker room was full of all walks of life and I was just proud to be a partof a group of go-getters that didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thought.
“I actually did exceptionally well on my first night back. I saw a lot of old regulars I was not expecting to see. They all tipped me well.” I was feeling some relief.
“Hell yeah, I love to hear it. I saw Jax pay you a visit at the bar.” Avi side-eyed me.
“Yeah. you’re not the only one. I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of it from Rocky.” I unzipped my chaps and put on some stretchy jeans.
“That man has always been crazy about you. It’s so obvious he still has a thing for you.”
