"Y-you really are hiring?" She ventured, more than a little unnerved by their constant stares. It was odd the way they looked at her. Unlike most men who looked at her with obvious want and lust, these two men stared at her as if she was an odd package delivered at their doorstep, and they were trying to come up with ways to dispose of her.
Going back to his perched position against the counter's edge, Joel bit at the nail on his thumb, ripping off an offending piece of the nail before examining it. "Not necessarily, but we can afford to hire you as extra help. There are days Julie, up front," he flicked his hand toward the front, not taking his eyes off his hand, which he still inspected, "has to take her kids to different things or some shit." He gave her a shrug as he bit at the other side of his nail and gave her a nonchalant shrug. "It will work out."
"Okay, umm thanks. I-"
Apparently done with her, Joel turned his attention to Hayden. "I guess we need to finally stop putting off fixing the second bathroom and probably move some junk out of Vic's old room for her."
"Wait, what?!" she stepped forward, trying to break into their discussion. "What are you talking about?"
Hayden's dark eyes slid back to hers, his grim, unreadable expression inscrutable. "You can't stay in the motel," he said quietly.
"Yeah, it's not nice or anything, but we have a spare room upstairs," Joel said, pointing to the ceiling, and Sapphire remembered seeing another door to the far left of the front counter when she walked in. Did that lead upstairs to where he was pointing? "And," Joel continued, "it's a whole helluva lot safer than staying at the motel."
Sapphire shook her head and held out her hands, desperately trying to stop this runaway train of a conversation. "Wait a minute. I only agreed to work here," she told them firmly.
Hayden's eyebrows shot up. "You’d rather stay at the motel?"
"Yes! I don't know you," she said, stretching out the words in hopes it would get through their heads.
Joel stepped toward her, and Sapphire felt her heart quicken. The man was tall, and from what she could see of his biceps pressing against the thin fabric of his long sleeve shirt, he was built, too.
He gave her a sharp look. "Yourmother, if that's what you want to call her, planned on dropping you off with me sight unseen," he said, his voice dripping in disdain at the mention of her mother. "What's the difference now?"
Sapphire could feel her skin heat as her temper started to rise. "Exactly," she pointed out. "You turned her down, a plan I didn't even really know she had until I overheard the conversation between you two, by the way. So now I'm living at the motel, which suits me fine," she added loftily with a toss of her head. She could see Hayden's jaw tighten out of the corner of her eye and focused on Joel, who was staring at her as if she had just stated she would rather sleep in a ditch. Lifting her chin, she forced herself to meet his gaze. "The real question is, why do you care all of a sudden?"
Joel threw his hands up. "Because I had no idea yourmother, and I use that term loosely, would actually put her teenage daughter on a bus to nowhere. Look, kid," he took yet another step forward and pointed toward the back door. "That place is no place for a girl like you."
"Hell, it's no place for me, much less a kid," Hayden added. From his still seated position, he was a contradiction to Joel, who looked as if he wanted to grab her and shake her to make her see his point.
Crossing her arms, she crushed her jacket to her chest, and she held her head up a little higher. "I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen, legal age to live on my own," she informed them, unable to keep the haughty note from her voice.
Seemingly reaching the end of his patience, Joel turned around with a shake of his head. "Fine, whatever.” Pulling another barstool from a corner, he leaned against it, much like Hayden. "So, you'll take the job we're offering but not the room, is that what I'm hearing?" Joel pressed.
Looking to both men, who stared at her with severe expressions, she swallowed before answering. "Yes."
Joel stood up abruptly from the stool, causing it to judder loudly across the floor. With what she could swear was a look of disgust, he walked past her with a grumble. "Suit yourself, kid."
Much calmer than his foster brother, Hayden stood up, and Sapphire's throat felt suddenly dry. He was massive, too. Tall and built like a bouncer, he moved away from his abandoned seat toward the nearby wall. She watched in silence as he snatched a black apron off the hook on the wall before turning and handing it to her. "You start tomorrow. Julie will inform you of the rest."
Without so much as another glance in her direction, he walked away, leaving her alone.
Yesterday, after her interrogation, because she sure as hell wasn't going to call it an interview, Sapphire went directly back to the motel and sprawled out on her bed. She couldn't believe that man was her uncle. Okay, not real uncle, but whatever. That biker was unbelievably the man her mother was just going to drop her off with.
Her heart felt as if it was caught in a vise grip. Just thinking of Joel's thunderous expression at her refusal to see his point, and Hayden's glittering dark gaze made her pull the pillow over her face. What a way to start the job. She was positive they disliked her, she thought with a groan from under the pillow. How could they not? She did that thing she always did when she felt cornered or put on the spot and put on a mask of arrogant confidence. Her friends had called it heruppity lookor herbitch face,and they weren't wrong. It was something she had always done since she was a kid.
Whenever she got angry or in any confrontation, she always just drew within herself, her spine stiffening, and lifted her head up until her face was a mask of cold indifference. It worked great in putting distance between herself and offenders, too great even. Somewhere along the way, she lost sight of the line in the sand, letting her know when to use the tactic and when not to. With every leering boyfriend her mother brought home and every boy at school whose eyes traveled openly over her body, Sapphire turned more and more to the safety of her proud veneer. On her face, a face many seemed to deem beautiful, the cold look of superiority was a perfect weapon at keeping people back. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure she had used it on her bosses.
Checking her phone, she let out a little sigh. It was time to go to work. Grabbing a dark pair of jeans and a blue sweater, she grabbed a breakfast bar from the mini-fridge and popped it into the microwave while she got dressed. Putting her golden-brown hair into a ponytail, she slipped on her black high-top sneakers and grabbed her apron, bag, and, lastly, her warm breakfast bar.
The walk from the motel toward downtown wasn't that long, but the cold wind certainly didn't help. She was stepping through the café door just as two older women were stepping out holding their coffees.
The bells jingled in the quiet space of the coffee shop. Julie stood by herself behind the counter.
"Hi, Sapphire," the woman greeted her.
Shivering at the pleasant warmth of the room, Sapphire smiled back and gave her an awkward wave in return. "Hi."
Yesterday after her interrogation-style interview, she had stayed an extra half hour to discuss her schedule.
