Tilting her head, she gave him a considering look as she snatched the band from her hair, letting the curls fall loose. For a moment, his grey eyes seemed to follow the movement of her hair, briefly mesmerized before his knife-sharp eyes settled back on her.
"Why do you dislike me but also give me a ride?" she asked, her tone a lot softer than she meant it to sound. "It's confusing, and I wish you would just pick one. Either you hate me or not."
His eyes widened, and not for the first time, she wished she could make out more of his face from beneath the thick mop of hair and unruly beard. "I don't dislike you," he mumbled before looking away as if the next words were difficult to say. "Last night…I shouldn't have brought up your family situation like that."
It would be polite, and not to mention socially correct to apologize for her comments about his family. But Sapphire couldn't make herself form the words. Even as she remembered the flash of frightening anger crackling in those fog grey eyes or the remorseful look in them now—she just couldn't. Her father was not a subject she ever liked thinking about, much less talking about. A man that just blithely wrote her off as some hooker's kid or something. Just a dalliance that inconveniently produced a child. She hated the man. Years ago, Sapphire had found pictures of the now Senator and his picture-perfect family online. A part of her wanted to go to the media and expose the man and his glossy smiling wife for the monsters they were—but she wouldn’t dare. The very thought of putting her name in conjunction with trash like them was beneath her. She could not and would not give them the privilege.
So no, she could not say sorry to Hayden—not yet. He crossed the line, and she still wasn't over it yet.
Nodding, she looked away from his searching eyes. "Thanks for the ride."
Putting his sunglasses back on, Hayden nodded and looked forward on his bike. "I'll see you at noon," he called out before twisting the throttle and pulling away in a low, rumbling growl.
For a moment, she just stood there. How did he know she only had class until noon? Hanging in the back kitchen, there was a little dry-erase calendar both she and Julie used. Did he look at that and memorize her schedule for today?
A bell from the school rang, jarring her from her thoughts. Turning, she ran to her class.
Noon could not come fast enough. Once the bell rang, letting out her class, Sapphire practically ran out of the class.
It was the students that made it so horrible: inane conversations, constant staring, and annoying questions that just held up class. It was all too much. God, she needed some weed. Back at her old school, there was a guy that would sell a few ounces to her. When her friends first convinced her to try it, Sapphire had absolutely hated it. The back-and-forth experience of realty melding in and out over and over again was just awful. She swore she'd never do it again, but of course, she did. Her last boyfriend had been really into it, wanting to start his own dispensary and all. He had taught her the different strains and different effects it gave as well as the endless combinations with CBD. It was a definite improvement. She wished she had some now.
Buttoning her jacket up, she stepped out the school's front door waving at the security guard as she stepped outside.
Sitting in the spot where Hayden parked earlier was a familiar beat-up silver pickup truck. Sapphire smiled and walked over to it.
The passenger door swung open, and Joel stepped out wearing his usual boots and jeans, but today he was wearing a thick jean jacket with a fleece collar.
Joel grinned as their eyes met. "Hey there."
Sapphire bit her lip to keep from smiling back at the contagious smile. Instead, she gave him a dubious look. "You're both here?"
"We thought we would take you and show you the town and give you the official tour."
"A tour of this place?" She raised a brow at that. "Haven't I seen it all?"
"Har har har," Joel mocked, rocking his head from side to side. "There's more to Holter, dammit. Stop looking down on it and get in," he commanded, pointing to the open door of the truck.
Hiding a smile, she let her backpack slip off her shoulders and held it as she climbed inside. Sitting in the driver's seat, Hayden turned and gave her an unreadable look, but she could see the amusement in his grey eyes. She scooted down until she was sitting in the middle. Climbing inside next to her, Joel shut the door allowing the heat from the truck as well as their big bodies envelop her.
"Okay, what is there to show me that I haven't seen?" she asked, looking to Joel and then Hayden. "Besides the meat packing plant," she rushed to add.
"Well, damn, there goes all of our plans," said Joel, throwing up his hands in sarcastic defeat.
"How about the beach?" Hayden's low, almost deadpan voice offered.
Sapphire's eyes lit up at that. Turning, she looked up to Hayden, who was now turned slightly in his seat with one shoulder pressed to the door, looking back at her.
Could they really go to the beach? "Oh, I would like to see that," she said, her tone hopeful. "From the maps, though, I thought Holter didn't really have much beach access."
"We do, but it’s far out, and it's undeveloped," Hayden explained. "And there is a lot of private land between us and there. Most people just go to Stardust Cove for the beach."
"But Vic's daddy owns some of the lands that separate us from the coast, so we will take his private road to the beach," Joel added.
Sapphire smiled even brighter, and both men looked at her, clearly stunned under its impact.
"Well fuck, if I knew taking you to the beach would get a smile out of you, I would have done it earlier," Joel bristled, still unable to take his eyes off her.
Her smile fell away at that, and she narrowed her gaze at him. "What are you talking about? I smile," she argued.
