"At first, it was like living with a ghost," Hayden grumbled, thinking of the way she avoided them. "But we eventually lured her out with food."
Coming up from the other end of the bar, Joel carried two handfuls of dirty glasses he had collected and nudged him in the back as he passed by. "Yeah, before he damn near fucked it up again by getting in a fight with her."
Hayden clenched his teeth, and Vic raised a curious brow.
Hayden reminded himself to breathe. Handing the customer his drink, Hayden turned and shot Joel a glare, to which he replied with one of his own. The bastard was starting to get on his nerves lately.
Sensing Vic's waiting stare, Hayden exhaled. "It was just a…poor choice of words. We talked, and we're fine now," he assured him in a low voice.
They were busy tonight, but thankfully most of the customers were milling out on the open floor. Earlier, when they had opened, they had gotten a call from one of their rowdier clientele informing them she and a bunch of her girlfriends wanted to dance tonight. Being the only bar in Holter, they not only served as the town's local drinking hole but occasionally as a dance hall. Both Hayden and Joel promptly removed over half the chairs and tables from the floor, leaving plenty of open space.
Tonight was another easy money-making night. Plenty of women meant plenty of men buying round after round. But so help him God, if he had to listen to another round ofNo Ordinary Man, he was going to take his bat to that goddamn jukebox.
"We took her to the beach up by your house," Joel added proudly, as if the thought had been his idea.
"I saw your truck on my cameras and figured it had something to do with her," Vic murmured before leaning over the counter to smile at the two women who approached the bar.
Flirting was like a professional sport for Vic.
"Yeah, but now she is back to being quiet again," Joel continued, throwing another pointed look at Hayden. "And staying in her room all the time. She is even talking about going over to Herman and Blanche's this weekend to make them dinner."
Vic let out a laugh, his dark glossy black hair falling back from his face. "And why is it that you sound hurt?" he chuckled. "What did you expect? She's a kid living in a house with two strange men. She's probably trying to stay out of the way; besides, I would think you wouldn't want her hanging all over the place."
"Well, she probably wouldn’t hide from us if the first things out of someone's mouth aren’t about shit that makes her uncomfortable."
Hayden was going to punch him in the fucking temple.
Sensing his anger Joel turned and gave him an excited look. There was a challenge shining back at him in Joel's eyes as if he had been waiting all day for this. Something angry and hot twisted in Hayden's chest. All week he had been dealing with Joel's little fucking antics, and they were starting to grate his last nerve. The little things that were left unspoken between them as they tried to navigate the new element in their life. Without notice, Sapphire's attention had become a coveted resource in their house, and at every opportunity, Joel was there trying to weasel his way closer to the girl. It reminded Hayden of a game of tug of war—a game he didn't even know he had signed up for.
Detecting the growing animosity between the two of them, Vic stepped in between. With his arms crossed over his chest, Vic looked back and forth between them both. There was an electrical charge of energy coming from the man that annoyingly always seemed to dampen any fight that brewed between him and Joel. Fighting one another was one thing, but fighting Vic was something entirely different. On the other side of Vic, Joel made a noise of frustration under his breath before turning and walking away. Hayden did not move.
Narrowing his eyes at Vic, Hayden stared back at the man. Ever since they had met Vic years ago, in their past life, Vic always tried to challenge him. Their firstconversationhad been Hayden's fist in the man's jaw. Aconversationthey had barely walked away from that day. But something had broken and forged between them, an unlikely friendship fringed in violence and charged with two opposing forces.
"I hope you're not letting this girl get between you two," Vic said warningly.
Hayden let out a harsh breath and turned to walk to the end of the bar where a man was standing holding his empty glass. Grabbing the glass and the money, he came back over to where Vic was standing and refilled the glass. "She's fine. And Joel and I are fine. He's just been working my nerves."
Vic said nothing, but the expectant look told Hayden he wanted him to continue.
Hayden sighed. He slid the man his drink down the bar and turned to look at Vic. "You know how he gets."
They both looked to Joel out in the crowd. He was mingling and moving through the small sea of people with ease as he gathered abandoned glasses. "He makes everything a goddamn competition," Hayden continued.
"And you’re competing for this girl?"
"Fuck, no. It's not like that," he shot back. They were not competing for her, dammit. Though the words felt like a lie. "She's…she's prickly, that's all. The kid has got a history. I've never seen someone with defenses as high as hers. And you know Joel."
"Mmm," Vic hummed under his breath with an understanding nod. "He wants to get past her walls so she can be like every other girl in town—in love with him."
Maybe, Hayden thought. Although he kind of doubted it was that simple. He knew Joel well enough to know he wasn't just trying to win her attention just for the sake of having it. It just really bothered Joel to see her so tightly wound. It bothered him too, to be honest. Someone as young and pretty as her should be smiling. Hayden had to fight the urge to grin at that thought. He could just imagine Sapphire's scowl if she heard that thought. Okay, maybe not smiling all the time, he amended, but she should be happy at the very least. Content enough to know she was safe. Hayden hated to see the wary look on her face as if she was ready to face the worst any second. Or the way she tensed anytime he or Joel got near her. It was wrong. It picked at his curiosity to know why she went through life like that—but he was sure he was going to hate the answer.
The music changed on the jukebox, and a chorus of shouts from a group of women filled the air momentarily. For a few seconds, both he and Vic watched as the group of rowdy women began pairing off some with random guys, some amongst themselves, and began dancing to the popular country song.
Somehow disentangling himself from a pair of women, Joel came back behind the bar, firmly closing the entrance partition down. Looking over his shoulder, he cast him and Vic a sly smile. The bastard loved the attention.
"Hey there."
With most of the people out on the floor, they easily heard the man calling out to them. Half stumbling up to the bar, the man placed both hands on the counter and leaned heavily forward, and made eye contact with Hayden.
