"She's not up there!" Joel's voice thundered through the still air. There was a frenzied edge to the man's voice.
Sapphire gave him a worried look.
Hayden returned a comforting half-smile and propped one shoulder on the doorway. "She's down here," he called out. Hayden turned his head so he could see down the kitchen to the double swing doors.
A second later, the doors swung open and rattled with a wincing clang as Joel burst through. Immediately his wide eyes met his, and Hayden jerked his head to his right. "I found her hiding in here."
Sapphire stood up. Pulling the earbuds from her ears, she pocketed them and grabbed her bag from the floor. "I wasn't hiding," she murmured, keeping her eyes everywhere and anywhere but on him. "I just needed an undisturbed place to think."
More like cry, he thought, noting the puffiness around her eyes. Hayden hated that. The thought of her in here alone and crying sat wrong on him. And it was all his fucking fault.
Stepping back so that she could come out of the laundry room, Hayden swallowed the knot of guilt climbing up his throat. He shouldn't have snatched up Sanders. That bastard and his friends no doubt ran home still talking shit about the incident, and one of their kids may have overheard.
Before Joel could say anything, Sapphire gave a defeated little sigh and shrugged. "It's not like I can go out or anything," she argued as if trying to stave off any argument Joel might throw her way. "I might get rotten fruit thrown at me since everyone thinks I’m both of y’all's whore," she said, motioning toward them with a flick of her hand.
The words hit Hayden like a bag of cement being thrown in his face.
"Do. Not. Say. That," Hayden growled. Just hearing her say that about herself made him want to go kill something.
Sapphire just gave him an exasperated look as she walked past Joel and tossed her bag onto one of the empty counters before sitting down in a huff on one of the barstools. "Well, that's what they think," she declared. "Hell, at this point, I might get stoned to death if I go to the supermarket!"
Joel reacted quicker than him. Hayden knew Joel felt the same cold burn of those words slicing through his gut too.
Stepping in front of her, crowding her in until she was leaning back on the barstool against the countertop behind her, Joel stepped into the small opening of her legs, forcing her knees wider apart. Hayden felt something hot in his chest expand at the sight, like a heated growl threatening to come out.
Joel grabbed the sides of Sapphire's face, ignoring her wide-eyed shock, and speared his fingers into her mass of curls. Gently he pulled her forward until her body was flush against his. This time Hayden did not suppress the growl of warning and stepped up right beside him and her until her bent leg was pressed against his thighs.
Joel ignored him and kept his eyes directly on Sapphire, who stared up at both of them, her wide, confused eyes bouncing between both of them. She was boxed in, completely overtaken by their presence in her seat as they towered above her.
"No. One. Will. Touch. You," Joel's voice was rough and even, each word said with absolute conviction. "Do you understand?" he asked, tilting her head up a little further, his thumbs cradling her under her chin, and Hayden couldn't stop the sudden stab of searing, raw jealousy as he watched Sapphire give him a nervous little nod. "They wouldn't fucking dare. You're safe here and safe in this town," Joel promised.
Sapphire licked her lips and looked away, not seeing how both men closely followed the movement. For a moment, she looked as if she wanted to say something but changed her mind.
Looking back up, she looked at both of them. "Not safe from rumors, though," she said in a quiet voice.
The pain of guilt in Hayden's chest twisted, and he reached for her and cupped the back of her neck. The contact with her warm skin made his body come alive with a jolt of electrical awareness. "We can't stop those…yet," he said, barely managing the words as he watched her close her eyes and tilt her head further into his and Joel's hands. "But you will be safe with us."
So very reluctantly, both he and Joel let her go and stepped back. Hayden snuck a glance at his brother and watched as Joel turned away. The lines of his shoulders were tense, and Hayden could see his deep intakes of breath. She affected him, too. That knowledge was both a relief and a curse.
"Can I cook something down here?" Sapphire asked quietly, dispelling the silent tension between the two men.
Having gathered himself, Joel turned back to her and gave her his usual flirty smile. "Darlin, you can cook whenever and wherever you want, just as long as we get some of it."
Hayden nodded in agreement at that.
Hiding a pleased little smile, Sapphire nodded wordlessly and began moving about the kitchen. Taking her abandoned stool on the other side of the butcher block island, Hayden sat down, followed by Joel. They watched in comfortable silence as she began to take out mixing bowls and ingredients.
Reading the question on his face, Sapphire gave him a little smirk. "I had picked up some of this stuff a few days ago and stored them down here. I wasn’t sure how you felt about me using either of your kitchens."
Propping his chin up on his hand, Hayden thought about that. There were so many details and questions to unpack with that. Why did she think they cared if she cooked or not? Why was she always so cautious? Just what in the hell did they have to do to allow her to fully relax? What in the hell happened to her to make her so guarded? But Hayden didn't voice any of these things. instead, he just watched her mix the ingredients together into the large mixer's bowl.
As time shifted by, so did the sun allowing in only a fraction of the receding light through the long narrow windows on the far right wall. Without missing a beat, Sapphire clicked on the oven and flipped the overhead light over the stove, draping the large kitchen in an intimate buttery glow.
Transfixed, both men watched as she began pouring the dark, almost black cake batter into two buttered pans. With each movement, her stiff shoulders relaxed. Even a few golden curls felt the easing change in the air and slipped lazily from their confines to dangle serenely around her face as she worked.
Eventually, Sapphire spoke, another reserved wall coming down. "I'm not even sure why I'm upset about it," she confessed. "It's not like I even liked going up there with all of those—children." The disdain packed in that single word made Hayden smile.
Picking up both pans in her hands, she turned and sat them on the oven's hot racks and shut the door with a snap. Sapphire caught Joel's eyes and pointed to his phone on the counter. "Can you set a timer?"
