"No," Vic shook his head with a mean, almost feral grin. "Don’t change the subject. That old bastard is still alive despite his doctor's and my surprise. Back to the subject at hand, Joel was just telling me about your second rule."
Lacing his fingers behind his head, Hayden smiled contently. "The sleeping arrangement rule. Simply put, she sleeps with both of us, or we all sleep separately. And tonight…" he checked his watch and looked at Joel with a wide smile. "She will be in our bed, sleeping next to us."
Just the thought of her waiting for them gave Joel the extra speed as he typed in the last figure from his counts into the spreadsheet and closed the laptop with a snap. "Sleeping?!" he scoffed as he stood up. "Yeah, maybe she will get some of that later."
Hayden's laugh was deep and filled with promise as he, too, stood up. All three headed to the back door flicking off lights as they went and setting the alarm.
Outside in the confines of their fence, where their bikes stood in a neat leaning row, Hayden turned to Victor. "See ya, man."
Joel was swinging his leg over his bike when he suddenly remembered and looked over to Vic on his left. "Oh, by the way, we're taking the boat out this weekend, so if you had plans-"
Vic grumbled under his breath. "Yeah, like I have fucking plans, between my father and that fucking farm. Take the fucking boat. It's technically yours anyways."
"Hey man, it's all of ours," Joel assured him with a smile even as he thought of that wonderful night he won it from Rosebank.
On Vic's left, Hayden reached out and slapped him comfortingly on the shoulder. "I know I have said this a million times, but if you need help at the farm or with your dad, all you have to do is ask."
Vic stiffened for a moment before relaxing as if his pride was immediately inflamed but settled down. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Go enjoy your boat," he groused.
"It's your boat, too," Joel reminded him as he tilted his bike up and kicked the stand back. "What's yours is mine, and what's ours is yours, you know that."
Joel could have sworn he heard Vic say something else, but the loud roar of Hayden's engine firing up drowned out the man's words.
He could have sworn he heardnot all of it.
The marina was much bigger than Sapphire was expecting. Pulling the old pick-up truck into the crowded parking lot, Joel miraculously found a space.
"Is it always this busy here?" she asked outside of the truck, stretching her arms over her head from the near hour journey.
Grabbing the cooler from the back, Hayden surveyed the marina up ahead with its bobbing white boats and gleaming waters behind his dark sunglasses. "Yeah, especially during the summer like this. Coming down to the beach or taking their boats out onto the water is what people do for fun during the warm months."
Joel came around the truck holding her small duffel bag along with his. That morning after waking her up with kisses down her back, he informed her to pack an overnight bag.
"You should see the parking lot for the public beach. I bet there isn't one fucking spot available," Joel muttered as they all fell into step alongside each other.
Squinting at the bright sun beaming off the white concrete, Sapphire followed Joel through the marina's gated entrance as Hayden took up the rear. Secretly she felt like a celebrity when they walked like this. A celebrity wearing a black bikini and simple white cotton beach cover-up while her bodyguards wore t-shirts, swim-shorts, and flip-flops. Okay, maybe a very casual celebrity and bodyguard team, she thought with a laugh.
"That's kind of disappointing," she said, raising her voice over the loud rumble of a boat engine starting. After a brief greeting with the security guard, Joel was leading them down the white decking of the dock that stretched over the lapping marina water outward to each bobbing boat like a spider. "I thought that since it's a small town and all, it would be fewer people. You know, like a secret cove or something."
"Stardust isn't as small as you would like to think. It's actually pretty big, but I see what you mean. But remember, Stardust Cove is kind of a crown jewel between Holter and Fort Mason. Everyone comes here for a good time."
"Don't forget about Stardust Heights," Hayden added with a grunt. Turning around back to him, Sapphire's brows lifted, impressed by the sight of him. Instead of carrying the cooler of food and drinks in his hands like before, he balanced the heavy box onto one shoulder with one arm lazily wrapped around it to keep it steady. She couldn't help but admire the way his massive chest flexed into the fabric of his shirt in this position.
Catching her straying gaze, Hayden let the sunglasses slip down the bridge of his nose with the tilt of his head, giving her full view of his storm grey eyes before giving her a mischievous wink.
Turning back around with a grin, she turned to hear Joel answer.
"Ugh, fucking Stardust Heights," he groaned in disgust.
Curious now, she asked. "What's Stardust Heights?" It sounded like the name of a school.
"Just a stupid neighborhood on the mountain," Joel pointed to the large mountain to their right off in the distance, not bothering to look over that way. Looking closer now, Sapphire could see the gleaming windows of houses dotting the crest. "It's full of the insanely rich who live up there, removed from the rest of Stardust as if they were their own city."
"It pretty much is," Hayden grunted, unable to hide his own disgust. "They've got their own mini police force, grocery stores, private school. You name it."
Sapphire squinted at a large house on the mountain and imagined whoever owned the house waking up to million-dollar ocean views while viewing the town from above. From up there, the regular people of Stardust probably looked like dirt-poor ants. "Sounds very elitist."
"Oh, they are." Joel finally stopped in front of a large white boat, forcing Sapphire to pull her gaze away from the bright sky and the people who lived up there and down to the sparkling white boat floating tranquility in front of them.
