She climbs up into the seat, but before I can close the door she asks, “How are you not already taken, Sawyer Rivers?”
Without hesitation, I step closer, and my lips find the soft skin of her neck. The taste of her goes straight to my head. “I am, Hadleigh. By you.”
Chapter 27
Hadleigh
I look around the table at my girlfriends and smile. “I’m so glad we could get together this weekend. I love it here.”
The cider mill we’d decided to come to for my birthday is just perfect, like a rustic wood cabin on steroids. The main building is huge, as they make hard cider right on the premises, and they have the whole second floor open for events and tastings. Glancing around, I’d say they do pretty steady business.
“Sophia, this place is going to be perfect for your wedding reception this summer. Did you get a good look at the view outside?” Zoey looks out the huge picture window on her right, which overlooks the apple orchard. She turns back to us with a big grin on her face. “It’s just apple trees for miles.”
“Yeah, Heath and I knew it was perfect when we came here just after Thanksgiving for their grand opening. The owner, Liam, is really nice, too. When he heard we were planning a wedding, he checked their calendar, and though it was already filling for events, the date we wanted was still available to reserve. We went ahead and jumped on it.” She wrinkles her nose. “I was so excited to show it to you guys. Hadleigh, I hope you don’t mind that we combined your birthday with a little wedding-venue exploration.”
“Not at all. Like I said, I love it here. It’s just gorgeous. You are going to have the most beautiful day ever. I can’t wait.”
Our attention is caught by a man approaching us. “Hi, there.” He looks directly at Sophia. “It’s Sophia, right?”
She grins. “Yes, that’s me. I brought my friends to check out everything with me.” She quickly gestures to each of us. “This is, Zoey, Madison, Piper, Quinn, and Hadleigh.” We smile and wave as our names are called. “And it’s Hadleigh’s twenty-sixth birthday today, so we’re celebrating, too. Girls, this is Liam.”
Liam smiles and nods. “Thanks for coming out, ladies. The next round is on me. And happy birthday, Hadleigh.” He winks in my direction. “Would you like another round of the same or would you like to try something different?”
“What’s your favorite? They’ll try whatever you like best.” Quinn shoots him a smile.
“That’d be the Orchard Classic. I’ll bring some out for you.”
Quinn nods her approval with a distinct twinkle to her eye. “I guess I’ll have to come back some other time for more than a taste. I’m driving tonight.”
I swear, Quinn is turning on the charm. Funny.
“Absolutely. We’d love to have you come back.” He gives her a warm smile.
A chorus of thank yous goes up, and Liam moves away to chat with another group of customers.
Piper waits until he’s far enough away before she says on a giggle, “Dang, Sophia, you hadn’t told us he’s a total hottie.”
Madison laughs next to her. “She was probably too busy with Heath to notice.”
A full-out snort-laugh erupts on my left from Quinn. “You mean just like you are so completely obsessed with everything Shawn these days?”
Madison’s face picks up a pretty pink color. “Maybe.” She winks back at Quinn. “And what was that vibe you were throwing out there just now?”
“I don’t know what you are referring to.”
Zoey’s brow wrinkles as she focuses her attention on me. “Well, what’s up with you, birthday girl? No commentary? I would have thought you’d be all over this conversation.”
With a swift shake of my head, I lift the bottle of cider to my lips so I don’t have to say anything right away and take a nice, long drink. When I set it back on the table, all five pairs of eyes are glued to me, mouths parted in surprise. I know I’m not behaving like my usual self. I can’t help it. I don’t know how to act. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if I should say anything.
Things have been amazing with Sawyer this week, but every time I turn around, Ed is texting me another nude photo. Tormenting me. Provoking me. Taunting me. Sometimes, the shots are zoomed in so you can’t tell it’s me, but in others, my face is included for anyone to see should they be sitting next to me when the text comes in.
Right before we’d been seated tonight, he’d sent me a photo of my nipple. My freaking nipple. I’m so done with him I don’t know what to do with myself. The idea that he’d eventually send these to someone else is almost more than I can take. And what’s coming across loud and clear is that he expects me to stop seeing Sawyer. He’ll use whatever means necessary to hurt me since I don’t want to be with him. I fully expect him to send the photos to Sawyer first, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll go to the administration to get me removed as Sawyer’s mentor. This is why I’m on the verge of just telling everyone what’s going on. It’s all going to come out anyway. Better to get ahead of it. Besides, I need advice. Big-time. I’m just not quite ready.
Piper lowers her voice, “Is it Ed again? I know you told us he was still bugging you when we got back from break. And … Jake kind of mentioned something about him arguing with you in the workroom the other day.” She grimaces. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you I knew about it, but poor Jake was worried.”
“He’s been a
