He smirked. “Maybe I like the view here,” Stone said, shrugging.
Her eyes crinkled and she tilted her head to the side. He half expected her to start snarling with the daggers she was throwing him. She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “Yeah, well, maybe you don’t deserve the view.” She raised her brows.
Stone stared back at her. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to mind her own fucking business. Who the hell was she anyway? The bodyguard? He glared back and opened his mouth but quickly clamped his lips closed. She’s right, man. He glanced over her shoulder at the doors where Sadie had retreated to. She still hadn’t come back out. His intent was to keep her at a distance, not hurt her feelings. He sighed, glancing at his waitress and smirking. “Nah, I probably don’t.” It was an admission that stung deeper than it should have.
The statement seemed to catch her off guard, and her eyes widened. He tore his gaze from her and aimed his attention on his plate. He heard the faint sound of her footsteps leaving. He needed to get the hell outta here.
Stone quickly finished up his meal. He threw down a twenty giving the smart ass waitress an overly generous, undeserving tip and walked out to his truck. But not before scanning the entire diner for one last glimpse of her. “Fuck,” he whispered as he threw open the doors. She hadn’t emerged from the back, and now it would be another day before he would see her. If his brothers could see him, they’d be laughing their asses off. This woman was messing with his head. His cell rang.
“Yeah?”
“Now, where have you been?” Bogs teased.
Stone rolled his eyes. He did not need this right now!
“I’m on my way home. What do ya got?” Stone answered blandly. He wasn’t going to tell Bogs where he was. He had already taken enough ribbing about Sadie. Her name suited her—sweet, innocent, but sexy as hell. He usually didn’t refer to her by name because it made her real.
Bogs snorted. “I got an address. I’d ask what you got, but talking about your hard on for our sexy little Sadie is old news.”
Stone grinded his teeth together. Bogs made it his personal mission to fuck with him every chance he got when it came to Sadie. He knew it got under Stone’s skin when he referred to her as “our” Sadie. He gripped the door handle hard and ignored the teasing. “What do ya need?”
Bogs laughed. “We gotta head out soon.”
“Be there in twenty.”
“Later.”
Stone hung up and got into the truck heading home.
His eyes were set on the road the entire way back to his condo, but all he saw was Sadie’s face. Her brown eyes cast down and her jaw angled toward him, blushing cheeks, the corners of her lips in a slight frown. Hurt was hard to mask, and she had an expressive face. He’d done that. His gaze shifted to the left, and his hand was inching to pull into the nearest driveway, turn around and go back to the diner.
“Fuck! Don’t do it.”
He didn’t. He kept on driving with the regret continuing to build in his chest. Like it or not, he needed to keep his distance.
****
It had been a long night. Sadie didn’t mind the night shift. She’d been working it since she started there four years ago. It was the shift every waitress at Bernie’s started out with. She knew that when she was hired. There weren’t too many options of employment at the time, so she took it. She was just thankful for the job and income to pay her bills.
She was never college bound. She had good enough grades in school but didn’t have the money for college, and by the time she graduated high school, her mom was long gone. She left halfway through her senior year. Her mom paid a six month advance on their trailer and called it Sadie’s graduation present. She wasn’t sure where she came up with the rent money, but she did. It had been paid up until July. While most kids in Sadie’s school were checking out college brochures for their future, she was scoping out the Want Ads.
It wasn’t a bad job. It was easy enough. The pay was all right. Mostly, she survived on tips. When Sadie first started, she was green. Always attentive and nice to her customers, she got by on decent tips. However, the longer she worked, the more she learned about the customers.
Waitressing was like any other service job. It was a hustle. She learned what angle to use on which customers. The old folks wanted to talk so she listened. They engaged her by telling their life story. The couples on dates wanted her to serve and nothing else, especially the women. Sadie learned to greet the girl first. Always put the check in front of the man but smile at the woman. No woman wanted competition on her date. If she was happy, then he was happy, and Sadie’s tip would reflect that, which made her happy. Everybody won.
The truckers were simple. They spent most of their time on the road. They were loners by nature, so conversation wasn’t something they wanted. But she found out quickly what they did want. It took her a good year to figure it out. She watched the other girls and learned a lot. When Sadie started at the diner, she swore that wasn’t for her. Nope. No way. She would not earn her tips by flaunting her tits. Eventually, she tried it, and hell, it worked. Just unbuttoning the top two buttons and the cleavage popping out, her tips increased.
Life was about survival. She used what she had to get by.
At exactly five a.m., Sadie clocked out. In the break room, she took her apron off and shoved it into her locker. The break room was tiny, but
