Spark, page 2
“Text you later,” I tell her before heading out. I do have shit to do. I just don’t know what the fuck it is.
3
Bailey
My arms ache as I keep the sign I’m holding up over my head. People walk by, giving me strange looks. Haven't they seen anyone protesting before? A few locals smile at me as they pass. I blow a piece of hair out of my face. I didn't think about the heat. It’s so freaking hot out here I’m going to melt away. It’s a good thing that I didn’t apply makeup this morning. Even the glue is beginning to soften and the words are becoming a mess on my sign. I don’t let that bother me and I continue pacing back and forth in front of the enemy’s headquarters. I’m on the front line of this caffeine war.
“Iced coffee or snack?” I turn to look at Millie, who is leaning against the side of her building watching me. She still has her apron on from work. They are about to close for the day. She's holding my favorite cake pop and I bet she even put it aside for me. They always sell out fast. She knew that I would be out here unprepared.
“I’m busy protesting,” I remind her even as I eye the yummy goodness in her hands. She is trying to break me.
“So a hunger strike too.” She shakes her head like she can’t believe it.
“Never,” I gasp. I’ll do a lot of things but giving up food isn’t happening. “Maybe I should take both. Let people know where I stand. That cake pop will be eaten to show my loyalty to your coffee shop and not because I need a snack.” I drop my sign, walking over to her. She hands me the coffee and heaven on a stick. I’m able to hold them and the sign too. Well, at least I can the coffee. I eat the cake pop in one giant bite before handing her the stick back. Millie laughs at my craziness but I can see the love in her eyes. Even though she thinks I’m absolutely nuts, she’s proud that I’m standing up for her business.
“You have glitter all over you.”
“I know. Can’t help it if I shine.” I take a sip of the iced coffee to wash down the cake. God, I might be shit at making signs and protesting, but I make killer treats. We wouldn't run out of things for sale if we had more room. I want to walk over and kick the building that they have already started construction on. These big corporations love to come in and put smaller ones out of business. I am determined to stand up for the little guy. No one is going to come into our house and take it away from us. They will have to get through me first.
“That’s not shining, that’s a hot mess.” She reaches out, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Do you have sunscreen on? You’re going to burn.” My skin is starting to feel hot. I didn’t think about putting any on. I am going to regret that. I bet my fair skin is already a nice shade of pink. No pain, no gain.
“The sun is setting,” I say in order to elude her question. She tries to bait me back inside multiple times. The dinner offer almost makes me crack but I stay strong.
“I’ll take that as a no.” She rolls her eyes and I know she’s fighting going to get some to put on me. “I have to pick the kids up. You going to stay out of trouble?” Her eyebrow lifts as she waits for my answer.
“Of course. This is public property. I’m doing nothing wrong.” I say the same thing to her that I’ve said to the contractors that keep barking at me to move out of their way as they try and go in and out of the building. I’m purposely getting in their way. Some were outright mean and a few were a little too nice. It was a struggle to know whose way to jump out of and who to annoy. I think I’ve got a good balance of both going on.
She kisses me on the cheek. “Make sure you stop over afterwards for dinner,” she tells me. It’s Saturday and I always go for dinner.
“Yeah, I’ll walk over in a few hours.”
“I’m doing pizza night.”
“You’re good.” I narrow my eyes at her. She shrugs, knowing exactly what she’s doing. Pizza night is the best. We all roll out our own dough and get to load it with whatever we want. “I’ll be over shortly,” I give. She kisses me on the cheek before she heads out.
I suck down my iced coffee before I get back to my picketing. I really didn’t think this through. I need flyers to hand out or something. No one knows what I’m talking about and my sign makes no sense. I need to come up with a better one.
“You little bitch” is bellowed as I run right into a big-bellied chest. I bounce off it, falling to the ground. I let out a small scream. “That is your own fucking fault.” The man points down at me angrily. I think he’s the main guy on the construction crew. He barks all the orders, at least. He reaches down, grabbing my sign. I try and grab it back but my hand lands on his belt. We both pull and he almost stumbles to his ass. He lets out a string of curses as he rips my sign in half. I’ve never felt anger like I do in this moment. It’s coursing through my body at this jerk’s disrespect for not only a woman but for my property. My only solace is that when I look at the big lug he has glitter all over him. I definitely win for today.
“You can’t destroy my property,” I shout at him. He ignores me, throwing my sign to the ground. I get up, rushing over to pick it up. I clinch the keys I pulled out of his belt into my hand before I slip them into my jeans pocket, hoping he doesn’t notice. He’s not saying anything about them so I know I’ve gotten away with it. He’s already too busy stomping back into the building. I take off back to my place before he realizes I have his keys.
It’s not until I’m back into my place that I realize there is no saving my sign and my knees are both bleeding. I clean myself up and head over to Millie’s house to enjoy some pizza. I’m not going to let some idiot deter me from my cause. Tomorrow is a new day and now I’m more determined than ever.
4
Jax
I settle into my office chair and look over to the small leather sofa to see Bear lounging on it as if he owns the thing. I shake my head while scanning my desk to see if there’s anything important on it. After a few moments I give up on trying to concentrate on anything. My mind is restless and my body feels out of sorts. Maybe I'm coming down with something. I shake that thought off because I know it’s not that. Before I can think any more about it, my phone begins to vibrate. I pick it up and see that Jason is calling me.
He owns the construction company that builds or updates our shops. It must be the time of day where he gives me a daily update on things. I no longer man the front lines. That’s what the people I hired are for. My time is better spent doing other stuff. With Jason it’s different. We’ve been together from the start. I hired him for my first building. He was as wet behind the ears as I was back then but I saw the drive in him. I enjoyed working with him. He was dependable and true to his word when he gave it. I respect those things in a person.
“Tell me everything is going perfectly and I don’t need to stay on this phone more than a few minutes,” I say with a smile on my face. These calls are always the same every single day that we are working a site. Jason is usually a man of few words but this time I’m met with silence.
“We got a problem, boss.” The smile I am wearing drops from my face. Shit. It really has to be one if he is calling me over it.
“What’s the issue? Is everything not up to code? Did someone forget to get permits?” I rattle off the first things that come to my mind that could possibly be wrong.
“It's none of the above.” That’s the only thing he says. My patience wears thinner by the second as I wait for Jason to explain what the issue is. “It’s a girl. She’s protesting the site and causing a commotion.” He lets out a long sigh. “She made her local paper. That said, every speeding ticket in this place makes their paper. Seven people caught last week if you're wondering,” he says dryly.
“What else?” Jason might be a man of few words but I can read him well. He made the small joke because he didn't want to say the rest.
“Check your email.” He finally gives. I pull my phone away from my ear, hitting speaker before dropping it down onto my desk. An email from Jason dings into my box. I click it. My whole world tilts on its axis as a beautiful face fills my screen. My eyes lock on hers and I swear I fall under some weird spell. I forget I’m on the phone or anything else until Jason speaks again. “It’s a video. Hit play.”
He jerks me back to reality. I haven’t made it that far to see it was a video. I click the play button and watch as she runs into a man. My fist clenches when her tiny body comes into contact with his. I stand as I watch her fall. My chair goes flying back, hitting the wall behind me. I can’t hear what is said but I can make out the word bitch that comes from his mouth.
“He’s fired,” I shout. I watch as he rips her sign in half and storms off. The rage I feel inside of me has me pacing back and forth. How could anyone speak to that perfect being in that matter? After seeing her gorgeous face I feel a renewed sense of purpose. I’m now determined to know everything about this little protester.
“Already done that,” Jason tells me. I close out my screen.
“Bear, up,” I tell him. He lazily opens his eyes, rolling over so he half falls off the sofa. Bear follows me as I exit my office. Brent is sitting at his desk. “Call Stan,” I tell him. He nods.
“I just wanted you to hear about it from me. I didn't know if the video could get out there or what not, but I fired the dipshit. That said, the fall hasn't stopped her. She was back out there all day yesterday protesting with a new sign. I was informed she’s there again now.”
I haven't even asked where. I hit the button for the elevator. “Where is this?” I have a handful of new coffee shops in the works right now. Jason oversees construction of them all.
“Your back yard. Smithville. It’s about a two-hour drive from you.” I know the small town. It is popular for people who want to get away from the city for a while. We haven’t tried opening a coffee shop there sooner because there isn’t a ton of available space. The town hasn't allowed new commercial building for a few years. I’m guessing a spot finally became available and we stepped in and grabbed it up. It’s a cute town that has a nice vibe to it. It’s not too busy so it still has a small town feel without being boring. It’s hard to find the perfect mix but Smithville has it.
“Brent.” I call my assistant’s name. He looks up at me. “Tell him the chopper. In my inbox is an email from Jason. I want to know everything about the woman in the video.”
“On it.” I step onto the elevator, knowing I’ll have everything in record time. Brent is worth his weight in gold with how quickly he can get things.
“I was going to head out there too.”
“Don’t,” I bark. I don’t know why but suddenly I’m thinking about Jason and how attractive he is. I’ve heard my sister mention it when she met him. I don’t want him anywhere near my perfect protestor. I clear my throat. Bear looks up at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. “I’ve got it under control. No need for us both to go.”
“I hate for you to have to go. This is my mess and—"
“I’ve got it. Not doing anything else at the moment.”
“Your sister did mention you have turned into a bum.”
“My sister?” I pause for a moment.
“I’ll let you get to it. Talk to you later.”
“Later.” I’ll touch back on his comment about my sister. She can handle herself. I half run out of the building with Bear keeping pace with me. When I open the car door he jumps in with an annoyed huff. He’s not a fan of running. I learned that rather quickly. He makes me do my morning runs solo. I hop in, start the car, and take off toward my little protestor, my future. It doesn't take me long to make it to the airport. Stan is waiting already. I could make the drive but you never know how traffic will be and I’m not willing to waste another second. There are some things you gamble on and some things you don’t. I’m going all in when it comes to her.
It only took one look at her picture to know that I want her. My cock has been hard since those striking blue eyes and that pouty mouth flashed across my screen. Thoughts of those plump lips wrapping around my cock have me adjusting myself as I drive. She has an innocence about her. I bet she’s sweet down to her core. Her pussy is probably the sweetest. I wonder if she’ll let me lick and suck all of that sweetness from her. I bet she won’t protest that. I clear those thoughts as I approach the airport. I should be ashamed of myself for thinking these things about her but I can’t help it. I’ve never had such a strong pull to someone before. I think I’ve finally figured out what I’ve been waiting for. Maybe it’s not so much what but who.
5
Bailey
Everyone was being creepy nice around here. It’s starting to freak me out. That jerk that I ran into has been gone since that day. I made sure I was more prepared with information regarding my cause. I handed out flyers to everyone that passed all day Sunday. The construction crew wasn’t here Sunday.
“You want a chair? I can put it in the shade.” I turn to see Charlie, who looks to be in his mid-fifties. I think he took over the other guy’s job that ripped my sign. Here he is being all nice to me again like I’m not protesting them. I’m starting to feel guilty about tampering with their paint and unplugging all their tools so they don’t recharge overnight. It is the only sabotage I could come up with. They are going to be in for a shock when they go to paint. I found the perfect place to dump all that extra glitter I had.
“How can you work for a company like this? Whoever owns it has these poor men working on Saturdays.” Charlie’s smile brightens at my question.
“The company pays amazing overtime. All the men around here will jump on it if they can. If the owner Jason would let them they would have been working yesterday too.”
“Hell yeah we would,” Josh chimes in as he walks out the front door with a two by four over his shoulder. “Saving up for a sweet honeymoon for my girl. I’ll be all over more overtime if it’s offered. I don’t care if it’s a Sunday or not.”
“Oh.” I step over into the shade to the area that Charlie pointed out earlier. I move out of Josh’s way. This is getting hard. Everyone is being so accommodating to me today. They even spent their break over at Millie’s coffee shop eating us out of house and home. I was starting to feel guilty over the sparkles. I could sneak back over again to try and replace the paint. Unless they are painting soon. I don’t know how long these things take to construct but they look to be moving fast. “When will this dump open?” I ask. That might give me an idea of how close they are to painting. I’m guessing you do that when you’re almost done. The more I think about it, the idea of them having a shiny building no longer seems like a good one. Not only because I feel bad but because it will draw attention to them. I’ve made a mistake with my glitter paint plan.
Charlie raises his eyebrows at me.
“Not that your work is a dump.” Crap. Did I offend him? I don’t think about him doing the work on it. He only laughs. “I just meant I don’t like this place and it has crap coffee.” I actually have no idea if their coffee is good or bad. I’ve never had it before. I am now boycotting it.
“I just put them together. I have no idea when they open,” he answers when he gets his laughing back under control.
“Hopefully never,” I say as I continue to stand in the shade. It feels good to stand still for a few minutes. “Whoever owns Brewed Awakening is an idiot for opening next to an authentic coffee place.” I motion towards Millie’s place. Charlie’s smile stretches wide across his face. He looks as though he’s trying to stop himself from laughing again. I don’t get what he thinks is so funny. Maybe he thinks their coffee sucks too. My thoughts are cut off when I hear a man speak from behind me.
“You need a seat, miss?” My arms immediately get goosebumps at the sound of a deep male voice. My curiosity gets the best of me and I turn my head to see the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on. My mind goes blank as I look him up and down. He’s holding a chair in one hand and a cup of enemy coffee in the other. He sets the chair down for me. My legs tell me to sit but my brain has other ideas.
“You can’t have that here.” I reach out and smack the cup out of his hand. My mouth falls open as coffee splatters all over his pants. “Oh God. I’m so sorry.” I can’t believe I did that. Something is wrong with me. “Don’t call the cops. I’ll pay for the dry cleaning and I’ll get you new coffee. Better coffee even! I told Mike I’d stay out of trouble,” I plead.
“Who’s Mike?” His face, which remains calm even though coffee is splattered all over him now, seems to be angry at the mention of the sheriff.
“The sheriff.” I am lucky that Millie’s husband Mike holds that position or I may have already been in a world of trouble. When he found out I was protesting he told me to keep it civil. I'm not sure breaking and entering is civil but it’s just a little glitter. Plus I have the keys. So I’m technically letting myself in. Right?
“I’m not calling the sheriff.”
Relief fills me. I don’t need Mike poking around here.
“Come with me. I’m so sorry. I’ll get you new coffee and some napkins.” I glance to Charlie, who is silently laughing.
“Don’t let anyone take my sign,” I tell him. “I’ll bring you back a treat.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Charlie keeps on smiling before he gives a nod to the man who was nice enough to get me a chair.
“Come to Millie’s. She’s got the best coffee in town. I even make the treats.” I grab his arm. He willingly comes with me. It’s then I notice how tall he is. I have to tilt my head way back to look into his dark eyes. He isn't just handsome. He’s sexy too. It’s a mix of the suit and his laid-back attitude that is doing it.
“My dog Bear will watch your sign.” The man's head turns and I see a giant dog sitting behind him that lives up to his name. He’s big and fluffy and I want to lay down on top of him and cuddle. I might want to do that to his owner too.
