The sun was setting when I woke up. I decided to run into the bathroom and take a quick shower, enough to wash the sweat off and clean myself up as best as I could, then ran out to the car where Jori was patiently waiting.
“You look pretty,” he says, smiling at me.
“Thank you,” I respond with a shy smile, as I pull the seatbelt across my shoulder and buckle it into place. I push my hair behind my ears and wait patiently as he turns the car on. I’m curious as to why he’s being so friendly right now, considering I shot him down a little while ago, but I’m sure that will come to light soon enough.
“So, where are we dining tonight, my lady?” he asks in an over-exaggerated, gentlemanly tone.
“Um, wanna go to The Anvil?” I ask, giving a peculiar look. That tone swap caught me off guard, and I hope he doesn’t plan on doing that again anytime soon.
“Sure, if that’s what you’re in the mood for, then let’s do it,” he replies, as he checks the side-view mirror before pulling out into the street.
Once we’re on the road, he reaches over and takes my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. For the most part, it’s a quiet, short drive, which I appreciate, since I’ll be fielding more questions than I care for soon enough.
Jori finds a spot on the street a few spots down from the front door, and parks. As he turns the car off, he leans over and kisses me on the cheek, then gets out and walks over to my side of the car. I roll my eyes and laugh as I undo my seat-belt and wait for him to open the door. He may have changed his tone up to some weird Jeeves thing earlier, but he really can be a gentleman when he wants to be.
He presses the button on the key remote to lock and arm the car, then takes my hand and leads me toward the rustic little restaurant I love so much. Jori opens the door to the place and holds it for me so I can walk in, then steps in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and placing his head on my shoulder.
We approach the little podium with a “please wait to be seated sign” next to it, and he nuzzles my neck gently.
“Mm. You smell good, Red,” he says softly, as he breathes me in. I’ve never let anyone get this close to me before—not willingly, anyway, but I know Jori’s different. He’s never hurt me before, and I know he never will, because he’s too busy playing the knight in tattooed armor role in my life.
Even with the dragon almost slain, he acts like he still has to protect me from the world.
“Hello!” a young woman greets us cheerfully. I jump at the sound of her voice and sudden appearance, causing Jori to chuckle. His hands leave my waist as he moves toward the podium, crosses his arms over the mantel, leans in, and smiles at her.
“Two please,” he says with a sly grin and a sparkle in his eyes. “Gotta feed her before I can fuck her, you know?”
“Jori!” I exclaim, playfully slapping him on the back. The young girl’s face turns a slight shade of crimson, but who wouldn’t with someone as charming and sexy as Jori Davidson a few mere feet from their face?
She grabs two menus and tells us to follow her. I poke him in the ribs as soon as she turns her back to us, and he rolls his eyes.
“It was just a joke, Red. Sorry,” he mumbles, falling into step beside me.
“Not to me,” I say to him softly.
Letting out a sigh, he nods, and as we reach a little booth in the back corner, I slide in and look up at him expectantly.
“Hey. Um. I’m sorry about what I said up there,” Jori says to the young woman, nodding toward the podium. “It was rude and I wanted to apologize.”
She smiles at him and nods, placing a menu down in front of me as he slides into the spot next to him. Once his menu is handed to him, she lets us know that our server will be with us shortly.
“Thank you,” I say, turning as much as I can to face him. “I know that was hard for you.”
“No problem,” he says, widening his eyes for a brief moment and chewing on his lower lip. “What looks good?”
Jori may be damn good at a lot of things that matter to me, but apologizing is just not one of them. He says it takes him a lot to swallow his pride and say he’s sorry, and because of that, he’s usually much more careful not to do things to be sorry for.
“Besides you?” I ask, giving him a playful nudge. He lets out a short laugh as he flips the menu back over, opens it, and begins to look over the selections.
“Seriously though, Red. What are you hungry for?” he asks, reaching over and opening my menu. “Besides me, of course.”
I smirk as he steals a glance out of the corner of his eye, then lean my head on his shoulder as I look at the choices. The words and pictures are blurring, because the truth is, I’m not really hungry. The worry I’m feeling from telling him about my visit with Hoyt is enough to fill any hunger inside me for the time being.
“Hi, there!” another young girl greets us. She’s got short-cropped brown hair, a piercing in her lip, and friendly hazel colored eyes. “My name is Elizabeth, and I’ll be taking care of you guys this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“I’ll have some apple juice,” I say, glancing up at her from the comfort of Jori’s shoulder. He turns his head slightly down at me and asks if it’s okay if he has a beer, and I nod. One beer won’t render him useless when it comes to driving us back, and it might actually help keep him calm once the story starts to flow out of me.
Jori orders his beer, closes his menu, and slips an arm around my shoulders. I still haven’t decided what I want to eat yet, but I guess an appetizer will have to do. It’ll hurt his manhood that I’m not ordering some big meal, ‘cause he always thinks he doesn’t have enough money to support us, but I don’t need much, and I’ve told him that a thousand times over.
Elizabeth returns a few moments later and places our drinks in front of us, before pulling out her order pad and a pen from her apron.
“Alright; what can I get for you guys?” she asks with a friendly smile and her pen poised over the pad.
“I’ll take the seared ribeye and some of those amazing garlic mashed potatoes I know you’ve got hiding back there somewhere,” he says, handing her his menu. She nods as she writes down his order and asks him how he wants his meat cooked. “Medium-well is just fine with me.”
“And for you?” she asks, writing down his directions, then glancing up at me.
“Um, I’ll take the tortilla chips and salsa dip, please,” I say, passing Jori my menu. He’s giving me a disappointed look, but I’m being very careful to ignore it without hurting his feelings too much.
He waits for Elizabeth to walk away before he turns to look at me. “Really? That’s all you’re having?”
“I’m just not very hungry,” I reply with a shrug. “I think I’m topped off on all the snacks I had on the road still. Nothing more, nothing less.”
He lets out a heavy sigh and runs his hand back through his hair. He’s using his “I’m pissed off, but we’re in public, so I won’t make a scene” trademark move, and I decide to shrug out from beneath his arm.
I don’t want to argue with Jori, but he’s not the one who has to deal with the shit I have to. He sees everything from the outside, and somehow thinks that makes him a martyr for whatever fucking cause he thinks I have.
It doesn’t.
There is no martyrdom to be had here, and soon, there won’t even be any more dragons to slay, and with as much as I love him, I’m not sure I’ll really need him anymore.
When Hoyt dies, a big piece of me will too, and I’m afraid that the part of me that loves Jori will be buried with him. Maybe I’m worrying for nothing, maybe I’m not, but I guess it’s true what they say—time will tell.
“Come on, don’t do that,” he says quietly as he rests a hand on my thigh. “I’m sorry I get shitty when it comes to stuff like this, but I wanted tonight to be special, you know? We haven’t seen each other in a while, and I wanted you to have anything you wanted.”
“I’ll have what I want when those chips come out here,” I reply, turning my head and leaning up to glance over the seat. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll steal some of your food when you’re not looking, too.”
Jori laughs, this time a good-natured laugh, and I turn back around and smile at him. When he’s genuinely happy, his smile can light up the fucking world. You can see eternity in his eyes, and everything seems like it’ll be okay, even if just for the moment we’re in.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” I inquire, leaning forward and placing my elbow on the table. I let my chin fall into my hand as he takes a sip of his beer and nods. “What do I smell like to you?”
He raises a curious eyebrow at me as he sets his glass down and smiles, “What?”
“Well, just a little while ago, you said I smell good. I’m curious about what I smell like to you,” I reply, tilting my head and grinning.
“Hm, well,” he says, leaning back and drumming his fingers on the table. He moves quickly toward me, taking in a whiff, before falling back against the seat, smiling. Jori cuts his eyes playfully toward me and I grin at him expectantly. “Fresh hyacinth on a warm spring day.”
My face flushes red and Jori grins. I don’t know if he’s telling me the truth so much as probably reciting the can of air freshener we keep in the house, but I’ll take it.
Before either of us can say anything else, Elizabeth reappears with our plates of food on a large tray.
“Um, would you mind sitting on the other side while we eat?” I ask him with a nervous smile.
Jori raises an eyebrow at me and gives me a confused smile, but nods and slides out of the booth, repositioning himself across from me. He shakes his head as he pulls his jacket off and thanks Elizabeth when she sets his plate in front of him.
“Can I have another beer when you get a chance?” he asks her, opening up his napkin and tossing it aside for now.
“Sure can!” she replies with a nod, setting my plate of chips and salsa down. “Would you like a top off there?”
I shake my head and she nods, “Be right back with your beer.”
He clears his throat as he picks up his fork and knife, cuts off a piece of his steak, and shoves it in his mouth. He gives me a big smile as he chews his food, and I’m wondering how long it’ll take him to just hand over the keys without my asking him to.
I shake my head slightly and lean forward, picking up a chip, and dipping it into the salsa. It’s a little spicy for my liking, but actually tastes pretty good. Elizabeth returns, and as she places Jori’s beer down, she asks us how everything is. I nod politely and he tells her we’re okay for now, as he takes a huge swig of his drink. She retrieves the half empty glass from the table and walks away with it.
“Shout if you need anything!” she calls out cheerfully as she disappears into the kitchen.
We eat in silence for a little while, with only playful little actions keeping us aware of each other’s company. I lean over a few times to try to steal some of Jori’s mashed potatoes with a tortilla chip, continuously failing when he raises his fork to fend me off.
It makes us both laugh, and eventually he holds up a forkful of his potatoes to me and slides it through my now parted lips. I laugh and slap his hand away when he begins to slowly move the fork in and out of my mouth, a look of delightful seduction in his eyes.
“Well damn, why’d you stop?” he asks with a wicked grin.
“Because I’m not here to blow the utensils?” I quip with a laugh.
“Hm. Fair enough,” he says, placing his fork down and leaning on the table with his elbows. He picks up his glass of beer and maintains eye contact with me as he begins to drink what’s left of it.
Here it comes, I think as the smile starts to leave my face.
“I’m gonna go take a leak, flag that girl down and get me another beer, and then I wanna hear all about your little adventure,” he says in a quiet tone, getting up from the booth and walking away without so much as a backward glance.