Bear Cabin

Chapter 7

Sophia did not say much the first ten minutes of the drive and I just let her be. She seemed deep in thoughts and I knew what that was like when it involved family. I just hoped everything was ok between her and her son. I was debating on what to do to break the silence when she finally decided to talk to me.

                “I am so sorry Heather. I didn’t mean to sit in silence with you. I am just trying to get my crap together in my head. I hope my son didn’t offend you in some way. “

                “You are fine and he didn’t offend me at all. He was nice to whole time. I am sorry you have so much going on. Is there anything I can help you with?”

                “No but thank you. I am just going to deal with it when we get home. Right now we are almost to the nail place. I booked us for Mani and Pedis if that’s ok with you.” Sophia smiled as she found a place to park.

                “I am totally down with that. I haven’t had one of those in ages. Fingers crossed they don’t judge my feet.” I laughed as we got out.

The nail salon we went to was beautiful. It had a big mural painted on the ceiling of different animals in different habitats and the customer service was spectacular. Sofia decided to go with some gray nail polish but I did convince her to get some cute little jewels to add some flare. I don't know what got me do to it but I decided to pick bright red polish for my nails with the ring finger black with jewels. I started to feel so relaxed and the conversation just started flowing. I told Sophia how I met my ex-husband and how I should of known how he was from the beginning but I was blinded by how he made me feel. We had our issues and our fights but he always apologized and put me first for a while. I didn’t go into detail about some of the more painful experiences because I couldn’t handle reliving them for now. Sophia just kept talking to me and encouraging me to work thru it all.

Next Sofia surprised me with taking me to Red Lobster and I was ever so thankful. It was their crab legs and lobster month so I went to town. Sophia and I were deep in conversation about the different ways to raise your children as a single parent when she all of a sudden went quiet with her head straight up and her back rigid. I could tell she was listening for something or someone but I had no idea what it would be. She looked at me with fear and told me to run but it was too late. I looked at where she was staring and I saw three huge men. They were almost seven feet tall with huge broad shoulders and bodies like tanks. You could feel the heat of the anger radiating off them but they never moved. My eyes got huge and I wondered why they were so pissed off. They never looked at us but around us.

A smaller man in the muscles department walked through them, with his eyes glued on Sofia. Even though he was smaller you could tell he was the boss since he had an air of arrogance about him.

“Well well well. Sofia what brings you into town today? We never see you here anymore,” he snarled.

“I decided I needed a girl's day but that's none of your business Jeffrey,” She scoffed as she started to get out her credit card to pay the bill. Jeffrey took a big sniff of the air and looked over at me.

“Who is this human you’re with? You're new to town I can tell.” He demanded to know while taking a seat at the table. As soon as he looked at me I felt this heat of anger that I haven't felt in a long time and it just reminded me that I knew crappy guy when I saw one.

I did a half smile at him and replied “I am Heather. Thanks for joining us even though you weren’t invited and I am guessing that was for a reason since you are being super rude to Sophia. Now please leave so we can enjoy the rest of our meal. Thanks.” I looked him in the eye the entire time I was speaking hoping that would be another hint for him to get lost.

“So I'm guessing you don't have manners just like Sofia and her pack.” He stated as he kept his stare on Sophia. At this point I wondered what he meant by pack but maybe that's a slang term here for family. He was definitely getting on my nerves and it was making so angry the way he was looking at Sophia.

 I looked at him with disgust in my eyes. “ I have manners for people I like but seeing as how you look like a snot-nosed jerk I really don't want to even look at you.” Sophia looked at me like I was crazy and with a bid of admiration. At this point Jeffrey snarled and then growled at me. Who growls at people?

 “Heather we're going,” Sophia stated and we both stood up.

Jeffrey then looked at us and said “I didn't say you could go anywhere so how about you both sit down and we have a little chat.” It wasn’t a question but an order. You can tell by his voice and his posture. The huge men beside us tensed up and finally looked at us with a glare.

“How about no Jeffrey. We're having a girl's afternoon so we'll be heading out now. Although I will tell you this next time you speak to Sofia it better have some more respect behind it.” I swing my hair off my shoulder and started to walk away but the three big dudes wouldn't budge. Sophia and I turned around to glare at Jeffrey.

“Jeffrey have your men move or I will call my sons. I wouldn’t want this to impact your peace treaty with them.” Sophia said as she took her phone out of her purse.

Jeffrey grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm. She let out a Yelp from the pain pain and I angerly walked over, ripped his hand off of her, and shoved him back in his seat.

“You may think that you're this big strong man but in reality when you have to put your hands on a woman you're a little boy. Keep your hands to yourself !” I said loudly and with as much venom as I could muster.

Jeffrey’s eyes widened in anger and loathing. “Who do you think you are little girl? This is my territory and I shall do as I please.” He almost screamed at me but held it together.

Sophia and I turned our backs on him and tried to push through again. The middle big guy grabbed onto Sophia and tried to pick her up. I lost my temper and kicked him in the nutsack. He dropped Sophia and when he bent over in pain I kneed him in the face. I heard the crunch of a broken nose and smiled. I turned back around to Jeffrey with my smile still in place. “We will be going now or I will break something on your pretty little face.” Sophia and I turned and walked out of the restaurant. Neither of us took a deep breath until we made it into her car with all the doors locked and double checked.

 She looked at me and said thank you. She started up the car to warms us up and I could see a tear fall down her cheek. It made me want to go back in there and beat the s**t out of him.

“Who is that guy? He seemed to think that he ruled everything and no one came to our rescue while dealing with his jerk face. Is he a big deal in town or is he one of those guys everybody scared of.,” I questioned as I hugged her. “it is going to be ok. No one is going to hurt you on my watch.”

“Let's just say everyone scared of him except for my family. It didn't used to be like that but some bad things happened in town . And after seeing you in action I can believe that you can hold your own.” Sofia called Sebastian and when he answered I got butterflies in my tummy. I had to mentally slap myself and remind myself that I needed to focus on my children, my career, and myself. Men are just trouble and I had enough of that to last me a lifetime.

Sophia started to back out of the parking lot after hanging up with Sebastian and looked at me quickly. “Sebastian says we should head back home in case Jeffrey tries something else.”

“That’s fine. I will get into my car and go grocery shopping after a small nap.” I figured she was rattled and her son’s would be as well. Its good they want her safe and it shows me they really care about their mom.

“Sebastian means for both of us to stay put when we make it back until he gets this handled tomorrow.” Sophia weakly smiled as she drove.

“I am sorry for what happened Sophia and I am glad your son is watching out for you but he isn’t the boss of what I do. I am a paying guest at the cabins and I need groceries. So he can either butt out or get in the passenger seat in a few hours. His choice.” I was a little upset that he thought he was my boss. If I wanted another father in my life I sure as hell wouldn’t ask his butt.