My heel brushes against the edge of the sidewalk. Get me alone? He’s been waiting out here. And he’s looking at me like I’ve done something wrong, like I’ve injured him, when he’s the one who has broken my heart. Slowly, piece by piece, over the years.
And now in one single swoop, it all shatters.
“Paige. Are you all right?” a voice asks. It’s hard.
Ben and I both look to the side. And there are West and Nora, holding hands. She’s staring straight at my uncle with wide eyes.
West’s face draws together in anger. “Ben Wilde. What a terrible surprise.”
My uncle takes a few steps back. The color is draining from his face. “Enjoy your vacation.”
“Not so fast,” West says.
I don’t stay. I turn on my heel and walk down the street, wrapping my arms around my chest like it can keep the anxiety locked inside. I can’t cry in front of any of them.
So I run instead.
CHAPTER 44
RAFE
I sleep like the dead.
No nightmare comes to wake me. It’s been more than a week since I had my last one. I blink awake once, and find her fitted tightly against me, my arm around her waist.
It’s still dark outside. She’s breathing deeply, and I know she’d hate this. That she made her way over to my side in her sleep.
But I like it too much to move away. So I closed my eyes and fall back asleep with her body cradled against mine.
When I wake up again, sunshine streams in through the window. The sheets are tangled and the bathroom is a mess of towels, and Paige is nowhere to be seen.
I run a hand over my face. Half of yesterday was due to the damn drugs making my heart race and my cock harder than it’s ever been. But I’ll be damned if the other half wasn’t knowing it was her hand around me and her eyes watching. And seeing her make herself come in that shower…
It was a dangerous game, but it might be the best one I’ve ever played.
My attraction to her is no longer something I can pretend happens only sometimes. It’s there. A fact of nature, and onethat’s growing stronger day by day. It’s not a passing itch. I wonder if there’s any way around it, or if we have to fuck to get it out of our systems.
So what if we’re still arguing most days? We have this, whatever last night was, and it’s something we can give one another.
The bruise below my eye has bloomed into something much stronger. She’s not around, and I consider digging around in her bag for something to cover it.
I don’t know where she is.
I change into a pair of slacks and a shirt and look over at where my t-shirt still lies on the bed. She slept in it last night.
Fuck, I shouldn’t like that as much as I do.
I pull a cap low on my face to hide the bruise as much as I can. My phone pings, and I grab it on the way to put on my shoes.
Nora
Ben Wilde is outside. Come quick.
I’m moving before I finish reading it. The lobby is a blur of people, and I push through them all, taking the stone steps two at a time. Across the street stand West and Nora.
No Ben Wilde.
“He just left,” Nora says. She’s got her hand locked in West’s, who looks more pissed than I’ve ever seen him. “West threatened him a bit too much.”
