17
Zach
It’s after eleven when I get home and there’s no sign of Paige or Morgan.After walking from room to room on the main floor, I take the stairs, hoping to find Paige asleep in our bed.
Halfway up, JP appears from his quarters.“Mr.Rothwell, good evening.”
“JP, where are Ms.Hayes and Ms.Rothwell?”
“They’re out, sir.”
“Out?”
“Yes, they said something about self-defense class.”
“Self-defense?”I arch a brow and he nods.
I’m pleased to hear Paige is taking action and so quickly.It isn’t surprising.She’s strong and independent, but I’m a bit disappointed and frustrated she never said anything to me.
“Did either of them say when they’d be back?”
“No, sir.But they did say something about dancing afterward so I imagine they might be late.”
“Fine.”My disappoint morphs into irritation and I continue up to my bed.“Good night, JP.”
I haven’t spoken with Paige since this morning when she discovered just how deranged her landlord is and, more importantly, that I failed to keep her safe.I thought about calling or texting, but I’m not one to call just because and nothing I could think of to say sounded right or acceptable.
Despite fatigue, I’m awake at well after one in the morning when she stumbles into the room reeking of stale cigarettes, reminiscent of the outside entrance to the dive bars Morgan likes to frequent.
I don’t say a word, lying still and watching her strip off her clothes and fall into bed in only a shirt and panties.I could relish the thought she’s more and more comfortable with living with me.I like that idea but that doesn’t explain her actions.
She’s tired, maybe even tipsy, and doesn’t have her wits or the wherewithal to care.That’s my guess anyway.
Sleep eventually comes and when I wake early in the morning, Paige is wrapped around me again.Like the night before, it’s still hard to believe her body pressing against mine didn’t wake me.
I’m not cuddly when I sleep or used to someone draping themselves over me.Yet for some unknown reason, Paige hugging me with a vise-like grip doesn’t even cause me to stir during the night.
My morning routine of a workout, shower, and breakfast keeps my mind off the puzzling woman in my bed.Once I’m dressed and ready to leave, it crosses my mind to wake her and talk.But I don’t.
Depending on how you look at it, my day goes much the same as the last.Foreign and troublesome.Like a splinter festering underneath the skin, at first, our lack of communication went undetected, or at least I thought so.
Until this alien and unwelcomed sensation started to swell and throb under my skin.And now it’s at the point where talking, like the removal of the splinter, is the only thing that will quell the hard-to-ignore discomfort.
Paige is on my mind all day long, but I don’t reach out or do anything about it, and she doesn’t contact me either.Resolved to talk in person and no longer able to suppress the urge to face her—see her—I leave the office well before I should, with a lot of work left unfinished.
I arrive home a little past eight and before I even set eyes on a single soul, I feel or, more the opposite,don’tfeel her presence.
Paige isn’t here.
Morgan’s sprawled on the couch eating chips and watching something loud and offensive on the flat screen.
“She waited for you.Stayed as long as she could before leaving.She even told Nan to go without her.”
Shit.The foundation meeting.I completely forgot.
“Umm.”Not wanting to get into anything with my cousin, I play off my stupidity with nonchalance, scrolling through the news feed on my phone.A night of further aggravation faces me, and I grimace inwardly.
“The foundation meeting was tonight.You should have been here.She was a ball of nerves.Worried they would treat her like Reagan did.”
