My arm falls and she links my fingers with hers. Damn, she has a way with me not many have had before her. “Well, he won’t be the reason you leave this one.” I think we both know it will be me.
I tighten my grip on her hand. “Forget this address. You should feel damn lucky you didn’t barge in here when her other two roommates were here. They’re crazy mother fuckers.” He doesn’t need to know Chrissy’s all of five-four. Even though, I do imagine she can hold her own pretty well. Then I inch closer. “See, Paige is mine and I don’t like it when people fuck with what’s mine. I strongly suggest you don’t come here again.” I painfully release my hand from Paige’s in order to punch the wall for dramatic effect again. He flinches. “Never. You hear me? Or you’ll be face to face with my Glock.” I don’t own a gun, but this asshole is on a need to know basis. This will only insure he won’t bother Paige again. “Matty will stay with us tonight and be returned to his mother tomorrow.” I double-check with Paige, only finding sadness as she nods. “Maybe.” I add because I’m not sure Linda is the best person for Matty, Paige either for that matter.
He takes a deep breath and I step back, making sure Paige joins me. Brady hands her an icepack and she places it on the small of her back. “This is good-bye, Carl.” I wait for him to escape toward the door. He finally does and I follow him. “Brady, I’ll be right back.”
“Rob, he’s not worth it.” Paige moves to come forward, but I hold my hand up in the air. She stops and her shoulders fall.
The door slams shut when I follow and Carl’s footsteps move faster than mine did that time Carly’s dad found me in her bedroom. Crossing the lawn, I wait by my car until he backs out of the driveway. My arms crossed over my chest, making sure he knows exactly what will be waiting for him if he returns. Once he’s no longer visible, I climb into my Mustang and pull it up the driveway.
I stop outside the back door and stare up at the sky. Praying for that shooting star to cast a wish on. If I didn’t need anything else in my life, the girl inside just scared the crap out of me and I’m pretty sure she sensed how much her safety affected me. This incident only makes it harder to convince myself that keeping my distance is best for her.
I enter through the screen door and bypass the kitchen straight to the living room. Matty is wrapped up in Paige’s arms as she rocks him back and forth. Brady widens his eyes at me and rolls back on his heels behind them. “Do you guys want to stay at my house for the night?” he hesitantly asks, peering over the couch.
Paige lifts her head, one curl falling down over her eyes, silently asking me. “No, we’ll be fine, but thanks for everything, Brady.”
Paige turns her head to him. “Thank you so much, Brady. I really appreciate you coming over so fast,” she adds, and Brady gives a silent nod.
“If you change your mind, you still have a key, right Rob?” He makes his way to the door and I follow.
“Yeah. Thanks, man.”
He shoots me a look and knowing smile that it’s time to talk and tell Paige why exactly I’m so fucked up. Just as he slips through the doorway, he turns my way. “Call me if you need me.”
I nod and lock the door behind him. Turning around, I find Matty wrapped around Paige like a koala as she starts up the stairs. I hold my hands out and Matty gladly switches to me. We quietly go upstairs and I examine Paige’s room. Her drawers lie on the carpeted floor, pieces of clothing sporadically lying wherever they landed after being swung. When I turn to find her, she lowers her eyes and fixates on her feet. My stomach churns for what she went through and knowing I should have stayed is like a knife to my gut.
Recovering fast, I inch back from Matty so he can see me. “Guess what bud? You get to sleep in my bed.”
“Really?” His excitement brings a smile to my face. The only damn one in the last twenty minutes.
Backtracking to my bedroom, we step in and Paige peers around at the dirty clothes overfilling my hamper and the pile of dust on my dresser. She swipes her finger across my nightstand and holds it up in the air. “Hey, do you see a bald head?” I point to my forehead. “I’m not Mr. Clean.” She leans against the door frame as I tuck in Matty.
“Are your sheets clean at least? I mean, Matty won’t need to be disinfected tomorrow morning?” Tucking the kid under my comforter that, to her astonishment, I did wash last week, I glance back at her.
“Nah, he’s all good.” I can’t make a snarky flirtatious comment back because the guilt weighs heavy on my chest from leaving her alone. Why bother with the front that I just want in her pants? If that was the case, I wouldn’t be allowing her brother to sleep in my bed right now.
Her sympathetic eyes dig into my soul as she crosses the room. Ignoring me, a waft of her perfume hits my nostrils in her passing to my bed. She bends down and squeezes the comforter under his body. “Snug as a bug.” Matty smiles up to her. “Night, little guy.” With a quick kiss on his forehead, she stands up and I’m envious of the love she gives so freely.
“Paige?” Matty calls out when she steps back.
“Yeah, sweetie?” She gives her attention back to him, sitting down on the bed.
“Can I live with you?” Oh shit. I slowly step out of the room, wanting to give them privacy.
“Oh, Matty. I wish you could. Someday, I promise.”
“Why not now? Mommy forgets everything. I wanted to play baseball and she said she’d sign me up, but Zach already started playing.”
“Did you have fun today?” Paige distracts him and he nods with a huge smile on his face.
“I did. Tara’s a little bossy, but I had fun.” He moves to sit up, but Paige places her hand on his chest to keep him down.
“We’ll plan another day with them soon. I promise.” She’s trying to appease him and I agree with the kid, he’s better off somewhere else.
“Tomorrow?” Paige laughs and kisses his forehead again.
“You have school, but soon. Now, go to bed.” Another sweet brush of her lips on his cheek and she steps away from the bed. Anyone standing by can see how close their relationship resembles mother and son instead of sibling.
“Good night, Paige. Good night, Rob.” He rolls over on his side, probably about to fall asleep.
“Good night, bud.” I leave the room, moving down the hall to Paige’s.
I hear my bedroom door close and then Paige is in the doorway. She watches me start to set the drawers back in her dresser, placing clothes back in. “You don’t have to help.” Her arms cross over her chest as she leans against the wooden frame. It’s a knife to the heart finding her eyes devoid of the usual bliss. Instead, they’re dull as rocks.
“I don’t mind. Maybe I can see your unmentionables.” I lighten the mood, hopeful to yank her away from her crappy family life.
“Rob, you’re being too polite.” She breaks the threshold of her room and begins piling items in her arms.
“I can be a gentleman.” I purposely bypass her underwear drawer to one filled with a dozen composition books.
“Surprise to me.” The coy uplift of her lips as she peers over to me and my stomach flips. “But those.” She points to the books in my arms. “Are personal.” She snatches them from my hands.
“Your diaries?”
“Yeah . . . journals.” She places them in a bin and shoves them under her bed. “I’ll be changing that spot after you leave.”
“Am I in one?” I lean over her shoulder and she glares over to me.
“Nope.”
“Come on, I have to be in one.” My fingers tickle her ribcage and she squirms. “Not even a mention of how hot I am, or my eyes?” She turns in my arms and I flutter my eyes a few times. “People do say they’re my best quality.”
She shoves me off and I stumble back. “You’re so conceited.” In turn, her butt lands on her bed.
“It’s my best personality trait.”
“So you think.” Standing up, she makes her way to another drawer.