Chapter 10
I could confirm that it was the most defeating feeling Monday ever, there seemed to be a problem with everything at work. Myles hitched a ride home with one of the other guys because I was stuck late finishing up the project I had started earlier.?
It was around seven o’clock when I finally made my way out. I was starving and without a doubt needed a drink after the day I had. Not only would a cold beer help me wind down, but my mind wandered to a certain brunette I’d been seeing around lately. I hadn’t talked to her since she texted me out of the blue Saturday night, but I was craving my next interaction with her.?
Things were going great the other night until she suddenly ended our conversation. I may have dug a little too deep, and the last thing I wanted to do was push her away. I wanted to know more about her. She intrigued me . But that conversation made me realize I needed to be patient. I needed to move slowly with her. She’d been going through a lot, and I didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t talk to me because I’d push too hard or pry.
Pulling up to Peaks a little later than normal, I was relieved when I saw Paige behind the bar still. Dark brown hair flowed over her shoulders in soft waves. When her pretty eyes looked right back at me, the expression on her face told me she may be relieved to see me too—but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
Taking in my surroundings wasn’t important at the time because seeing her was all I cared about. With tunnel vision, I headed straight toward her. Setting my keys on the bar top, I greeted her with a soft smile and a wink.
“Hey, baby girl. Save me a spot? I’m gonna head to the bathroom and wash my hands.” I walked back toward the restrooms with a grin I couldn’t wipe off my face. I felt so much better now that I was surrounded by her, my long day of work completely behind me.
It had only taken me seconds to wash my hands. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Paige standing right outside like she was waiting for me. I almost ran into her, not expecting anyone to be standing there.?
The wrinkle in her brow gave her a worried look. I had a rough day, but she looked like she had been going through it.?
“Hey, hey… Is everything okay?” My hands reached out to rub her arms as I waited for her to tell me what was going on. She reached up to wrap her delicate fingers around her bicep in reaction to my touch. That’s when I noticed her skin was slightly discolored.
“Paige, what’s going on? What happened to your arm?” The more time we spent standing here, the more I began to worry. I was tempted to ask her who did this to her, but my gut told me I already knew the answer to that question.
“Logan has been here for hours. He’s on his fifth whiskey and it’s been a really long day. He came in earlier, cornered me, and has been sitting at the bar ever since.” My jaw started to tighten at the mention of his name. I was trying to wrap my head around what she was saying. He cornered her… He’s been lingering around the bar… and she had a fresh bruise starting to form that I hadn’t noticed before.
“U-u-usually you come in earlier than you did today, and I was worried you wouldn’t come in at all.” Her stutter pulled at my heartstrings. She was waiting for me to come in and wanted to see me.
She needed me.
And fuck, did I love feeling needed. But I was also furious I wasn’t there to help her out earlier.
“Paige, I need you to look me in the eye right now and tell me he didn’t lay his hands on you, because I swear to god, if he did, I’m going to pull him aside for a chat and I don’t know how much self-control I’ll be able to have.” I stared into her worried eyes and the look she wore on her face told me everything I needed to know.
She bit down on her lip as her gaze shifted to the side. I gently took her chin in my hand, tilting it up so she could look me in the eyes like I needed her to. “A few hours ago, he walked in here when the bar was empty. He demanded that he needed to talk to me and he had a bit of an outburst. But I was able to handle it before it went too far. I shut it down,” she admitted in a low whisper.
I took a minute to respond, remaining silent as I gathered my thoughts. Instead, I pulled her into me, hoping the feel of her warmth against my body would calm me down. My heart felt like it was racing and my hands itched to wrap around his neck. The urge to take my anger out on him was overwhelming. She said she handled it before it went too far, but the bruise on her arm told me otherwise.
“Declan, your heart is pounding.” She pulled her body away from mine, her hand lingering on my chest. I didn’t want to express how angry I truly was, or even worse, scare Paige away. I’ve struggled with my anger in the past and hadn’t been tempted to give into it in quite some time. Logan put his fucking hands on her and my anger had me wanting to do the exact same thing to him. Although, the last thing I wanted was for her to see me the way she saw Logan.
“Sorry, I’m just worked up. Trying to wrap my head around everything you’re telling me. Why didn’t you text me and ask me to come in earlier?” I kept my response short as I tried to settle my anger.
“I’m sorry. I just figured I could handle it on my own. And I was already so used to you coming in most nights that I felt like it would be lame to text you and ask for your help.”
“You have no reason to be sorry, Paige. I just wish I was here earlier to help save you from all of this happening in the first place.” I pulled her back to me, needing just a few extra seconds of her intoxicating scent to help calm me down. Even though I was still fuming inside, I needed her to think everything was okay.
“Next time that asshole comes in to harass you at work, please text me. That’s why I gave you my number to begin with, if you ever needed help with anything. This is absolutely one of those times, Paige. Now, let’s get you back to work. I need a beer after all of this.”
“You and me both, but unfortunately, I have to finish my shift,” she huffed.
Grabbing her hand and walking back toward the bar, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Show time, baby! Time to put on your best fake girlfriend face and pretend you can’t get enough of me. Let’s get this asshole out of here.”
There was no need to pretend on my behalf. I knew this wouldn’t be hard for me. I could sit here at the bar and close it down, lost in her company all night long. At this moment, I wanted every stolen moment I could get with her, even if that meant camping out at Peaks and watching her work.?
Watching her walk around behind the bar with that flirty smile she used with customers wasn’t a chore. Although I couldn’t help but notice how the other men in here would check her out as she walked by, and it made me a little feral.?
Okay, maybe not a little, a lot feral.
It made me crazy to think of any other man touching her. If Logan was going to come in here and pull the shit he did today, I was going to do my best to make him feel the way I was feeling inside.
Her teeth sunk into that bottom lip of hers when she started to head back behind the bar, but not before I could grab her by the waist and pull her in. Time to put on an award-winning show. Hopefully this would leave Logan feeling so incredibly awkward that he got the fuck out of here and left her alone.
I hope she didn’t mind a little PDA while she worked, because I wanted to make sure I got my point across.
It was like a flip switched inside of me when I felt her body against mine for the second time tonight. I took her chin in between my thumb and pointer finger, lifting just a bit until she looked me in the eyes.
“Get me a beer, baby girl?” Her eyes widened as she slightly nodded her head in agreement. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and with a soft breath, whispered, “Good girl.” I could tell she wasn’t expecting those words to slip from my mouth by the way her breath hitched and her cheeks turned pink.
With a quick glance back at her, I gave her a wink, leading on to the fact that I was just pretending. But was I just acting? Because that felt way too satisfying for my liking and I wanted so many more of those moments with her.?
Noticing the blush color growing deeper on her cheeks, I had a feeling that whatever I did back there, she may have liked it. Maybe she liked it so much that it made her nervous.?
I hoped it made her nervous.
Paige began pouring my beer just as I asked. She was faced the opposite direction, which gave me the opportunity to admire her long, toned legs that led up to the firm shape of her ass squeezed behind her tight blue jeans. She was tall for a girl; five-foot-six, maybe. But she still had to look up at me to reach my six-foot-two frame.
Dropping the beer in front of me on a small, black bar napkin, I wasn’t expecting her to play the game right back. She leaned over the bar top, exposing her pushed up cleavage that made my mouth water.
Standing there in her little white tank top, her tits looked like the perfect size, enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I didn’t care to hide it when I took the moment to look her up and down slowly. Fuck, she looked good. And she knew what she was doing. I was sitting at the bar with a hard-on and it wasn’t a good look for me.
Paige soaked in every moment of me checking her out, enjoying the fact that she was torturing me. Pure torture.
I reached down to quickly adjust myself when she asked, “What’s for dinner tonight, Cooper?” And there she was with that flirty tone, greeting me by my last name again. No one called me by my last name, but when it slipped from her mouth it sent another rush of heat straight to my groin.
What was her question again? ? Oh, dinner. That’s right.
Clearing my throat, I responded, “Just a cheeseburger tonight.”
“Anything for you.” She lowered her voice to a whisper that sounded all too seductive. Walking away to put my order in and tend to the other customers, it gave me a minute to compose myself and focus on the trash that was sitting a few seats down from me.
I almost forgot that Logan was sitting right there since I was lost in conversation and mindless flirting with Paige. She was every type of distraction I needed to get over my anger. Although it may have been fake for her, it felt real as fuck for me.
Suddenly, my rage was back with the realization that I needed to handle Logan. But I refused to show it with Paige around. Looking straight ahead, not bothering to turn his direction, I took a sip from my beer and addressed him in a low tone.
“Let me guess… You’re hanging around here to bother my girl again?” I liked the way that sounded.
My girl.
Letting out a drunken chuckle, he talked with his words strung together in a slur, “You, my guy, may think she’s your girl, but she always belonged to me. Before she left town, I was the one fuckin’ her every night and hearing my name on her lips.”
His choice of words brought that feeling of wrath back inside of me. The urge to break a bottle of whiskey over his head was growing by the minute. My grip tightened around my glass so hard, I’m surprised it didn’t break. I didn’t have to look in the mirror to tell you my face was beet red.
I felt like one of those angry cartoon characters that had steam blowing out of their ears and a deep furrow pinched between my brows.
This job was the one thing keeping Paige in Alpine Peak. I didn’t want something I did to change that, so I took a moment to compose myself before I stood up and walked over a few seats where he sat. Feeling a little ballsy and towering over him, I grabbed a hold of his arm. I wasn’t going to get into a fight tonight, but I was going to give him a piece of my mind.?
Clearly angry, I whispered in a low voice through clenched teeth,?“You will forget there was ever anything between the two of you. You will grow the fuck up and get over a fucking high school relationship and move on from her. She’s not a piece of meat that you’ll sit here and gawk at while she’s working. You will get it out of your stupid fucking head that you will ever have a chance with her again,” I looked around before adding the last part, not wanting Paige to overhear, “and it’s my name she screams in bed when she comes so hard that she doesn’t even remember who the fuck you are.” The disgust that laced my voice was evident.
“You two love birds are on l-l-limited time, trust me on that.” He made air quotes as he tripped over his words.
I wasn’t sure what kind of game he thought he had to win back the attention of Paige, but I’d never met anyone who despised someone as much as Paige did Logan.
My grip grew tighter when I added, “You’re the one on limited time here, man. If I ever find out that you put your fucking hands on her again, I’ll make sure you never have the opportunity to breathe in the same air as her.”
Logan shrugged his arm out of my firm hold and mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I didn’t take the moment to care since what I said had clearly gotten under his skin. At least for now.
He threw cash onto the bar and stumbled out with his head down, not saying a word as he left. My adrenaline was pumping after my interaction with that asshole. The only thing stopping me from slamming his head into the bar was Paige being right there. I was desperate not to show her that side of me.
Starved, I chugged the rest of my beer and scarfed down the burger that had been sitting there waiting for me. I decided I was going to wait around for Paige to get off work. Although I watched Logan stumble out of here, I didn’t want to take any chances of him still lurking around. With him gone, we no longer needed to put on a show and pretend. I was glad he left, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed I couldn’t touch her freely.
Paige was closing up since the bar was starting to empty. I began to flip the chairs up on the bar and tables to help her out so she could be out of here quicker.
“You don’t need to help me, Declan. I’m sure you’re exhausted after today.” She hadn’t said much since Logan left. Mostly because she was busy finishing up, but I didn’t want this night to end even if I was exhausted from a long day.?Selfishly, I needed her company to help me come down from the rage that was flowing through my body earlier.
“I may not need to help you, but I want to make your life easier. Are you busy after this?” I asked in the most confident way I could manage. Deep down, I was nervous, and my palms were sweating. It felt like I was asking her on a date, knowing we would be alone together one on one. The only times we had hung out together just happened without either of us initiating it.
“I haven’t had any plans in a while. It’s home and work for me right now. Is that joyride rain check still up for grabs?”
You mean, I asked her if she was busy after work and now, she was the one making my life easier by suggesting what we did? A smile broke out across my face. “I know the perfect place for a night drive if you’re down.”?
Nodding her head up and down, she looked at me with a grin, appearing excited for whatever plans I had up my sleeve.
I had to remember this wasn’t real. We were just friends, and I was helping her out. I kept reminding myself not to get too attached, but somehow, I knew I’d probably be the heartbroken one in this situation when she went back to Phoenix or decided she didn’t need my help avoiding Logan anymore.
Spinning my keys around my finger, I nodded my head toward the door.
“Lock up and let’s get out of there.”