Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
P aige gathered her things and texted Blake that she’d meet him at the ferry. They were all planning on leaving after the sunrise, but now she’d have to get their things together for the both of them. She had no idea what her parents had heard and had no interest in finding out their thoughts. So she packed both her and Blake’s things. By the time she left, they weren’t even out of their room. She left a note telling them that she loved them and was out the door before seven.
She tipped the carriage driver generously and got out to join Jessica and Conner, who were waiting for the ferry.
“Missed you guys at the sunrise.” Jessica leaned into Connor. They were all supposed to see the sunrise before they left, but obviously her morning had gone awry.
“Yeah, my alarm didn’t go off.” If only she’d set her alarm, none of this would’ve happened.
“Blake wasn’t there either.”
“He’s talking to Lukas.” She hoped that it was going well. She’d never seen Lukas so angry.
Jessica raised her eyebrows. “About?”
Paige gave a noncommittal shrug. She was saved by Jamie and his family’s arrival and Tristan and Mia. No one else asked why she wasn’t there though Tristan asked where Blake was. Jessica answered for Paige.
Just as the ferry was pulling up, Blake showed up, his eyes now both black.
Tristan whistled. “Dude, what happened to your face?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he growled.
Jessica snickered. “I bet I know.” But Blake glared at her.
He took his own bag and sat with Jamie and his family. Paige found her own seat, but Jessica followed.
Paige’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Tess.
Lukas gave his blessing. In three days, I want details.
Paige’s face flushed, and Jessica didn’t miss it. “What happened?” she asked.
Paige just showed her the phone, and she squeed. “So why is he sitting back there?”
“I don’t know.” A bad feeling settled in her gut. This didn’t make sense. If Lukas said he was okay with things, Blake had no reason to ignore her.
“So. Did Lukas punch him?”
“Yeah.”
Twice, it appeared.
“For just telling him he had feelings for you?” She wasn’t sure how Blake felt about her. She knew he kinda liked her, but she wasn’t certain how far it went. Because instead of him coming to the ferry and kissing her senseless, he was ignoring her.
Paige swallowed. She didn’t know how to explain this, because while they were sleeping together, they weren’t really romantically involved. It’d be easier to just say they were grown adults having sex.
“Jessica, leave the poor girl alone,” Conner said with a sheepish grin.
“It’s okay. It’s a long story. Blake and I share a bed but we’re not sleeping together. I have some PTSD from the accident and Blake keeps my nightmares away. Lukas found him in bed with me.”
Jessica squeed again and clapped her hands. “I bet he keeps those nightmares away. I’m with Tess. I’ll set up a group text with all of the wives, and you are totally giving us deets in a few days.”
Paige flushed.
She just hoped she’d have deets to share.
* * *
Paige was a little irked by the time they got back to the mainland and on the road home. Blake hadn’t been behaving any differently toward her, but Tess had assured Paige that Lukas gave Blake his blessing. That meant everything should be okay, but maybe he was just using Lukas as an excuse, and he really wasn’t interested in her at all.
Now she felt dumb and a little hurt. Jessica and the others would be messaging her in a few days and she’d have nothing to share. Not only that, she’d really been looking forward to pursuing this thing with Blake.
“You okay?” Blake asked. “You’ve been quiet this morning.”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I had a really nice time this weekend. The girls were all so nice.”
“I didn’t think you liked people all that much, but you seemed to get along with them.”
Paige let out a sigh. “I didn’t use to be like that. After Emery died, I don’t know. It broke me a little.”
“You seem to be coming back into yourself.”
“I am. It feels nice.” She didn’t feel all that nice at the moment, but overall she’d been feeling better.
He didn’t say anything for a second. “You know, Tess said that they wanted to make you one of them.”
Paige hesitated a moment before saying anything. She wanted to make sure she understood loud and clear what he was saying because she didn’t want there to be any more confusion. “And how did she propose that they do that?”
“Well, you’d have to marry one of us. We’re going fast though. Only four left.”
She forced a laugh. He was still being vague. “I thought we agreed not to make this awkward anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s only one of the four that I’m even remotely interested in, and you made it very clear that that wasn’t happening. So why bring it up now?”
“I never said I wasn’t interested in you.”
“So are you?”
He let out a breath. “Yeah. I am.”
She thought for a moment. She didn’t want him getting all freaked out by all of this. “I’ve never had a summer fling before. This should be fun.”
Blake gripped the steering wheel and he frowned. “I’m not really a summer fling kind of guy. I’ve told you this before. If that’s what you want, maybe we should just stay friends.”
“So what do you want?” She wanted him to say it.
“If we’re going to do this, I’m going all-in.”
Paige sat there stunned for a moment. She hadn’t expected such a declaration. She just kinda figured they’d kiss at some point, and things would go from there.
“What do you mean, you’re all-in?”
“It means that I have no intention of leaving after the summer is over. It means that I can finally sleep naked again. It means that if you want to make it official and become one of the wives, I’m down.”
“Did you just propose to me?” she squeaked.
He laughed. “Oh no. That doesn’t count. I can do better than that.”