32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
The Barenaked Ladies opened the concert, which was being held in a fairly small, outdoor venue, and Paige got totally lost in it. Their seats were excellent, only ten rows back in the covered section, so they didn’t have to sit on the sloped lawn. However, despite having seats, it was almost standing room only and David spent most of his time enjoying her childlike enthusiasm as she grooved to the music. The best part by far was watching as she kept up with the band as they sang “One Week”, not missing a single word in the near impossible song.
When the BNL’s hour-long set was over and the lights came up for a brief intermission, David pulled her in for a hug. “Having a good time?”
She hugged him back. “The best.”
“Good.” Then, with a grin, he said, “I’m going to hit the bathroom. Do you need to go?”
“No, but I think I’ll go check out the T-shirts.”
Taking her hand, he walked her over to the souvenir concession area and after she got in line, he leaned down and kissed her temple. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Before you go, tell me which one you want,” she said, pointing to the concert tees on display. “Otherwise, I’m going to buy us matching shirts.”
He could tell by her expression and tone, that her ‘offer’ was non-negotiable and he let himself appreciate it. “I’ll take that in a medium,” he told her, pointing to a heather-gray BNL shirt, with the image of a piece of college-ruled notebook paper and the lyrics to “If I Had A Million Dollars” written on it in ‘check list’ form.
“You got it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Paige watched him walk away for a few moments, before turning her attention back to the array of concert shirts. She’d just decided which one she was going to buy for herself when the person in line next to her bumped her shoulder, enough to push her forward quite a bit. Almost immediately, she felt a hand at her waist as if the person was trying to steady her, and she glanced over in shock to see a man in his mid-thirties, looking more than a little drunk. He also smelled like weed, either because he’d actually been smoking it himself or had just been sitting on the lawn where everyone had been lighting up.
“Sorry about that,” he told her as he leaned in close, his words a little slurred.
“It’s okay,” Paige returned with a fake smile before attempting to pull away from him.
Instead of letting her go, the man shocked her further by tightening his hold and putting his other hand on her hip, then looking her over rather thoroughly. Per David’s request, she’d dressed like she was going to a concert, in distressed skinny jeans, ankle boots with three inch heels, and a black, off the shoulder blouse with an elasticized neckline and three-quarter sleeves with tight, ruffled cuffs. It was simple, whimsical, and sexy, and David had approved wholeheartedly.
The guy with his sweaty paws on her apparently liked it, too. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked, finally dragging his glazed eyes up to her face. She had opted for slightly dramatic make-up, heavy on the eyeliner and lipstick, and had curled the hell out of her hair to make it a little wild.
And now, this guy was making her regret it.
“None of your business,” she replied, hunching over a little bit, her entire body stiff. His unwanted touch was conjuring up dreadful images of Carter, and Paige found herself struggling to stay in the moment and not try to mentally escape—to remember her training and breathe calmly in through her nose and out her mouth.
Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
“None of your—oh, you’re a little salty. I like that,” he chuckled, blasting her with alcohol fumes, which further reminded her of Carter, whose favorite drink was anything with vodka in it. “I’m Chase, by the way.”
Paige didn’t know if he was aware that his hand had moved north, his fingers just cupping the underside of her breast, but she was hyper aware of it. Her heart was now pounding, her skin cold, and she felt herself draw inward, becoming smaller. The people standing in lines around her faded away and she felt her world shrink to just herself and the man with the iron grip. “Get your hands off me, Chase.”
The words weren’t delivered as strongly as she’d wanted them to be. Paige could hear the slight tremor in her voice, but she was proud of them anyway because she’d at least been able to say them.
Frowning, he tilted his head back to get a better look at her, still maintaining his grip. “What’s the problem, sweetheart? I thought we were getting along, here.”
His derisive tone was bad enough, but the expression on his face was even worse. It said he thought the ‘problem’ was entirely hers, clearly without value or substance, and he didn’t give one shit about it.
Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
To her shock, Paige felt the breathing exercises actually working a little bit. Her heart rate slowed from a gallop to a trot and her fear started to leech away. She could actually feel it leaving her body and being replaced with a steel resolve to dispatch this guy … because he’d earned it. Paige didn’t care if he was drunk and might be a nice guy when sober, because she wasn’t dealing with that guy. She was dealing with the guy who thought he had the right to call her ‘sweetheart’ and put his hands on her, then make it seem like it was her ‘problem’ for not wanting any part of it.
Well, she was going to educate him and make him understand that it was his problem, not hers.
School was in session.
Paige smiled—this time a real one—and locked eyes with him as she took the hand on her hip in hers. Chase responded with a self-satisfied smile, probably thinking she’d changed her mind. She let him continue to think that for a few seconds before grabbing his thumb with her other hand and twisting it in the wrong direction, at the same time rolling his wrist.
His smile instantly vanished and he cried out in pain. “Fuck, let go!”
“You’re lucky I’m not holding onto your dick, instead, sweetheart,” she told him.
He stared at her, seemingly shocked at her cold delivery. “I was just trying to be friendly. You don’t need to be a bitch—”
“Don’t you dare call me a bitch. Not wanting your hands on me doesn’t make me a bitch. I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you. So what makes you think I want your hands on me? The only man who gets to touch me—because he has permission—is the man I came here with tonight, and that man isn’t you.”
Paige could see people watching them in her peripheral vision, but she kept her attention focused on Chase, who was now looking decidedly uncomfortable.
“Do you have a sister?” she asked.
“What?”
“Do. You. Have. A. Sister?”
“Yes.” His answer came out laced with pain.
“What’s her name?”
“Amy.”
Paige put a little more pressure on his thumb, making his eyes water a little. “You should ask Amy sometime if she’d like it if some drunk asshole she didn’t know called her ‘sweetheart’ and got handsy with her while she was standing in line to get a T-shirt at a concert she was attending with another man. And when Amy asks why you’re asking, you can tell her it’s because that’s what you did. Now, I can’t speak for how other women like to be treated—some might like the whole drunken, groping thing by a smelly stranger, but this woman doesn’t like it.
“I told you to get your hands off me and instead of doing that, you became a dick and then called me a bitch, which makes what I’m going to do next a gift. I’m going to be nicer than I should be and let go of your hand, and when I do, you’re going to thank me for not breaking your thumb. Because you know what? I could.
“Then you’re going to make sure you don’t cross my path again tonight, or any other woman’s, for that matter. Got it? Nod your head if you understand what I’m telling you, Chase.”
Chase nodded his head.
“Good.” Paige slowly let go of his hand and he immediately tucked it against his chest as he backed a few feet away from her, his expression darkening when he saw they had a bit of an audience. He turned as if he was going to bolt and renege on their deal, but a man blocked Chase from going anywhere.
“Not so fast,” the man said. “Thank the lady for not breaking your thumb.”
Chase gave Paige a flat look, followed by an even flatter, “Thank you for not breaking my thumb.”
“Say it like you mean it,” the man told Chase, keeping him locked in place.
“Thank you for not breaking my thumb.”
This time the apology was slightly believable, so Paige said, “You’re welcome.”
The man let Chase go, and Paige watched his hasty departure until he was out of sight. Her heart was pounding again—this time from a burst of adrenalin—and she couldn’t believe how empowered she felt at that moment. She’d actually stood up for herself, stayed in the moment, and vanquished an opponent. Okay, maybe that was a little over-the-top, but she’d made a guy who outweighed her by at least fifty pounds her bitch. And all she’d done was bend his thumb back 90 degrees.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. “That really happened.”
A teenaged girl in the next line over caught Paige’s eye and smiled shyly, before holding up a phone in a bright purple case with rhinestones all over it. “I hope you don’t mind, but I recorded part of that. Not to post it online or anything,” she explained quickly, “but to have it for … instruction. It seemed really effective. And easy.”
Paige saw a hint of a shadow in the girl’s eyes. “That’s the first time I’ve ever done it, and hopefully the last time I ever have to, but … you never know. It really makes me wish I’d known about it sooner.”
“You wished you’d known about what, sooner?” David asked, coming up behind Paige and wrapping his arms around her.
“Nothing,” Paige replied, just as the girl said, “This,” and held up her phone for David to see.
At first, Paige was hesitant to look at the video, which started right after she’d grabbed Chase’s thumb, but then she couldn’t look away. It was strange, but also fascinating to watch herself, because the woman in the video looked like a total warrior, and all she remembered was how scared she’d been.
David watched in silence, his initial confusion turning into shock, then anger, then astonishment, then admiration, and ending with pride. When the fairly short clip was over, he blinked a few times before saying, “I need to see that again.”
The girl obliged and after watching it a second time, David asked her to text him a copy.
“David,” Paige protested, but she was laughing.
“Nope. I want it,” he insisted. Then, in a low whisper, added, “And I also want to hear everything that happened before you took his ass down.”