Chapter 25
25
PAIGE
Well, that was embarrassing. Nothing worse than having the man you’re hopelessly attracted to hold your hair while you vomit. We’d passed each other in the kitchen this morning, and he handed me a cup of coffee, which I thanked him for, then he told me he was going to the garage.
That was it.
It was obvious he was fairly put off by everything that happened.
It was nice to get ready and feel somewhat rested. I hadn’t slept well since I was discharged from the hospital, but in the past day and a half, I had, and my mind felt clearer this morning than it had in a while.
I made my way down the stairs that put me in the office and sat down at my desk. The door to the garage pushed open, and Cole walked in. He stopped beside my desk. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” I answered honestly.
He studied me closely as if he didn’t believe me. “Because if you’re not feeling good, you don’t have to be here today.”
“I feel better.” I smiled. “Honestly.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Good. I did some reading a couple of nights ago and learned that you shouldn’t be using the computer or any devices while recovering from a concussion. It might be what’s making your headaches so bad.”
“The doctor at the hospital told me that, but it’s impossible to work without using a computer.”
“It’s not.” He leaned his hip against the desk. “I printed out some blank invoices, and we’ll fill them out when the customers come inside to pay. We’ll keep track of everything, old school, and you can enter it into the computer when you're better. Also, I’ll have you call in part orders to Dave and Kenton. I know they recently set up online ordering, but we’re not going to use that, and if a part needs to be looked up, I’ll do it.”
“Cole…” I hesitated but then continued. “That’s crazy. It’ll take twice as long to do everything.”
He leaned down, putting his hands flat on the desk and his face close to mine. “I don’t care how long it takes. If it keeps you from having another night like the one you had last night, it’s worth it.”
My shoulders relaxed. “Thank you for helping me and for carrying me to bed.”
“Never have to thank me.” His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “I just don’t want to see you like that if we can prevent it.”
I scrunched up my nose. “I know it was pretty gross.”
A grin tugged at his lips. “It was gross.” I smiled when his grin widened. “But I’ve seen grosser than that just drinking with Ben and Jake.” He lifted his hand and ran his finger along a piece of hair that escaped my braid, his grin fading. “Just hated seeing you like that. I watched you sleep the rest of the night. I don’t care if that sounds creepy. I couldn’t leave that fucking room.”
He watched me sleep all night. My heart raced at the idea of Cole watching over me, caring enough that he couldn’t leave the room. I didn’t know what to say. The Paige I’d always been would say something flirty, but I didn’t want to trivialize what he did for me with careless words.
Someone cleared their throat, and Cole stood, looking over his shoulder. “Yeah, Billy?”
“Need you to look at something.”
He jerked up his chin before looking back down at me. “Find me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
Whatever he saw in my expression must’ve pacified him because he turned and headed back into the garage, closing the door behind him. I knew he did that to keep the noise down for me. It was just another thoughtful thing Cole was doing.
Looking around the desk, I saw the stack of invoices and smiled. Just then, there was a knock on the door. I glanced at the calendar Cole had printed but didn’t see that I should be expecting a customer. Standing, I made my way to the door and took a deep breath before exhaling slowly.
Pushing aside the curtain, I looked outside and saw Lanie standing on the other side. I was surprised to see her here. We hadn’t talked since Friday night, but after Cole told me he talked to her about the foods I liked, I had a feeling it was because she knew I’d be busy moving.
Pulling open the door, I smiled. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
She smiled cautiously while closing the door behind her. “How mad are you?”
My eyebrows drew down. “Mad about what?”
We walked to the desk, and she sank into one of the chairs across from my desk while I skirted around the desk to sit in my own chair. “About me not telling you Cole was going to ambush you.”
“I’m not mad.” I smiled, hoping to reassure her. “Really, I’m not. Honestly, it’s been nice sleeping at his apartment.”
“Are you sleeping better?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I slept all night Saturday and most of Sunday. I was awake last night, though.”
“Why?”
“I had a migraine in the middle of the night. A bad one,” I emphasized. “Cole found me vomiting in the bathroom.”
“What did he do?”
“He got me some ginger ale and my pills. Then he sat with me.” I scrunched up my nose. “He even held my hair while I puked, which had to be disgusting for him, but he didn’t complain.”
“I’m so relieved you agreed to stay with him.” She sat back in the chair. “But I honestly didn’t think he’d be able to convince you.”
“It wasn’t that hard.”
“What did he say?”
I shrugged. “Just that everyone was worried, including him. He saw that I was sleeping on the couch with a baseball bat and kind of went all caveman and got a little more demanding.” I giggled, and Lanie’s face brightened. “It was…” I trailed off, trying to find the right words, but they were lost to me.
“Nice?” she guessed. “Comforting?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t fight him when he got demanding,” she pointed out. “You don’t like to be pushed around.”
“You’re right, I don’t,” I acknowledged. “But it didn’t feel that way with Cole. It felt like concern, not like he was trying to bully me into doing what he wanted.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure if that makes sense.”
“It does.” It seemed like she wanted to say more, but instead, she glanced around the office. “How do you like working here?”
“I like it,” I answered honestly. “It’s quiet, which I need right now. I don’t have to deal with as many customers. And today, Cole said we’re going old school, which means writing everything, including the invoices. He doesn’t want me on the computer because of my concussion.”
“Did you tell him you’re not supposed to be on it?”
“No, he said he was reading about it and figured that might be making my headaches worse.”
“Wow, that’s…”
This time, she trailed off, and it felt good to give her the word she was looking for instead of the other way around. “Thoughtful?”
“Yeah, it really is.” She leaned forward. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this because Jake told me in confidence, but I think you need to know. According to Jake, Cole lost his mind when he heard you were attacked.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess he drove all over looking for Paul Lewis. Jake said they were relieved he never found him because they had no doubt he would’ve ended up in jail.” She lowered her voice. “Jake said he never saw him like that. Cole was always really laid back and never really caused too much trouble unless he was protecting his sisters. But Jake said he was different, and they were really worried about him.”
“I’m glad he didn’t find him.” I exhaled loudly. “That sounds weird, doesn’t it? I want Paul Lewis caught for what he did to Bailey and me, and because I know he could do this to someone else, but I don’t want Cole to do something he’d regret.”
“That’s just it, Paige. He told Ben, who told Jake that he wouldn’t regret it at all.” I rubbed my hand over my forehead, and she watched me closely. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know what to do with that information,” I admitted.
“I know.” Sympathy filled her expression. “This must be really confusing.”
“It is,” I admitted. “And I can’t think clearly. It’s like as soon as my brain gets overwhelmed, it shuts down.”
“Maybe it’s protecting itself so it can heal.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. All I know is that it sucks.” Lanie laughed softly. “I’m not used to feeling so confused by everything.”
“The doctor said it would take time, but he was confident everything would return to normal eventually.”
“I know.”
“And in the meantime, you have a haven so you can rest and get better the way you need to.” She ran her fingers along the bracelet on her wrist, an old habit she picked up to soothe herself. I hadn’t seen her do it in a long time, and I knew it was because she was worried about me. “I hope you know you could’ve stayed with us.”
“You have Braydon,” I reminded her. “I couldn’t bring danger to your doorstep. I have no idea where Paul Lewis is right now and no idea if he’ll want to come finish what he started. I was never going to agree to stay with you, not if something could happen to Bray.”
“That’s what Jake said you’d say.”
“He’s a smart guy.”
“Yeah.” She sighed with a smile on her lips. “That gets so annoying.”
I smiled and glanced at the clock. “Why aren’t you working?”
“I am,” she replied. “But since I work from home and make my own hours, I figured I could start a little late today.”
“Wow, Jake has been good for you,” I teased. “I never had much luck convincing you to blow off work.”
“I guess you’re right.” She chuckled. “Why don’t you come over to my house this Friday night? We’ll get some dinner and hang out. I miss just spending time with you.”
“I don’t think this week?—”
“Then next Friday.” She interjected.
Her hopeful expression was making it really hard for me to say no. Truthfully, I hadn’t wanted to spend time with anyone, didn’t want to go anywhere, and I sure as hell didn’t want to do that at night. I still wasn’t sure I wanted to, but I didn’t want to hurt Lanie’s feelings. She was my best friend and the only person I ever considered a sister.
“Can I let you know?”
“Yeah.” Her expression brightened, probably assuming I’d eventually say yes. And she should assume that, considering I wasn’t the girl who usually turned down an invitation.
I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever find that girl again.