Chapter 42
42
PAIGE
Banging woke me, and my eyes flew open, blinking in the glare of the daylight. Attempting to shift, I realized I was pinned tight against Cole’s side, but there was weight against my other side. Rolling my head, I saw Hazel and all six kittens cuddled together on the bed beside me. I smiled and rolled my head until I was staring at the side of Cole’s face. When I heard banging again and Cole’s phone beep, I shook off sleep.
“Cole.”
“Ignore it,” he replied sleepily, his eyes still closed.
“It might be an emergency. There’s someone at the door and your phone is going off.”
He sighed and reached his arm out to the side to grab the phone, blinking when he looked at it. “It’s Harper.”
He held out his phone so I could read the text.
Harper: Where the hell are you?
Me: Sleeping
Harper: It’s noon. Open the door.
“She's not gonna leave,” I stated after reading over his shoulder.
“Ugh.” He threw the covers from his body and stood.
I swallowed hard when I realized he was still completely naked. I hated sleeping naked and had gotten up at some point to use the bathroom and put on a T-shirt and underwear, but not Cole.
When he started walking toward the door, I sat up. “Cole, you don’t have any clothes on.”
“Good. Maybe she’ll leave faster.”
“Cole.”
“I’m getting my shorts.” He grabbed pants off the floor by the door where they must’ve landed last night, and it was easy to hear the annoyance in his tone while he talked. Pulling them on, he looked back at me but then squinted his eyes when he noticed the pile of cats beside me. “She brought them in here?”
“She must’ve been lonely.” I smiled softly. After shuffling to his side of the bed, I threw my legs over and stood. “I’m going to use the bathroom while you talk to Harper.”
Grinning, he walked over to me and kissed me softly on the lips. “Don’t put on too many clothes.”
Smiling against his lips, I teased, “Why?”
He slid his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “I have plans that don’t involve clothes.” He glanced over my shoulder. “Or cats.”
When I heard banging and Harper call out his name, I dropped my face against his chest and laughed.
With a kiss on the top of my head, he pulled back and turned from the room, muttering, “I’m gonna kill her.”
I watched him walk toward the kitchen before going into the bathroom. I heard voices but decided to brush my teeth. One look in the mirror told me I needed to run a brush through my hair, which I did, and pulled it up in a ponytail. What I didn’t do was leave the bathroom. I didn’t have any pants on, only Cole’s T-shirt, which hung to just above my knees, and I didn’t want Harper to see me. She would instantly know what was going on if I walked out there and not just because of what I was wearing.
“Paige.” There was a knock on the door. “Harper’s here to see you. Said she’s been calling and texting you.”
I wouldn’t have known that. I had no idea where my phone was, but I assumed it was still in my bedroom. I sure as hell didn’t take it with me when I went to Cole’s room last night.
Pulling open the door, I whispered. “I don’t have any pants on.”
Cole grinned slowly, and his eyes dropped to my legs. “Yeah, I know.”
“Cole.” I smacked his chest. “Be serious. If I walk out there, she’s going to know what’s going on.”
“I already know what’s going on,” Harper said, and it was obvious she was standing right behind him. “To be honest, we all figured it was going on the whole time, and you two just hid it well.”
Sighing, I looked around Cole. “Hi, Harper.”
Cole skirted around me. “I’m going to brush my teeth while you two talk.”
“Okay.” I stepped out of the bathroom and pointed at the kitchen. “I need coffee.”
Harper followed me into the kitchen and sat on the chair while I made coffee for Cole and me. She didn’t say anything, and neither did I until I finally sat down.
She leaned across the table. “How are you?”
“I’m okay.” I lifted the cup to my mouth and blew on the steaming liquid.
“I was worried about you after you left last night,” she admitted. “Wanted to see for myself that you were good.”
My shoulders dropped, and I sat back in my chair. This Harper was hard to stay mad at even though I wanted to be angry with her for interrupting our morning. Harper had the biggest heart of anyone I’d ever known, and that was saying something, considering my best friend was Lanie.
“I really am okay. I’m not sure why I reacted like I did. I just felt overwhelmed with emotions.”
“That makes sense.” She watched me closely while she talked. “Not only were you assaulted but you also had to hide. You literally lived in fear for months. None of us were surprised when it hit you as hard as it did last night.”
I took a sip of my coffee and admitted something to Harper that I was having a hard time accepting. “I used to handle things better. Now I feel like I have this anxiety I can’t control.”
“I think that’s probably normal after an assault.”
“That’s what I told her.” Cole came into the kitchen.
I pointed at the counter. “I made you some coffee.”
He smiled softly and grabbed his cup before sitting down at the table. “Where’s your entourage?”
Harper laughed. “Bree had a meeting with Ben. They started building the model homes on that property they bought last summer, and he wanted to go over what all he needs from her.” She shrugged. “I haven’t talked to Bailey yet today.”
“You didn’t wake her up?” Cole lifted his eyebrows and asked her sarcastically.
“Nope.” She leaned her elbows on the table. “I wasn’t worried about her.”
He sighed. “Guess I can’t be mad at you for worrying about your friend.”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Who just happens to be your girlfriend.”
I wasn’t sure what we were telling anyone about us yet. We hadn’t talked about it, but Cole didn’t seem as unsure. “Yeah, she is.”
It was as if he put a blanket around my body. This was exactly what I wanted, this and so much more. I’d never been in love before, never wanted to commit to just one person, but the idea of being with only Cole was exactly what I’d wanted since we met.
“Don’t you think as you get older, boyfriend and girlfriend sound kind of lame?” Harper asked the question, but it was obvious she wasn’t really directing that at us. It was just a general thought she had. “I mean, there should be a better way to describe what you’re doing.”
Cole shrugged. “Just say we’re dating.”
“Right,” she agreed, “but how would you introduce Paige to someone? Would you say this is my girlfriend, Paige?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it too much.”
She grinned and punched him on the bicep. “Probably because you never have girlfriends.”
I tilted my head, wondering why he never seemed to. I’d wondered that for a while but never asked. “Why is that?”
His attention shifted to me, and he raised his eyebrows slightly. “Why don’t I have girlfriends?” When I nodded, he shrugged again. “Never made time. I was always working. Trying to build a business.” He lifted the cup to his lips but smirked. “Probably still wouldn’t, but a really sexy blonde stormed into my life, and everything else became pretty irrelevant.”
I smiled slowly, liking his answer. When our stares held a little too long and his eyes heated, I forgot anyone else was even in the room with us until I heard Harper’s voice.
“ Anyway, ” she said in an exaggerated tone, “I’m planning a do-over for tonight since everyone left right after you guys last night.”
I shifted my attention back to Harper. “Why’d they leave?”
She shrugged. “The band wasn’t great. Plus, I think it was a mood killer to talk about Paul Lewis.”
“Sorry about that,” I said sincerely.
“We can’t make it.” Cole took a drink from his cup.
Harper’s eyebrows pulled together. “Why not?”
“We’re busy.”
“We are?” I asked.
He turned his attention to me and grinned slowly. “Yeah.”
“Oh yeah.” My nod was for Harper, but I couldn’t look away from Cole. “That’s right. We’re busy.”
“Gross. Knock it off,” Harper said. “You have all day, and if you agree to come out tonight, I won’t bother you tomorrow. If you don’t, I’m coming here as soon as I wake up.” She leaned forward. “And if I don’t go out tonight, I’ll be up by six.”
I laughed when she sent a challenging look in Cole’s direction. He sat up taller, and I knew he was gearing up for an argument with her. I was starting to believe they enjoyed them.
“We’ll come.”
Both of their heads snapped my way, but only Harper was smiling. “Good.”
“We need to invite Bridget,” I continued. “I feel really bad that I left last night, and I was the only person she knew.”
“I already talked to her and told her we were getting together tonight. She’ll be there at eight.”
“You talked to her?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I got her number last night. Do you know she’s been in town for a while but still doesn’t know many people?” Harper lowered her voice. “And that she’s Striker’s half sister?”
“Striker, who works at Elite with Landon?” I asked, surprised I hadn’t already heard this.
“Yep. According to her, it’s a long story, but after her father died, she came to New Hope looking for Striker, who she only found out about after going through her father’s paperwork. She said he’s the only family she has left.”
"They didn't know about each other before she came here?” I asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “And she said he wasn’t interested in a relationship at first, but that they’ve been spending some time together lately.”
“Wonder what changed.”
“I asked her that.” Harper laughed. “She said she doesn’t know for sure, but she thinks his girlfriend is encouraging it.”
“He has a girlfriend?” I asked, surprised by that too. I’d only been around Striker once, maybe twice, but he didn’t seem like the type to be in relationships. He seemed like too much of a loner, but apparently, looks could be deceiving. When Harper nodded, I continued, “Does Bridget like his girlfriend?”
“Yeah, she said she’s nice, but she doesn’t like to go out, and Bridget really wants to make some friends. She plans to stay around here after she finishes school.”
I wasn’t surprised by that. I’d seen it happen more times than I could count. “What is it about this place? Everyone who comes here wants to stay. I know I did.”
Harper laughed again. “You’re right. I have no idea why, though.” She tapped the table with her palm. “Is eight o’clock good for you guys?”
Cole sighed. “How the hell did you know we’d agree to this?”
“I knew Paige would,” Harper admitted. “I already had the Bridget guilt trip in my bag of tricks.” She gestured toward me and smiled. “Turns out I didn’t even need to use it.”
Harper opened her mouth to say more, but Cole spoke, effectively interrupting her. “If we have to go tonight, then you need to get the hell out of here now.”
"Cole,” I started, but Harper stood and started toward the door before I could tell her she didn’t have to leave.
“Got it.” She waved at both of us over her shoulder as she opened the kitchen door. “See you tonight.”
I stood after the door closed and watched Cole grab our cups before putting them in the sink. “You two are kind of mean to each other.”
He chuckled. “We’re just really honest with each other.”
“Have you always been this way?”
He turned and wore a thoughtful expression. “Actually, yeah, we have.”
Shrugging, I ran my hand along my ponytail. I guess if they were good with it, I’d just have to get used to it. “Are you okay with going tonight?”
“Yeah. Honestly, she wasn’t going to give us much of a choice.”
Laughing, I nodded. “Harper can be really persistent.”
He snorted. “That’s a nice way to say she’s a pain in the ass sometimes.” He came to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “But she was worried about you. I’m sure all of my sisters were, and that makes me happy.”
My eyebrows drew together. “You're happy your sisters were worried about me?” He nodded, and I continued, “I don’t get it.”
“My sisters care about you, which makes this relationship a hell of a lot easier.”
Hearing him refer to whatever we had as a relationship reminded me that he made a declaration earlier.
I ran my hands over his chest and linked them behind his neck. “You called me your girlfriend.”
“Yeah, I did.”
I swallowed hard, and without giving it too much consideration, I continued, “Was that just to screw with Harper?”
“Not this time.” He pressed a kiss to my lips before pulling back slightly. “But I can see your doubt.”
I tilted my head back when he started walking. “Where are we going?”
“We have a history of misunderstandings when we talk.” He grinned. “I think I need to just show you what you mean to me.”
I smiled at his words, wanting him to show me, but I didn’t need him to. He’d been showing me for months that I meant a lot to him just by the way he took care of me when I was at my lowest point.
Wrapping my hands around the sides of his neck, I gestured with my head to my room after we stopped in front of his door. “Better go to my room.”
“Why?”
I glanced into his room and smiled at the kitty pile. “Hazel’s still in your bed.”
He snorted. “That cat is so fucking weird.”
I laughed again, happier at this moment than I could remember being in a long time.
And that had everything to do with the man who’d essentially been holding me up during the worst time of my life.