Chapter 10
Paige~
L ike the coward that she was, Trista didn’t respond to any of my text messages, and I could admit to being rather disappointed. I had a lot of anger towards her, and by refusing to engage, she was robbing me of my right to lash out at her.
At any rate, as I glanced around the café, waiting for Heady to show up, I thought about what I should do next. So far, everything that I was trying to accomplish felt anticlimactic. I was getting no satisfaction from any of it, and that felt wrong to me. I deserved to feel some semblance of satisfaction for what Harding was going through, but I didn’t. I felt like nothing was hitting him hard enough to make a dent, and that was unacceptable.
He also hadn’t commented on any of the pictures that I had posted this morning. I had chosen the best photos that I could find, and while I was getting all kinds of compliments on them, Harding hadn’t remarked on any of them. Not even one like, and who did that? Yeah, they were old pictures, but there was nothing wrong with trying to boost your ego when you’ve been betrayed in such a horrible way.
Nonetheless, just as I was wondering what to do next, I saw Heady making her way through the café, a concerned look on her face. Granted, it was still snowing some, and Heady didn’t like driving around in the stuff any more than I did, but people also weren’t meant to stay cooped up in their homes. We needed human interaction to keep from going stir crazy, even if it was just for a couple of hours.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as soon as she sat down across from me, her drink already in her hands. Like me, Heady was an app-user, so I wasn’t surprised that her order had been waiting for her.
“I just hate driving in the snow if I don’t have to,” she griped as she got comfortable in her seat.
“I agree, but what’s the alternative? Not to leave the house at all during the winter?” I posed. “I’d go insane if I was stuck indoors for months.”
Waving my comments away, she said, “Paige, there’s a specific reason that I asked you to meet with me this morning.”
Suspicion immediately slithered up my spine. “Oh, yeah?”
She gave me a grim nod. “Harding called me last night.”
Suspicion turned into rage as I processed her words. “I’m sorry, what?”
“He called me last night,” she repeated.
“Why would he call you?” I practically spat. “Is he trying to turn you against me? It’s not enough that he’s fucking another woman, he wants to go after my friends as well?”
Heady winced, reminding me that we were in public, but I barely cared. How dare Harding call any of my friends, much less my best friend. He had no right to reach out to anyone in my circle after everything that he had confessed to me. If he had anything to say about me, then he should call me, not other people to air his grievances. Unlike me, Harding had only one option in all this, and that was to stay put and suffer through whatever I felt was appropriate.
“Paige, did you send a text to his girlfriend, threatening her children?”
My back immediately straightened at Heady’s accusatory tone. “Are you serious right now?” I bit out. “Whose side are you even on, Heady?”
She shot me a look as she said, “I’m on your side, Paige. I’ve always been on your side. However, even I can’t ignore you threatening someone’s children.”
I shrugged a shoulder, still bristling at Harding’s audacity. “I didn’t threaten her kids,” I hedged.
Heady’s brows shot upward. “Paige, Harding read me the text message. It sounded like a threat, and one that could get you in a lot of trouble.”
“How?” I challenged. “I made sure to use a text service, so that it can’t be traced back to my number. I made that mistake with my first few calls and texts, but I’m smarter now.”
Her blue eyes blinked at me for a few seconds before she said, “Paige, you cannot threaten someone’s children. I get how you must be feeling, but-”
“Oh, really?” I scoffed. “Do you? Has Butler ever confessed to cheating on you? Have you ever had to go through a divorce because your husband couldn’t keep it in his pants? Have you ever had to explain to your children why you weren’t good enough for their father?”
“Paige, c’mon-”
“Do not sit there and tell me that you understand what I’m going through, Heady,” I snapped. “Because the last time that I checked, you were still married, living your perfect life with your perfect husband and children.”
“That’s not fair,” she replied quietly as she leaned back in her seat, her coffee forgotten.
“Neither is lecturing me on something that you’ve never been through,” I shot back. “That woman is trying to steal my husband, Heady. Why shouldn’t she have to suffer?”
“Then meet with her if you need to get some things off your chest,” she suggested. “Tell Harding that you’d like to confront her face-to-face and-”
“Why would I want to do that?” I asked, surprised that she would even mention such an absurdity. “I don’t want to hear anything that Harding’s whore has to say.”
Heady let out a deep sigh, and it was angering me how she wasn’t immediately siding with me. “Paige, even if the text didn’t come directly from your phone, the contents of the message gives a pretty strong indication that it came from you.”
“It’s not what you think, it’s what you can prove,” I retorted. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m practically law enforcement.”
Heady pursed her lips before saying, “Your dad is a security guard, Paige. That hardly makes you or your family law enforcement.”
“Does he not enforce the law?” I challenged.
She let out another sigh, and this was just another sin lying at Harding’s feet. He was turning my best friend against me, and all because his whore wasn’t woman enough to come at me directly. Her feelings were hurt over a stupid text about her rotten children, but instead of replying, Harding was running to her rescue because he had a hero complex. He liked damsels in distress, and so maybe that’s where I’d gone wrong. While I had a lot of physical ailments, my mind worked just fine, and I could see how Harding might resent a strong female mind.
“Paige, I just want you to be careful,” she finally said. “What you’re doing could turn into a legal nightmare.”
I scowled. “How do you figure?”
“What you’re doing could be considered harassment,” she answered evenly. “Harding could report your texts and phone calls, especially the one about the kids.”
I arched a brow. “Again, it’s not what you think someone’s done, Heady. It’s about what you can prove, and as of right now, no one can prove a damn thing.”
“Those early texts and calls came from your phone, Paige,” she pointed out.
“But can they prove that I was the one that made those calls or sent those texts?” I pushed back. “Anyone could have gotten my phone and used it for their own amusement.”
“Paige, no one is going to believe that,” she said softly.
Done with this conversation, I asked, “Are you on my side or not, Heady?”
“Of course, I’m on your side, Paige,” she quickly replied. “You’re my best friend.”
“Then act like it,” I snapped as I stood up, then grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair. “And for the record, I don’t appreciate this little ambush of yours.”
“It wasn’t an ambush-”
“Also, remember whose side you’re on the next time Harding calls you,” I finished as I put on my jacket, not even bothering to look back at her as I left the café.
Once I got to my car, I counted to ten, not wanting to pull out onto the slick roads as upset as I was. I needed some time to calm down, not willing to put other people on the road at risk.
Pulling out my phone, I logged onto my social media, needing to share this second betrayal.
God does not weigh our shoulders down with anything that we’re not strong enough to carry. Betrayal can come in many different forms, often disguised as compassion, help even. However, when your character is stronger than the wickedness that surrounds you, you will always win. Remember that always, and God will protect you like any parent would protect their child.
I set my phone in my car’s cup holder after making my post, my anger at Harding and Heady very much alive. Instead of calling me, Harding had dared to call Heady, knowing that she was my best friend, and that was another unforgivable sin. He was trying to deprive me of any emotional support, and what kind of monster did that? Was he just going to keep taking and taking from me until there was nothing left to take? Was that his plan?
As the flurry of light snow coated my windshield, I thought about what I should do next, and it was obvious that I needed to fight fire with fire this time around.