Divided Interests

by Kelly Elliott

  Lucas opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Then he nodded. I made my way through the living room, up the stairs and into my bathroom. I shut the door, then placed my hands on the sink, dragging in one deep breath after another. Memories of Lucas in his shower the other night, making himself come while calling my name flashed through my mind. I jerked my head up and looked into the mirror.

  “Holy fuck,” I whispered. “You’re so stupid. Paige, you’re so stupid.”

  I threw open my bathroom door, ran over and shut the bedroom door. William still had a land line, so I rushed to the desk and picked it up. Luckily, Jen hadn’t changed her phone number since high school. I dialed and carried the cordless phone into the bathroom before I got paint anywhere.

  “I’m not buying,” Jen said when she answered the phone.

  “It’s me! Paige.”

  “Where are you calling me from?” she asked.

  “The landline at William’s house. Something big has happened. A few big things. Okay, huge things.”

  I heard a door shut. “I’m alone and ready to decipher his actions. Go. Leave out nothing.”

  “Jen, I think he pretended to be drunk that night because he was worried I’d turn him down.”

  “Um, hello, I already deduced that.”

  I sighed. “Fine, you did. Then, the next day, when I thought he was insulting me by comparing me to Bianca, he wasn’t. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he was trying to do that at all.”

  “Okay, you’ve lost me there.”

  “Then the pigtails… He was agitated because when he sees me in pigtails, it turns him on.”

  She laughed. “He always was on the verge of kinky, wasn’t he?”

  “Focus! Jen, I think Lucas still wants me.”

  Silence loomed over the line. Oh God, maybe I had read it all wrong.

  “I mean, we just had a paint war in the living room, and he stripped down and then I stripped down, and he had a hard-on after looking at me. And his eyes looked like they were on fire. Seriously, on fire. Am I reading into this?”

  Then came the laughter. A lot of laughter.

  I groaned in frustration and waited for her to get it all out.

  “Done yet?” I asked as I turned on the shower water. I needed to get this paint out of my hair.

  “Yes, sorry. Oh my gosh, Paige, you’re just now figuring this all out. I knew the moment he walked into that living room and saw you watching Top Gun he wanted you. Everything that man has done has screamed he wants you.”

  “Then why did he try to sell the house I love? Why did he want to buy me out, make me give up something he knows I love?”

  “I think that was his initial reaction because it makes him think of what y’all lost. What you both used to dream about. Paige, I never truly thought Lucas Foster stopped loving you. He picked a girl who was the complete opposite of you. Then, when you walked back into the picture, he broke up with her the same day. Sure, maybe he had been wanting to end things anyway, but you gave him the reason. You. It was your name he was jacking off to in the shower.”

  I let out a breath and leaned against the bathroom door.

  “He said he wanted to talk tonight. Asked me to let him make me dinner. He wants a truce.”

  My head felt like it was spinning. What did this mean for us?

  “Are you having dinner with him?”

  “I think so. I mean, yes. Crap, I need to get this paint off and go clean up the living room. We made a mess.”

  Jen chuckled. “Lord, I cannot wait to hear how this night goes. Call me if anything major happens. Don’t give him the woohoo tonight. Make him earn it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m hanging up now.”

  “Wait! I’m ser—”

  Hitting End, I let out a deep breath, put the phone on the counter and pulled the T-shirt off my head. I needed a hot shower and then I would think about Lucas—and my woohoo—and how desperately it wanted him.

  Lucas

  I COULDN’T GET the image of Paige in her panties and bra out of my head. I stood in the shower, my cock in my hand, jacking off. She was upstairs, in her own shower. Naked.

  “Fuck,” I groaned as I pumped harder. It was a new record for me. My cum was hitting the shower wall only a minute or two after I started.

  “I’m going to make my dick raw if this keeps up. Jesus, I must be sixteen all over again.”

  I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, the water running over my body, my eyes closed as I replayed every second of us in the living room. A smile grew, and I filed that memory away to bring out over and over, most likely in the shower or in my bed, with my hand on my dick again.

  “Asshole,” I mumbled as I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. When I reached for the towel, I looked down to see Oreo sitting in the middle of the bathroom.

  “I see you managed to stay out of the war zone.”

  She gave me a meow.

  “Don’t look at me with those judging cat eyes. Did you see her? She looked hot as hell, dripping in blue paint and dressed in practically nothing.”

  The cat stood, whisked her tail around and walked over to the small cabinet against the bathroom wall. She reached up and pawed at the door.

  “Okay, go on. There is no food in there for you, Oreo. Go find Paige and stare at her with your judgmental eyes.”

  She stretched up again and pawed the handle, this time hitting just right and causing it to open.

  I looked in and couldn’t believe my eyes. A key was hanging in the small antique vanity.

  With a quick look at Oreo, I asked, “Is this the key to the attic?”

  Oreo meowed. Then I cursed.

  “Holy shit, I’m talking to the cat like Paige does.” We’ve both lost our damn minds.

  I took out the key, holding it up. “I would bet my left nut that you open the attic door.”

  Oreo rubbed against my wet legs, leaving a trail of cat hair in her wake.

  “Fine, I’ll admit that you’re a smart cat. There, I said it. Now go bother Paige.” I watched as the cat walked out of my bedroom. I quickly shut the door and found some old jogging pants and my favorite Def Leppard T-shirt. I tossed my clothes in the trash and made my way into the living room, only to find Paige already cleaning up. I couldn’t help but stop and watch her. If Milo hadn’t interrupted us, I would have kissed her, and I’m glad he did. Because I knew we needed to talk before anything else happened between us. So far I’d acted like a freaking prick, touching and kissing her when I knew damn well I shouldn’t.

  I smiled when she started talking to Oreo. “The carpet is trashed, but maybe that’s a good thing. I’m thinking we rip it up and see what the floors look like under here, what are your thoughts?”

  Oreo answered, like always.

  “Agreed. Now to get Lucas on board for ripping up this carpet.”

  “He’s on board,” I said, walking into the living room. Paige spun and smiled when she saw me, and the air from my lungs was sucked out. There wasn’t anger, or hurt, or mistrust in her beautiful caramel eyes. She was looking at me like she used to. Like the sight of me made her happy. God, how I hoped I was reading it right.

  “Hey, you clean up pretty good,” she said softly, then chuckled when she looked around the room. “We made a mess.”

  I laughed as I did the same. “We certainly did.”

  “You agree to ripping up the carpet?”

  With a nod, I walked over to her and stopped just short of her body. I could tell she was holding her breath.

  “Yes, but I think we should keep it down until the painting is done. If the floors are decent underneath, it will protect them.”

  She smiled the most brilliant smile I’d ever seen. “I think they will be. I remember William talking about when he had the carpet put down, he told them not to destroy the original floors. May wanted the carpet. She was worried the grandkids would get hurt on the wood floors.”

  “How do you remember that, Paige? Ho
w do you remember all those conversations with Granddad?”

  Paige shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve always loved this house, and I guess anytime William talked about it, I filed it away. Just in case we…”

  Her voice trailed off, and she went to turn away from me, but I stopped her.

  “Wait,” I said, lifting my hand to her face. When her breath hitched, mine did as well.

  I reached for a strand of her hair, pulling out the small bit of paint. “You still have paint in your hair.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “No thanks to you. I still can’t believe you dumped that over my head.”

  “That was fun, I think we both needed it.”

  Chewing on her lip, she nodded.

  “Mom sent me home with some chicken pot pie and salad. I’m starving. Early dinner?”

  “That sounds amazing. What about all this?”

  “We can clean it later.”

  Without thinking, I reached for her hand. She didn’t attempt to pull it away, so I didn’t drop it until we walked into the kitchen. I started to unpack the bag of food.

  “I’ll grab something to heat it up in,” Paige said, taking out two bowls. “A bowl okay?”

  “Grab two. She made a salad, too.”

  We worked in silence, moving around the kitchen like the last week hadn’t even happened. All the tossed insults, the moments when we’d both let our weakness get the better of us. And then there were the words we’d spoken last night. That was what I wanted to talk to her about. To set her straight on a few things.

  “Do you want to eat on the porch?” she asked, nodding toward the back door. “It’s a beautiful day out.”

  “Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ll grab the waters. Do you still like Ranch? Mom packed some.”

  She gave me a look that silently asked if I was being serious. “Seriously? Who doesn’t like Ranch?”

  I wanted to say Bianca but decided it was best not to bring her up, at least not right now.

  Once we got settled, Paige pushed a forkful of potpie into her mouth and groaned. The noise went straight to my dick. And just like the asshole I was, I was instantly hard.

  “Paige, I wanted to talk to you about what you said last night.”

  Her face fell, and she looked out over backyard and off into the trees. On the other side of the trees and pathway sat the greenhouse, and beyond that a wide-open pasture.

  “I never meant to make you think I was comparing you to Bianca in any way. That morning when you made the muffins, it was fucking refreshing to see actual food. By the way, those muffins were amazing. Did you make them from a box?”

  She gave me a soft smile. “No, from scratch.”

  I fell in love with her more.

  “And your comment about your weight…I feel like everything I’ve been saying has been coming out wrong. You look amazing. You’re beautiful, and I’m not saying that to try and make you feel better. When I walked up the pathway and saw you on this porch, talking and laughing with Milo, I couldn’t even form words.”

  She looked at me. “You formed words. If I remember right, an insult or two.”

  I looked down, embarrassed. “I was trying hard to hide how I was feeling.”

  Her head tilted. “How were you feeling?”

  My eyes met hers. “Confused. Excited to see you. Angry at myself for ever letting you go in the first place.”

  When her face morphed into shock, I let out an unsure chuckle and kept going. “My heart was pounding in my chest and I wasn’t sure why. Seeing you brought back every single memory we shared, every dream we had, every touch we exchanged. And then that pissed me off.”

  “Why would that piss you off?”

  “I don’t really know how to explain it. I think it all just hit me. The guilt I felt for moving on after you.”

  “Lucas, I dated other guys, as well.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not it, Paige. You asked me to trust you, to let you follow your own path, and I was so fucking scared you would pull away from me that I let you go before you could hurt me. I tried to hide the fact that I knew I had made a terrible mistake by being mad at you, even though I knew it had all been me. Then I sort of got lost for a while. Searched for someone to take away your memory, and that’s when I met Bianca. She was the complete opposite of you. The only problem was, I still couldn’t get over you. She knew it, too. Shortly after we started dating she found an engagement ring, and she got pretty damn excited. That was when she planned our first trip. Paris. I can’t even begin to tell you the guilt I felt, going with her to Europe when it was you who had asked me to go with you first.”

  Paige’s eyes glassed over, but she kept her tears at bay.

  “Anyway, Bianca had a modeling gig there, we stayed for a week or so and then came home. She was in a foul mood when we got back, and when I asked her what was wrong, she asked about the ring. Let’s just say it didn’t go over well when I told her that I had bought it way before her and it had been meant for my old girlfriend. For you.”

  “What?” Paige asked, her hand coming up to her mouth. “No wonder she hates me.”

  I laughed. “Yeah. You were never her favorite person.”

  “You bought me a ring, Lucas?”

  With a shrug, I answered her. “I did. The summer before we started college. I was going to ask you to marry me that Christmas. I had our life all planned out, Paige, and when you changed course, instead of being supportive, I freaked. It probably doesn’t help to tell you that about a week after I broke up with you, I drove up to Arkansas.”

  “You did?” she asked, surprise laced in her voice.

  “I was going to ask you to forgive me, beg you to forgive me, because I know I hurt you when I walked away from you.”

  “What happened? You never called me. I never saw you.”

  “I saw you purely by luck. You were walking from one of your classes and going through this park. You started to cry and leaned against a tree, then slid down to the ground. I started to walk toward you and stopped when I saw some guy lean down and ask you if you were okay. He pulled you into his arms. I stood there for what felt like forever as I watched another guy hold you. Then I left and drove back to Austin.”

  Paige stared at me, a blank expression on her face. Then she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

  “Do you know who that guy was, Lucas?”

  “Do I really need to know?”

  Her eyes snapped open and anger moved across her face. “Yes, you do. It was Josh Miller.”

  I jerked my head back in confusion. “He has the same last name as you?”

  She let out a strangled groan. “He’s my cousin, you idiot! Josh is my cousin. He was a senior at the U of A when I was a freshman. I had sent him a text and told him I was having a bad day. I missed home, I missed you, I was sad we had broken up and I was on the verge of telling my parents I wanted to come home. He met me at the park. He talked me down from the ledge. Jesus Christ, you saw me hugging my own freakin’ cousin!”

  “Again, when did you start swearing so much?”

  Her mouth fell open. “That’s what you’re going to say to that? Really?”

  “Well, what do you want me to say? Am I pissed at myself? Hell yeah. Do I feel slightly sick? Yes. But I can’t go back in time and change any of it.”

  She stood, knocking the chair over. “I don’t know if I want to strangle you, or rip your balls off, or hug you because you’re so stupid.”

  I squeezed my legs together, then stood. “Paige, I walked up on something that threw me. I had no idea your cousin went to school there, you never told me.”

  “You didn’t want to hear anything about me going to the University of Arkansas. All you wanted was for me to go to school with you. You never once stopped to think what I wanted. You refused to listen to my plan.”

  “I did, Paige. I fucking did. And I made a mistake. A huge mistake that I have had to live with since I turned and walked away from you.”

  “Twi
ce, apparently.”

  I scrubbed my hands down my face. “Listen, the past is the past, and I don’t want to argue with you about it. I fucked up. Can we both just agree to that?”

  Her arms crossed her chest. “We most certainly can.”

  “What I need you to know is that I don’t want to hurt you, and maybe my motives for wanting to sell the house were off, but I never once wanted to take the house out from under you to hurt you or pay you back for something. I wouldn’t do that to you, Paige.”

  Paige looked away from me.

  “Please look at me.”

  She slowly met my gaze. “Then why were you so hellbent on buying me out, on selling this house? I know it once meant something to you.”

  I swallowed hard. “I did love this house, and I loved the idea of us being in it together. Maybe it had something to do with my pride and the fact that I messed up with us. All I know is the moment I saw you, I knew the life I had been living was a lie.”

  Her eyes narrowed in on me. “What do you mean?”

  “I wasn’t happy, and I haven’t been happy for a long time. I let Bianca make all the decisions, I followed her around like a fucking puppy because I was trying to make up for the mistake I made with you. When you mentioned last night how much it hurt you to see me travel with her, I wanted to punch myself.”

  “I’m more than happy to do that for you.”

  We both smiled slightly. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I didn’t just talk to you and tell you I was scared.”

  Paige wrapped her arms around her body and took a step back. “I wish you would have.”

  “Me too,” I softly said.

  “So, what are we going to do? About the house?”

  I exhaled a deep breath. “We’re going to find that chest and figure out what Granddad was thinking when he left us the house.”

  “Lucas, you don’t think he did it as a way to force us back together? He always said we belonged together.”

  “I’m sure that was part of it, but I feel like there is something more. Something deeper that we’re supposed to find. Together.”

  “Truce, then?” she asked, the sweetest smile on her face.