by Sam Crescent
By the end of the shift, he was outside in the car.
“I can’t believe we’re all in the fucking back,” Tonio said.
Donnie didn’t want Paige having to squeeze between two of his friends. He didn’t want her anywhere near them.
She walked out, hiking her bag onto her shoulder. He flashed his lights her way, and he saw the disappointment in her eyes. Paige didn’t want him to wait around.
He watched her open the door, climbing in. “You didn’t have to wait for me.”
“I promised you a lift, or do you want me to become your new best friend?” he asked.
“No, it’s okay.” She placed her bag on the floor.
“I’m going to drop off these guys before we head back home.”
She stared out of the window ignoring them. Donnie didn’t know if he was to be insulted or happy by her complete lack of regard for him.
Tonio, Luiz, and Jake were laughing in the back.
After he dropped each of them off, they made their way back home. She didn’t say anything, and Donnie decided to stay quiet.
Once he took her home, he watched as she once again turned down her mother for company, taking a sandwich upstairs to her room.
That was how the rest of the week went by until it came to Friday where he started his tutoring.
****
Paige didn’t want to go to her tutoring class. She had to be the only one in math class who was failing. Slamming her locker closed, she was happy when Chantelle and Leanne ignored her. Donnie had kept to his word, and ignored her. She also ignored him, and it worked for them.
Entering the room, she saw three other people in the room, but then she stopped when she saw one of those people was sitting on his own. Donnie smiled at her, and she looked toward Mr. Adams.
“Hello, Paige. Your tutor is Donnie. He’s top of his class and will be helping you for the rest of the semester.”
Gritting her teeth, she took a seat beside Donnie, hating him.
“You knew about this at the diner, didn’t you?”
“I did, and I used it to my advantage.”
“Do you even know anything about math?”
“Didn’t you hear what Adams said? I’m awesome.”
She dropped her bag to the floor beside her. “Our deal is off.”
“Why? I’m going to help you with math. I won’t be here all the time, only when I tutor you. I’ve talked with the teacher, and you don’t need to change me for someone else.” He opened a book and pointed it toward her. “First, you need to do this test. I’ll mark it, and then next Friday, we’ll talk about what you need to work on.”
Paige wanted to stand and walk right out of the classroom. Glaring at him, she took the test and the pencil he offered. Trying her hardest to ignore him, she put her name at the top of the test, and worked through each question feeling like a complete moron. It was around question ten when she started to struggle. Algebra was wasted on her. For the next hour, she worked through the test getting a headache at the work. When she finished, she handed him the test, then stood. Mr. Adams was already looking at his watch, clearly wanting to get out for the day.
She wasn’t going to argue with him. The last place she wanted to be was in this room with Donnie. Saying goodbye to her teacher, she didn’t even acknowledge Donnie, making her way out of the school. No one was around apart from his three friends.
Donnie followed her out.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m walking home.” She didn’t slow down her walking. Jake joined her for the walk home. “Why are you back here again?”
“I take my orders from Donnie. He wants you to be safe, so I stay here and make sure you’re safe.”
“I hate this. I hate you being around me. He’s my damned tutor, and he’s dangerous. You’re all dangerous, and I just can’t handle this.” She’s stopped and started yelling at him.
Someone caught her from behind, placing his palm over her mouth. She fought her captor and was shocked when Jake walked away.
“You’re right. We are all fucking dangerous, Paige, and you need to know the kind of fucking danger you’re in.” Donnie held her against his body. She tried to fight him, but his touch was strong and she didn’t even have a chance. He was the one in charge, not her. “I’m going to let you go and you’re not going to scream or yell.”
She nodded her head.
He dropped his hand, and she took a breath, trying to pull out of his arms. Donnie didn’t let her go. He held her tightly to his body.
“You need to learn to keep your fear locked up tight, Paige.”
“I don’t want to be near you or your family. I want to stay away from you.”
“That’s hard to do when we’re all a family. We’re expected home tonight. Dad’s got a few visitors, and I’ve already talked to your boss at the diner.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do this. I can’t handle this kind of pressure.” Paige placed a hand over her heart, which was racing out of fear.
“I’m prepared to help you.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she bit her lip. “Why would you help me?”
“Because I want to. You’re right, you didn’t ask for this, and I’m more than willing to help you.”
“Let me go.”
“If I let you go, you’re not going to run, are you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I won’t fight.”
“Good. You need to stop fighting me, Paige.”
“I still don’t understand why you would even think about helping me.” She didn’t get it. They’d never spoken to each other, and now, he was helping her. None of it made any sense to her.
He released her, and she turned around to look at him. “I’m helping you because you’re different.”
She raised her brow at that one. “Different?”
“You’re not like your mother. She’s sleeping with my father for an easy ride. I expected you to have a bunch of friends suddenly rushing around me.”
Paige couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re really up yourself, aren’t you?”
“How was I to know that my new stepsister wasn’t going to have any friends?” He smiled, and something finally twisted in her stomach. Licking her dry lips, Paige stared at her feet, not liking the direction her thoughts were going. Life was a lot easier when she could ignore everyone and everything.
“Can I go home now?” she asked, pointing toward the alleyway that was a few feet away.
Donnie looked toward the car. “I’m driving you home.”
She released a sigh, and her shoulders slumped as if they had a mind of their own. “You’re going to fight me every step of the way,” she said.
“You’re the one fighting.”
“Are you really the mafia?”
He let out a breath, clearly pushed to the limit. “Get in the car, Paige. Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to know the answers to.”
She pushed past him, going toward the back of the car where Jake was waiting with the door. Climbing in, she moved right up to Luiz, who was also sitting in the back. Neither of them spoke to her, and she was more than happy with that.
Biting her lip, she focused on her breathing, and to keep moving forward. In her mind, there was nothing else she could do. Her life was being taken out of her hands by her stepbrother.
You’re not related.
The guys talked amongst themselves, and Paige tuned them out. The last people she wanted to be listening to were the guys who’d just seen her breakdown.
When Donnie pulled up in front of their house, Jake didn’t waste any time getting out of the car. She whispered him a thank you and made her way up to the house. Her mother was waiting, wringing her hands together.
“What’s going on?” Paige asked, sensing something was different.
“I need to talk to you,” Sharon said.
“Actually, we both need to talk to you.” Anthony moved in behind her mother, looki
ng rather imposing. She wanted to kill him for taking her mother away, to take him out of the equation so it was just her and her mother, waiting for her father. Donnie came in behind her with his friends. “Luiz, Tonio, Jake, you all need to leave. This is family time right now.”
No one argued with Anthony. He was the head of the house, and even if Paige wanted to kill him, she couldn’t.
“Come. Sit.”
Two simple words, and yet Paige knew they were going to destroy her. She followed her mother into the dining room. The table was free apart from a large vase of daffodils on the table. It was strange to see the daffodils seeing as they were out of season.
Sitting across from Anthony and her mother, Paige pulled her bag onto her lap for something to hold onto.
“What’s going on?” she asked, wishing she was anywhere but in this man’s dining room. When they had been with her father, they never had anything grand, but they were both loved. This was the complete opposite. Her mother was now owned, not loved. She was a mere trophy to a man like Anthony, and something inside Paige told her that it wasn’t a trophy he was after.
“Your mother and I have talked long and hard about this, and we think it’s time that you knew the truth, Paige.”
She looked from one grim face to the other. Sharon was hard, no tears present, but she wouldn’t meet her eyes. Paige suddenly felt like she was floating.
“Tell me what truth?”
Someone touched her knee, and when she gazed down she found Donnie’s hand there. Why was he touching her? Why did she care that he touched her? So many questions and yet none of them made sense.
Anthony looked at Sharon. “It’s about your father.”
“What about him? Is he okay?”
“That’s the thing, honey,” Sharon said. “Your father.” She stopped, placing a hand over her heart. “It has been so hard for me to tell you something like this. I thought if I didn’t tell you it would give you hope.”
“Hope of what?”
“Your father is dead,” Anthony said.
Shaking her head, Paige started repeating the word “no”, over and over again.
“Listen to me—”
“No, no, no, I don’t have to hear this. I can’t hear this. It’s completely insane what you’re talking about. My dad can’t be dead. He left, and he hasn’t returned. You’re lying. You’re lying so you can move on and marry someone else.”
Sharon pulled out a piece of paper. Paige stared at it, but it was blurry. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she couldn’t see properly.
“It’s his death certificate.”
“You’ve known all this time and didn’t tell me?” She wasn’t looking at her mother anymore but a stranger. When had her mother started to disappear?
“I wanted to, but no time was ever the right time.”
Pushing back from the table, Paige just couldn’t handle it anymore. “I can’t do this. I won’t deal with this.”
“Honey—”
“No, you don’t get to honey me.” She held onto her bag tighter, hurt, angry, and breaking apart at the news that she’d just heard. “You lied to me. When you told me he left, it hurt. How could he have just gone, but you lied to me. He was never gone, and that, I don’t know you anymore, Mom. No, you’re not a mom to me—Sharon.” With those parting words between them, Paige ran toward her room, rushing up the stairs, tripping as she went.
Life was never going to be the same again.
Chapter Four
One year and three weeks later
Paige’s eighteenth birthday was around the corner, and Donnie stood in his father’s garden, smoking a cigarette as he listened to his stepmom make all the arrangements for the party. In the last year a lot had happened, and yet nothing had. He’d gotten close to Paige, helping tutor her through math. They did stick to their deal, and she continued to work at the diner, much to his annoyance. He got his friends to leave her a big tip. To a point, Paige had become part of them. Luiz, Tonio, and Jake treated her like a friend and were always happy to have her around.
They’d even hung out around the house watching movies when their parents left for the weekend to spend time together. When Sharon and Anthony had gotten married it had been hard for Paige. Donnie had spent more time with her, hanging out, talking. He truly believed he’d spent more time talking with his stepsister than any other girl. What bugged him was his reaction to her. In the last year he’d watched her grow and fill out. She’d had a curvy body to start off with, and it only got more so. He found himself using other women just to release his aching need so that he didn’t make a complete fool of himself with her.
She made him hard as fucking rock, and it drove him crazy. Paige didn’t show any sign of wanting him for anything other than a friend. She wouldn’t acknowledge him as a stepbrother, only as a friend.
It was the first time in his life he’d been marked for the friend category. He fucking hated it.
“I thought I’d find you out here,” Luiz said, coming up to step beside him.
“How is everything?”
“Fine, Paige is avoiding the designer trying to give her a new wardrobe.”
“Where is she?” Donnie asked, hating the way his cock twitched at the sound of her name.
“She’s working at the diner. Don’t worry, Tonio and Jake are watching over her.” Luiz pulled out his own cigarette. “How much longer we got?”
“I don’t know. Dad’s still convinced she knows something.”
“Money and coke went missing. Her father was the one controlling that shit. He went missing, presumed dead.”
“We found a body, Luiz. It could have been him.”
“With no way to identify him. His teeth were ripped out and his entire body burned to a crisp. We don’t know if it’s him or not. Everything was destroyed and taken from him.”
“Do you really think Richard Jones is alive?”
Donnie looked at his friend and shrugged. “I don’t know what I believe.”
Finding out about the death of her father, Paige had been distraught. Donnie had stood outside of her bedroom door listening to her cry. She wouldn’t even allow Sharon into her room. The whole situation was heartbreaking, even to him, and it wasn’t his problem.
“I thought I’d find you out here,” Anthony said.
He looked toward his father, hating the sight of him. The bastard looked way too happy.
Luiz tensed up, and he knew it had to do with his sister Maria. She had lost three babies and been hospitalized six times. There was nothing they could do about it. However, Donnie was starting to get a plan forming, which he’d tell his friends soon.
“What do you want?” Donnie asked, taking a deep inhale on his cigarette.
“I need answers from Paige, and I need them now.”
“It has been over a year, and nothing has happened. Why do you think something is going to change?”
“Sharon’s taken care of.”
“She’s a whore that has been bought and paid for.”
“Well, let’s hope Paige has a little whore inside her, as otherwise she’s going to be swimming with the fucking fishes.”
Luiz snorted, but Donnie didn’t give away his anger.
“We need to make sure she stays quiet or knows what Richard did.”
“Why didn’t you find out if he was dead or not?”
“I told you there was a body but no way of clarifying if it was him or not,” Anthony looked between them. “You’re paid to follow fucking orders. You may be The Family’s sons, but you will still be held accountable for your actions.”
“We’ve done nothing but uphold every rule and contract.” Donnie had over fifty kills to his name. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but he’d do whatever needed to be done in order to keep Paige safe.
His little stepsister had gotten under his skin.
“Well, tonight we’ll find out. Several men are coming, and Sharon knows it’s time to show off Paige.”
&
nbsp; Anthony’s words had Donnie freezing to the spot. “What?”
“You heard me. Paige is like any other daughter, step or not. She will be married off. Find out what you know. By the time she’s finished school, I want her married and out of the house.”
Anthony left them alone with that bombshell.
“I swear, Donnie, I don’t know how much longer I can take it. I have to pretend I don’t give a shit about Maria while I do business with her scum of a husband. She’s scared of fucking everything.” Luiz spat each word out.
“I know. We can’t react too quickly. If we’re to take over the ruling of The Family, we need to attack from all angles.”
“This has added a complication,” Luiz said.
Yes, it had added a complication, and not one Donnie wanted to think about. “I’ll handle it.”
“Are you sure? It’s Paige. She’s a little fucking spitfire and will get herself into trouble.”
Donnie didn’t need to be told what Paige was like. She’d almost caused a war by being disrespectful at dinner parties. He laughed remembering how Anthony almost had a coronary when she called out Maria’s husband on domestic violence. If it hadn’t been for Jake, the evening would have ended in disaster.
“How can you sit at a table with that pig? Did you see Maria? Did you? She’s terrified.”
“We see it.”
“What the hell do you do about it?”
“We can’t do anything about it.”
Paige had looked at him with so much disgust. Donnie rubbed at his chest, recalling the disgust along with the disappointment. “I’m so pleased I never have to marry into this family.”
Her words had cut deep. With his years of training Paige hadn’t seen a glimpse of what her words did to him.
“This is my problem, Luiz. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.” He threw his cigarette to the floor, stubbing it out with his foot. Without waiting for his friend, he made his way out to the car.
He wasn’t surprised when Luiz jumped in beside him. Reversing out, he ignored the guards that were telling his father that he’d left. Over the last three years he’d been plotting, scheming, and working out how best to take down his father. He’d found the people who hated his father the most. The Family was changing, and he’d heard the rumors. A lot of people wanted a change in ruling, someone else to take over. His father was losing his edge with leadership.