I held her up as her legs began to wobble, her body wracked with aftershocks. I pulled out of her and hugged her back against my chest, holding her up and nuzzling my face into her sweat dampened neck. She smelled so good, a heady mixture of sex and Natalie.
"I love you so much," I panted out, still breathing heavily from my release.
"Love...love you...too," she mumbled out, making me smile smugly.
I set her back down on her feet. I cleaned her up with a warm wet wash cloth, wiping her sweat dampened face before cleaning her gorgeous pussy with gentle strokes. She smiled and sighed from the attention. We were putting our clothes back on when I finally spoke again.
"How about I make you dinner, and then we watch a movie?" I asked her with an easy smile. I felt a sudden urge to cuddle with her on the couch. We hadn't done that in what felt like too long. Not since Paige started staying here. She made a pained face at the suggestion.
"I don't even want to look at that woman right now," she growled out.
"I told her she might want to stay in her room," I said with an evil smile. "After our little performance, she probably won't come out for the rest of the night."
A wicked smile spread across her face, her eyes lighting up with dark amusement. We spent the rest of the night in our own bubble of blissful denial, that for once had spread outside of my bedroom, and we didn't hear a single peep from Paige.
*********
"Hey, David," I heard a male voice call out from behind me. I turned to see Ryan, one of our ward clerks, approach me in the hall of the psych unit. He was tall and slim, with short dark hair and intelligent eyes.
It was around mid-morning on Friday, and I had just finished up a pretty intense group therapy session. I was heading toward the break room to get some coffee and take a short break before charting everything in the computer system. I found that taking a few moments to gather my thoughts just after a rough session helped me focus better for the tedious charting process.
"What do you need?" I asked him curiously.
"There's some muscle-bound guy here looking for you."
"Did he say what he wanted?" I asked in irritation. I really wasn't in the mood to be social right this second.
"No, but he said you knew his fiancee."
I was perplexed. I didn't have any friends who were engaged. "What's his name?"
"Uh, something with an 'A' I think," he said with an apologetic shrug. "Aaron, or something that sounded like that. He's pretty intense."
I felt my face go slack with shock. "Is his name Aiden?" I asked, hoping like hell that it wasn't who I thought it was.
"Yeah, that's it," Ryan nodded. "He's sitting out in the reception area." He jerked a thumb back down the hall.
"Thanks," I mumbled distractedly as Ryan walked away.
I swore under my breath. I didn't think Paige's fiance would be able to figure out a connection between us. Paige told me she had never mentioned me to him before since he tended to get jealous, so I thought she was safe from him finding her at my house. Of course, I knew a controlling man like that could be very determined in a situation that had gotten away from him like this. Shit. Well, I guess there was no choice but to go talk to him. I needed to find out how much he knew, without playing my own hand. The only thing I knew for certain now, was that it was time for Paige to leave. I wouldn't put myself, and especially Natalie, in danger like this.
I went reluctantly out to the reception area and plastered a professional smile on my face. A guy built like a weightlifter rose from one of the chairs as I walked into the waiting area. I vaguely remembered him from Andy's wedding, since I didn't really look at him closely that day. He was my height, but with frighteningly broad muscular shoulders. I couldn't believe he hadn't managed to hurt Paige bad enough to hospitalize her or outright kill her already. The only guys I knew who came close to rivaling his size were Jensen and Natalie's brother, Ford. This Aiden guy made me feel like a scrawny teenager by comparison, and I wasn't a skinny guy at all.
He eyed me with intense blue eyes as I stopped in front of him. He was good-looking with a chiseled jaw and flawlessly over-styled short blond hair. He was dressed in a dark navy suit that was high-end and looked tailor-made. I didn't know what he did for a living, but he was obviously very successful at it. It explained the huge sterile house he lived in.
"Hi," I said politely and reached out to shake his hand. "I'm David. What can I do for you?" He eyed my outstretched hand for a beat, and promptly ignored it. What a dick. I let my hand fall back to my side.
"Aiden Mitchell," His voice was cultured and intelligent with an edge of contempt to it. "I'm looking for my missing fiance. Someone from security showed me the surveillance feed of you talking to her in the parking lot a couple of weeks ago."
Ah, this was good. He didn't know that I had a past relationship with Paige. The last thing I wanted was a jealous abusive asshole coming after me. Unfortunately, thanks to the hospital's security cameras, I had to figure out a plausible reason to have been seen talking to Paige without him figuring out our real connection.
"You'll have to be more specific, Mr. Mitchell," I said to bide for time as my mind grasped for an idea. "Was she a patient of mine?"
"Of course not," he said indignantly as he waved a dismissive hand. "Paige wouldn't need any of this psycho-babble bullshit."
I clenched my jaw shut. Of course, he was one of those assholes that thought my chosen profession was beneath them and unnecessary. People like that made me angry and annoyed, especially when they dismissed everyone with a mental illness as being weak. I wanted to tell him off, but I couldn't afford to do that right now. I needed to get him off Paige's scent until I could get her out of town. None of us would be safe until then.
"Do you have a picture of her?" I asked calmly, schooling my face back into polite interest. He pulled out his phone, touched the screen a few times, then showed me a picture of Paige.
"Yeah, I remember her," I said with a nod as an idea popped into my head. "She came up to me begging for a ride. She said she needed to get away from someone, but I figured she was a nut-job looking for a free handout. I tried to ignore her, but she followed me all the way out to my car. She wouldn't take no for an answer, so I told her to leave me the hell alone. She was still begging for a ride when I drove away." I hoped my lie worked. I knew my explanation would line up with my angry reaction to Paige on the soundless security footage from that day.
"Did she happen to mention where she wanted to go?" he asked with a thoughtful expression, but he didn't seem suspicious or angry.
"No," I answered matter-of-factly with a shake of my head. "Not that I remember, but I didn't really talk to her that much."
An angry livid expression flowed across his face for a split second, making him look absolutely frightening, before a cool impassive mask replaced it. There was that temper Paige talked about. "If you see her again, I'd appreciate it if you'd call me."
"Sure," I answered with a nonchalant shrug. I watched him take out his expensive looking wallet and pull a business card out of it. He handed it to me and left without even a thank you. I gazed after him as he walked out. Paige had found herself a real piece of work with this self-important asshole, but that wasn't important now.
I glanced down at the card in my hand and froze as sudden terror surged through me. Holy shit, I needed to get Paige out of my house immediately, before Natalie and I got sucked into a fucking shit storm.
*********
I stormed into my house just before noon to find a startled Paige sitting on the couch watching television with dirty dishes and magazines strewn all over the place. I left work less than an hour after Aiden had visited me, and I was already keyed up, so the mess only served to darken my mood. I guess I should be happy she had at least been cleaning up her mess before I got home every night.
"At any point at all did it occur to you to tell me you were engaged to a fucking criminal attorney?" I snarled out as I came around the couch to face her.
"I...I...d...didn't..." she stammered out as she shrank back into the sofa cushion, her brown eyes widening with fear.
"Didn't what?" I asked incredulously as I glowered down at her. "Didn't think it was important? Didn't think I would care? What the fuck Paige? I can't believe the police haven't shown up already and arrested me for abducting you."
"How...how did you find out?" she asked in a subdued voice.
"He showed up at the damn hospital looking for me. He was able to get security to show him the footage of you following me out to my car a couple of weeks ago." I gritted my teeth as she began avoiding my gaze. "Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you," I snapped at her. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
Her eyes flashed up to meet mine with a hint of defiance. "What choice did I have? If I told you, you wouldn't have let me stay here. He would have found me anywhere else."
"Did it even once occur to you how this could affect Natalie or me?"
Her face flushed red, and she looked away again.
I let out an exasperated breath. "Of course, it didn't. How did I ever love such a selfish fucking bitch?"
"How dare you!" she said vehemently as she looked up to return my glare.
"How dare I?" I spit out incredulously as something deep inside me finally snapped. I was done with this. We were going to have it out right fucking now. "How dare you show up here and take advantage of my sympathy and Natalie's kind heart, you manipulative bitch. All you've ever done is use me and manipulate me to get what you wanted. Well, I'm fucking done with it. You're not my problem anymore, so pack up your shit, you're out of here." I turned to leave the room.
"But David," she whined in a nasally voice that grated on my nerves. "I thought..."
"Thought what?" I cut her off as I turned back to face her, my voice sharp and deadly serious. "That you'd show up, and I'd beg you to take me back?" I let out a bitter laugh. "The man you used to be able to manipulate is long dead, Paige. You made sure of that when you fucking left me and aborted my baby behind my back." I felt my eyes start to sting with unshed tears, and I didn't try to stop them. She needed to see what her selfish actions had done to me. Maybe telling her how she broke me would help me get past this and finally move on. She stared at me with wide startled eyes as I continued my tirade. "Do you have any idea what you did to me? Do you even care? You destroyed me, ripped my heart out and smashed it to bits. Can't you even see what you did? You killed a part of me, and I'll never be the same. Never."
"I...I wasn't ready..." she stammered out as she looked at me with pleading pathetic eyes. "I didn't have any other choice."
"You did," I said in a broken voice as I felt the tears start pouring out of me, my vision becoming blurry and unfocused. "I would have taken our child if you had just told me you didn't want it. I would have raised it by myself, but you took that choice away from me didn't you? All you cared about was yourself and how it would affect you. What I might have wanted never even entered your mind, did it?"
She said nothing as her eyes fell down to her hands as she wrung them in her lap. I pressed my lips together in a hard line as I fought the sob that wanted to burst out of me. I waited for her to say something, anything, that was even remotely close to actual remorse, but it never came.
"Pack up your stuff, Paige," I said in a hard emotionless voice. "I'm booking you on the first flight to your mother in Atlanta, and I don't ever want to see you again."
I turned and walked away from her, holding myself together as I went into my study. I closed and locked the door behind me, and crossed the room to my desk. I sat down and somehow managed to book her flight through a curtain of silent tears. When I finished with that, I covered my face with my hands and let it all go. Deep painful sobs tore up out of me as I finally and truly mourned for what had been taken from me, my child and the future that I had wanted so badly. I sat and wept on and on for what could have been and what would never be. It was true. I would never be the same, never, but maybe now I could let the past go and find a new future with Natalie.
*********
When I finally emerged from my study, I felt like I was opening a new chapter in my life. Natalie had been right all along, talking to Paige had helped me. Even if I didn't get the reaction from her that I wanted, just getting everything out of my head and telling her how I felt had been cathartic by itself. It was like a weight had been lifted from me, and my burden felt so much lighter. I couldn't wait to tell Natalie, but first I had one more thing to do.
I went down the hall to find Paige. I was able to get her on a flight this afternoon, but we had to leave now for her to make it on time. I found her in the guest room, packing her clothes into the bag she had brought with her. She looked up when I entered the room, then quickly averted her eyes from mine.
"I'm almost ready," she said in a quiet subdued tone as she continued stuffing things into her bag.
"Good," I said calmly. "We have to leave in the next few minutes for you to make the flight." It was the first time I was able to talk to Paige, or even be in the same room, without pain or anger engulfing me. It was a freeing sensation.
"Okay." She nodded, but still didn't look at me.
"I'll be in the living room." I left her to finish packing. I cracked the door to my room, took a quick peek to check on George, and found him sleeping on my pillow. He woke long enough to chirp at me then closed his eyes again. I smiled. He'd be glad when Paige was gone too.
I went into the living room, intent on picking up some of the crap she had left laying around, and was surprised to find that she had already taken care of it. Maybe I had gotten through to her after all, but it didn't really matter anymore. I'd found my own way to deal with it. Anything else was her problem.
I was sitting on my couch reading my Watchman graphic novel when Paige finally emerged from the hallway. I rose wordlessly and met her by the door. I slipped my coat on and led her out to my car, and we got in. I drove to the airport in silence because I had nothing left to say to her. She was silent too, and I suspected it was because she didn't know what to say to me. I was fine with that. I was tired of dealing with her, and I was ready to move on from this.
I parked in the short-term lot at the airport and carried Paige's bag for her into the building. I went with her to the check-in desk to make sure her ticket was there for her. Fortunately, her bag was small enough for a carry-on, so she didn't have to check it. I handed her the ticket then carried her bag for her over to the airport security area. I stopped next to the line to get through security.
"Good luck, Paige," I said quietly as I handed the bag to her, then turned to leave. I had only made it a few yards when she called out to me.
"David, wait!" Her voice was different. There was no whining tone to it, no snide undercurrent. She sounded like the Paige I met and fell in love with three and a half years ago.
I turned back to her with an expectant expression, but said nothing. She looked tired and sad, nothing like the manipulative woman I had been around for the last several days. She crossed the few yards between us and stopped a few feet in front of me, meeting my eyes for the first time since we left the house. Tears began to well up in her dark eyes.
"For what it's worth," she said softly and sincerely. "I'm really sorry for how I treated you, even before I left. I'm not proud of the things I did to you, and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I want you to know that I'm going to try to be different. I've got someone who needs me to be the best that I can be for them." Her hands drifted down to her pregnant belly. "And I want you to know that I'm going to try to be a better person."
"For their sake," I motioned to her unborn child. "I certainly hope so, Paige. I really do. Good-bye." I turned and walked away without looking back, each step feeling lighter than the one before. When I finally made it to my Audi and sat in the plush leather seat, I took a deep cleansing breath and realized what had just happened. There was a psychiatric term for what I had just experienced. It was c
alled closure.
Chapter One
Natalie
I walked reluctantly into David's house after work on Friday. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with Paige all weekend. Putting up with her after work this week had been bad enough, now David and I had an entire weekend of her bullshit. I was half tempted to try to talk David into going to my apartment with me and leave her here to fend for herself, but I knew he'd never leave her alone in his home that long.
"Hi, sweetheart," David greeted me with affection from where he lie sprawled across his couch, a graphic novel open in his hand. He seemed different to me, calmer and more relaxed than I had ever seen him before. George was stretched out on David's belly looking content and serene as he chirped a greeting to me. My boys looked happy and at ease, and it made me smile. Too bad this happy scene was only temporary until Paige made her next appearance to fuck with all of us. My smile quickly turned into a scowl.
"Didn't you work late today?" I asked as I hung my coat up and dropped my bags on the floor. He was dressed in a T-shirt and sweats, and looked like he'd been here for a while.
"Nope," he said with a smile as he moved George off his belly and sat up. "I left work early to drop an unwanted guest off at the airport this afternoon."
"You what?" I blurted out in surprise. If this was a joke, I was going to kick his ass.
"Paige is gone, sweetheart," he said with a widening smile. "She's never coming back."
"Are you fucking with me?" I asked as I moved to stand in front of him and leveled a hard glare down at him.
"Natalie." He smiled indulgently up at me as he put his hands on my hips and pulled me to stand between his knees. "I would never fuck with you about this. She's gone. I swear."
"Did you hear that?" I cocked my head as I looked around with a concerned expression.
"Hear what?" David asked with a perplexed expression.
"I think I hear angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus." I grinned as I crawled onto his lap, straddling his hips and resting my hands on his broad shoulders. He smiled wryly and grabbed my ass in both hands.
You Are My Love: Breathless Book 2 Page 22