Page 6 of Trust Me Always

I smile at the little fairyesque girl we met our first year here at Avix. She’s a good friend of Ari’s boyfriend, Noah, and heintroduced us to her not long after he and Ari started hanging out. After my best friend’s near-death accident at the end of our freshman year, we got to know her better, and she’s been a part of our ever-growing group ever since.

“Telling everyone about Chase’s secret man crush on Chad Michael Murray,” I joke.

Chase groans and Paige tucks her hair behind her ear with a laugh.

“I’m going to call my mom back real fast,” Chase mumbles, moving ahead of us, and I notice the way Brady turns his head to follow his friend’s path.

Paige looks from Chase’s departing form to us, a small, possibly forced, smile on her lips, and we fall in step beside her, walking slower as we wait for the rest of the gang to come around the corner as planned.

“So did you figure out if you can come with us to the game on Saturday?” I ask Paige, resting my cheek on the back of Brady’s head.

Paige’s shoulders fall and she shakes her head. “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

“The womb donor’s parental still asking to see you?”

She gives an uneasy smile. “More like demanding. Why a man I’ve never met thinks he has a right to tell me what to do is beyond me.”

I don’t know all that much about Paige’s life before Avix, just that she was raised by a single dad, her mom having overdosed just after she was born. But I do know she likes to please people.

So I’m not surprised when she says, “I’m just going to meet him for dinner, let him say whatever it is he wants to say, and hope he leaves me alone after that.”

“Is your mom’s side a bunch of assholes?” Brady asks.

“I have no idea.” She looks off, seemingly lost in thought. “My dad told me my mom had no family. He either had a good reason to lie to me or he didn’t know.”

Neither Brady nor I comment. Like the twins and Chase, thetwo of us also came from full, loving homes with more support than we could ask for.

I don’t think Paige lacked love from her dad. If I remember right, Noah said they were really close, and it couldn’t have been easy to only have one person in your life you could depend on. It had to be even harder to then lose that person. But her mom, I know, was a different story, so it must be hard to learn she had family out there she never even knew about.

“Anyway, I might make the party after the game, but I won’t know for sure until the time comes.”

Mason and Ari walk up, and Chase rejoins us, his frown still present.

“All right, let’s go eat before all the good shit is gone.” I reach back, smacking Brady on the butt. “Giddy up, horsey.”

Brady looks to the boys. “Last one to the steps has to save the table and gets their food last?”

Mason smirks and bends at the knees, and Ari instinctively hops up on her brother’s back. “You’re on, Lancaster.”

We all look to Chase.

His gaze snaps between his friends, settling last on Paige, who chews her lip and looks the other direction. His eyes narrow on the tiny blond. “She’s wearing a dress.”

“So cup her ass. Nothing will show.” Brady laughs and I smack him on the arm.

Chase stares at Paige, and finally, she gives a little shrug.

He drops our bags onto the grass and pulls a hoodie out of his, gingerly wrapping it around her waist.

“I could do it,” she says softly.

Chase ignores her and ties it low across her belly. He turns, silently lowering to one knee.

Paige climbs on and he pushes to his feet as if she weighs less than a butterfly.

Brady grabs my bag and Chase takes his once more. “On three?”

“One.”

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