Page 20 of Final Goodbye
“Paige, what’s going on? What happened to your arm?” The more time we spent standing here, the more I began to worry. I was tempted to ask her who did this to her, but my gut told me I already knew the answer to that question.
“Logan has been here for hours. He’s on his fifth whiskey and it’s been a really long day. He came in earlier, cornered me, and has been sitting at the bar ever since.” My jaw started to tighten at the mention of his name. I was trying to wrap my head aroundwhat she was saying.He cornered her… He’s been lingering around the bar… and she had a fresh bruise starting to form that I hadn’t noticed before.
“U-u-usually you come in earlier than you did today, and I was worried you wouldn’t come in at all.” Her stutter pulled at my heartstrings. She was waiting for me to come in and wanted to see me.
She needed me.
And fuck, did I love feeling needed. But I was also furious I wasn’t there to help her out earlier.
“Paige, I need you to look me in the eye right now and tell me he didn’t lay his hands on you, because I swear to god, if he did, I’m going to pull him aside for a chat and I don’t know how much self-control I’ll be able to have.” I stared into her worried eyes and the look she wore on her face told me everything I needed to know.
She bit down on her lip as her gaze shifted to the side. I gently took her chin in my hand, tilting it up so she could look me in the eyes like I needed her to. “A few hours ago, he walked in here when the bar was empty. He demanded that he needed to talk to me and he had a bit of an outburst. But I was able to handle it before it went too far. I shut it down,” she admitted in a low whisper.
I took a minute to respond, remaining silent as I gathered my thoughts. Instead, I pulled her into me, hoping the feel of her warmth against my body would calm me down. My heart felt like it was racing and my hands itched to wrap around his neck. The urge to take my anger out on him was overwhelming. She said she handled it before it went too far, but the bruise on her arm told me otherwise.
“Declan, your heart is pounding.” She pulled her body away from mine, her hand lingering on my chest. I didn’t want to express how angry I truly was, or even worse, scare Paigeaway. I’ve struggled with my anger in the past and hadn’t been tempted to give into it in quite some time. Logan put his fucking hands on her and my anger had me wanting to do the exact same thing to him. Although, the last thing I wanted was for her to see me the way she saw Logan.
“Sorry, I’m just worked up. Trying to wrap my head around everything you’re telling me. Why didn’t you text me and ask me to come in earlier?” I kept my response short as I tried to settle my anger.
“I’m sorry. I just figured I could handle it on my own. And I was already so used to you coming in most nights that I felt like it would be lame to text you and ask for your help.”
“You have no reason to be sorry, Paige. I just wish I was here earlier to help save you from all of this happening in the first place.” I pulled her back to me, needing just a few extra seconds of her intoxicating scent to help calm me down. Even though I was still fuming inside, I needed her to think everything was okay.
“Next time that asshole comes in to harass you at work,pleasetext me. That’s why I gave you my number to begin with, if you ever needed help with anything. This is absolutely one of those times, Paige. Now, let’s get you back to work. I need a beer after all of this.”
“You and me both, but unfortunately, I have to finish my shift,” she huffed.
Grabbing her hand and walking back toward the bar, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Show time, baby! Time to put on your best fake girlfriend face and pretend you can’t get enough of me. Let’s get this asshole out of here.”
There was no need to pretend on my behalf. I knew this wouldn’t be hard for me. I could sit here at the bar and close it down, lost in her company all night long. At this moment, Iwanted every stolen moment I could get with her, even if that meant camping out atPeaksand watching her work.?
Watching her walk around behind the bar with that flirty smile she used with customers wasn’t a chore. Although I couldn’t help but notice how the other men in here would check her out as she walked by, and it made me a little feral.?
Okay, maybe not a little,a lotferal.
It made me crazy to think of any other man touching her. If Logan was going to come in here and pull the shit he did today, I was going to do my best to make him feel the way I was feeling inside.
Her teeth sunk into that bottom lip of hers when she started to head back behind the bar, but not before I could grab her by the waist and pull her in. Time to put on an award-winning show. Hopefully this would leave Logan feeling so incredibly awkward that he got the fuck out of here and left her alone.
I hope she didn’t mind a little PDA while she worked, because I wanted to make sure I got my point across.
It was like a flip switched inside of me when I felt her body against mine for the second time tonight. I took her chin in between my thumb and pointer finger, lifting just a bit until she looked me in the eyes.
“Get me a beer, baby girl?” Her eyes widened as she slightly nodded her head in agreement. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and with a soft breath, whispered, “Good girl.” I could tell she wasn’t expecting those words to slip from my mouth by the way her breath hitched and her cheeks turned pink.
With a quick glance back at her, I gave her a wink, leading on to the fact that I was just pretending. ButwasI just acting? Because that felt way too satisfying for my liking and I wanted so many more of those moments with her.?
Noticing the blush color growing deeper on her cheeks, I had a feeling that whatever I did back there, she may have liked it. Maybe she liked it so much that it made her nervous.?
I hoped it made her nervous.
Paige began pouring my beer just as I asked. She was faced the opposite direction, which gave me the opportunity to admire her long, toned legs that led up to the firm shape of her ass squeezed behind her tight blue jeans. She was tall for a girl; five-foot-six, maybe. But she still had to look up at me to reach my six-foot-two frame.
Dropping the beer in front of me on a small, black bar napkin, I wasn’t expecting her to play the game right back. She leaned over the bar top, exposing her pushed up cleavage that made my mouth water.
Standing there in her little white tank top, her tits looked like the perfect size, enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I didn’t care to hide it when I took the moment to look her up and down slowly. Fuck, she looked good. And she knew what she was doing. I was sitting at the bar with a hard-on and it wasn’t a good look for me.
Paige soaked in every moment of me checking her out, enjoying the fact that she was torturing me.Pure torture.
