Page 44 of Final Goodbye
Paige kicked off her shoes and made her way to the couch, the same place we had been last week. She rubbed her hands together for warmth, still feeling the chill from outside.
“I’ll start a fire. Grab a blanket and get comfortable.”
I wanted her to feel like she was meant to be here. She already looked like she belonged, and it was only her secondtime inside. As I was getting the log to burn, I glanced back, watching her cozy up on the couch. There was more than enough room for me to fit right by her side.
With the flame bringing light to the room, I slid my body right next to hers. Much like the other night, I grabbed her legs and laid them over mine as I brought my hand up to her head, combing her hair back. I couldn’t help but notice that when she leaned into my touch, she seemed a little less tight, more relaxed, and the tension in her shoulders was dissipating.
The more comfortable she got, she seemed ready to talk about what had unfolded back in town. “He said he knew something about my dad’s accident,” she let out, like she had been holding that thought on the tip of her tongue all day. There wasn’t a hint of a smile on her face and her eyes wouldn’t meet mine when she finally admitted what Logan had said to her. It didn’t even make sense how Logan would know anything of importance regarding her dad’s accident. This was a sensitive subject, so I wanted to stay calm and tread lightly. As hard as it was, it’s what she needed, and for her, I could put the anger that was brewing to the side.
“Did he say what he knew?” I asked.
“He didn’t give any details. But he accused your brother of knowing something. And you knowing about it and hiding it from me.” Now that was a bomb I wasn’t expecting.
“Excuse me?” My eyes went wide. How would Myles have any part of this? And more importantly, why was Logan trying to get in-between Paige and I by making it sound like I’d keep something that big from her? How dare he fucking have mine or my brother’s name in his mouth?
“I don’t believe anything he’s saying, but I can’t help but be a bit rattled. I wanted that to be our last run-in back there. And now I feel like it’s not over. There’s no way.” A small sniffle escaped her nose.
I pulled her body closer as I kissed her forehead, gently lifting her chin so her eyes were looking into mine. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m right here. Myles wouldn’t be stupid enough to have anything to do with your dad’s accident. He may have some problems here and there but he’s not that big of a fuck up.”
She dropped her head onto my chest and whispered, “I know.”
I wanted to say more to help ease her mind but even I was torn. Myles could never be responsible for anything so idiotic and tragic…Could he?He fucked up sometimes and he’s had his moments of driving drunk, but he wouldn’t.He couldn’t. I felt like such a shitty brother for even having the smallest slice of doubt.
“Logan is just trying to stir the pot. He’s trying to get into your head like he always has.” I don’t know who I was trying to convince more, her or myself. But I wanted to move on from this and make the most of our night together. I’d make it my mission to turn her mood around and clear my head from all the skepticism.
“Let’s watch a movie. Maybe something funny to get your mind off things,” I suggested.
“What do you want to watch? I have every streaming service you can think of, so I’m sure whatever movie you want to watch will be somewhere.”
“Fifty Shades of Grey,” slipped out of her mouth like she knew exactly what she wanted to watch. Usually, it took a girl hours to figure that out. Most times, it took more time to choose a movie by scrolling endlessly than the actual movie time itself. But her choice made me chuckle a little bit.
“I mean, I was going for a comedy to lighten the mood, but I guess the red room of pain will work too.” A smile formed on her face as she giggled. I guess my choice to watch a movie had her perking up quicker than I thought.
“So not only have you seenThe Notebook, but you’ve seen Fifty Shades too?” She picked her head up off my chest as she asked, with a trace of surprise in her voice.
“Okay, well, that one I can explain too. I was bored one night, and it looked hot. Can you blame me?” I ran a hand through my hair and shrugged.
“You were bored, huh? Like bored because you had nothing to do orboredand wanted to see what all of us women were fussing over?” Okay, she caught me. All the talk about whips and spankings and the red room and that billionaire Christian Grey had me curious. No way I would admit that though, hence why I watched the movie by myself. No one was supposed to know that but shit just flies out of my mouth when I’m around her.
“I guess you’ll never know now, will you?” I said playfully. “Oh, look! Here it is. Now let’s pretend I’ve never seen this movie before, and it’s my first time watching it because you forced me too.” She shook her head at me, chuckling under her breath.
That was the second laugh to come out of her mouth that sounded genuine and not forced. Like she was ready to move on from what happened earlier and enjoy a cozy night cuddled up with some Netflix.
I didn’t actually thinkhe would turn on Fifty Shades of Grey. I guess he took my joke seriously, and because of it, I was able to learn something new about him—it was easy to persuade him into watching chick flicks.
I couldn’t back out now, especially because I knew he’d seen it before. So why not torture him a little bit more? I may have had ulterior motives when I chose this movie. Just because Logan dampened our day didn’t mean I was going to let all the good moments between me and Declan become tainted. Being around him always made me feel horny, and maybe this movie would turn him on and tempt him to cop a feel.
I wanted to watch him squirm. Make him eat his words when he said he just wanted totalkandget to know me better.While I appreciate that, why couldn’t we do both? I had needs and it was hard to control myself around him. My moment of weakness came out when I picked a movie all about sex because, sue me, that’s exactly what was on my mind when I surrounded myself with him. It wasn’t my fault that he was tempting as sin.
After a while, I sat up and asked him to pause the movie. I needed to excuse myself to use the restroom. We were about an hour through and not once had he made a move on me. I was becoming antsy. Before I walked away, I asked him a question out of curiosity.
“Since you’ve already seen this one, have you watched the other two that come after it?” His eyes narrowed down at me as he gave me a look that saidget real.
“Do you really take me as the kind of guy that starts something I can’t finish?” That could have a couple different meanings but if he was going to go there with it, I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.
“I would hope you always finish…” I mumbled under my breath before spinning on my heel and turning toward the bathroom down the hall.
“Paige.” His voice was laced with a sternness that made me stall the second I heard him call my name.
