Chasing Paige (Falling for Words Book 1)

by Tiffany Janine

  After putting my phone back into my handbag, I look up to see James hugging some stunning, tall blonde woman in a red, Jessica Rabbit dress. And I’m not just talking about the dress. Her boobs are like the size of cantaloupes. Not only is she stunning, she’s…she’s an extreme knockout. Comparing myself to her, I must look like a girl playing dress up. I really don’t like feeling so insecure.

  Ugh, now I’m mad. Who the hell is she, and why did she just link arms with my boyfriend, and why are they now walking toward me? This Jessica Rabbit wannabe is going to go down. My little inner bitch has come to life.

  Just as I’m about to burst an artery, James announces playfully, “Look who I caught sneaking in late, my little sister, Molly.”

  “Hardy har har.” She jabs him in the side.

  His sister? This is Molly? Oh my gosh, now I feel like a total idiot! Of course, she’s his sister! Now that they are up close, I can see they have similar features, and have the same crystal blue eyes. I’m so relieved I didn’t have to start a catfight, thank God!

  “Molly,” James proudly says, “this is Paige.” He lays an arm across my shoulders.

  Suddenly I’m being pulled into a hug. “Paige, it is such a pleasure finally meeting you.” Whoa, I did not expect this kind of greeting. Molly is super nice. I mean, super nice! And here I thought she was some flirty snob trying to make a move on James. She continues after we pull apart. “My big stinker of a brother has told me so much about you. Don’t worry, though…they were all good things.” She winks, and I just laugh.

  “Brat.” James chuckles.

  I’m finally able to talk. “It’s very nice to meet you too, Molly.”

  Suddenly, James says in a distracted voice, “You two get to know one another, I’ll be right back.” He kisses the side of my head and wanders off. He seemed a bit off just now. I wonder what happened? I look around to see if there is anyone he may have seen and is going to talk to, but I don’t. However, my thoughts go directly to his brother. Maybe he’s here, hiding in the corner, drinking the entire display of champagne? That thought bothers me. The last thing James needs is his drunken brother making a scene of some sort.

  Molly gets my attention back by asking me questions about my life. I don’t bring up my past marriage. It’s not something that comes easily for me. Plus, it’s not an appropriate conversation since I’m dating her brother and all. So I keep that out of the equation and discuss my family, and what I do for a living.

  After a few minutes, James hasn’t returned. Where is he? I’m starting to worry, but I don’t want to seem rude, so I continue to talk with Molly while I scan the room.

  Another waiter comes by and sets down a couple flutes of champagne for us. Once Molly takes more than a sip of her drink, she says, “It is so good seeing my brother with someone who’s actually normal.”

  Obviously confused, I lightly laugh. “Thank you…I think?”

  “Trust me, you’re normal.” Molly pats my hand. “Because, ugh, his last girlfriend, Becca? She and I were like oil and vinegar. We did not, and I mean, did not get along. She was uptight, thought she was God’s gift to men, and basically was a bitch. Why my parents thought they would be good together is beyond me.” She shakes her head and then takes another long drink. “I mean, yes…at the time, my brother was sort of a player, a little cocky, but they were no match. I could see it from a mile away that it wasn’t going to work. So thank God he grew up.” She snorts, and finishes her champagne. On that note, she grabs the waiter for another glass.

  Still working on mine, I finally see James following someone toward the restrooms. I think it may be his brother. Even though I know I shouldn’t intervene, I have a bad feeling about this.

  “Would you excuse me? I need to use the restroom.”

  “Sure. I’m going to chat with my parents. By the way, where did James run off to? He just disappeared.”

  “I have no idea,” I lie.

  “And where’s Dominic?”

  “I’m not sure about that either. I’ll be back.” I quickly walk away and go to the area I last saw James. My gut is telling me that something is about to happen, and it’s not going to be good.

  Just as I’m about to turn down the hallway toward the restrooms, I hear the most unbelievable, shocking argument of my entire life.

  “This all started when Glen died. You just had to go find his wife and become obsessed over her,” Dominic snarls.

  What?

  “He wanted me to look after her!” James shouts back. “I have tried over and over to tell you that, but you made me feel like I was betraying him. Why would you do that to me?”

  No. Oh, my God, no. My heart begins to erratically pound out of control, I swear it’s going to burst out any second. Placing my hand over my chest, and the other one over my mouth, I stifle back a cry. Making sure I stay out of sight, I continue to listen to the confession of the century.

  “Glen didn’t ask you to fall in love with her.”

  “He died before he could say anything more. Don’t you get it? I truly believe he wanted me to take care of her because he was an asshole and couldn’t do it himself. Why does this upset you so much, huh? Why can’t you just be happy for me? Lenny wasn’t your best friend, you hated him growing up. So why, huh? What did it ever matter to you?”

  He wanted me to take care of her. Lenny wasn’t your best friend.

  Lenny. God…please, tell me I’m hearing things.

  “Piss off!”

  “No!” I hear a thump against the wall, like someone had been pushed against it. Peeking around the corner, I see James holding up Dominic by the throat with his arm. The sight is devastating. James’ face is painfully angry, and is almost unrecognizable. “Tell me what in the hell is your deal with Paige. Tell me!”

  “Nothing,” Dominic chokes out. From where I’m standing, I notice he’s sweating bullets.

  In an abrupt move, James holds up a fist and is about ready to punch his brother right square in the jaw. Dominic winces from the threat. “You’re lying, you son of a bitch. Tell me!” James seethes through his teeth.

  And just as if my world hadn’t already crashed down enough, another wave of shock hits me all at once. “I was the one driving that night,” Dominic quietly spits out.

  “What do you mean?”

  Yes, what does he mean?

  “I killed Glen and his girlfriend. I was drunk…and drove them right off the road,” he confesses.

  Not being able to hold back any longer, I burst into tears and quickly walk away. From behind me, I hear James calling after me, but I can’t stop. I have got to get out of here. I’ve got to get away from James, from his brother, and get myself out of Arizona.

  I’m completely destroyed from the inside out.

  Drunken Loser of a Brother

  Dominic had been keeping radar on Paige as long as he could remember. No way would he allow her to find out that the drunken brother was the one who killed her unfaithful husband. Guilting James into believing that it was wrong to fall for Glen’s wife was the only way he could keep Paige from knowing the truth. It had nothing to do with anyone’s feelings but his. He was only thinking of himself. He didn’t want to go to prison for killing her husband. It was a freak accident, nothing less. He never meant for any of it to happen.

  Dominic started drinking heavily when his longtime girlfriend Liz, broke up with him. Thinking she was going to say yes to his engagement proposal, she instead said no. She told him she couldn’t marry him because she fell out of love for him. It devastated him. Thinking this was only a temporary situation, he stalked her day in and day out. He tried everything to get her back, but nothing worked. He continued to obsess over her and eventually she put a restraining order on him. This obsession caused him to drink and to lose his job.

  No one in the family knew about his obsession. It was a secret that continued until the day he drove Glen and his slut, off the road. He couldn’t understand anyone cheating on their spouse. It was di
sgusting. But he never intentionally meant to hurt anyone. He kept the pain of losing his sweetheart bottled up, and his only way of escaping it was by becoming drunk. It numbed the memories, blocked the feelings he refused to face.

  Getting involved with Becca was another way to escape. It was also another way to guilt James. He wanted him to find out that Becca was hooking up with his brother. The drunken brother. Becca never wanted him though. No one ever wanted him. He was a loser and a killer. Maybe that’s what he was meant to be…to plan, obsess and ruin the people around him.

  Dominic tried to be a good person, but he always seemed to fail. The drunken loser of a brother lost another job and this time it was because of Paige. She had taken so much from him, a brother and a secret, he had to do something to make her stop from going to the cops. Prison was the last place he wanted to call home.

  No. She was going to disappear, if it was the last thing he would do. And as for James? He wouldn’t turn in his own drunken brother would he? Family was family. You’d kill and die for them, or so he thought.

  Plan B needed to take effect.

  J.D. Parker - Minus

  Huddling on my cot, I can’t stop crying. I want to go home. I just want to go home! Nothing I can do helps me from the nightmares that continue to lurk inside my head while I try to sleep. I’m actually stuck in my very own nightmare. It’s frightening to think I may never see the light of day ever again, or my family, my friends, my cat, and most of all – Life. This insane man is deciding my fate.

  I just want to go home.

  I hadn’t noticed anyone around me while I was leaving the party. Everyone became invisible the second I turned my back on James. All I heard was him calling after me. I couldn’t get in the elevator fast enough, and prayed he wouldn’t get in it before the doors had closed. The empty feeling in my heart was so numb it was throbbing. I was shaking uncontrollably, and my tears were falling down my face like a shower of rain. Who on earth was I in love with? Who was this James guy, and why didn’t he tell me he grew up with Glen? And Dominic. Oh, my God, he killed my husband! He ran him…he ran him off the road along with…his mistress? Glen cheated on me? Why had Glen never told me about James? This had to be a nightmare! I needed to wake up and still be cuddled up in James’ arms like nothing ever happened. He couldn’t have possibly lied to me all this time. He just couldn’t have. Glen lied to me all that time.

  I’m truly, truly devastated, it’s beyond anything I have ever felt. Even when Glen had died, I hadn’t felt this much pain. It’s indescribable…numb. Just plain ole numb.

  Once I reach the outside of the hotel, I inhale a deep breath and look in both directions. I need to find a way back to the house so I can grab my things and go home. But before I’m about to ask the valet guy to call me a cab, James finds me. I feel his body heat from behind me.

  “How much did you hear?” his voice low and pained.

  Numb. I feel numb. Wrapping my arms around myself, I shiver and numbly respond back, “Just take me back home.”

  “Please look at me.” He tries touching my shoulders, but I quickly jerk myself away. How dare he touch me! “How much, Paige?” he repeats slowly and still pained.

  As I turn around to face him, I see his eyes are on the brink of tears; the rims are red. But I hold back all emotion I have toward him. Stay numb. “Enough to know that you’re not who I thought you were. Now, please, take me back to the house.” I turn myself back around, not wanting to look at him any longer.

  We wait in uncomfortable silence while the valet brings the car around. The drive back to his house is just as uneasy and horrible, but I have nothing in me right now, no desire to hash things out. Thankfully, James doesn’t try to say anything. I just need it to stay quiet.

  No words are exchanged as we step foot inside the house. Leaving James behind, I quickly stalk my way to his bedroom, change my clothes, pack my things, and then call a shuttle service to take me to the airport. There is no way I’m staying here any longer. Before going back out to face James, I look in the bathroom mirror. A tear stained face and a blank stare is all that I see. A shell of a broken soul, a lifeless being. Numb.

  The woman I once was with James has disappeared. He stole all the happiness I had ever felt, right in the blink of an eye. Glen…my dead, good for nothing husband took it upon himself to ruin our history and any memories together. He was unfaithful to me. Without my ever knowing, he decided that I wasn’t good enough for him and that our life together was not worth fighting for. All I have ever believed in, is now gone. The two most important men in my life have both deceived me. My trust in love is no longer breathing. It’s just as numb as the woman I see in the mirror.

  After cleaning my face of any traces of tears, I roll my luggage into the living room where James is pacing. He’s got an arm crossed over his chest and the other one propped up on it, with his fist up to his mouth. I try not to pay attention to the sad scowl upon his face when I enter the room. He quickly shifts toward me when he hears me.

  Keeping my distance from him, I somberly tell him, “I’ve called a shuttle to take me to the airport.”

  He begins walking toward me. “Paige…”

  I put my hand up to stop him from coming any closer. “I don’t want to hear it, James. I don’t,” I whisper in agony. It’s the worst kind of agony ever imaginable.

  Holding out both of his hands, he pleads with me, “You won’t even give me the chance to explain?”

  Crossing my arms, I try my hardest not to break down, but the tears have a mind of their own, they begin to leak out. “To give you the chance to explain what?” I choke out, my voice hoarse. “That you were once bff’s with my cheating of a dead husband? And how you purposely lied to me from day one?” I flick a tear from my face and stare down at my feet. Looking James in the eyes is too painful. Stay numb.

  Keeping my eyes down, I feel him inching his way over to me. “I never meant to lie to you. Never.” The distressed tone in his voice almost makes me want to believe him. I said, almost. “My brother held a guilt trip over my head that made me weak.” I squeeze my eyes shut while the tears continue to pour down my cheeks. Guilt. Weak. Carefully and slowly, James lifts my chin to meet his eyes. I open them to see the pain and anguish in his crystal, clear blue eyes, the eyes that made my knees weak, my heart pound heavily. “He made me weak, baby,” he whispers with grief and his eyes pool with unshed tears.

  I so badly want to believe him. He’s the man I love, yet he’s not who I fell in love with. “I’m not your baby, and you’re not the man that I thought I had loved.” I jerk my face away from his touch, angry that he put me in this position in the first place. He stole my heart, and shattered it into a million, irreplaceable pieces. “You’re a stranger to me. A liar. A user. A murderer’s brother.” I want to vomit. Dominic killed my husband!

  I try to walk around him, but James takes hold of my shoulders to keep me in my place. Not having the energy, I allow him to have his say. “First of all, I had no clue that Dominic was the one behind that wheel. I’m just as devastated as you are. Second…I have never lied to you about my love for you. And I have not once ever used you. Everything I have ever said and done has all been for you. I could never make up these feelings…Never.” I can’t bear to look him in the eyes. They’re the windows to his soul, and I’m deathly afraid I’ll give in, and forget he ever crushed my trust. Keeping my eyes astray, James takes my face into his hands and wipes away the scattered tears on my cheeks as he continues. “You’re my whole world, my heart. I’m desperately in love with you, Paige, and I can’t live a single day without you in it.”

  I know he’s in pain. I can hear it and see it, but however…however badly I want to forget this ever happened, it’s not possible. Slowly shaking my head, I finally have the strength to look into his eyes and tell him, “And I can’t live a single day knowing I gave my heart to two lying best friends.”

  He winces from my snarky comment, because he knows it’s true, yet
he continues to plead with me. A single tear sneaks out from the corner of James’ eye. “We can get through this,” he whispers. “If you just give me tonight to explain everything to you, I’ll help you to understand. Just, don’t leave me.” He sniffs, and then pulls me into his arms, hoping I’ll change my mind. “Please say yes. Say that you’ll stay,” he begs me, which pains me even more.

  But I’m numb.

  “I can’t…I can’t say yes this time.” I cry into his chest. My arms wrap around his beautiful body one last time. “I need to get as far away as possible from you.” We both cry in silence, until there is a knock at the door. The shuttle is here. “Goodbye James,” I manage to say. And without looking back, I hurriedly get my luggage and then walk out the front door, leaving my future behind me.

  I’m gutted from the inside out. The life that I was supposed to lead with Paige had diminished the second my brother blurted out the truth. Not knowing Paige was around the corner when I took Dominic by the throat, everything that I kept inside had spilt out like a bloody tidal wave. She heard every God damn thing. No warning, no preparedness. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get myself out of this one. The fight I tried so hard to beat broke me. The past emerged like the devil taking ownership. He was laughing, and knew exactly how this would play out.

  Even though I knew Paige would shut me down, I tried to get her to listen to me. If I could at least have been able to tell her a little bit about why I did what I did, maybe, just maybe she would have stayed and fought for our love. Sadly, she ripped my heart out of my chest, and then threw it on the ground where it splattered right in front of me. Falling to my knees, I cried like I had never cried before. I must have looked like a complete wuss, and a pathetic excuse for a man to be this devastated over a woman. It took everything in me to get my sorry ass up off the floor and wandered myself away from the front door.