by Diana Gardin
“It’s okay,” I whispered to Tima. She let go of my hand, but Clay still held on tight. I looked at him expectantly. He began to pull me backward just as the cupcake exploded.
Screams erupted in the room, and total pandemonium ensued. Clay’s hand squeezed tight around mine, and then it was yanked away with a violent jerk.
“Clay!” I screamed.
“Paige!” Gillian yelled.
“Gillian!” Drew shouted.
“Where’s Tima?” Rob called.
The room was so full of screams and the sound of wood scraping against wood, that I was no longer able to pick out my friends’ voices in the chaos. I did the only thing I could; I made my way toward the exit with the sea of bodies moving in that direction.
I struggled to stay upright as people pushed, elbowed, and stepped on me in their mad dash for the exit, I cried out as my arm was jerked to the side and I stumbled. I fell to the ground, landing hard on my hands and knees. I tried to look up, but the room was still mostly dark and I couldn’t see a thing. Then I heard a ripping sound, so close it vibrated in my ears and I scrambled to my feet, continuing the trek out of the room.
When I broke through the double doors leading out of the ballroom I looked around wildly for my friends and Clay. Light was pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hallway from the streetlamps outside, and several official-looking people with flashlights ran into the ballroom.
When I finally burst outside, the fresh air was like cool water to a woman dying of thirst. I scanned the crowd, and spotted Gillian’s chestnut curls almost immediately. She had wide eyes trained on me, and I strained to hear what she was shouting through the chatter of voices nearby.
“Paige!” she screamed. “Your dress!”
I looked down, and the blood running through my veins turned icy-cold.
My dress was hanging in shredded tatters around my body. The material was cut from the low-dipped back to the hem. I gathered it around me quickly, wondering blindly what could have happened.
Clay reached me first, picking me up in his strong arms. It wasn’t quickly enough however, for the people close by to have seen all the important bits of my body. He cradled me against his chest, whispering urgently into my ear. I didn’t hear anything he was saying, the blood was rushing in my ears with a whoosh, and I could somehow hear my own heartbeat thumping in my head.
A high-pitched voice screeched nearby, and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.
“My dress! My dress!”
“I got you, baby,” Clay said firmly. “We’re getting in the limo now.”
And we were. He placed me onto the plush leather seat and climbed in after me. The driver, amazingly, shoved a blanket in after us and Clay covered me up, tucking the soft fleece just under my chin. I was numb as Tima, Rob, Drew, and Gillian tumbled in, Gillian slamming the door shut behind her.
The limo began to move just as police sirens and flashing lights engulfed the lodge. We were pulling safely away in silence.
“Paige, Paige look at me sweetheart,” Clay was saying. “Are you okay?”
I blinked twice, trying to clear my head enough to understand what he was saying.
“She’s in shock,” Gillian answered. “She needs something hot to drink when we get home.”
“What the hell happened to her, man?” Drew asked angrily. “How’d her dress get ripped?”
“A better question is how’d she get separated from us?” Tima asked.
“Damn it to hell,” Clay muttered. “Damn her!”
That woke up a little. “Damn who?”
“Are you okay?” he asked me, stroking the side of my face with his thumb as he looked deep into my eyes. His clear blue ones were framed with worry.
“I’m okay,” I fabricated, my voice cracking. “Did all of those people really just see me naked?”
“No one saw,” Gillian assured me. She should have known I’d see through her lie; I knew her better than anyone. “Clay covered you up really quickly.”
“You think Hannah did this?” I asked Clay.
“Yeah, I do,” he spat.
His voice was bitter with anger. “Only her mind would think of something this twisted.”
“If that’s true, then Paige can press charges,” Rob said reasonably.
“Not if there’s no proof,” said Tima. “We don’t have any proof that she did it. None of us saw her. I don’t even think I saw her at all tonight.”
“Because she was too busy putting her little plan into action!” Clay said scathingly.
“Did you see her, sweetie?” Gillian asked me.
I shook my head, trying hard to remember. “No. It was too dark. How did the explosion happen? Was it a bomb or something?”
I jumped when Clay’s fist connected with leather as he slammed it into the seat beside us. The broken expression on his face scared me.
“I’m so sorry Paige. I should never have let go of you. I had your hand…and then I didn’t anymore. I don’t know what happened!”
I stuck a hand out from beneath the blanket and stroked his leg. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m okay, Clay. I guess I was just in shock, like Gill said. But I’m not hurt. There’s really no harm done, except to my ego. God, I hope no one caught that on their cell phone.”
“Well, that blast couldn’t have been a bomb,” Drew said. “Not big enough. Maybe some kind of firecracker. Either way, the server carrying it has some major injuries. He could press charges too.”
“If anyone taped you, I’ll beat the shit out of them,” said Clay. “After I drop you off, I’m going to Hannah’s.”
“No, don’t,” I pleaded. “You’re too angry right now.”
He opened his mouth to protest.
“Plus,” I cut him off. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
I made the biggest wounded damsel face I could, and watched his anger crumble into dust.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll stay with you.”
Clay
Sitting on my couch with Paige snugged up against me, I was trembling with the effort it was taking not to get up, grab my keys, and drive straight over to Hannah’s house. But then I gazed down at Paige, dressed in a pair of my boxers and a giant Browns t-shirt. And I just wanted her to stay in my arms where I could keep her safe.
The fact that she was experiencing more trauma in her life because of me nearly killed me. If I were a stronger man, I’d walk away from her for her own good. But I was weak, and I needed her. She made me better. I didn’t like the person I used to be before Paige. So I was damn sure going to fight to keep her.
“I’m so sorry, babe,” I murmured into her dark hair for the hundredth time.
“Stop apologizing!” she scolded. “It’s not your fault. I’m not that breakable, Clay. It might seem like it, but I’m not. I’ve already been through the worst that could possibly happen to me. Anything that happens after that is just a stone to hop over.”
I silently plotted all the ways I could pay Hannah back for this, and came up with nothing humiliating enough.
Paige turned in my arms, her jade eyes burning into mine. “Remember earlier? When I showed you what I was wearing under my dress?”
The memory was branded into my brain. How could I forget?
“Yeah,” I said, smiling for the first time since the formal’s blackout.
“Well, I’m wearing the exact same thing under these big ol’ shorts.”
I was immediately interested, all parts of my body attuning themselves to Paige. “Yeah?”
“Yep. And even though I’m okay, I think I just really need to feel your body close to mine. So close a sheet of paper couldn’t fit between us.”
I stood up, hauling Paige up with me and into my arms. I carried her to my room and tossed her onto the bed.
“Wow,” she gasped as she landed with a bounce. “That didn’t take much.”
“And it never will,” I growled as I pounced on her.
I rained k
isses down her neck as I pulled up the hem of my too-big-for-her t-shirt. She lifted up so I could pull it off, and I attacked her abdomen with my tongue. I felt her gasp beneath me and that was the fuel I needed to slowly lick my way from her belly button to her perfect, round little breasts. I cupped them with my hands, marveling at how good their weight felt against my fingers.
“Are these mine?” I asked in awe.
“It’s all yours, Clay,” Paige breathed.
Hearing her say that in her sexy, breathy little voice made my hardness slam to attention even more.
“Dammit, babe,” I said roughly.
I devoured her hipbones with kisses as I pulled my boxers down over her thighs. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“Good,” she said. “Because I want every single bit of you, right here. Right now.”
I sat up to yank down my sweatpants, along with my boxer briefs, dropping them on the floor beside the bed.
“Your wish? My command,” I said, pulling a condom out of the nightstand.
“You promise?” she asked, a sly smile teasing her lips.
I answered her by grabbing her hips and rolling with her in my arms, until she was on top.
“Always,” I said. “Now, we’re going to try something new here. I want you to ease yourself down on me.”
She looked at me, unsure. “Really?”
“Yes,” I said in a strained voice, because the anticipation of being inside her was killing me.
“Won’t that hurt?”
“Paige, trust me. It will feel better than anything you can imagine.”
“Okay,” she murmured. She sat down, lowering herself painfully slow on top of me, and my world erupted in neon fireworks as I made love to the only girl I’d ever loved.
Twenty-Eight
Clay
I rolled over groggily the next morning as someone knocked lightly on my bedroom door. I glanced at the window; sunlight was streaming in through the blinds. A soft sigh beside me made me look down to see Paige tucked beneath my right arm. I leaned down and kissed the wisp of hair that was flung across her angelic face.
“What?” I called quietly to the knocker.
Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for interrupting my morning moments with Paige.
“Clay! You probably should come out here,” Drew instructed.
I groaned softly, easing Paige out from under my arm and climbing out of bed. As I pulled on some gray U of R sweats, I looked at her wistfully. I definitely didn’t want to leave her alone in my bed.
I opened the door to find Drew standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
“I’m interrupting something?” he asked.
“You’re always interrupting something,” I muttered, heading toward the kitchen and living room.
“Yo,” Rob greeted me from the couch.
“”Sup?” I sat next to him and placed my bare feet on the coffee table we had replaced a couple of weeks ago.
“So Coach called this morning.” Drew hopped up onto a barstool and swiveled until he was facing us.
“And?”
“About shit going down last night. He said that the cupcake headed for our table was loaded with a firecracker, just like I thought. So there’s an investigation going on. They’re chalking it up to a prank, but the guy carrying the cupcake suffered some second-degree burns so he may want to press charges against whoever’s responsible. Coach just wanted us to know what happened.”
“Okay. So do you think they’ll find anything on Hannah?”
Rob stroked his chin. “I don’t know. She’s always been so clever and sneaky. My guess is that if she wanted to get away with this, she probably will.”
“Dammit! I can’t stand any more of this. What am I going to do about her?”
“Well, maybe Paige could press charges for harassment,” Drew suggested.
“Paige would never do that. She wants to handle this under the radar.”
“Yeah, but Hannah is upping her game. If Paige doesn’t do something, someone else is going to get hurt. And I’d hate to see Paige injured. I mean, if that cupcake had made it to our table last night…” he trailed off, but I knew what he was thinking.
“Yeah. Paige could have been a burn victim. Again.”
The thought sent my body temperature up about five degrees, and I knew my face was red with the heated anger rising inside of me. Paige being in danger was not okay.
I heard my bedroom door creak open, and then Paige padded down the hall in the same tee shirt and boxers she had on last night. No matter how many times I looked at her, her beauty always left me speechless and amped up my need to have my hands on her. She leaned against the counter, yawning. Her hair was mussed, her eyes still droopy with sleep. She looked adorable and sexy at the same time. I didn’t even know that was possible.
“Good morning,” she greeted us through her yawn. “What’s going on?”
Drew and Rob looked at each other and then at me.
“We were just talking about last night,” I answered.
I quickly filled her in on the details the coach had given us.
“So this is like, a criminal thing now?” she asked.
“It looks like it,” Rob answered. “But we don’t think Hannah will get caught.”
“Ugh. I just wish I’d never met her.” Paige hopped up onto a barstool and placed her chin in her hand.
“I thought I’d already lived through my worst nightmare. But having a girl want to hurt me all because of a guy is really coming in a close second.”
My heart cracked a little then. She had basically just questioned whether I was worth it. I knew I wasn’t, and it probably wouldn’t be long before she came to the same conclusion.
“I’m going to get some breakfast,” I announced. “Paige? What do you want?”
She shook her head dismally. “I think I’m just going to head back to my apartment. Gill will be worried about me.” She wandered back to my bedroom.
I followed, feeling a dark pool of fear puddle in the bottom of my stomach.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she answered. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “Can I have a ride home?”
“Of course you can. I don’t want you to go, though.” I ran a finger over the puckered skin on her cheek.
She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, I saw puddles of moisture. She blinked quickly once, twice. The moisture was gone and I questioned whether I had ever really seen it.
“Paige--“ I began.
“I’m okay,” she said quickly. “It’s just…no one has ever hated me like this before. I have no idea how to deal with it. Look at me. Do I look like I can just go kick her ass? Make her stop tormenting me? I’m at a loss here, Clay. So I’m figuring things out. I’ll be alright.”
“You could let me help you figure things out. We’re in this together.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “Only you didn’t end up crawling through the dark last night with a ripped dress, exposing yourself to the entire soccer team and their dates.”
I dropped my hand from her face and stared at her. The dagger in my heart was drawing a thin jagged line a little deeper, a little further in either direction.
“I’m ready to go home,” she said.
I sighed. “Let’s go.”
Paige
I knew I was hurting him, but my heart was so heavy with fear and anger I wasn’t able to stop feeling flat and black and cold long enough to reassure him that I loved him regardless of whatever stunt Hannah decided to pull next.
Because the truth was, I was scared. And I couldn’t help feeling like I wouldn’t have run headfirst into the battering ram that was Hannah Davis if I had never fallen in love with Clay. The fear fueled the natural instinct I had to run and hide from the connection I shared with Clay. Hadn’t I lost anyone I’d ever loved? Except for Gillian of course. Maybe I only got one exception.
We were silent as we drove, him holding my hand loosely over the center console of the SUV. When we pulled up to my apartment complex, he leaned over the center and held me. I let him.
“I love you,” he said fiercely into my neck. “I love you, Paige, and I promise we’ll get through this.”
