by Stacey Lynn
Joey and Hannah and I talked. We giggled about Beaux and I answered all of her questions, even the ones like how he was in bed that made me slightly uncomfortable. It was girl talk, plain and simple, and if I had to step outside to mend the bridge, I’d do it.
When I asked how her life was, she waved me off. “Same old, same old. Struggling to pay for college. Guys all suck. You know how it is.” She took a sip of her drink. “Or, at least you did.”
“Yeah, but there are good guys out there. You’ll find one.”
“Sure.” She didn’t look like she believed me, but before I could pry into why she seemed more stressed than usual, she pointed at Jaxon. “What’s with the scary guy staring at us?”
“That’s Jaxon. He’s my security. It’s a long story.”
“Security? What happened?”
The gleam in her eyes I’d been missing was back, so I started telling her everything I could, and when I was done, she was watching Jaxon.
“They don’t know who it is?”
“Nope. And I’ve sort of stopped being concerned about it. I know letters still come but I don’t see them anymore. And personally, I think if something was going to happen, it would have weeks ago when the letters started coming.”
“Maybe whoever it is, didn’t want to move too hard too fast.”
“Geez, Hannah, thanks for the comforting thought.”
“Sorry.” She laughed and finished her drink. “You’ll have sweet dreams tonight now, huh?”
I was sleeping next to Beaux tonight. Headed to his house and waiting for him when he arrived from New York. I didn’t tell her I always had sweet dreams when I was in his bed.
I changed the subject, moved it back to her and the classes she was taking that semester. She was in college to become an elementary education teacher and with her usual, peppy personality; I could totally see her teaching a classroom of six-year-olds all day long. By the time we finished our third drink, we’d also devoured a plate of nachos and another order of onion rings when Hannah suggested she took me home. We’d been there for hours after her shift and I was certain Jaxon was about ready to blow his own head off having to stand in one spot for that long.
“Jaxon was going to take me to Beaux’s place,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “So he can follow us if he has to. Come on, I’m having fun tonight and it’s been so long since we’ve hung out like this. I miss you.”
She pouted and it did me in. “Okay. I’ll let Jaxon know. Come on.”
We said our goodbyes to Joey, slid off our stools and when we reached Jaxon, he looked ready to bolt.
“Ready?”
“Yeah, but Hannah’s going to drive me to Beaux’s. Do you mind following?”
“Your wish, my command.”
“Oh,” Hannah said, laughing. “That sounds like fun.”
He leveled her with a look, and Hannah looked away, hiding her laugh.
This was the girl I loved. Boy crazy and goofy.
“I’m parked out back, meet us there? It’s the white Nissan,” she said.
“Got it.” He left the restaurant and I linked arms with Hannah, pulling her toward the rear entrance we used.
As we stepped outside, I immediately jumped back into the hallway. ”Holy crap! It’s pouring.”
“Yeah, I didn’t even realize it.”
Rain was coming down in thick sheets and I cringed. Thunderstorms, crazy ones, and even the occasional hurricane, were totally normal in Raleigh, but I still never got used to them.
“Um.”
“It’s okay.” Hannah reached for my hand. “I’ll keep you safe.”
She tugged me into the rain and we ran to her car only a few spots away, under a shining light and a quick scan proved the entire lot as now well-lit with replaced bulbs.
I thought of Beaux and smiled.
We were drenched by the time we got into the car, and Jaxon’s lights were a pale blur behind us as Hannah pulled out of the parking lot, fishtailing through a puddle as she merged into traffic.
***
We were halfway to Beaux’s house, the rain still not letting up and only getting worse, when I realized that as we’d been driving, Hannah had already been prepared to follow my instructions before I ever gave them.
As soon as she yanked us into traffic, not bothering to wait for Jaxon even though she knew he was following us, I sensed something that told me I’d made a major mistake.
I didn’t realize what it was, but something wasn’t adding up.
Hannah’s hands were tight on the steering wheel, but her fingers were constantly tapping like she was nervous. She was too jittery for enjoying a night out with a friend.
“Hey, Hannah,” I asked, looking out the window. “Do you know where Beaux lives?”
Tap. Tap. Tappity. Tap. Her fingers were constantly jittering.
She laughed, but it was tight and strained. “Everyone who’s a fan knows where he lives, silly.”
“Okay.”
That wasn’t right, though.
Beaux had told me he’d never had fans outside his house. Never once been photographed out of it either. He said his house wasn’t even in his name, something common with famous athletes and celebrities. I hadn’t asked specifics, but he’d always assured me were safe at his place when we were there.
An alarm dinged in my mind, but I pushed it down.
This was Hannah. She was nutty.
A thick silence weighed down the car and I gripped the door handle as she flew through a puddle, giving that semi-weightless feeling.
“Hey, can you slow down a bit, sweetie?”
“Oh come on, Paige. Where’s your sense of fun?”
“I don’t like storms.”
She huffed then and laughed. But it wasn’t her laugh. My gaze went to my side mirror. Behind us, I knew Jaxon was there somewhere, but I couldn’t see a darn thing through the rain.
Rain pelted the car, making it hard to hear the radio and I almost missed it when Hannah finally said, “You know, I don’t know what’s so special about you.”
The heck? My head whipped in her direction. “What? Hannah—”
“No. I mean, sure you’re nice and all, but you’re not all that pretty. And you definitely don’t have nice boobs like me. I’m just trying to figure out, why is it you get everything you want? Why is everything so easy for you? I mean, me? I’ve tried to get Beaux’s attention for over a year now, and he’s barely said hello to me. I’ve got great tits. I’m nice too, damn it. Plus, I give a blowjob that makes men mindless. Can you say the same?”
She’d lost me. Totally lost me. I had no idea where this animosity was coming from, but it chilled my blood quicker than the storm had.
It wasn’t until she brought up Beaux my warning siren blared in my head, but it was on full force as she took another curve too fast.
“Hey, let’s slow down. We’ll talk about what’s upsetting you.” I grabbed the oh-shit handle above the door. “Hannah! Slow down!”
Another burst of thunder and lightning lit up the sky. The storm was heavy, late in the season for such a storm but they’d been warning us about it all week.
She flew through another puddle, not bothering to brake.
“I’m not upset.” Her eyes flashed to me, wild and green, and wide open. “Tell me, Paige. What is so damn special about you that suddenly, Beaux Hale gets one good look at you and it’s game over for me?”
There was nothing I could do. We were driving too fast. The roads were wet. I couldn’t jump out going seventy miles an hour. That’d kill me for sure.
I tried to calm her down. “It’s not a competition, Hannah. You’ll find someone.”
“I don’t want anyone!” she shouted and slammed her hand on the steering wheel.
Behind me, Jaxon’s headlights were now visible in the rearview mirror. Somehow, he’d closed the distance.
I sent up flares into the karmic air, screaming for help.
“Okay,” I said,
my voice calm. I quieted my tone, ignored the rush of adrenaline roaring through my system. “Okay, Hannah. Please, though, pull over. We’ll talk. Maybe there’s someone else on the team I can set you up with.”
Her head whipped to me. “You’d do that?”
Her smile was manic. Green eyes were glassy like she was drugged.
Maybe she was. I thought I knew Hannah pretty well, and I never would have guessed she was a drug addict.
I also never knew she would have been the stalker I had to worried about but all her freaking out was making that glaringly obvious.
“Of course I would. Just please, you’re scaring me. We’ll get home, have a drink, and we’ll think of someone. Anyone.”
“I want Beaux.”
It was like she hadn’t heard me. Perhaps she hadn’t. The thunder was rolling constantly. Lightning flashed all around us. Rain hit her window so viciously I couldn’t see through it, and her wipers were on full blast.
Every time she splashed through a puddle in her two-door Nissan, we did a mini-fishtail.
“Hannah, Beaux and I are in love.”
“You’re not!” she screamed, and I jumped back into my seat. So much for calming her down. “He can’t love someone like you. You’re plain, and you have your stupid dad to take care of. He only pities you, Paige. He doesn’t love you.”
Two weeks ago, definitely a month ago, her accusations could have made me doubt what we had.
I had the recent benefit of spending time with Shannon. Of practically living with Beaux.
Hannah was hopped up on crazy pills and on her way to psycho town. Every word she spoke was a lie.
“That’s not true, Hannah. I wish you would have talked to me about this, earlier, but I don’t understand. You told me to go for him.”
“Yeah, because I knew you’d toss him away and then I could be there to make him feel better. I’m better for him.”
“You’re not. I love him, Hannah, and I’m not giving him up.”
She whipped her head toward mine and sneered. “You will if I don’t give you a choice.”
We hit another curve, a steep incline ahead and she didn’t turn the wheel.
“I told you and him. If I can’t have him, you don’t get him either.”
“Hannah! Slow down!” I shouted, but it was no use. I was frozen in the car, watching as she hit the curve. Rain splashed as she flew through a puddle and she didn’t care one shit about the iron railing at the side of the road.
She drove right through it.
I screamed.
Metal scrunched.
The car took flight and all I saw was trees before the screechiest, eeriest sound slammed into my ears and then everything went black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BEAUX
It’d taken hours to get back to Raleigh, a flight delay due to the weather, but I’d been keeping in constant contact with Jaxon.
He’d pulled Paige from a fucking smashed car driven by Hannah.
As soon as I’d gotten his phone call, one he made while Paige was in his arms on the side of the road while he waited for an ambulance, I’d leaned over and threw up.
From the way Jaxon said everything happened, he said it wasn’t an accident either. Said the girls had been drinking, but not too much.
It didn’t matter.
All that mattered was seeing Paige. Holding her. Fuck!
I slammed my hands on the counter to the nurse in the main waiting room of the emergency room. “Paige Halloway,” I panted, breathless from worry and fear rotting my stomach. “Where is she?”
“Are you family?” the nurse asked. “Only family can be back there.” She didn’t look at me while she clicked on the computer screen.
“I’m family,” I said. “Husband.”
The word came out before I could stop it. Fuck it. I’d say or do anything, give this woman my millions to let me through those double doors.
She shot me a look. It obviously wasn’t the first time she heard the lie. “Have a seat, we’ll send someone out.”
I didn’t sit. I texted Jaxon, asking where in the hell they were.
He answered back. “Room 415 dumbass. I already told you.”
“Fuck,” I groaned and flipped up through my texts.
I hurried out of the emergency room to a hallway that led to the main entrance. Repeatedly pushing the button to the elevator, I willed it to show the fuck up.
I had to see her.
Needed to see she was going to be okay.
The elevators opened, waited for fucking ever to shut again despite me pounding the “door close” button and then it took another million and half fucking hours to reach the fourth floor.
I didn’t bother to stop at the reception desk on the floor, I just moved like I knew where I was going, following the signs, until I saw Jaxon outside a room that had to be hers.
“How is she?”
“Sleeping. She’ll be okay.”
“Fuck,” I knew that. He’d already said she only had minor injuries, maybe a concussion and a broken arm from where the car smashed against her when it hit a tree.
Good Lord. Not the texts I ever wanted to see in my life again.
“Didn’t want to tell you this on the phone,” Jaxon said. “But you should know. When I pulled her out of the car, she opened her eyes for just a second and all she said was ‘It was Hannah.’”
“What was Hannah?”
“Either she meant it was Hannah who crashed the car or Hannah who was stalking you. I’ve got people looking into it.”
“What happened to Hannah?”
“Wasn’t wearing a belt. Flew through the glass. Didn’t make it.”
Fuck. That would kill Paige. I couldn’t wrap my head around the information he was giving me, I also didn’t give a shit.
If someone hurt Paige intentionally, I was glad they were dead. If that made me a heartless bastard, I didn’t care.
“Her dad’s in with her. He doesn’t know what I told you.”
“Thanks.”
I walked around him and entered her room, steeling myself for the damage I was sure to see, but all I saw was Paige.
Her brown hair matted with some dried blood at her temple, but it’d been mostly cleaned up. She was lying on the bed, head tilted to her side, eyes barely open and on her dad.
She was smiling.
He was holding her hand.
Crying.
God. Pain slashed my chest and I walked to the end of the bed. “Hey, you’re awake.”
“You’re here,” she said, turning to look at me. She flinched and reached up to touch the brace around her neck. “You’re finally here.”
“Always.”
Sam rolled his wheelchair back and gestured for me to take the empty chair. “You two talk. I’ll be outside with Jaxon.”
“Thanks, Sam.”
“Dad, I love you,” Paige croaked. Her voice was dry and scratchy and I cringed at the noise. God. But she looked okay. Better than dead, which didn’t make me feel better.
“Love you too, baby girl. I’ll be back tomorrow but promise you’ll get some rest tonight, okay?”
“In this damn place with all the crappy food?”
“Funny.” He grinned. “That’s what I said last time I was here.”
She smiled. He shook his head and I held the door for him while he wheeled himself out. He’d been getting better on his crutches and with a walking cast, but he must have been exhausted to be in his wheelchair.
“Can you get him home?” I asked Jaxon.
“I’ve got Melanie,” Sam said. “She ran to get coffee but she’ll be here.”
“I’ve got work to do,” Jaxon said. “Calls are coming in.”
Both of us stared at him, and at the same time, said, “Call me when you know something.”
He turned back to his phone, Sam wheeled himself back to the floor’s waiting area, and I went back to the room.
“I saw your interview,” Paige said
as I pulled the chair close to her bed and collapsed into it. “You looked sexy.”
I’d already forgotten about the interview.
I grabbed her hand and brought it to my mouth, kissing her, smelling her, tasting her.
“What happened?” I asked. “And are you okay?”
I’d heard it. She looked like she would be. Scratches at her temple, goose size egg in the middle of them. Her right arm was in a brace, not a cast, but over all, she looked damn lucky.
“I might have a concussion, and I hurt, but honestly, I’m okay.”
“Your arm—”
“Is fine. Not broken, just sprained from when it smashed against the glass.”
“God. Fuck, Paige, I’m so sorry. So damn sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said, reaching for my head but she pulled back, gasping. “My back hurts too, I guess.”
“Don’t move, then. Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know. But Hannah, she just, I don’t know how to say it, snapped? We were having drinks, having fun and she said she’d take me to your place. Then I realized she already knew where to go, and when I asked her about it, she totally freaked out.”
“Hannah? It was Hannah. That’s what you told Jaxon. Do you remember?”
She shook her head, closed her eyes as if thinking hurt her. “No. The car crashed and I woke up in the ambulance, that’s all I know. But I think she was the stalker. She started ranting about how I didn’t deserve you, how she did, and the last thing she said after I told her I loved you, was that if she couldn’t have you, I didn’t get to either. Then she turned the wheel and she flew off the road. She meant to do it.”
Her chin wobbled and tears fell from her eyes before I even realized she’d started crying.
“Shit.” I climbed into the tiny bed next to her and lay on my side, holding her, careful not to hurt her, but comforting her.
“I was so scared,” she said through her tears, shoulders shaking. “It came out of nowhere, and it was storming, and I hate it when it rains that hard, and then she was yelling at me, and the sounds…”
