Finding Paige: (The Paige Diaries #1)

by D. K Lake

  "No. I don't have time for this. I need to get back to my dorm." she says, not looking at me as she shoves her bra and wings into the bag.

  "No. We need to talk about last night."

  Her eyes dart back to the bed, then back at me with a questioning look.

  "We didn't have sex. You fell asleep before we could do anything."

  She looks relieved. "Then there's nothing to talk about." She pushes past me and I see Mitchel through the office windows climbing out of his Jeep. She snatches up my sweatshirt and pulls it over her head before picking up her phone again.

  "Paige, just slow down a minute."

  I follow her around the office as she collects her things and I pull on my jeans and a t-shirt.

  "No. I need to go!"

  I grab her arm and stop her from opening the door.

  "We need to talk about the baby."

  She stops trying to pull away. Her eyes lock onto mine. Frozen.

  "What?" she whispers.

  "I know about the baby." I say softly.

  "What baby?" Her defenses go up and she pulls her arm free and opens the door.

  "Paige?" I call. "Don't you walk away from me!" I bark.

  Mitchel stays out of the way and pretends to be looking at something on his phone.

  "Hey! Stop a minute. Where do you think you're going dressed like that?" She's only wearing my t-shirt and sweatshirt and nothing on her legs. My clothes hang low enough to cover her ass but still, I don't want her walking the streets dressed like that, and she's barefoot for crying out loud.

  "Go away!" she yells, walking faster to the exit.

  "No! Not until you tell me about the baby." I get in front of her and hold onto her, she looks close to tears and I need to know why. I need to know what happened last year. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me."

  "There is no baby!" she screams. "Okay?! Is that what you want to hear?"

  "No, I want you to tell me what happened!" I demand.

  "Did Em tell you?"

  "No. You did. Last night."

  "I can't do this with you. Not now. I need to go."

  "What's the rush?"

  "Maverick is waiting for me." She pushes against me.

  "Fuck Maverick. You're not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck happened after you left the motel last year?"

  "I can't!" she cries.

  "You can." I hold onto her and she gives up trying to get past me because she knows it's useless.

  "You told me you were on the pill. I don't understand-"

  "I lied." she admits. "I was never on the pill."

  "Why would you tell me you were?"

  "Because..." she trails off and I loosen my grip on her arms. "Because I wanted y-you." Her voice breaks. "I wasn't thinking straight."

  "Then what happened? You never called. You said you would call."

  "I found out I was pregnant and was scared to tell you."

  "Why?" I ask desperately trying to understand what went wrong last year.

  "Because it was my fault."

  "Paige-" I try to reach for her.

  "No. Don't touch me." She takes a step back. "I didn't know what to do. I knew I couldn't keep it a secret, so I told my mom..."

  "She made you get an abortion?" I clench my fist.

  She nods her head.

  "Why didn't you call me straightaway? I would have come and got you. We could have figured it out together."

  She shakes her head. "After I told my mom, I couldn't call. She confiscated my phone. She cut my Internet access. I had no way of contacting anyone. I couldn't even get ahold of Kelsey because Mom kept us apart. I had no choice but to get an abortion. I had no way of contacting you. No money to get out of Nebraska because my mom took my cards and money. I was trapped." She wipes the tears away using her sleeve. "I had no choice but to go along with what my mom wanted. She even sent me to an all-girls school and kept tabs on where I was and who I was with. I wasn't allowed my phone back. I wasn't allowed to use the house phone. My mom's fiancé Ned, and everyone that worked for him, the maids, the chef, the gardeners, they all monitored me during the day. I had no privacy. The main reason I came back here was to get away from her." She starts to cry again. "I never wanted to get rid of the baby...I didn't have a choice. She threatened to kick me out if I didn't go through with it and I had nowhere to go."

  I try to reach for her again, but she pulls away. My heart breaks seeing her this upset. I can't begin to imagine what she went through and I had no idea. I thought she had changed her mind about us, and I spent months moping around feeling sorry for myself with no idea what was really going on.

  "I need to go..." she begs, tears pouring down her face as she tries to leave again.

  "Stop running away from me!" I grab her wrist and whirl her back around to face me.

  "Stop chasing me!" she shouts. "Just leave me alone. It's over and done with!" She shoves at my chest.

  "No. I'm not letting you go this time!"

  Paige hits me in the chest and I try to restrain her.

  "Enough!" Mitchel says, coming over to us and stepping between us. "People are gonna wonder what all the noise is about." he says calmly.

  "Keep him away from me!" Paige points at me and storms off.

  She's mad if she thinks I'm going to leave her alone. I'm about to go after her when Mitchel stops me.

  "Whoa. Slow down, man." He holds onto me. "You need to calm the fuck down. You're just gonna make it worse and make her more upset."

  "I'm not finished talking to her."

  "No, but she's clearly done talking to you today. So just leave her alone until you've both had time to cool off. She's not going anywhere."

  "Get out of my way!" I growl.

  "Nah, man. I'm saving you from making a big mistake. You want her back, then you have to let her go right now."

  "I'm not letting her get on the bus dressed like that!" I wave my hand in her direction but she's long gone.

  "I'll take her home. You stay here. Cool off." He pats my shoulder and turns me around.

  "How do you expect me to just cool off? Did you hear what she said? Her mom made her get rid of her baby. My baby."

  "I know, and that's pretty fucked up, but you can't yell at her like that. She's clearly still upset over the whole thing and you're not helping."

  "I just want to talk to her."

  "All right, but not today."

  "If it was Kelsey you would be all over her right now trying to get her back."

  "Paige isn't Kelsey. Paige is breakable, Kelsey is completely different. If you push Paige, she will run away from you."

  "No, fuck this. I'm going after her." I head back into the office to get my boots and Mitchel follows me in and then walks straight back out again. I don't know what he's doing, but I don't care. I shove my feet into my boots and then search the desk for my keys and notice they're gone. I look up and see Mitchel is standing on the other side of the door looking at me through the window with my keys in his hand, dangling them from his fingers. He fucking locked me in.

  "What the fuck, Mitch?!"

  "It's for your own good." he tells me before walking away.

  "I'll just break the glass." I shout angrily.

  "Break what you want, but you still won't be able to leave."

  Fuck.

  He's right. He has the keys to the van, and he also has the key to the lockbox where all the customer’s keys are kept so I can’t even borrow a car.

  “Stay here. We’ll talk when I get back.” he says and climbs into his Jeep where he gives me a little wave.

  Fucker.

  He slams his door and starts to reverse out of the garage, lighting a cigarette as he turns the wheel, and then he speeds off, chasing after my girl.

  ###

  Note from the Author,

  Hey, Blueberries, if you enjoyed Finding Paige please leave it some love and let others know. I appreciate reviews so much as they help others to find my books, and as an in
die author, reviews are like gold dust.

  This is the first book in a five-book series. Missing Paige, Book 2, will release straight after this one, and the last three books will be monthly releases in this order:

  Forgetting Paige, book 3 - May 2020

  Chasing Paige, book 4 - June 2020

  Stealing Paige, book 5 - July 2020

  Also, on a side note, if you want to read more about Paige’s sister Kelsey, then you can find her in The Blue Raspberry Series, now complete. It follows Kelsey’s and Mitchel’s story from when they are teenagers into adulthood. The Blue Raspberry Series and The Paige Diaries will overlap over the years, and you will probably recognize certain scenes from each series.

  You can follow my new releases on Instagram: @d.k.lakewrites, or connect with me on Goodreads.

  xoxo