Second Chance Mine, page 16
I choked out a sob.
What the hell? How could he say all of this now? He picks this moment to be honest.
“I’m the bad guy,” he stressed. “She’s innocent in all this. Now do what’s right and make up with her.” He peered back and forth between us. “I’ll be in the lobby.” With that, he abruptly turned and left.
In true Adrian style, he was still in control. Despite feeling as if he didn’t have any.
Minutes could’ve turned into days.
Who the hell knows how much time flew by until Cade finally moved from the door and started walking toward me. He reached his hand out and I grabbed it, appreciating he was helping me off the floor.
My hand stayed in his for a couple seconds before we both pulled away.
The silence was replaced with his nod to the hoodie I was wearing. “That Adrian’s?”
“Yeah.”
He slowly nodded again. “How long have you been wearing his clothes?”
I swallowed hard, feeling that question in the pit of my stomach. “I know how this looks, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”
“That’s good to hear, considering I don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“How much has Adrian told you?”
“All he said was that you were in trouble. Life or death kind of shit, so I jumped on his plane and flew right out here. I can’t stay in suspense any longer. I have to ask…” He lingered for a second. “Please tell me you’re not sick, Paige.”
“Oh, God!” I adamantly shook my head. “I’m healthy!”
He breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
“It’s serious, but not like that.”
“All right.” He eyed me up and down, making me feel insecure.
“Do you need me to take his hoodie off?”
He waved me off. “I’m not trying to stare, but call me fucking stunned, Paige. I didn’t know you two were together again.”
“We’re not.”
“You’re standing in front of me wearing his clothes.”
“Right…but it’s not like that. He’s just helping me.”
“Because you’re in trouble?”
“Yeah. Deep shit kind of trouble.”
“Which is what?”
Nervously, I gestured toward the couch. “Maybe you should sit down? You look like you need to sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“How would you know?” he snapped. “You haven’t seen me in ten years.”
I jerked back, and he instantly realized his sharp tone.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just… fuck,” he exclaimed. “I’m still angry and seeing you in front of me after all these years wearing his clothes wasn’t exactly what I thought I’d be doing today.”
I couldn’t help myself, I reacted harsher than intended. “And who’s fault is that?”
He didn’t waver. “Yours.”
“Mine?” I gasped. “Are you for real? I tried reaching out to you like a million times to apologize. You blew me off! I never imagined you’d be able to kick me out of your life so easily.”
“We were best friends, Paige. I had no idea what was happening between you and my brother. How was I supposed to react? You were fucking him.”
“It was more than just fucking Cade. I loved him. I never meant to hurt you. You know me… You know I’d never do that to you.”
Cade didn’t hide his feelings from me. I could tell he was trying to believe me.
“I swear I tried to stay away from him, but I had a crush on him for years by the time he actually started showing an interest in me.”
“How long was it going on for?”
“Give or take a year.”
“You were able to lie to me for that long?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck!” he exclaimed, tugging his hair back. “What am I doing here? What’s happening? Why are you in trouble? You need to tell me or I’m going right downstairs to get it out of Adrian and we both know that won’t end well if I do.”
“It can’t be any worse than what’s happening now.”
“Paige…”
“Ugh! Fine. You want to know why you’re here? I’ll tell you.”
“Finally.”
I inhaled a solid breath before confessing…
“I have a stalker.”
Twenty-Six
Paige
“You have a what?” He stumbled back.
“A stalker.”
“Since when?”
“For over a year.”
His eyes widened. “And I’m just now finding out about this?”
“Yeah.”
“What the fuck, Paige?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I argued. “I thought you hated me.”
“I could never hate you. I named my daughter after you.”
I winced, feeling that remark in the core of my being. “Well, you did a hell of job pretending like you did.”
“What do you expect from me?”
“I don’t know. More than what you’ve given me, that’s for damn sure.”
“I’m not the bad guy,” he countered. “I wasn’t the one who betrayed you.”
“You’re right, I did betray your trust, but what other choice did I have? What other choice did you give me?”
“That’s bullshit, Paige.”
“It’s not. I’m being honest. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The last thing I wanted was to lose you, but I couldn’t continue to put your feelings before mine.”
“What feelings? I didn’t know my brother was ever an option.”
“You didn't give me the chance to decide that. You put that on lockdown right from the beginning of our friendship.”
“Wow,” he breathed out. “You’re going to throw this back on me? You can’t be serious! You more than anyone know how hard it’s been to be Adrian Drake’s fucking brother. I’ve had to live in his shadow for most of my life. I’m sorry I didn’t want to share yet another thing with him.”
“So then what? Huh? I was just supposed to be your best friend forever? Never have a chance to fall in love? Be with my soulmate like you are with Hayley?”
“Soulmate? Jesus. Now Adrian is your soulmate?”
“I don’t know! What if he was?”
“Just stop!”
“You stop!”
“Paige, I mean it! We’re wasting time. Who the fuck is stalking you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Do you have any leads?”
“No.”
“How bad is it?”
“A bomb went off in Adrian’s building last night.”
“What?!”
“I know!”
“What the fuck?” he coaxed. “Is that why this place is like trying to get into Fort Knox?”
“Yeah. Your brother amped up the security.”
“What the fuck?” he repeated, shaking his head in bewilderment of what was going on.
“I know this is a lot to take in.”
“No,” he chimed in. “You and Adrian are a lot to take in. This…” He gestured all around him. “Is what the fuck?”
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. If I thought you would have cared, I would have called you the minute this started happening.”
“How could you think I wouldn’t? You were family, Paige. I would have been here in a second.”
“Then why didn’t you reach out to me? Like after?”
He rubbed his temples, inhaling a deep breath. “Can we just take an intermission? A break on talking about us?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“So what about Adrian?”
I was confused. “You want to talk about that?”
“Even less. I’m talking about could it be tied to him? He fucks women over like it’s his hobby.”
I grimaced. It was true, but still hard to hear.
“Could it be someone after him, coming for you instead?”
“Adrian has only been in my life for the last two months.”
He took in what I was saying before asking, “Then what’s the plan?”
Adrian
I sat at the bar, craving a bourbon, but I had to stay focused. In a matter of a few hours, our lives were once again turned upside down. Now we were adding Cade into the mix, and I hadn’t contemplated the consequences this would bring other than saving Paige’s life.
The past was right there with us.
Where we went from here was still up in the air. For a man who thrived on control this was eating me alive. I had to stay strong, shoving away the emotions of us being together again. The last time we were, it was catastrophic.
They say the truth will set you free, but all it did was bring us demons we carried for a decade.
I may have been sitting there.
However, my mind was stuck in the past.
I sat remembering her sixteenth birthday with nostalgia and contempt.
I grabbed the dress at the boutique shop where I suggested Cade find Paige’s present for her sixteenth birthday. I played it off like I only knew this shop because of some chick who dragged me there. Which was partially the truth. We were randomly walking down this street, coming out of a bar and she just hauled me in there.
The white dress on the mannequin instantly caught my attention, picturing Paige in it.
For the last month, I overheard her talking to Cade about how excited she was to finally be turning sixteen. She felt like this was the year she was going to find true love. Little did she know, I was never going to let that happen.
To hear her talking about this day as if it was the beginning of turning into a woman wasn’t something I expected. I still remembered her as the neighbor girl with pigtails and sweet smile.
“Here.” I handed the dress to Caleb. “Get her this one.”
He gazed down at it, smirking. “Since when are you a stylist?”
I was only three years older than them, and we were in much different places in our lives. I just started college and they were sophomores in high school. I was living in an apartment, running into them on the weekends. Still up each other’s asses.
Except, something happened that summer while I was moving into my new place. Paige grew up; no longer the little girl who I loved to pick on.
Bringing my attention to the tv in the corner of the boutique, I reminded, “The game is on in an hour. Get it, so we can go.”
He glanced down at his phone. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Cade and I weren’t close by any means, but there were times we hung out doing random shit and this was just one of those instances. For the rest of the day, I helped my mom who was throwing her a birthday party with some kids from school.
I wasn’t supposed to be in town, but I couldn’t miss her birthday. Especially since it was such a big deal to her. Her mom was working overtime at the hospital again. Paige practically lived at our house at that point. My parents adored her.
“You’re being awfully helpful, Adrian,” Mom said.
“I’m bored.”
“Since when do you help me with anything when you’re bored?”
Our eyes connected.
“It’s no big deal. Stop trying to make it one.”
She eyed me skeptically for a few seconds before she added, “What are you even doing home? You were just here last week.”
“Are you kicking me out?”
“Funny.” She rolled her eyes. “A mother is allowed to ask questions.”
I grinned. “So she’s allowed to annoy you?”
“Adrian!” She playfully smacked my arm. “I love that you’re home. I wish you still lived here. I’m just caught off guard that’s all.” She kissed my cheek.
I watched Paige from afar all day. The way she smiled, laughed, how if the sun hit her face just right, her eyes turned almost green. The way her hair fell around her face. I took her in like she was my favorite thing to look at.
From afar.
I never got to close until I couldn’t stay away anymore.
From the moment she opened my brother’s present, she beamed like a fucking beacon. Even at the age of sixteen, Paige was perceptive. In her innocent yet tempting way.
She baited me.
Probably knowing deep down what I hadn’t figured out.
“What do you think of the dress your brother bought me?” she questioned, walking out onto the porch.
Everyone was inside.
We were alone.
I smiled. “Looks good.”
“Yeah?” she enticed.
“Mmm hmm. How’s it feel to be sweet sixteen?”
She shrugged. “It feels the same.”
“You don’t look the same.”
“Really?” she remarked, giddy.
I nodded.
“How’s school, Paige?”
“Good.” She bit her lip. “How’s college?”
I cocked my head to the side, narrowing my gaze at her. “Do I make you nervous?”
She swallowed hard. “No.”
“No?”
“Are you bullying me again?”
“Is that what I do?” I stepped toward her. “Bully you?”
She anxiously chuckled. “You haven’t made me cry recently.”
“Should I fix that?”
She sucked in a breath as I stood in front of her.
“Since it’s your birthday, how about I kiss you instead?”
“Wha—”
I leaned forward, lightly pecking her cheek and she sucked in another breath. The scent of cherry assaulted my senses.
“Happy sweet sixteen, Paige.”
Grabbing my phone from my back pocket, I wanted to take a picture of this moment. I moved quickly. I never had a lot of time alone with her. Cade would find her soon.
I gripped onto her hip, pulling her toward me while extending out my arm to snap a photo. As soon as I positioned the angle correctly, Cade jumped into the picture, yanking her closer to him.
Click.
It was the first time he made me see red when it came to her. I didn’t realize until later that night in bed as I stared at the image of the three of us.
I was in love with her.
And always had been.
“Sir,” the waiter greeted, dragging me back to the present. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
I stood, shaking my head. Pulling out a twenty, I threw it on the table.
Charlie currently held my undivided attention as he walked toward me like a man on a mission.
“I got the footage from the surveillance cameras around the building.”
It was what we were waiting for. All the cameras in my building showed us absolutely nothing. To get access was taking longer than I wanted, but finally, maybe we’d have some fucking answers.
“The bomb came from the building directly in front of yours, sir. It’s how your windows were shattered.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Yeah.” He handed his phone to me. “You’re going to want to see this.”
I didn’t have to be told twice, hitting the play button on his screen. What occurred next wasn’t anything I ever expected. Not for one fucking second. I watched with wide eyes the person I least expected.
Feeling the rage course through my veins, I saw red in a way I never had before.
“Motherfucker!” I roared, hauling ass toward our hotel room.
I must have blacked out because I came to as I was slamming my brother up against the concrete wall behind him.
Making Paige scream, “Stop! What’s the matter with you?” While trying to tug me off of him.
“Do you know?” I spit fire. “Did you fucking know?”
“Jesus, Adrian! Get your fucking hands off me!”
“Not until you tell me the truth!”
“What truth! I’m here, aren’t I?!”
I let him go, backing away slowly before I strangled him with my bare hands.
He adjusted his collared shirt, seething, “What the fuck is your problem?”
I threw the phone at him.
He caught it, glaring at me like I was crazy. Understanding my silent demand, he hit play on the video.
Immediately his eyes went wide, glancing up at me. “No, Adrian.
He shook his head. This can’t be right.”
“Oh yeah?” I spoke with conviction…
“Then how the fuck do you explain your wife at the scene of the crime?”
Twenty-Seven
Paige
Then: One month later
“Adrian…” I tried to push him away, giggling. “I have to go. Cade just texted me. He’s going to be here any second. He can’t find me in your room!”
“Technically, you’re under me on my bed.”
“Which is even worse!”
“Hold still.” He grasped onto my wrists, locking me in place. “I’ll let you go.”
“You’re lying. I know all your tricks.”
“Not the ones I’m dying to show you.” He thrusted his cock against my core, causing me involuntarily moan.
“Shhh…” he chuckled into my neck. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
“Well, if you go down, I go with you.”
“Did you say go down or on? Because I’d love the latter.”
“Of course you would.” She kissed my neck. “But maybe you should start with me first?”
“Is that right?”
I proudly nodded.
“I don’t think that’s your choice, Cherry.”
“Then make it yours!”
He blew raspberries on my chest, and I squealed.
“I’m trying to, but you won’t let me.”
“How about you try when your brother isn’t about to walk through the door?”
“It’s okay. Mine’s locked.”
“He already knows I’m here. I told him I was waiting in the living room.”
“I can tell him you left and then come back in here and take my time with you instead.”
“What if I’m loud?”
He deviously grinned. “I’ll just gag you.”
I shuddered in his arms.
“Would my Cherry girl like that?”
“I don’t know.” I wrapped my legs around his back. “But it’s worth trying out.”
