Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

T here was a paused shock followed by all present turning towards Paige. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening! No wonder her mother, who hadn’t called her in years, had been trying to get ahold of her.

This day, which was already shitty from the news that her runaway husband was actually her dead husband, had just gotten worse. So, so much worse.

They had her name. She wasn’t just some anonymous poster anymore. They had her name. The whole world had her name. They’d linked her to her stepfamily and were using her involvement in the foot fetish site to drag the Barrington name even further through the mud. Paige didn’t know what other scandal or ridicule her stepfamily was currently facing, and she didn’t care.

What she cared about was that her name was now linked to their immoral behavior. Was she proud of being a foot fetish model? Hell no. But she’d done it to survive. She’d done it for her sons. And she would never be ashamed of that . She’d done nothing illegal. Unorthodox, certainly, but it wasn’t like she’d robbed a bank.

There wasn’t much she would put past her stepfamily if it meant keeping their wealth and social status.

Paige wasn’t able to look at any of them. Not her in-laws, Harper, Lucky, Jenna, Steel, Keys, Carlos, the detective… And not Demo. Especially not Demo. She never planned to tell him about the foot fetish modeling, but if she had to, she would have wanted it on her own terms. In her own words. In her own time. Not where others saw her humiliation, heard someone else’s perspective.

Tears flowed down her cheeks. She swayed on her barstool. Suddenly strong arms were around her, pressing her side into his sculpted chest.

Paige slammed her eyes closed. She clung to him, unsure if this was the last time she would get to do so. What must he think of her?

“What do you know, Keys?” Steel demanded. There was a murderous look in his eyes that Demo knew echoed in his own.

Ivy Benson, former SWAT member of the Atlanta Police Department, looked just as furious. She’d been playing the role as detective as a favor to Steel. Demo wasn’t sure what the plan was to explain her random presence around the clubhouse when she decided to stop in but figured Steel had planned an explanation for that too.

Nearly all of Paige’s body weight was pressed against his chest. Demo held her tightly, one arm around her chest and the other clutching to the side of her head. He pressed his lips against her hair, which she’d left loose. Demo loved seeing her hair down, and not just because he’d learned Richard and her stepfamily had always been on her about taming her unruly curls. He loved it down because he got to play with her hair more easily. But he also loved counting the number of pens and writing utensils she managed to unconsciously store in her hair throughout the day. Bottom line, he loved her hair, up or down.

Fuck, his chest hurt. Whoever the fuck had done this was dead. Dead! He didn’t know what sort of person had the skillset to do something like this and would leave that part up to Keys. But the actual person ? Take away their computer and they bled just like anyone else.

That reporter had also just added his name to Demo’s shit list. How dare he name Paige like that? Her name, her hometown, her life, her sons ? The boys were far too young to understand anything about this, but there would be a time when they were older that they would.

Paige trembled against him, sobs wracking her body. Demo was helpless to do anything but hold her.

“Not much,” Keys answered Steel. He had his tablet back in hand and was typing one handed on it. “It came to my attention only because I monitor anything that has to do with one of our names. Paige’s name flagged during the report. As difficult as it is to believe, this sort of thing happens all the time. More often than people care to believe. They think their information is secure but there’s always someone like me out there. Average encryptions are breached all the time. I'm not talking National Security level encryptions, but the ones used to protect your phones, devices, even banks and internet sites. Someone hacks in and the company pays their demands so it doesn’t go public. That’s generally how a situation like this goes. For the hacker to publicly post the information without any demands… I’d have to dig deeper but my money would be on that this was personal.”

“Track them down,” Steel ordered him. “Can you take down the list?”

Keys shook his head. “Even I’m not that good. The damage is already done. Do you know how many copies are out there by now? Copies of the copies? Pictures and hardcopies? The first thing someone does when they see something like this is take a screenshot, so they still have the evidence when it gets taken down. There’s no way for me to track all of that.”

“Are you saying there’s nothing you can do?” Demo demanded over Paige’s head.

“To take down the list? No. To find the hacker or hackers?” He smiled mischievously. “ That I can and will do.”

“What do you need from us?” Steel asked him.

“Nothing. Everything’s in my room. Just don’t be surprised if you don’t see me for a couple of days.”

Keys went to leave, hesitated, and then turned to Paige. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Paige. I’ll try to make it right.”

Paige hiccuped against Demo’s chest but didn’t respond. Keys looked up worriedly at Demo, who waved him off. It was understandable that Paige would not want to talk to Keys. Demo tightened his hold on her.

“We’ll leave too.” Harper stood up. She waved her parents onward. “Paige, I’m so sorry. We’ll keep the boys tonight if you need us to. Just take care of you. This is a lot, and today of all days. Just let me know what you need.”

Demo felt Paige’s mouth move against his pec but couldn’t hear what she said. Harper ushered her parents out of the clubhouse. Jenna followed after a quick goodbye to Steel. They all paused at the double doors to don their jackets, hats, and gloves before heading outside.

Lucky and Carlos stayed. With a jerk of his chin from Steel, Ivy left too.

Demo lowered his ear down to try and catch what Paige was muttering over and over again against his chest.

“…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”

“The fuck!” he roared when he finally heard. He released his hold around her, took her by her shoulders, and moved around so they were face to face. She still leaned heavily against him, like her bones had turned to rubber. “What the fuck are you sorry for, Paige? You have nothing to be sorry for!”

Her cheeks and shirt were saturated with her tears and snot was running freely from her nose. Her chocolate eyes bore such despair that it nearly broke Demo’s own heart. She couldn’t even look at him.

“I didn’t…” Her chin was shaking so hard, her teeth were chattering together. “I wasn’t…”

Demo leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I know, beautiful, I know. You did it for your boys.”

Paige’s breath caught. His words seemed to knock her free of her shock. Slowly, she turned her body more to face him and met his eyes. “You know?”

Ignoring the slight accusation that reminded him of that day in the diner, Demo nodded easily. “That you became a foot fetish model to help keep a roof over your head and food in your sons’ bellies? Yeah, I know. Or I guessed. Everything you do is for them, Paige. It’s one of the things I love about you.” When she gasped, he chuckled humorlessly. “I’ll admit, my first reaction was wondering why you didn’t tell me you had a foot fetish. We haven’t been sleeping together that long, but I was still shocked it wasn’t something you had told me. I even briefly considered whether it was something I would be interested in sharing with you.”

At her disgusted face, Demo assured her, “It’s not.”

Now that she was sitting up more fully and under her own weight, Demo moved his hands from her shoulders to cup her face. “Paige, you are an amazing mom. Everything you do is for those boys. There’s not a selfish bone in your body. Once the initial shock wore off and I saw your reaction, I knew that your involvement was monetary, not sexual.”

She let out a pathetic little sob that was entirely unsexy but somehow completely endearing. Demo used the sleeve of his sweater to start wiping up her face.

“I didn’t think I’d actually get any money from it, but I started to get all these personal requests. That’s what the site calls it when someone has a private request. If you accept, you have to do as they ask. The money was too good to turn down. I owed so much to so many people and I couldn’t risk being homeless or that my stepfamily would take away my boys.”

“Did you…” Demo hesitated. He really had no right to ask, but he also wanted to know. “Did you post anything since we started dating?” At her quick intake of breath, Demo hastened to add, “I don’t blame you if you did, Paige. I’m just curious.”

Stiffly, she nodded. “Once. Last week. It was for two thousand dollars, Demo! I could pay off my back rent with it! I don’t even understand why it was still there. For two thousand dollars, it should have been snatched up by someone else.”

Demo leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “We’ll figure out who did this, Paige. Keys is the best there is. The Navy were fools the day they lost him.”

“What am I supposed to do until then?”

“Go on as normal,” Demo encouraged. “There’s nothing else for you to do.”

“Go on like I wasn’t just outed on national television for being a foot fetish model?” Paige scoffed.

“People have enough of their own shit to worry about,” Steel interjected from behind Demo. “If they truly have an issue with you then they have an issue with us. And believe me,” his tone turned dark, “they won’t like having an issue with us.”

Paige sat at the reception desk at her acupuncture clinic with her elbows on the table, her hands gripping the hair at her temples, and tears falling down onto the piece of paper in front of her. It had nearly been a week since the hack on the foot fetish site. To say that it had been a good week would be a flat out lie.

It had been an awful week.

The fact that she’d discovered she was a widow at the beginning of the week wasn’t even the worst part of it. The worst part wasn’t even seeing all the cancellations on her appointment calendar or the spray painted foot on her clinic’s front door. It wasn’t even when she’d been in the grocery store and the cashier put a Closed sign on her lane when Paige had approached. Having the word foot whore texted to her anonymously didn’t even reach the top ten.

No, the worst part—the absolutely worst part—was seeing the notice from her landlord, whom she’d paid in full, deliver her an eviction notice. He didn’t care how many times Paige tried to explain that she was not using her clinic to rape her client’s feet. The man wanted her out and was giving her two weeks to do it.

The bell above her door chimed. Paige looked up, hoping to see Demo, but wasn’t entirely disappointed to see Abby. It seemed the only people in this town who hadn’t turned on her had ties to the club. Kelly, the waitress, had been just as sweet as ever but her mom had refused to bring her products over to the clinic on Monday like they’d planned. Kelly apologized profusely, but Paige wasn’t about to blame her for her mom’s actions or behavior.

As it turned out, it would have been pointless for Jody to bring over her candles and soaps anyway since Paige had no clients and soon she wouldn’t even have a clinic.

Abby was bundled up in a cute little faux fur hat that looked extremely white against her red hair. Her black coat was also lined in white fur and she had a white hand muff. “Brr!” she exclaimed with a smile. “It is cold outside!”

Despite having no clients other than VDMC members and families, Abby had still insisted on coming in for her shifts like normal.

After shaking slush and snow off of her boots, Abby looked and her eyes widened at what Paige could only imagine her face looked like. Bulldog came in then too. He was never far behind Abby. Abby had to jump out of the way so her husband’s large body could fit inside and the door would close.

Bulldog picked up on Paige’s misery faster than Abby had. “What’s wrong? What happened?” His eyes danced around, looking for danger.

Not having the energy or the words to tell them, Paige held up the eviction letter. Bulldog hurried forward to take the paper from her.

Bulldog took a moment to read the notice and then snarled out, “That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him!”

From the rage on Bulldog’s face, Paige wasn’t entirely sure that was an expression.

Abby put a gentle hand on Bulldog’s large arm. It was like her touch instantly calmed him. His face gentled and he looked down at her with nothing but love in his eyes. He handed her the letter so she could read it too.

Abby gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh, Paige. I am so sorry, honey. Is there any way to fight it?”

Paige shook her head. “He doesn’t say it there, but he thinks I’m raping my clients. Using their feet during my treatments to get myself off or something sick and twisted like that.” Abby’s face paled. Paige suddenly gasped, realizing what she’d said. “Oh, God! Abby, I’m so sorry.”

Abby waved off her concern. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She struggled to swallow. “It’s just a word. It can’t hurt me.”

As soon as Abby reacted to Paige’s words, Bulldog pulled her against him, wrapping his large body around her like a shield against the world.

Paige moved around the reception desk. “I am so sorry, Abs. Please. Come sit.”

Bulldog helped Abby remove her coat and hat. He unnecessarily brushed his fingers through her hair like he was getting snow off of her. Paige figured the man was taking any excuse to touch her.

Abby shakily took her seat at the reception desk. After hanging up her coat, Bulldog came around. He knelt beside her.

“I’m fine,” Abby told him with much more conviction than she had a minute ago. “I promise, my José.” She looked up at Paige, who was now standing on the other side of the reception desk. “What are you going to do about the letter?”

“What can I do?” Paige repeated. “He owns the building. He has a right to evict me and sever my lease. He had the right to do so the moment I fell behind on my rent payments.”

“But you said you paid him?”

“I did!” Paige insisted. “But it only covered the back rent and the late fees. I still owe this month’s rent, which I thought I’d be able to do today after having another week full of appointments. Which obviously didn’t happen.”

“This is ridiculous!” Bulldog snapped. “I’m not even sure this is legal.”

“Say I fight it?” Paige argued. “What then? Clearly the people of Mount Grove have made up their minds about me. How am I supposed to make rent or buy supplies or pay Abby without any clients? I’m back at Square One.”

Bulldog took the letter from Abby. He read it over again. “Does Demo know about this?”

Paige shook her head. “My landlord left about twenty minutes before you guys came in. I was still… I haven’t even processed it myself yet.”

“He’s down at the dealership today. We’re expecting a shipment in.” Bulldog pulled out his phone and started to text one handed. “I need to call Susan Black. There has to be a way to fight it.”

“And again I ask you what the point would be?” Paige nearly shouted. “Why fight it? People now think I abuse my patients. I can’t stay in business with that sort of reputation.”

“My Abby is happy here,” Bulldog snapped without looking at her. “I’ll pay the damn rent myself if I have to.”

Bulldog did not see Abby roll her eyes over his bent head, but there was no contempt in the action. If anything, the cartoon hearts in Abby’s eyes just grew three sizes.

Paige, though, was not blinded by love. “Bulldog, that is completely ridiculous and unnecessary. Not to mention unrealistic. I’ll figure something else out.”

Bulldog read something on his phone and then pocketed the device. “I am going to go meet Demo at Susan’s office. Are the two of you okay here for about an hour?”

Paige opened her arms to show off her empty clinic. “I think somehow we’ll be able to manage the crowd.”

Bulldog said nothing to her. He bent over Abby and kissed her as if the two of them were the only people left in the world. Paige actually had to look away, the moment seemed too intimate to witness. “Be back soon, Red,” she heard him promise. “Angel is right across the street if you need anything.”

As he passed by Paige, he vowed, “We’ll get this sorted, I swear.”

Paige crossed her arms over her chest. “Clearly you’re not going to listen to me on this.” She waved him towards the door. “Go! Just make sure you mansplain in a way that my delicate womanly ears can understand when you get back.”

His eyes narrowed on her. “You know damn well this has nothing to do with you being a woman.”

“Yes, I’m aware,” Paige snipped. “Abby’s happiness is your top and only priority.”

Bulldog gave her a stern look and then headed out the clinic’s door.

Paige rounded on Abby. “How do you stand that? He’s so overbearing. Normally, I look up to the two of you as far as romance goes, but damn. That was a bit over the top.”

Abby looked adoringly after her husband. “He means well. There’s something fundamental about knowing he’ll do anything for me.”

Paige could understand that. To a point. She knew that Demo would do the same for her. The difference was, she would fight him tooth and nail to do it herself first and then accept his help. Paige needed to know that she could stand on her own two feet. She didn’t look down on Abby for needing such support from Bulldog. In a way, she admired her for it. But it just wasn’t the sort of relationship she wanted and she loved that Demo respected that.

“What do you want to do today?” Abby asked her.

Paige shrugged. “I guess we can start on the back room. I was able to cancel the supply order I placed on Monday, but I mean to stay open until I’m forced to close my doors. I need to make sure I have enough supplies for the appointments I know are still going to come in.”

Abby nodded and pulled the clipboard out of the bottom drawer of the desk. “Lead the way, boss!”

Paige shook her head but also couldn’t fight the smile from touching her lips.

The chime of the door caught their attention not even ten minutes later. Paige and Abby looked up, a bit confused since the eleven o’clock appointment had cancelled.

“One of the guys?” Paige asked.

Abby shrugged. She was on the floor with a box of cotton ball bags in front of her. “Probably Angel checking in on us.”

Paige would not be surprised if it was. Bulldog would not want to leave Abby alone for too long. She got up from her spot on the floor. “Be right back.”

Heading out down the hall, she tried to catch a peek as to who was out in the lobby but didn’t see anyone. “Hello?”

Paige just barely stepped out from the doorway when a hard body slammed into her. She lost her balance and toppled into the hallway. Her head collided with the edge of the frame. Immense weight landed on top of her, forcing out all of the air from her lungs.

She heard a muffled shriek of “Paige!” before she felt something wet draw a path up the side of her cheek. Hot breath touched her ear as a menacing voice snarled, “My goddess, I found you!”

Then a large hand tightened around her throat.

Paige came to slowly. Her throat and head hurt, making her wonder if she was coming down with something. She hoped not, because that meant the boys would likely get sick too.

Something grunted to her right. Her mouth was dry, but Paige found an obstruction when she tried to lick her lips. What the hell was in her mouth? When she went to move her hands to find out, she found they wouldn’t budge.

Paige forced her eyes open. The bright lights above her hurt her retinas, but she needed to figure out what was going on.

Her eyes looked towards the muffled grunting sound and widened in shock when she saw Abby was sitting on her rolling stool. They were inside one of her therapy rooms. The rooms were nearly identical, but Paige could tell them apart. They were in the first one.

Abby had a cloth gag in her mouth, tied behind the back of her head. Her hands were zip tied at the wrists in front of her. She was pushed into the front left corner upon entering the room with her legs drawn up against her chest. Fear radiated off of the poor woman. She was trembling so badly that the wheels kept shimming beneath her.

Paige made to move to get to her but was once again stopped.

She turned her head to figure out why. In the mirror on the wall across from her, she saw her reflection—and blanched.

Paige was tied to the massage table on her back. Her arms were bound to each other by a long rope linking them underneath the wood of the table. There was a white cloth gag in her mouth, just like Abby. Rope bound her hips to the table as well as her shins. Her ankles were bound together.

Her shoes and socks had been removed, but otherwise she was still clothed.

Paige screamed! What the hell was this!? What the hell was going on!? And Abby! Poor Abby. She’d been through enough in her life. Who the hell could do this to her? Never mind herself. Paige could care less about herself. She needed to get Abby out of here!

The gag muffled her cries to where they were barely audible to her own ears. She knew that the volume she was hearing was more of an echo of her own vocal cords inside her body. There was no way she was projecting any volume.

But she still had to try.

A shadow moved in the doorway.

Both Abby and Paige froze at the new presence. The best way to describe the man was mousy . He was small, probably five-six at best, with a very lean and frail looking physique. It was no wonder he had to tackle Paige the way he did. She probably weighed more than he did soaking wet. He had short blonde hair, glasses, blue eyes, and the biggest ears Paige had ever seen on a man his size. They reminded her of Dumbo.

The man stood hunched over. He was fiddling with something in his hands as he entered the room. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a reddish turtleneck sweater. He had such a long neck that there was still a good gap of skin below his chin. The man was so pale, it was obvious he didn’t get out into the sunlight much.

Paige had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. It could have been five minutes, it could have been fifty. Bulldog had said he’d be back in an hour. That wasn’t an exact deadline, but it was probably pretty close given it had come from Bulldog.

The man walked to the bottom of the massage table by Paige’s bare feet. Her stomach dropped as she saw him stare at them rather than her.

“I finally found you, my goddess.” Even his voice was mousy. It had a high-pitched squeak to it. Paige recalled him speaking to her before she’d passed out and wondered if she’d imagined the malice in his voice or if he’d specifically spoken like that.

Paige grunted through her gag. She tried to maneuver her body but the bindings held her tight.

Was this man going to kill her? Abby? Oh God. What would happen to her boys if she died? She didn’t even have a will naming Ronald and Cindy as their guardians. Demo wasn’t their biological father or anything to them. No court would ever let him have the boys, not when there was blood family that they could go to.

And Abby? Paige couldn’t imagine a world where Bulldog existed and Abby didn’t or vice versa. Was it possible that their love and connection was so strong that Bulldog would take his last breath the moment Abby did?

It was scary how right that notion felt. Morbid and sad, but it fit them. There was no one without the other. They were two halves of a whole.

Was Paige about to die on the replacement massage table she’d had to buy after she and Demo had destroyed the first one with their lovemaking? God, she hoped not. Their relationship was new, but it felt solid, right. She loved him as if he was a missing piece of her soul.

There had to be a way out of this…whatever this was.

The man leaned down as he trailed a finger over Paige’s right metatarsals. She flinched, not only at his touch but his cold finger.

“As soon as I saw you, I knew you belonged to me. I’ve,” he leaned down and inhaled her toes deeply, “waited so long. I had to find you. I had to make you mine.”

Paige had a sick feeling he was talking to her feet when he used the word ‘you’ and not her as a person. He had yet to actually look at her.

He knelt on the linoleum floor. He was so short that Paige could barely see his head over her feet. But she could see him in the mirror.

Horror suffused her as she watched in utter helplessness as the man pressed his clean shaven face into the sole of her foot. Paige tried to kick him off of her, but the bindings were too tight. She could do little more than wiggle her toes at him.

Unfortunately that only seemed to encourage him. He moved in ecstasy and raised up to take Paige’s big toe into his mouth.

Paige heaved against her gag. It was only the knowledge that if she threw up, she would only have to swallow it back down that kept her stomach from retching back up the breakfast Demo had brought her and the boys that morning.

The man licked and moaned as he sucked on her big toe like he was a starving man devouring his favorite meal.

Paige tried to keep her head clear. The assault currently taking place had to do with the fetish site, that was very obvious. He’d seen her photos online and then must have tracked her down after the hack released her information.

Keys had been able to track the hack to an activist group known for taking down corrupt corporations and blackmailing politicians. Unfortunately, he also said it wasn’t like they all lived in the same town and were working out of the same location. The hackers lived all over the world. But the self-proclaimed leader of the hacktivist group claimed they had nothing to do with the foot fetish site being taken down.

The last Paige had heard, Keys was still investigating. Paige was not computer savvy enough to know what that meant.

“Oh my goddess!” the man moaned as he moved over to her other foot. Worshiping it like he had her right foot.

Paige was barely able to swallow back the bile that rose up her throat.

“All the times we spent together… All the videos…” he groaned. Paige couldn’t see where his left hand was but did not like where it looked like it was from her view in the mirror. “I was so hurt when you stopped accepting my requests. I knew I had to find you…” He licked the underside of her left foot from heel to toe.

Paige was beyond grateful that she did not have sensitive or ticklish feet. She did not want to feel anything even remotely funny about her situation. Even if it was an uncontrollable reflex.

Movement in the mirror drew her attention up from the man, who was now licking his rough tongue between her toes like they were weave poles.

Abby was carefully moving the rolling chair along the wall. As soon as she realized she had Paige’s attention, she paused. Lifting her bound wrists, Abby held up the pointer finger and thumb of her right hand. She indicated her chin towards the man and then lowered her thumb multiple times like it was a trigger.

Fear replaced disgust. Abby was telling her the man had a gun. That must have been how he was able to subdue Abby without having to knock her out as he had done Paige.

Paige nodded her understanding. After glancing down at the man again, she moved her eyes to the open doorway. The man didn’t seem to even notice Paige, other than her feet. It was doubtful he even remembered Abby was in the room. If Abby could go get help… Angel was right across the street.

Her legs weren’t bound. As soon as she was out of the room, she could make a run for it. Paige had no idea where their phones were. Hers might still be in the backroom where she left it while they were counting inventory.

The look Abby gave her was full of sympathy, like she didn’t want to leave Paige alone. Paige’s was full of encouragement. If she didn’t go get help, there was no doubt in Paige’s mind that she wasn’t making it out of here alive. She imagined being killed off and then the man cutting off her feet and having them taxidermized like some sick, fucked up sex toy for him to take out and play with.

Abby made it to just before the door. She paused, checking to see if the man had noticed her movements.

He didn’t.

Abby gave Paige one last look that seemed to say good luck , stood, and tiptoed from the room. As much as Paige wished she would run, to get help faster, she knew Abby was trying to be as silent as possible.

A horrible thought occurred to Paige when she remembered the buzzer Keys had set up at her front door. Had the man locked them inside? Would Abby be able to silence the buzzer before making her escape?

Paige feared the man going after Abby with his gun.

Ding-dong!

Paige stiffened, her eyes going wide as the man jumped to his feet. She waited for him to go after Abby, but his eyes were solely transfixed on her feet. Had he even registered the chime of the door? If he did, he was clearly ignoring it.

How long would it take for Abby to run across the street to get Angel? A minute? Two minutes, tops?

Horror gripped Paige as the man moved just enough to realize he had his cock out of his pants. The organ was erect, but not overly large. Three inches at most. Vaginal rape had not occurred to her with his fixation on her feet.

Hurry, Abby! Paige shouted in her mind.

The man, though, made no move to undress Paige or get to her sex. Instead, he kicked over the stepstool some of her shorter patients used to get up onto the massage table. He climbed atop it, so his hips were just above the table.

Eyes closed, his face tipped up towards the ceiling with a look of elation across his features, the man started to masturbate over her feet.