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Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Paige: Hi. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you and to thank you for lunch. That was extremely generous and unnecessary but I do appreciate it. I’ll pay you back at your next appointment.

Paige: I can guarantee you that I am not a witch but dancing naked in the moonlight does sound like fun. I miss dancing. I used to go all the time before the boys were born. Though, probably not the type of dancing you’re thinking of. [smiley face emoji]

Demo: As long as you’re naked, you can do whatever dancing you want and I promise you I’ll enjoy the fuck out of it.

Paige: [link to video of Michael Scott’s Awkward Dancing from the Office]

Demo: [laughing emoji] [laughing emoji] [laughing emoji]

Demo: So long as you’re naked…

Paige: I actually prefer swing dancing.

Paige: Are you still there?

Demo: Yeah. Had to look that one up. I didn’t think people did that anymore.

Paige: I joined a club in college and fell in love with it.

Demo: These YouTube videos are wild! You do all the swinging and the dancing like that?

Paige: Well…yeah… It’s called Swing. Dancing.

Demo: Smartass.

Demo: I am completely impressed.

Demo: How long has it been since you last went dancing?

Paige: Probably around six years.

Paige: Richard promised he would learn for our wedding dance but got too busy at work.

Paige: Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring him up.

Demo: No need to apologize. He was a part of your life and your kids’ father. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. Never be afraid to talk to me about him, your feelings, or your past.

Paige: It feels weird but I appreciate the sentiment.

Demo: Also going to reply to your first text now because your second text distracted me so much…

Demo: If you ever try to pay me back for food I’ve had delivered to you, it will only make me tip you higher and then go out and buy you more food. You’ve been warned.

Paige: You’re such a guy! I was trying to be nice.

Demo: I appreciate you noticing that I’m a guy. Your “nice” gesture is noted and ignored. You will NEVER have to pay for anything in my presence.

Paige: If I ask you a question, will you be honest with me?

Demo: Depends on the question.

Demo: If you ask me if those pants make you look fat, I will answer ‘no’ without even looking so I won’t know if it’s the truth or a lie.

Paige: Ha-ha. You’re so funny. (She says sarcastically.)

Demo: I’m hilarious. (He says seriously.)

Demo: What’s your question, beautiful?

Paige: Did Steel talk to you? I mean, I know things got a little out of hand with us flirting during your appointment. I’m still sorry about that. That was entirely unprofessional of me. But were you here and then the food afterwards… I mean, was that because Steel told you to?

P aige jumped as her phone rang unexpectedly. She was sitting in her car in Cindy and Ronald’s driveway texting Demo. It was silly to take advantage of a couple of minutes of kid-free, work-free time when there was so much she had to do, but she felt bad about having not texted him back yet. Especially after he sent all that food over to the clinic with Kelly.

She hesitated slightly before answering her phone. “Hello?”

“Steel came by to see you?” There was something odd in his voice. More so than the fact that he skipped over a greeting entirely.

“Yeah,” she said honestly. It wasn’t a violation of her doctor-patient confidentiality to ask about Steel. She just wouldn’t add about Jenna coming in after their conversation to get treatment. “He came in shortly after you had my lunch delivered. He went on about needing to apologize to me. That family’s important and I’m family through Harper. He made it sound like I was this big oversight on his part.”

Demo was silent for a long minute. “And you think Steel made me fake shoulder pain to come to the clinic and flirt with you?” There was disapproval but no censure in his voice.

“What?” she gasped out. “No! That’s not what I meant at all. I know you weren’t faking the pain.”

“But you think I was faking the flirting?”

Paige flinched, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No, yes… I don’t know. I’m a mess, Demo! As much as my inner goddess was swooning all day at your attention, my stupid, logical brain has to question it. I’m not a catch. I don’t have riches or a young woman’s body. I have stretch marks from my pregnancies. I just… I appreciate you flirting with me. I appreciate the food. I just… I guess I don’t understand it.”

“You know, it’s a shame you don’t know where your husband is.”

Her eyes flew open and she sat up straight in the driver’s seat of her car. “What?” she demanded harshly.

“If you knew where your husband was, I’d hunt him down and kick his ass. What the fuck did he say to you, do to you, to make you question your beauty, Paige? Could you put some meat on your bones? Fuck yes—but you are beautiful just as you are. You think riches make a woman desirable? I would take an honest woman who lived in a travel trailer and earned minimum wage over some rich skank who only cares about how she looks to others any day. Did I flirt with you because Steel told me to? Fuck. No. I wouldn’t even if he had. I’m not that kind of man, nor is Steel. Did he recommend I go to the clinic to see you for my shoulder? Yes. Abby and Bulldog have been pushing for me to go see you too. Feel free to ask them. It wasn’t until Steel threatened to drag me there by my ear that I manned up and went. I’ll admit to that. They had the influence to get me to your door. But everything afterwards? They had nothing to do with it.”

Paige’s heart hammered in her chest as she tried to process everything he just said, declared, and admitted. She had no idea how to accept the fact that he thought she was beautiful. Richard hadn’t given her such a compliment since before she’d gotten pregnant with Mikey. Looking back on it, it was a wonder she’d ever gotten pregnant with Nelly Bean. It was a wonder she ever let Richard touch her at all after he casually mentioned to her that pregnant women were ugly to him. She’d made so many mistakes with Richard. Believing his lies and hidden insults.

Was it so impossible that Demo could actually like her? She’d seen his body’s reaction to their flirting and her nearness. She recalled the feel of his hands on her hips and how he’d stared into her eyes like he was searching for her soul.

“Paige?”

“Yeah?” she managed to get out. It sounded like a toad croak.

“I meant every word that I said, but I can also understand your dilemma. I’m your patient. You’re technically still married. I’ve laid out my intentions. I want you in my life. I want to get to know you as no one else does. I want to be your confidant and your supporter. I’ll be your biggest cheerleader if you’ll let me. I will stand between you and all the bad in the world. Not because I don’t believe you’re not strong or can’t fight your own battles, but because you deserve no less.

“I can be your white knight if you let me.

“Why don’t you take some time? Think it over. I don’t want to stop treatment on my shoulder. You’re actually the first doctor I’ve seen that was able to help me without turning my medicine cabinet into a pharmacy. But I will gladly take myself off your schedule if it will ease any guilt you may possess about dating me too. And if it turns out that all you want is friendship, well, I’ll be the best friend you ever had, Paige Hannigan.”

Her breath hitched in her throat. “What I want and what I should do are two entirely different things, Demo,” she admitted softly.

“Yeah,” he drawled, “but only one of those lets us go dancing naked in the moonlight.”

Paige let out a loud laugh in spite of the tears in her eyes. “I need to go pick up my boys.”

“Go,” he encouraged. “I’m here when you need me. And Paige?”

“Yeah?” she answered. She quickly wiped the unshed tears from her eyes.

“I meant what I said. Don’t try to pay me back for any food I buy you. With how busy your work schedule sounds tomorrow, don’t be surprised if you get another delivery.”

She bit her lip before asking, “Can I request you as my delivery driver?”

His low laugh was husky and held the promise of shared passion. “Absolutely. I’ll even let you tip me in kisses.”

Her heart swelled to dangerous proportions at the fact that the sexy as hell man on the phone with her just said ‘kisses’ with a straight face. Or, rather, voice .

“Good night, Paige. Drive home safe.”

“Good night, Demo. And thank you.”

“I’m going to take a page out of Bulldog’s book and tell you something I’ve heard him say a million times to Abby but never fully understood until just now: you never have to thank me for helping you.”

She couldn’t have prevented the adoring smile on her lips if she tried. “I’m going to thank you anyway. I truly do appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Paige. Will you at least text me that you got home okay or would that be a bit out of line?”

“I’ll text you,” she promised.

“Text me when you’re locked inside your house. Not from your driveway,” he ordered.

It was odd. The order should have upset her or gotten her defensive. Instead, it only made the decision she had to make harder. “I promise.”

“Good night, Paige,” he said again.

She repeated, “Good night, Demo.”

Paige frowned as she pulled up outside her clinic Tuesday morning. It had snowed a little overnight. She’d dropped the boys off at Cindy’s earlier than her usual time because she assumed she needed to come shovel and salt the sidewalk outside her clinic.

But it had already been done.

Not all of the shops, she noted. Just the ones connected to the club. Hers, Angel’s tattoo shop, the bakery, Mrs. Bunu’s antique store, Lucky’s studio… The bakery was owned by Mabel Weiss, Deputy Danny’s mom and a friend of the club’s. Mrs. Bunu was a widower and Paige had noticed more than one person wearing a prospect badge helping her out around her antique store throughout the year. The parking spots outside each of the storefronts were also shoveled and cleared.

After her talk with Steel the day before and then her conversation with Demo later in the evening, Paige shouldn’t have been surprised that a club member or prospect had shoveled and salted in front of her clinic. But she was. Maybe seeing and believing were two very different things after all.

Richard had promised her all sorts of things when they were dating that never came to pass after they’d been married. He’d cared about appearances at the country clubs, how prestigious their home looked when people came to visit, how expensive a car he drove… Richard’s priorities had been far different than her own.

Paige exited her car, her snow boots hitting salted asphalt rather than white fluff. Making her way over to her clinic, she saw that there was a bunch of boxes sitting outside the door. She frowned. She hadn’t ordered anything. She needed to order supplies, but she’d been holding off doing so with as few regular clients as she’d had before yesterday.

She recalled the conversation she had with Kelly about her mom’s candles and soaps, but these boxes couldn’t contain that. She hadn’t even had a chance to talk to Kelly’s mom yet about an arrangement. It would be completely unorthodox and rude to just pile up her mom’s products outside her clinic door unattended anyway.

Upon closer inspection, she saw a note taped to the top box.

Paige,

I’ll be back before you open at 8. Needed more coffee.

Keys

Keys had been here? Keys as in the computer tech guy who worked for the motorcycle club? If she recalled correctly, Harper had said he was twenty-two, but that conversation had been almost a year ago. Regardless, why was Keys going to go get more coffee and then be back before she opened? What did her opening have to do with his being here anyway? And what was in the boxes?

There was one large box at the bottom with three medium sized boxes and several small boxes. Plus what looked like a plastic bag of tied-off wires. What the hell was going on?

“Oh good, you’re early.”

Paige spun around. She had her hands in her pockets because she’d given Mikey her gloves against the brisk wind that morning and forgotten to get them back after dropping the boys off with Cindy. Her scarf was pulled up over her ears, muffling his voice. “Are you Keys?”

Like Demo, she hadn’t actually met him in person before. Only knew stories from Harper, Abby, or Lucky. He was lanky and not very muscular. He had on a winter coat with the club’s logo and his info on the front pockets. If the club had winter coats, why had Demo been wearing a different coat and his leather cut?

“That’s me. If you’ll unlock your door, I can get started.” He really was so young. Bright blue eyes, a dusting of freckles across his nose, bright smile, rosy cheeks, and onyx hair that shined in the winter sunlight.

“Get started with what?” A sharp wind wracked them and Paige realized she was not going to have this conversation outside. “Wait a second.”

She rushed over to her door. Using her keys, she undid the deadbolt and lock. Shuffling inside, Paige flipped on the light switches. The heat was on low, so it wasn’t that much warmer inside than out, but at least there was no wind. She stepped back to hold the door open for Keys. He was holding all of the small boxes and the plastic bag of wires when he came in.

Paige took off her scarf so she could hear him correctly. “Okay. What is going on? Why are you here?”

“I’m here to set up your security system and new computer.”

She blinked at him. He just stood there smiling at her. “I didn’t order a security system or a new computer.” There was no way she could afford any of that.

“Steel did,” Keys informed her. He walked past her to put the boxes on her reception desk. Then he walked outside, picked up the medium boxes, and used his butt to push his way back inside her clinic. One more trip brought in the big box that he struggled with. Eventually, he had to put it down and push it across her hardwood flooring to the reception desk. “Don’t mind me. I’ll be out of here in no time. Just show me where your router is and I’ll take care of everything.”

Paige shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t have a router.” Well, she did, but it stopped working due to nonpayment.

Keys frowned. He removed his coat to reveal a brown leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He looked like he was on his way to college classes. It was hard to believe he owned his own security company at his age.

He pulled a tablet out of his bag. After several taps one-handed, he scratched his smooth cheek. It was mean of her to wonder if he was even old enough to shave. Compared to the others in the club though, he really was just a kid. Which made his life all the more impressive. He had to be some sort of prodigy. What branch of the military would he have served? Maybe he hadn’t served and he was the exception to the rule because the club wanted his computer expertise? Harper made it sound like he was able to accomplish anything as long as he had a keyboard. It also begged the question why a motorcycle club needed someone like Keys amongst their membership.

Harper swore to her that the club members were not criminals. Paige would not have allowed her boys around the club otherwise, even if Lucky was her brother-in-law.

“You signed up for service when you signed your lease,” Keys informed her. “Did they never set it up for you… Oh.” Keys’ eyes flew up to her and his cheeks darkened. This time it wasn’t from the wind.

Paige swallowed hard. “It just became too expensive for how little I use it.” That was partly true at least.

His young face looking back down at his tablet, Keys said in a flustered rush, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Paige didn’t know what it was he planned on taking care of. She had a feeling, though, if she refused, Steel would be on her doorstep in less than an hour and not taking no for an answer. She had to get the clinic opened and ready for her first appointment at eight-thirty. Abby had her standard appointment at ten and Paige had seen Bulldog’s name on her schedule too. That was a first. The only reason Paige even knew ‘José Santiago’ was Bulldog’s legal name was because Abby called him ‘José’ and not ‘Bulldog’. No one called Demo ‘Ron’ so it was completely understandable that she wouldn’t have known who he was.

If Abby called Bulldog ‘José’, did that mean Harper called Lucky ‘Russell’ when they were alone and ‘Lucky’ when they were in public? Paige had picked up on certain protocols around the club. Things they did and did not do based on tradition or rule. Abby seemed to be in a category all her own, so Paige could believe she wasn’t supposed to call Bulldog ‘José’ but did anyway and Bulldog just stood between her and any ridicule for it.

One thing she knew for certain, though, was that Steel was in charge. Like a monarchy and he was king. There was no arguing or disobeying him. If Steel ordered Keys to come to her clinic and set up a security system, Keys would do it regardless of Paige’s wishes.

She scratched her forehead. “How much is this going to cost?” Steel meant well, he really did, and she did want a security system, but it would increase her electric bill and add an internet bill back to her ever-growing pile.

“Don’t worry about it,” Keys said offhandedly.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. “Keys, I need to know what it is I am expected to pay?—”

He shook his head, still not looking at her. “Like I said, don’t worry about it. It’s covered.”

“What’s covered?” He couldn’t possibly mean her bills.

“Look, I’m just here to do the set up. I don’t know about the bills or anything like that. You’ll need to talk to Steel or Demo. He runs the books.”

Paige’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll do that,” she told him. But first she had to get ready for her day. She couldn’t have clients come in when the clinic wasn’t warmed up yet.

As she walked towards the backroom, Keys flipped on the rest of the lights out front. Paige winced. She absolutely hated that she had to pinch pennies so tightly and really hoped the few clients she did see regularly thought the low lighting was for the ambiance.

Paige escorted her first client out to the waiting room. Her jaw dropped. Holy fuckeroni! A large Mac desktop computer sat on her reception desk. Along with a pristine white keyboard and mouse. Her logo was even on the wallpaper of the computer.

Mrs. Guthrie paid in cash. She didn’t like computers or credit cards and had originally tried to pay via check. It wasn’t that Paige didn’t trust the older woman to give her a good check, but she couldn’t risk the possibility of it bouncing and having to fight charges at the bank. She also hadn’t charged Mrs. Guthrie full price because she only wanted her hands worked on for their arthritis. Paige would have liked to have helped with her varicose veins or her balance, but Mrs. Guthrie refused.

“Just my hands, dear ,” she’d said. She’d even questioned Paige’s knowledge of anatomy when Paige had asked her to take off her shoes. “Dear, do you know where the hands are?”

It had been an interesting appointment to say the least.

Keys hopped up from underneath the receptionist desk to escort Mrs. Guthrie out to her car. He gave Paige a smile on his way out.

She gaped in dreadfulness at the changes done to her lobby. She saw three cameras attached to her ceiling. From the last security system they had at their home in Detroit, she knew the white rectangles on her front door were to detect when the door opened and closed. She did not know what the white squares on the two, large bay windows were for. There was one on each window.

Her eyes landed on the desktop and she felt tears start to well up. She could not afford this. She supposed she could pull from the account where she had been collecting the insurance money but she needed to use that in less than two months to prove to her stepfather she was seriously trying to pay back Richard’s debt. It was hopefully enough for him to not file that bogus complaint with CPS that could result in her boys being taken away.

A bell sounded, causing Paige to look up. When had a bell been installed above her door? That was when she realized, it was electronic with a very good mimic of an actual bell. It sounded behind her, which meant Keys had somehow added a speaker in the back too.

A very bundled up Abby came shuffling into the clinic. From the fresh flakes on top of her bright ginger head, it had started to snow again. Paige hadn’t had a chance to check her weather app since arriving and really hoped it was only going to be a light flurry. She didn’t have chains on her tires or an all-wheel drive car. Even though she was from Detroit, Richard had cared more about appearances than safety. Thankfully, her car was paid off and she had the title. It was one less bill to have to worry about, but she couldn’t trade it in with how bad her credit score was and hope to get a decent monthly payment on a more appropriate car.

Bulldog was covered in even more snow than Abby was, making Paige believe he’d literally held himself over Abby to protect her from the falling snow. Snow! It wasn’t like it was acid snow, but regular snow. It might seem ridiculous and overbearing to some, but Paige’s inner goddess swooned and she was pretty sure her ovaries fluttered.

She wanted that . She wanted a man who would love her so fiercely he would protect her even from harmless snowflakes.

“I want you in my life. I want to get to know you as no one else does. I want to be your confidant and your supporter. I’ll be your biggest cheerleader if you’ll let me. I will stand between you and all the bad in the world. Not because I don’t believe you’re not strong or can’t fight your own battles, but because you deserve no less.

“I can be your white knight if you let me…”

Her heart longed for Demo in that moment. It was so foolish of her. They barely knew each other, but she felt a desire and a connection with him that she never had before. Not even when she’d been dating Richard. Demo had the ability to take her breath away with just a crooked smile.

The door hadn’t even closed fully yet before Bulldog started to wipe snowflakes out of Abby’s hair, neck, and shoulders. She unzipped her jacket and he slid it down her arms. It was like a very intimate dance, Paige realized. They moved in a synchrony that was so perfect it had to be choreographed.

Bulldog was a big guy, in height and in muscle. He had a long graying beard and a bald head. Paige knew he shaved it in solidarity with his mom, who was a two-time Breast Cancer survivor. Following so much radiation and chemotherapy, her hair had never grown back right, so she kept her head shaved and wore wigs. Both her sons, Carlos and Bulldog, took very good care of their mother, even though she’d been cancer free for over eight years.

Abby in comparison was petite. She had certainly gained weight from the malnourished woman Paige had first met, but she was still little. At five-six with bright red hair, Abby looked like she could turn sideways and disappear. When she’d first met the couple, Paige had thought it a bit—for lack of a better word— misogynistic how Bulldog did everything for Abby. He hovered, and Paige had once wondered if he chewed up her food and transferred it into her mouth like a mama bird did to her babies.

But Paige had been wrong in her judging.

Abby was fragile, but Bulldog didn’t treat her like glass. He treated her like she was the most precious and rare diamond in the world. Like her very existence was the key to his survival. Protecting her from snowflakes might seem extreme, but it was also a testament to his declaration that he would protect her from anything .

In the near year since Abby had returned to Mount Grove, she’d started to come out of her shell. As her doctor, Paige knew some of the horrors Abby had survived during her sixteen-year captivity in the religious cult her parents had joined when she was seventeen. Paige also knew she did not know all the details.

Abby had told her how she had been repeatedly raped by a man who had bought her within the community. How sick and fucked up was that? Paige’s stomach turned every time she thought about it too much. While it wasn’t common knowledge around town, Paige knew that Abby and Bulldog’s two youngest children, Caleb and Georgie, were results of that rape. She did not know how Lila and Cassie, the older two children, were related to Abby or Bulldog, if at all. Not that it was any of her business, nor did it matter in the long run. Abby and Bulldog loved their four children, regardless of the circumstances of their conceptions.

And Paige loved that for them.

She wasn’t even convinced Richard loved either of his sons. He only ever seemed to show affection towards them around others, like his sister and parents.

Her phone let out a sharp ding from her lab coat pocket. Paige pulled it out, under the romantic delusion that it was Demo somehow sensing her want and longing for him.

But it wasn’t.

It was from her stepbrother. Another message, reminding her of her deadline to pay back money she didn’t have.

Shame washed over her. Dousing the fire that had been brewing and wiping out her fantasies of Demo like a flash flood. Embarrassment replaced the fire inside.

“Hi, Paige,” Abby smiled brightly.

Paige shoved her phone back in her pocket. Not responding nor deleting the message. She tried to smile, but her shock and anxiety prevented it from forming fully. “Hi, Abby.”

Bulldog’s eyes narrowed on her. “What’s wrong?” He took off his coat. Like Keys, his had the club symbol on it. He hung both his and Abby’s coats on the rack by the door.

The bell above the door rang again as Keys hurried back inside. He made a show of shivering and then bent over to shake out his hair on Abby like he was a dog. Abby giggled and squirmed from the cold flakes hitting her. Rather than running behind Bulldog for protection, even in jest, Abby reached into her pocket and took out a reusable pink water bottle. With Keys’ head bent over to shake out the snowflakes, he didn’t see Abby open the bottle and pour some onto his hair.

“Hey!” the younger man shouted, stepping back. “Eh! Cold, cold, cold!” This caused him to shake his head out more, splattering water all over.

Bulldog stepped between a shaking Keys and a laughing Abby, keeping her from getting wet from the water bottle. He had a look on his face as he stared down at his wife that was a mixture of adoration and admiration. Despite that his back was currently getting wet from Keys’ attempts to get the water out of his hair, he was proud of Abby for her actions.

Paige loved that. Their bond and connection was so powerful, it felt like they were always in an intimate bubble.

“That was mean, Abby!” Keys scolded as he took his jacket off to try to dry his hair even more.

Abby leaned around Bulldog’s thick arm and smiled. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Keys!”

Keys looked like he wanted to retaliate again, but his eyes flicked to Bulldog and he clearly thought better of it. Instead, he made a gallant bow. “I concede to the victor.”

Abby’s smile looked like it could have been seen from space.

Bulldog gave Abby her moment of victory before he turned his attention back to Paige. “What’s wrong?” he repeated.

Both Abby and Keys turned towards her too.

Paige tried to stand up straighter, appear more confident. This was her place of business after all. They were her clients …plus Keys. She was supposed to be professional. “Nothing,” she told them. “Therapy room two is ready for you if you want to come back.”

Bulldog wasn’t having it. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” His eyes scanned around the room and outside her windows. Like he was looking for danger.

“Nothing,” Paige insisted again. Her eyes flicked to the computer equipment.

Bulldog must have caught the move. “Don’t play poker, Paige. You’ll lose.” He gestured towards the computer. “This is a gift from the club to you. If you’re worried about the expenses, don’t. It’s covered.”

“I even contacted your internet provider and squared away your account,” Keys added as he stepped around Bulldog. More like sidestepped, in case there was any retaliation on Bulldog’s part for Keys shaking snow onto Abby. When Bulldog did nothing, Keys’ posture straightened and he walked more confidently to the reception desk. “I need to give you your new password, but you have Wi-Fi again. I even created a guest network for you to advertise. It’s a great amenity to have at really no additional cost to you. People specifically go places with free Wi-Fi over businesses without.”

Paige’s jaw dropped. “You… You… How… You…”

Abby approached her. She was wearing a cute little dress with flannel leggings. Bulldog carried a small drawstring bag that had a change of clothes that were a much looser fit. Looser clothing meant they weren’t as warm, so Abby changed once she got to the clinic during the winter months and Paige could put the heat lamps on her.

Paige always ignored the fact that Bulldog would go into the therapy room with her to ‘help’ Abby change. She once walked past the closed therapy room door to overhear Bulldog’s deep baritone tell Abby it was too bad he didn’t have any handcuffs with them because Abby looked sexy enough to eat. Given what she knew of Abby’s history, it was difficult for Paige to wrap her mind around Bulldog tying Abby up for sexy-kinky fun but she tried not to judge. They were consenting adults and there was no way Paige would ever believe Bulldog would do anything to harm Abby.

And good for Abby for working to get past her trauma enough to be intimate with her husband. But it was also difficult to get that image out of her head after that, so from then on, Paige stayed away from the therapy room until Abby said she was ready to start her treatment.

“This is what they do,” Abby told her as if that was explanation enough. “Welcome to the club.”

Paige looked between Bulldog, Keys, and Abby. “I am not a part of your club!” she finally shouted. “I don’t need you guys coming in here with your fancy computers and cameras,” she waved her hands around at the offending objects, “and making my life more complicated. I don’t care if Steel thinks he ‘overlooked’ me or feels guilty about not including me. That’s his problem. I,” she tapped her chest, “need to be able to run my own business and live my life without you guys bulldozing your way through it. I didn’t ask for all of this! I don’t want it and I don’t need it.” Paige rounded on Keys. “And you ‘squared away’ my account? How the hell do you even have access to it? There’s a reason I let the account close! It’s too expensive for just me to run the clinic.”

Keys shifted, guilt radiating off of him like sunbeams. “I thought it would be easier for you. I set you up with social media accounts too. I was just trying to help. And with you being Demo’s, he said?—”

“Demo’s?!” Paige shouted. For as much as she longed for a relationship like Bulldog and Abby’s and as much as she thought perhaps she might find something like it with Demo, she was not the sort of woman to allow a man to come crashing into her world and take over for her. She had the right to choose her own path. Paige thought Demo understood that after offering her time to figure out what she wanted from a relationship between the two of them. “I am not ‘Demo’s’! What is it Demo said, Keys?” Paige demanded. “Did he tell you to come here with all of this equipment? Did he pay for all of this and expect me to be grateful for it? To fall on my back with my legs spread wide with gratitude?”

Keys’ face turned redder than a tomato. She hadn’t meant to embarrass the kid, but she had also been expecting him to argue and defend Demo. To say that Steel , not Demo, had been the one to order all of this equipment and upgrades.

But he didn’t. Even flustered as he was, he didn’t argue that all of this wasn’t Demo’s idea.

Paige felt her nostrils flare. She didn’t know if she was more pissed or hurt. She wanted Demo to want her. He claimed he did. But for him to come barging into her life like this? And he wasn’t even here himself to explain things to her? Food was one thing, but this was thousands of dollars of electronics.

She turned towards Bulldog. He was a straight shooter. He would tell her as it was. “What is going on? Was all of this Steel’s or Demo’s idea? Who is paying for all of this?”

“Demo is,” he told her without preamble. “He wants you to be safe while you’re here. We already had one shop attacked,” he indicated out the windows towards where Angel’s tattoo shop was across the street, “and he wanted to ensure you were safe since you work here alone.”

Paige’s eyes also looked to Angel’s studio. She’d heard about her attack by a rival MC and it had scared the crap out of Paige to think she’d been so close that night. What if she’d had her boys here at the clinic too that evening? She was beyond grateful Angel and Bree had gotten away unscathed, but the proximity still shook Paige for a long time following the attack.

She’d even looked into a security system afterwards, but the costs had been too high. That was how she knew how much a setup like what Keys was installing was worth.

“I can appreciate that,” Paige begrudgingly admitted. “But it doesn’t explain the computer equipment or Keys paying my internet bill.”

“You’d have to talk to him about that part.” Paige did not appreciate the amusement in Bulldog’s voice. “But, if it were me,” he looped his arm around Abby’s waist, pulling her back against him, “I’d be doing everything in my power to ensure your life is easier . Not by taking over,” he pressed when Paige opened her mouth to argue. “But by providing the needs to help you along to your success.”

Paige rubbed her forehead. “Why would Demo do that?” she asked through gritted teeth. “We’re not dating. We’re not… anything .” Phone call the night before aside, she hadn’t made any decisions yet regarding their relationship, whether platonic or romantic.

“You’re not?”

Paige lowered her hand to look at Keys, who was standing by the reception desk like a deer in the headlights. “ No ,” she said, almost breathlessly. Paige closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, they were all staring at her with different levels of sympathy. “Look, I can’t deal with this right now. Abby, please, head into the therapy room to get ready. I’ll be next door cleaning up, so take your time.” Before she turned to leave, she faced Keys. “Can you go, please? I just… I can’t deal with this right now.”

Then she walked into the first therapy room and closed the door.

“Dude, your lady is really pissed off.” Keys’ voice came over the speakers of his Bronco as Demo headed towards Main Street.

“What are you talking about?”

“Paige,” Keys said like Demo was an utter moron. “She’s really pissed off.”

Demo tried not to let out a frustrated sigh. He’d known who Keys meant with ‘your lady’ and he honestly liked the way that sounded. Not just the ‘your lady’ part but that it was Paige who was his lady. That hadn’t been what he was questioning. “That wasn’t what I meant,” he snapped. “ Why is she pissed off?”

“Um… Well, there might have been a talk about her being yours and then you bulldozing your way through her life and, um, her not being able to afford the new equipment and not wanting to be a part of the club.”

Demo jerked the wheel to the right, grateful no other cages were on the road, as he skidded to a halt on the snow-covered shoulder. He was maybe ten minutes from Main Street and the clinic, but he needed a moment to process what Keys had just said. He threw his gear shift into Park.

“The fuck did you just say?”

Keys stammered out in a ramble, “Look, man, I am not a people person! I deal with software, not soft women! I tried to give the line that everything was a gift from Steel and the club, but then she started on about how she’s not a member of the club. I thought calling her your woman would calm her down.”

Demo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me guess, it didn’t.”

“Yeah, not so much.” At least Keys sounded sympathetic.

“She’s not my woman,” Demo told him emphatically. “I want her to be, but she’s not. Paige needs time , man. I was trying to give that to her.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?”

“Why was I even brought into the conversation at all?” Demo asked, though it was more rhetorical than anything. “Where are you now?”

“In my cage outside the clinic. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to stick around or not.”

“Go home,” Demo sighed. He straightened up and put the Bronco back into Drive. “I’ll be there shortly. Just…”

“I know, man,” Keys said when Demo paused. “I am sorry.”

Demo nodded, though Keys couldn’t see it. “She doesn’t even know she’s a widow,” he finally said. “She wants to go on a date with me, I know she does, but she thinks she can’t or shouldn’t because she believes she’s still married.”

“I’m working on that,” Keys told him with a bit of hope in his voice. “Steel’s got me figuring out if we can either bring Richard back to life virtually or fake his death.”

That was something at least. Demo winced as his shoulder reacted to his body’s stiffness. He felt looser since his treatment the day before and the pain was more distributed instead of localized to one part of his shoulder. In a weird way, it felt like his shoulder blade was flexing without him consciously doing so.

“Also, you should know she got another threatening text from her stepbrother.”

Demo’s jaw tightened. “Bulldog’s at the clinic with Abby?”

“Yeah.”

Good. He needed to speak with his SAA. Demo thought Clifton Barrington would make a particularly good hanging ornament in the club’s cellar. No one threatened his Paige and got away with it.

“I’m pulling in now,” Demo told Keys. He didn’t see Keys’ cage as he parked in front of the clinic. “Have you found any of the Barringtons’ skeletons yet?”

“Too many to count,” Keys drawled. “I’m on my way to show Steel. Between what I found and Paige getting a restraining order, there’s no way they can take the boys.”

That was really good news. Demo turned off his Bronco. “Has Paige filed the restraining order yet?”

“No, and frankly, she might not have to with what I found. But I still think it’s a good idea.”

Demo agreed. “I’ll talk to her.” The snow had stopped coming down. Based on the forecast, they weren’t due to get anymore until that night.

“Sorry again, man, if I made your life more difficult. If she agrees, I can come by any time to finish the installs.”

If being the opportune word. Demo had a feeling the next few hours of his life were going to involve a lot of groveling and maybe even some begging. Bottom line, despite her pride, Demo needed to know Paige was safe. She didn’t have a secretary anymore and worked alone in an insecure office building. After what nearly happened to Angel and Bree, Demo hoped and prayed she at least agreed to keep the security measures. He could see how the computer equipment might have been a bit too much too soon.

But he wanted her to have everything she needed.

She’d been on her own for too long. She deserved to have someone by her side, in her corner, and dare he hope, in her bed.

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