Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

W ater dripped down Demo’s chiseled chest as he stepped from his apartment shower. Steam hung in the air all around him. After wiping off his face and hair with a towel, he ran a hand over the condensation on his mirror to clear his view.

Even he wasn’t blind to the pain on his face.

Shortly after entering his apartment with the intention of taking a piss, showering, and then getting back to Paige’s, his shoulder began to throb unbearably. When slamming his shoulder against the door frame didn’t work, he’d turned the shower on as hot as it could go and stayed under the pounding, burning water until the ache had begun to dull again. It still wasn’t gone, but at least he wasn’t imagining chopping off the arm himself just to make the pain go away.

His skin looked like he’d spent the day in the sun without any protection. He snorted, remembering a TikTok video about how women enjoy showers so hot, it could cook chicken. Guess, he was the chicken in this current scenario.

Demo heard his phone ring and looked around for where he’d left it. Finally finding it in the pants he’d discarded on the floor, he smiled broadly when he saw it was Paige calling.

Unable to resist, Demo leaned back against the vanity and switched to a video call before answering. He held the phone back so she had a broader view of him.

Paige’s jaw dropped when she appeared on his screen. Her eyes went wide as they roamed down his naked torso. He’d cut the image off just above his groin.

Demo’s grin was full of lust and promise when her eyes finally made it back to his face. “You know,” he drawled playfully, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were only with me for my body.”

Her cheeks burned. “Until this moment, I would have argued otherwise. I—” Demo saw her eyes narrow and his grin dropped to a frown. She leaned closer to her screen. “What the hell is on your shoulder?”

Demo glanced down, saw the bruise developing from when he’d slammed his shoulder into the door frame, and cursed. “It’s nothing,” he said quickly, moving the view of the camera up so only his face now showed. Shit, this had turned not-so-sexy fast.

“Demo!” she snapped. She almost looked angry. “Let me see.”

“I didn’t call you for a medical consult, Doc.”

Paige’s eyes narrowed. “No, I called you to see if you were okay because I hadn’t heard from you. Now show me your damn shoulder.”

With a reluctant sigh, Demo dropped the phone down so she could see his left shoulder. He supposed he shouldn’t be so annoyed that Paige had noticed the bruising, but he was a bit abashed that his finely toned abs hadn’t distracted her very long. He’d worked hard to gain a body he was proud of. Most saw him and didn’t think accountant , which always amused the hell out of Demo. Sure, Paige had stopped and stared. She definitely appreciated his form, he knew that. But she also hadn’t gawked or turned into a bumbling bimbo at the sight of his nakedness.

Why was that so arousing to him? It certainly had a humbling effect.

“Demo, your shoulder has chronic pain. Your nerves respond to stimuli. Please tell me you did not try to increase your pain by slamming your shoulder against something to then decrease your pain?”

Demo brought the phone back up to his face. “What would you have me do, beautiful? I couldn’t even get my shirt off. It was like my arm would only respond to pain.”

“ You call me ,” she snapped. “Regardless of whatever else is going on between us, Demo, I am your doctor. You call me and let me help you.” When he turned his head away from the screen, Paige scolded, “Do not make me go all legal name on you. Because I will. I will even call up Lucky right now to figure out what your middle name is because I don’t have your chart in front of me.”

Demo snorted. He turned back to the phone. “Lucky doesn’t even know my middle name.”

“Maybe not, but it got you to look at me.” She gave him a sexy-as-fuck, sassy smile.

Demo grinned back. Fuck, he loved smart women. “You truly are beautiful. Don’t ever doubt that, Paige.”

A blush creeped across her cheeks. “I am getting ready to head out to the clinic. Are you able to meet me there? I can work on your shoulder before my first appointment comes in.”

Demo glanced down at himself. “I might startle some old biddies into a heart attack on my way, but yeah I can head over that way.”

Paige smiled widely. “They’ll die happy. But please put on some clothes. I’d hate to have to treat certain areas for frostbite.”

Demo flinched at the implication. “Fuck. Yeah, probably a good idea. I think I have a pair of gray sweatpants around here.”

“Or come in the tightest jeans you own so I have to have you remove them.”

Demo chuckled. “Not sure you know where the shoulder is, Doc, if you need me to remove my jeans to get to it.”

Paige shrugged. There was enough mischievousness in her eyes to call her smile a smirk. “There is a method to my madness.”

Demo saw her moving around by her front door. Remembering the snow on her driveway when he’d left earlier, he cursed. “I meant to shovel your drive before I left this morning, but obviously that didn’t happen when I got called away.” He started towards his bedroom. “Wait, there. I’m on my way.”

“No, you don’t need to,” she told him. “Ronald came over this morning and took care of it.”

Demo stopped in the middle of his studio apartment. His king bed and dresser were against the far wall, parallel to the little kitchenette he rarely used. Despite the fact that she’d used his name, Demo obviously knew she wasn’t talking about him. “Ronald? As in, Hannigan?”

She blinked, as if trying to discern the sudden hostility in his voice. “Yes, my father-in-law. The boys’ grandfather,” she said pointedly.

As if he needed the reminder.

Demo put the phone upright on his dresser against the wall so he had his one good hand free. “He shouldn’t have had to do that. It’s my responsibility.”

“Actually, it’s mine,” Paige reminded him. He wasn’t looking at her, instead he was rifling through his drawers for a pair of boxer shorts, loose fitting sweats, and a long sleeve shirt. “I appreciated his help, though, because I can’t leave the boys alone to go outside to shovel myself. Ronald knows this and he comes over to help when we’ve had bad weather. He took the boys back with him to his and Cindy’s house for the day so I had a few child-free moments this morning.”

Demo groaned as he hiked up his underwear. “And I wasn’t even there for that! This morning just keeps getting better and better.”

“You know, if you’re going to tease me with a backwards striptease, the least you can do is step back so I can see what it is you’re covering up.”

Demo paused. He glanced up at the phone to see most of his body was covered by the dresser from the angle of the camera. He inclined his head to her and then took three big steps backwards so she could see his entire body in the frame. “Better?”

“No, you’ve already put your undies on.”

Demo snorted. “I don’t wear ‘undies’,” he corrected. He put the sweats he’d been holding on the edge of the bed. Then he pushed his boxer briefs down and stepped out of them. Standing naked before the camera, he did a slow turn so she got to see his front and his back.

Paige licked her lips. “Yeah, I’m definitely seconding your frustration at being called away this morning.”

Demo’s cock twitched at her words. “Really? And what would you do to me if I was there and at your mercy?”

His hand dropped to his groin, stroking himself in lazy, long pulls.

“Come to the clinic and I’ll tell you while I work on your shoulder.”

Demo growled at being thwarted of the opportunity to have phone sex with her. “Really, Paige?”

She gave him a wide smile. “My first appointment isn’t until nine-thirty. Just think of how much… attention I can give your shoulder in that time.”

“If you think my shoulder is the area that needs your attention after this conversation, you might need to retake an anatomy class or two.”

Paige chuckled. “Get your sexy ass to my clinic, Demo!”

“Fine! I’ll pick up donuts and coffee along the way because I highly doubt you ate this morning after I left.”

Her blush was answer enough, but she still said, “I wasn’t that hungry.”

“I’m going to ignore that lie and finish getting dressed. I’ll see you at the clinic in half an hour.”

“Wait!” she called when he moved to end the call. For a moment, Demo thought she still wanted to watch him get dressed. But that thought died pretty quickly. “What happened this morning? Why did you run out like that?”

Demo stood frozen for a moment. He hadn’t yet explained that there were some things he wouldn’t be able to tell her. Club business and all that. But…the other ol’ ladies knew about the bomb threat. He wasn’t sure how much they knew, but they had to know something from being evacuated out of their beds at five in the morning with their kids.

Despite his use of the word ‘other’ Paige was not his ol’ lady. He hadn’t officially claimed her, which meant that she didn’t get the perks of being his woman. Right now, she fell into the ‘club family’ category. Like the club members’ parents or in-laws, Paige was awarded the club’s protection as well as an open invitation to their club events. Club businesses offered them discounts too.

An ol’ lady was different. She would have the right to be told everything but the most secretive of details. Like the cellar beneath the clubhouse floor. No one but prospects and patched members knew about that floor plan detail. Other than Abby, Demo had to wonder how much other details their men gave the ol’ ladies. Even if they weren’t told something specifically, they had eyes and ears, probably picking up on a lot.

None of the women were stupid.

Demo and Paige’s relationship was only days old. It was far, far too early to claim her as an ol’ lady… Wasn’t it? But fuck, that image returned to his head of Paige wearing his property cut…and, damn, how he wanted to make it a reality.

“Nothing major,” he lied, feeling like his tongue was made of lead. “It was a small incident, but it’s been handled. Only reason I had to be here was because I’m an officer.” Clearing this throat, Demo rushed out, “Let me finish getting ready. I’ll see you at the clinic in a bit.”

A lot happened in the days following the bomb threat at the clubhouse. Yelizaveta came to Steel the day afterwards upset because her husband never came home from work. Steel called Carlos, who took the missing person’s report from the couch in the clubhouse. Neither of them knew the man was only a few feet away in the hidden cellar beneath the floorboards.

The man was still there, naked and hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, next to Nathan Moore. Despite all the evidence against him, including that his fingerprints were found all over the pieces of the device and the duffel bag was his own gym bag with his DNA all over it, Billy Merrick continued to cling to his innocence. Steel thought prolonged time in the cellar might get him to change his mind.

Demo took apart the bomb with a fine-tooth comb. As he suspected, the batteries were at full charge. If Billy hadn’t used rubber glue, he would have blown himself up building the damn thing. Demo wasn’t sure that would have been a bad thing.

SJ was the only club kid living in the clubhouse, but that was still one kid too many that close to an explosive device. Based on the haphazard way the duffel was left between the cages, it was concluded that no specific member was the target. Plus, there was no way Billy could have guessed that Bones would be the one to take that exact spot. Pumpkin did not know Billy at all or Yelizaveta well enough to be a target.

“I gave her a ride home once,” Pumpkin had told them all when asked. “But that was months ago, before SJ was born.”

Keys even looked into the possibility that Billy had known Cheryl and the bomb was revenge for her execution but found no evidence there.

Paige and Demo were getting closer every day. She’d accepted his vague excuse of there being an ‘incident at the clubhouse’ and hadn’t pried. Demo was beyond grateful for that, because he didn’t want to be lying to her any more than he already was.

The Sunday following the bomb, Lucky, Harper, Demo, and Paige went out for brunch at the diner. Mikey and Nelly Bean were spending the day with their cousins Conner and Scotty under the supervision of Sissy and Sara, who had both taken on the title of ‘aunt’ to the boys. During which, Paige agreed to tell them everything:

“Richard was not the man you knew,” she told Harper in a sorrowful tone. “I am so sorry to be the one to tell you this. He was horribly in debt. I don’t know what he kept spending the money on, but it wasn’t on me or the boys. I’m drowning in the debts he left me. Some I knew about, but others I only found out after he disappeared.”

Both Demo and Lucky were sitting on the outside of the booth with their ladies against the wall. Demo sat with his back to the kitchen door so that Paige could hold his right hand while she talked. Lucky sat in such a way that a slight head tilt gave him a view of the rest of the diner. Kelly, the waitress, had already come and taken their orders, dropping off their waters and soda glasses when she did.

Demo squeezed Paige’s hand reassuringly. He knew how much she’d been dreading this conversation. Though she had no idea just how informed Lucky and Demo already were about her situation.

“You know how much I hate my stepfamily. What I didn’t find out until recently was that Richard had taken out a loan with my stepfather, Thad. They’re demanding repayment and I don’t have it.”

A tear started to fall from her left eye, but Demo stretched his left hand across himself to catch it before it could.

Harper reached across the table and took Paige’s other hand. “How much does he owe them?” Demo was very grateful Harper phrased it that Richard owed the debt, not Paige. He’d been trying very hard to get her to stop calling Richard’s debts her debts. “Maybe Lucky and I can help out.”

Harper looked to Lucky for support. His answering, “Of course,” was said without hinting to the fact that he knew they couldn’t.

Paige let out a cynical laugh. “Not unless you won the lottery and didn’t tell me. I have no proof that this is the actual number, because it’s not like I ever saw a penny of it, but seven hundred…” Harper looked confused for a second until Paige added, “Thousand.”

Harper’s jaw dropped. “Holy fuck. And I thought three hundred thousand was bad!”

Lucky and Demo exchanged a quick look. As far as Keys could tell, Paige was not aware of Richard’s association with Mateo Castillo or the fact that her husband had borrowed money from a cartel loan shark.

As much as Demo wanted Paige to seek out help, they were treading on thin ice. Demo wondered if Lucky had cautioned Harper not to mention some things about Richard’s past or his connection to the club. Harper knew most of her brother’s past after he’d abducted her. If Scar hadn’t rescued her, there was still the question of what Richard’s endgame would have been that day. According to Harper, he’d seemed a bit unhinged.

Paige’s eyebrows drew down. “That’s very specific. Why did you say ‘three hundred thousand’ like that?”

Harper bit her lip like she hadn’t meant to say those words. “Look, I promised I wasn’t going to say anything, but you have a right to know. I’ve always argued that. Keeping you in the dark was cruel, but they insisted on protecting you and the boys. If I hadn’t found out as I had, I doubt they would have even told me.” Her face scrunched up with anger. “No, I know they wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t found out on my own.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Paige asked, her eyes flicking to Lucky but not Demo. She squeezed Demo’s hand even harder.

“My parents,” Harper said with a long sigh. “Moving to Mount Grove had always been the plan. You know that. Mom’s got some land out this way that she inherited when her dad passed. When Mount Grove offered Dad the position as sheriff, he wasn’t going to accept. In fact, he’d already turned down an offer from the town council. But then Richard came to them. He…” Harper picked at the napkin in front of her. “He was in deep with a loan shark and he’d been threatened. You all had.”

Paige’s jaw dropped. “A loan shark? A loan shark ? What? Why?”

Harper glanced to Lucky. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder reassuringly and pressed a kiss to her temple. Harper leaned into her husband for a moment before she turned back to Paige. “Richard had a gambling problem, Paige.”

Paige’s face blanched. “ Gambling ? No, he’s an accountant.”

Demo refrained from pointing out that he was an accountant too. Paige didn’t know about his extracurricular activities with the club, though none of that included gambling.

Harper nodded sadly. “He was in deep too. One-hundred and fifty thousand, according to my dad. It was all of their savings, but Dad gave Richard the money to pay off the loan shark. Unfortunately, Richard decided to take that money and gamble it. But he lost and doubled his debt.”

“Three hundred thousand,” Paige muttered disbelievingly under her breath. “I can’t… There’s no way I can…” Tears free fall down her cheeks. “There’s no way I can pay that back too.” Demo reached for her, turning her in the booth to face him. Paige’s eyes were wide with fear and dismay. She looked at him frantically. “A million dollars. I don’t have a million dollars.”

“You don’t need a million dollars,” he told her as sternly as he could.

She nodded her head like a bobblehead. “Richard owes money to a loan shark , Demo. If they don’t get their money back, they come after the person and their family. They—” Paige’s eyes went suddenly wide and she rounded on Harper across the table. “Ronald and Cindy’s attack? Ronald said that it was a criminal from Detroit, someone Ronald had arrested in the past who wanted revenge?”

Shame washed over Harper’s face. “He lied. The loan shark came down to Mount Grove to demand his money. When he couldn’t find Richard, he went to my parents.”

Paige dropped Demo’s hand to clasp her cheeks in both of hers. “I can’t… My God… Why didn’t you guys tell me?”

“I wanted to,” Harper defended herself. “I never thought it was right that they kept you in the dark. They made me swear not to tell you. They were convinced that you didn’t need to deal with Richard’s sins after he walked out on you. They wanted you to concentrate on the boys and healing.”

“ Healing? ” She slapped her palms down on the table. “How the hell am I supposed to do that when a loan shark could come after me or my boys any day for money I don’t have and never had any part of?” Paige demanded harshly.

Harper looked like she was going to start crying. Kelly walked up with their food right then. Seeming to sense the tension at the table, she passed around their food, quickly asked if they needed anything else, and then left them.

No one touched their plates.

Harper looked frantically at Lucky for help.

Lucky ran his hand through his ol’ lady’s long, raven hair before he turned his attention to Paige. “The club stumbled upon the attack at the former sheriff’s house. We intervened. Hannigan covered up the fact of who had been at his house to protect his son’s reputation but also to protect us. We killed the loan shark to protect Cindy and Hannigan.”

It didn’t happen exactly like that but it was close enough.

Paige blinked. “The club was involved?”

“Briefly,” Lucky emphasized. “If Harper hadn’t wanted to go visit her parents that day, the outcome would have been very different. Bear and I were with her and we rescued the Hannigans. As you know, one of our prospects lost his life that day protecting Harper.”

“Conner,” Paige breathed out his name. She turned to Demo. “You knew? You knew about Richard’s gambling problems.” Her voice was accusatory.

Demo nodded. “I didn’t know that you didn’t know until recently. I didn’t even know you until recently, Paige.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded.

“And how would that conversation have gone?” he asked her in return. “‘Hey, pretty lady, wanna go out with me? Oh, and by the way, are you aware your husband is a gambling addict?’”

Paige’s cheeks flushed. “You could have still told me,” she insisted.

“And how was I to know what you did and didn’t know?” he asked in return.

Paige didn’t seem to have an answer for that. She looked back to Lucky. “You killed the loan shark. Is that… I mean, it’s over then? I don’t have to worry about paying back that money too?”

Demo bit his tongue against saying she didn’t have to pay back the other money to her stepfamily either.

“We were able to get ahold of the loan shark’s brother,” Lucky told her gently. “Richard’s debt with them was cleared. Hannigan can verify this if needed.”

Paige was silent for a moment as she tried to process all of this.

Demo saw Lucky nudge Harper, but Paige’s eyes were cast downward towards her uneaten food and wouldn’t have seen it.

“Paige, will you tell me about your stepfamily?” Harper prompted.

She quickly wiped at her eyes. “You mean other than they’re a bunch of money-hungry bastards who are threatening to take away my boys if I don’t pay them back every penny your brother borrowed from them?”

There was a great level of contempt in Paige’s voice.

Harper flinched. “They are threatening to take away your boys?”

Rather than answer her sister-in-law, Paige turned in the booth to face Demo again. “You knew about that too,” she accused. “Steel came to me and told me that Ronald told him about their threat. He gave me the club’s lawyer’s card. Told me to tell her everything and to get a restraining order against the Barringtons.”

“Did you?” Demo asked her in lieu of answering her own question.

“She’s looking into it,” Paige told him. Her eyes were still narrowed. “You knew about the threat though?”

Demo slowly nodded.

Shame washed over her like a wave. Demo reached for her, not wanting Paige to ever feel ashamed for circumstances outside of her control.

“Let me out,” she demanded.

Demo blinked. “What?”

“Let. Me. Out,” Paige snapped, louder this time. “You lied to me. You… I let you into my life! I… I was falling…” She wiped harshly at her wet cheeks. “I trusted you. Are all accountants liars?”

“Paige, I didn’t lie?—”

“A lie of omission is still a lie, Demo!” Her voice was loud enough that patrons started to look their way. Paige pushed against his chest. “How could you? You knew Richard is a gambling addict. You knew about my stepfamily’s threat to take my boys away. Did you know about my debts? When you encouraged me to come here and spill my secrets, did you already know them too?”

With each question, Paige slammed her palms against his chest. Demo didn’t want to let her go until he explained—he had no idea what it was he was going to explain, but he knew he didn’t want to let her leave angry—but he also didn’t want her to hurt her hands by pushing on him so.

Demo scooted to the side and got up. Paige grabbed for her purse and looped it up to her shoulder. She nearly tripped as she got out of the booth. Demo reached out to steady her, but she threw off his hand.

“You lied to me!” she shouted, not caring who saw or heard. “Was it all some sick game to you? Watch the poor single mom struggle to pay her bills and then swoop in like some hero to save her? The computer equipment, the internet, fuck—my heating bill? Is my life some sick joke to you?”

Demo got right up into her face. “How dare you ask me that? I never would play games with you like that. Did I know some extra things about your past that you probably didn’t want a stranger to know? Yes. But I never would play with your feelings or the boys’ like that.”

Demo had been spending more time with the boys since the night of their puppy pile on Paige’s couch. They didn’t seem to have a problem with him and Demo found he really enjoyed being around them. Even if all they did was color on the floor while Mikey received his asthma cupping treatment.

He hated leaving the family each night, but he also wanted to give Paige space. For now, they were taking Bulldog’s advice and building on their friendship before they added sex into the mix. There had been a lot of sexy times—like the video phone call the other morning—and plenty of heavy make out sessions that had left Demo hard and Paige soaked, but they had not had sex yet.

Paige’s chin trembled as she looked away from him. “I was already in one relationship where I couldn’t trust my partner, Demo. I can’t handle another one. I’m sorry but lying is a hard limit for me.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Harper. I need some time. I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk again.”

With that, Paige started walking towards the diner’s front door.

Fuck. Watching her go was worse than getting shot had been. There were no words to describe it, no expression to quantify the agony of watching her walk away from him. If he let her go, if she walked out that door… Demo was pretty sure he would shatter into a thousand pieces. Paige Hannigan had somehow burrowed her way under his skin in less than a week.

Six days, actually.

He couldn’t let her go. It wasn’t possible. Each step she took was like a knife to his soul. She was tearing him up inside.

Demo couldn’t fault her. He had lied to her. He had omitted the truth. There were many things that he hadn’t told her and even more that he could never tell her. But there was one thing he’d always been honest about.

“I never lied about loving you!”

The entire diner fell silent at his shouted words. Paige froze, only steps away from the front door. Hell, she could probably stretch her arm in front of her and touch the metal bar.

Seconds ticked by. No one moved.

Then, slowly, Paige turned around to face him. Her eyes flicked to their still audience before returning to him. “What did you say?”

Demo completely ignored their audience. The building could have been on fire and he wouldn’t have noticed. Every molecule of his being was focused only on her. “You said you were falling for me? Well, I’ve already fallen. I am aware that I messed up withholding some facts from you, but this is my first relationship. I have no idea what I’m doing—and I certainly didn’t expect to fall for you.

“I should have. You’re beautiful, Paige. And, fuck, you’re so smart. You’re witty and you love your boys so much that you’ll sacrifice your own health and safety for them. I’m very aware that I’ll be third on your list if you do decide you can love me back and I’m completely okay with that. Third time’s the charm and all that. And that’s the way it should be. I can only hope that one day you’ll be third on my list too. Maybe even fourth if I’m lucky enough that you’ll give me another kid.

“But please , Paige, please don’t walk out on me. I’m not sure I could survive it.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her chin trembled.

Her purse hit the linoleum floor with a loud thunk . Something inside jingled like coins colliding together. She took a step forward.

Demo’s heart leapt. He’d just—very publicly—laid his heart bare to her. And she wasn’t walking away.

Paige let out a loud sob before she bolted down the aisle between filled booths and tables towards him. Demo opened up his arms and Paige leapt into them.

Their lips collided as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He gripped her tightly, vowing there and then to never let her go.

Their audience burst into cheers and applause. Parents covered their kids’ eyes. A burst of tears next to them informed Demo of Harper’s approving reaction.

Paige gripped his cut like he was her lifeline.

When they finally broke apart for some air, Paige rested her forehead against his. “I fell too,” she whispered. “I fell so hard. I’m sorry I got so angry.”

Demo tilted his chin up to touch his lips to her nose. “No need to apologize.” Really taking in their audience for the first time, Demo glanced around her ear to see the entire diner still had their attention on them. “Wanna get out of here?”

She nodded against his forehead, closing her eyes to block out the gazes of their fellow patrons.

Demo headed towards the door, Paige still in his arms. He threw over his shoulder at Lucky, “Box that to go! I’ll pay you back later.”

Lucky’s amused snort was his only response. Or at least, the only one Demo heard.

Kelly helpfully picked up Paige’s purse at the door and looped it over Demo’s elbow. He nodded to her in thanks.

“You got your keys on you?” Demo asked Paige when he stepped out into the cold.

She nodded, ducking her face down into the crook of his neck against the wind. The only good thing about her having been walking out on him was that she was already wearing her jacket and he didn’t have to stop to help her get it on.

Demo carried her down Main Street in the direction of her clinic. It was closed—and Demo had a fantasy of bending her over those damn massage tables to fulfill.