Authors: U
"You ok Paige?" Dalton's hand lingered on her shoulder when she
stood up.
She nodded, not used to him touching her like this anymore. He
wasn't demonstrative like he was when they first got married. They
touched and hugged, but his hands never lingered on her like they did
now. She felt weird knowing what had just happened with Casey.
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Dalton was her husband and the remembered warmth of his touches
was nice, kind of. She leaned into him. Reaching up on the tip of her
toes, she kissed his jaw and whispered. "I missed you." And really
she had, until two nights ago. But, Dalton was always at the back of
her mind no matter how long they were apart and she did love him.
What happened with Casey was never, ever going to happen again.
And she resolved to herself that she could not tell Dalton and would
make sure that Rosa nor Lamar, if he had heard, never breathed a
word of it either.
Smiling, she turned to see Rosa and Lamar staring at her. "You
mentioned going out tonight?" Paige made sure her voice was light
and sounded happy. She was ready to move on. She would have to
battle her guilt internally and never let on.
Rosa jumped up, grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the
bedroom. "I was going to give this to you earlier." She raised her
eyebrow, waiting for her to answer.
Paige leaned close. "You can never tell Dalton." She told her,
barely whispering. "And if Lamar heard."
"Don't worry about Lamar." Rosa waved off her worries and
motioned towards the bed. "These are all yours."
"What?!?" Paige's eyes widened in surprise she stepped back, away
from the bed. "I told you no!"
"It appears I don't listen very well." She grinned and began
gathering boxes, shoving them into Paige's arms; she picked up the
rest and motioned for the door. Lamar offered to help, but Rosa told
him to just get the doors so they can get into Paige's room.
Paige's stared at the boxes that had been dumped on her bed. All
the clothes she had tried on and then some were lying across open
boxes. The dress that Rosa insisted she wore out that night was on top
and she felt overwhelmed by it all.
They had hours before it was time to get ready, so they all decided
to go to the fair that had been set up outside the gate. Dalton held her
hand while they walked through the isles, taking in the Japanese
culture, checking out the vendors and their wares.
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At one point, Paige stood back and stared at Dalton. His shoulders
were broad. His waist a little thicker than it was when they first met,
but he was still in pretty good shape for being forty four years old. He
worked out every so often. She remembered the feel of his arms
around her. She felt his warmth, but had never felt the safety in his
arms like she did with Casey. Shaking her head, she had to stop
thinking of that and move on. Later, if she happened to run into him,
she would tell him it's over. He had promised that if she told him to
leave and never come back he would respect her wishes. She just
hoped like hell he meant what he said, and that she could survive
having to break his heart.
At that moment, Dalton turned around and smiled. Walking up to
him she wrapped her arm around his waist. They walked over and
watched a mini version of the Nagasaki Lantern Parade go through the
main street. The brightly colored dragon bobbed up and down with
the twenty to thirty people moving the poles up and down, side to
side, imitated the slithering motion of a snake.
Paige enjoyed the many different costumes worn by men, women
and even children. Then suddenly, when she turned to look back
towards the rear of the parade, a costumed figure had red eyes that
alternated to black when he blinked, his face was painted white and
fangs protruded out of his mouth. He was so close she nearly
screamed when he made like he was going to lunge at her. Dalton
laughed and put his arms around her when she ducked her head into
his shoulder. She was shaking so hard she felt like she wanted to cry.
The face was exactly what had been in her dreams, other than the
figures being Rosa and Casey.
"I think I'm ready to go." Paige turned away, her hand covering her
mouth, her heart pounding.
Dalton frowned down at her, but turned away from parade and led
her away from the crowd, back towards the gate. Rosa and Lamar had
wandered off and would meet them back in the rooms later.
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She already knew what to expect when they got back to her room.
Dalton sat down with the remote in hand and flipped through the
channels on the television. He found reruns of Family Guy, and
settled in to watch. It didn't matter that he had seen the same one at
least a dozen times,
Paige heard him still chuckle while the cartooned played loudly.
Shaking her head she grabbed her school book and began reading.
But the words were a blur and she had to keep reading the same
paragraph over and over again. Her mind kept wandering to the
dreams and the vampire in the street today. She felt out of sorts, her
mind running all her thoughts together. Casey's smiling face, the
dimples, his broad shoulders and the way he held her kept playing
over and over in her mind. Drawing a deep breath she sighed.
"You okay?" Dalton asked without taking his eyes off the screen.
"Yeah, just can't concentrate." She tossed the heavy book onto the
table where it landed with a thud and she got up. There was nothing
really for her to do in the room other than watch TV. Used to going
along with what he wanted. Paige found herself falling back into the
same old routine and couldn't help remember Casey's words. A
ll you
have to do is tell me what you want.
What did she want? She couldn't complain about coming back to
the room because she was the one who said she was ready to go. So
she sat back on the couch with a resigned silent sigh.
* * * *
cliché little black dress from the bed, Paige was surprised once again
how well it fit since she had not tried this one on either. She would
have never considered wearing anything that fit so snuggly, the
corseted style top came together in the front and pushed her boobs up
high. Looking down at herself she was afraid they were going to spill
over, but looking in the mirror, there was just enough showing to be
sexy. The corset actually pulled in her waist and gave her a nice
curve. The skirt flared only slightly so she didn't look too hippy. She
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actually felt sexy. She twisted her hair up into a tight knot at the base
of her skull and slipped the earrings and necklace on that she had
worn the night before. The heels were a little higher than the other
ones. She stepped gingerly out into the living room.
Dalton looked up from pulling his boots on, his eyes raking her up
her body and she actually felt like a piece of meat. She was a little
disappointed when all he said was "Nice."
What had she expected? He was the same old Dalton. Just because
she was resolved to make this work didn't mean he was going to be
any different. Her shoulders drooped a bit and she followed him out
the door to meet with Rosa and Lamar down in the lobby. She
couldn't help recalling the night before when Casey had handed her
into the car. Dalton walked to the passenger side of the car and
climbed in. Shaking her head slightly, she made her way around to
the other side of the car where Lamar reached out in front of her and
opened her door for her with a smile. "Thanks Lamar. I see someone
has some manners."
"What?" Dalton looked dumbfounded staring from her to Lamar.
Paige just shook her head, her mouth set in a grim line. "Don't
worry about it Dalton." He shrugged and remained silent in the seat
beside her while he looked out the window.
Preoccupied, she didn't even pay attention to traffic. She was
surprised to see that they were pulling up to The Haven. Breathing
deeply to calm her nerves, she wondered if Casey would be inside.
Lamar and Rosa walked out front while Dalton gave her an irritated
look for walking slow. She was not used to wearing heels and didn't
want to fall on her ass.
Holding the door open, Rosa and Paige went through the door first,
and then Lamar took both their arms and led them inside where he
found a table. Paige sat stiffly on the edge of the chair, her eyes
nervously scanning the bar. The lights were not dimmed and it wasn't
crowded since they were there earlier than they were the night before.
The consensus had been to skip dinner since they had such a late
lunch. Paige knew she was probably going to regret that since she
hadn't eaten all her lunch, but she wasn't going to make everyone else
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wait on her. Again, she realized she was making sure that everyone
else was happy.
A round of drinks was delivered to the table. She noticed that hers
was the light chardonnay while the others, even Dalton, drank the
darker whatever it was. "What is that?" Paige leaned over to Dalton,
her hand on his to pull the drink to her and he shoved her hand,
pulling the drink away.
"Something you wouldn't like." He snapped at her, not taking his
eyes off the door.
She stared at him, bewildered at how rude he was being and how
rough he had pushed her hand away. She also noticed that he was
surveying the room and wondered who he was looking for.
Rosa and Lamar stood up when a song came on that they liked.
"Come on, go dance." Rosa urged Dalton. He rolled his eyes, downed
his drink and almost reluctantly held his hand out to Paige.
With his change in attitude, she really didn't feel like dancing with
him, but she went anyway. His hand was on her waist and he barely
held her, almost as if he didn't want to touch her. He never once
looked down at her while they danced and he didn't speak. They
glided around the dance floor with ease. He was nearly six foot, so
her eyes landed on the second button of his shirt and that is where she
stared, her stomach churned.
She kept all emotions from her face, but she knew then. With him
dancing the way he was, he was seeing her again. Darcy enjoyed
dancing and he had made the effort to learn to dance for her. She had
asked him repeatedly to learn to dance. It rankled that he was willing
to do something with his mistress, but not with his own wife.
Her throat tight with emotions, when the song ended, she excused
herself and went to the bathroom. Leaning against the wall she
wanted to break down and cry, but she refused to allow him that much
power over her.
How could he do this to me, again?
Closing her eyes
she reminded herself that she had done the same thing. But to her it
was different. She had decided that seeing Casey was not going to
work, but now? Knowing what Dalton was doing? Shaking her head
she was resolute in what she needed to do.
I am not going to fall into
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another man's arms just because my husband is a prick
. She would
find out for sure if he was seeing her again, then she would divorce
his ass and just go on her own for a while. After all, she had been
practically by herself all this time anyway.
Head held high, Paige walked back to the table. She saw Rosa
looking at her, but didn't say anything. She picked up her drink and
downed it, turned and walked to the bar. She needed something
stronger. "Double Jack and Coke." She ordered and stood at the bar
tapping her fingers, waiting for the bartender.
A small burst of air sent a shiver up her spine. When she turned
around there he was, Casey's ice blue eyes smiled at her. "I could just
eat you up, you look so beautiful."
A warm feeling spread through her body and she smiled sadly up at
him.
"Paige, are you okay?"
"No, but I will be. Dalton is here." She motioned her head towards
the table where she saw him talking with a woman. Normally she
would wonder who it was, but right then, she was too tired to worry
about the woman he was with or what he was doing any more.
"Ah, that explains the sad look." Casey grabbed her drink and