He was repellent. Every time he touched her she wanted to throw up.
“Get away from me,” Paige said, pushing at his chest but it was pointless. He was much bigger than her.
“What’s going on?” Missy asked from the doorway.
Thank God,
Paige almost cried. Even though it was Missy, she’d never been more relieved in her life.
“Paige fell off the chair when she was standing on it,” Chad said, taking a step back from her. “I was making sure she was okay. I’ll see you later, Paige,” he said, smiling at her as he backed up toward the door. “We can continue this
conversation
in a more private place later.”
The menacing look in his eyes made Paige’s stomach heave. She grabbed for the wall behind her trying to steady herself.
“What was that?” Missy asked when Chad left the room. “Are you fraternizing with more boys at work? That is completely unacceptable. Mr. Adams is going to hear about this when he comes back.”
“Where is he?” Paige panicked, looking up.
“Why? You want to tell him you weren’t coming onto a man while you were working?”
“That wasn’t what happened. Chad came onto me. He—he touched me,” she said, choking on the words. “I need to tell Mr. Adams what happened.”
“Oh, I saw what happened. I’ll be filing a report about this. And Mr. Adams left to go pick up a body, so whatever lies that you want to tell him will have to wait.”
“You file whatever the hell you want,” Paige said, slipping on her shoes. “It doesn’t matter what I say to you. You won’t believe it anyway,” Paige said as she walked past Missy and grabbed her purse.
Please, dear God, let him be gone. Just let him be gone,
she prayed.
Paige walked past Tara’s empty desk and out the front door and into the chilly evening, the cold having nothing to do with her shaking body. When she saw that the only cars that were still there were hers and Missy’s, a little of the tension left her shoulders. Paige got into her Jeep and drove to Brendan’s, her hands gripping the steering wheel like it was a lifeline.
She felt sick to her stomach. What the hell had happened to her? There hadn’t been any fight-or-flight response. She’d pretty much just shrunk back in fear like a scared little mouse. But there was something about Chad that really freaked her out. And he’d touched her. She wanted to go home and scrub at her skin in the shower.
We can continue this conversation in a more private place later.
A chill ran through her body. She never wanted to be in a room with him again let alone talk to him.
Brendan wasn’t home when Paige pulled into the driveway. When she opened the front door Sydney came running up to her. Normally, Sydney would circle around Paige, her tail wagging in excitement. But today Sydney calmly pressed herself into Paige’s thigh. Paige walked to the back door to let her out, but she wouldn’t leave Paige’s side. She sat down and pressed her nose into Paige’s hand.
“It’s okay,” Paige said, scratching her head. “You can go.”
Sydney whined and pawed at Paige’s leg.
“Fine, I’ll go down with you,” Paige said, heading for the back steps. Sydney followed behind her and when they reached the grass Sydney walked a few feet away to do her business.
Paige looked out at the water, rubbing the cold out of her arms. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the salty air. She tried to clear her head but she kept feeling Chad’s hands on her. She turned back to where she’d last seen Sydney sniffing around. The sky was starting to get dark as the sun set, and not having Sydney in sight was beginning to freak Paige out.
Two hands grabbed her elbows and Paige screamed as she jumped forward. She turned around to find a completely startled Brendan holding up his hands.
“You scared me,” Paige said, clutching her heart.
“I can see that,” Brendan said, studying her.
Sydney came running out from the trees barking. She circled the two of them and then walked over to Paige, bumping her head against her thigh and whining.
“Paige, what’s wrong? You about came out of your skin.”
She had to tell him. She had to tell him what that cretin had done. She’d promised him she would tell him if Chad ever came near her again. She just had a very bad feeling about how he was going to react. Another chill ran down her spine and she looked up at the house.
“Can we go inside?” she asked, rubbing her arms.
“Yeah.” He nodded, frowning.
She walked past him, Sydney still firmly at her side, and went up the stairs. When they were inside she turned to him, her entire body shaking. Sydney sat at her feet, whining as she looked up at Paige. Brendan looked at Paige, down to Sydney, and then back up to Paige.
“Paige, what’s going on?” Brendan asked, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapping it around her. He chaffed his hands against her shoulders and Paige pressed herself into his chest, seeking his warmth.
“Don’t tell me nothing, because I know something’s up,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her back. “Sydney won’t leave your side. She only does this when she’s protecting people. What’s she protecting you from, Paige?”
“Something happened,” she whispered into his shoulder.
Brendan’s hands stilled. “Something where?”
“At work.”
Brendan pulled back and grabbed her hand, leading her over to the couch.
“Start at the beginning.”
* * *
Brendan watched as Paige closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Everything in his body was on high alert. It had been from the moment Paige had jumped out of his arms and screamed. And the way that Sydney was acting was putting him even more on edge.
Paige opened her eyes. “Promise me you won’t freak out,” she said, grabbing his hands.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Tell me what happened, Paige.”
“Before I left work tonight, I was measuring one of the windows. I—I had to stand on a chair to reach it. When I stretched up to measure, I almost fell off.” She swallowed hard. “Chad was there.”
“What did he do?” Brendan asked through clenched teeth.
“He touched me,” Paige whispered.
Brendan let go of Paige’s hands and stood up, pacing the floor.
“Where?”
She didn’t answer. He stopped pacing and turned to her.
“Where did he touch you, Paige?”
“My chest, my behind, and the inside of my thigh.”
He stopped breathing. “How far up?”
“Brendan, it’s—”
“How far up?” he repeated loudly.
“As far up as he could go,” she said, closing her eyes and turning away.
“What else? Did he say anything to you?”
“Yes,” she said, still not looking at him.
“What did he say, Paige?”
When she repeated the words Chad had said to her, Brendan lost it.
“He threatened you?” Brendan asked so loudly that Sydney stood up and put herself in between Paige and Brendan.
“I don’t know,” Paige said, looking up at him confused. “I was so freaked out. I—I could be wrong.”
“Did you feel like he was threatening you?”
“Yes,” she said softly.
Brendan walked out of the room and headed for the front door. Paige called after him but he didn’t even hesitate as he ran down the steps and got into his truck. It was past five on a Friday night. Brendan knew exactly where Chad was going to be, and he was going to show the little shit what a real threat was.
* * *
The Sleepy Sheep was always busy on the weekends, and tonight was no exception. Brendan pulled his truck into the full parking lot and threw it into park. When he walked into the bar he did a quick scan and saw Chad talking to a couple of guys at one of the pool tables. Just the sight of him made Brendan want to break things. Chad’s face was at the top of the list.
Chad made eye contact with Brendan about two seconds before Brendan grabbed him by the front of the shirt and shoved him up against the wall.
“If you
ever
touch her again, I will end you, you son of a bitch.”
“She wanted it,” Chad said, shoving at Brendan’s shoulders.
“She wanted you to grope her? She wanted you to threaten her? I don’t think so,” Brendan said, slamming Chad into the wall again. “If I ever see you so much as looking at her again, I’ll beat the shit out of you so fast you won’t even see it coming.”
“Come on, Brendan,” someone said, coming up next to him and grabbing his shoulders, pulling him off Chad.
Brendan let go and took a step back, his entire body shaking with rage.
“That little slut asked for it,” Chad said, fixing his shirt.
Brendan lunged at Chad but two sets of arms grabbed him and dragged him back. He was pulled through the bar and outside. Brendan turned to see Shep and Bennett standing in between him and the door.
“What the hell was that?” Shep said, pointing to the bar.
“That stupid little piece of trash touched Paige,” Brendan yelled.
“Calm down, Brendan.”
“Calm down?
Calm down?
I will not calm down. I want to
kill
him.”
“Yeah, maybe screaming death threats isn’t in your best interest right now,” Bennett said.
“He touched her. He had his grimy little hands on her.”
“I get that,” Shep said calmly. “But you can’t do this, Brendan. You can’t threaten someone.”
“He threatened her,” Brendan bellowed.
Shep closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose like he was talking to a five-year-old having a temper tantrum. Bennett looked over Brendan’s shoulder as a car pulled into the parking lot. Out of the corner of his eye, Brendan saw Jax get out of his county sheriff’s truck.
“Paige called me,” Jax said, walking up to the three of them. “She said you were about to get yourself into trouble.”
Brendan just looked at Jax, not talking for fear of exploding.
“Let’s go, Brendan. I told her we’d meet her at her parents’ house.”
“At her parents’?” Brendan asked, feeling some of the anger leave him. Had he scared her? Did she not want to stay with him anymore?
“Yeah, she wanted to tell them what happened. I told her once you calmed down, we’d be over there.”
Brendan took a deep breath and rubbed his face. “Fine. Let’s go,” he said, holding up his hands. Jax, Shep, and Bennett all visibly relaxed as Brendan took a step back toward his truck.
God, if he’d made his friends nervous he had no idea what he’d done to Paige. His stomach twisted just thinking about it.
* * *
“You can’t threaten someone, Brendan,” Jax said calmly from the middle of Denise and Trevor’s kitchen. Paige was sitting down at the table with Denise while Trevor leaned against the counter. Brendan was pacing back and forth across the tile floor. Jax was trying to reason with him about his temper. It was making Brendan so angry he couldn’t stand still.
Brendan stopped pacing and turned to Jax. “Chad touched her,” he shouted, not showing an ounce of composure. “He had his hands on her and you expect me to take that sitting down? To not do something about it?”
“No, I expect you to call me and then we go about this legally.”
“Legally? What are you going to do? You heard Paige,” Brendan said, throwing his hand out toward the table where Paige was sitting. “No one was there, and Missy isn’t going to back up Paige’s story. She’s going to say exactly what Chad said. That Paige came on to him. So it’s Paige’s word against both of theirs. Who’s going to believe the truth?”
“I do,” Jax said. “But now we have a bar full of people who saw you attack and threaten Chad. Do you think that helps this case? It doesn’t, Brendan.”
“Tell me you wouldn’t have done it?” Brendan asked, taking a step toward Jax. “Tell me you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing I did if someone threatened the woman you’re in love with?”
The whole kitchen went silent. Jax raised his eyebrows, taking in a slow steady breath. Brendan knew Jax was trying to hide his surprise because Brendan had never said that he’d been in love with anyone before, not ever.
“You’re right. I would lose my mind,” Jax said and nodded. “But for right now, we have to do this my way. Paige,” he said, turning to her. “I’m going to need a full statement starting from the beginning.”
“I can’t listen to this again,” Brendan said, shaking his head and walking out the back door.
He inhaled the crisp fall air and took a seat on the steps of the porch, resting his forearms on his thighs. He sat there for a couple of minutes, staring out into the backyard and thinking about how quickly this night had turned to shit.
The entire week had been amazing. He’d woken up next to Paige for six mornings running, and every single one had been like a gift from God. He’d sat across from her every night eating dinner, and then sipped coffee with her in the mornings while they munched on toast. He’d watched her get dressed with fascination in the mornings and then he’d undressed her with eagerness at night.