Here to Stay (13 page)

He searched her eyes, saw the desire and
uncertainty. The fall had shaken her. She couldn’t be thinking
straight. As much as he wanted her, this just didn’t feel right. He
pulled out of her arms. His whole body shuddered at the loss of
contact with hers. He had to close his eyes for a long moment to
steady himself against the ache.

“I don’t understand,” she said quietly.

Nathan shook his head, then opened his eyes.
“I can’t do this. When you went away to college and never came back
here, I almost lost my mind. Then my mother died and you suddenly
reappeared. When you left that time, you took…”

He couldn’t form the words to explain the
pain that had followed, “Twice I’ve lost you. Twice I’ve grieved
the loss. I can’t do that again.”

“I’m sorry. I never intended to hurt you. I
did come back,” she reminded gently, “but it was too late.”

He looked away. “I should go. Let Calvin
drive you to Silas’s office. You took a pretty hard fall. If you
need me for anything, just call. I need…” He swallowed hard and met
her gaze. “I have to go.” He turned and walked away from the only
woman he’d ever wanted. The one he still wanted.

He didn’t stop until he was in his car. He
turned the ignition and the engine roared to life. If he didn’t
move fast, he might change his mind and he couldn’t allow that to
happen. He couldn’t survive losing Paige again. The best thing he
could do was stay away until she went back to Memphis.

He would be doing her a favor as well. No
matter how much she had thought she wanted to make love with him,
she would have regretted it tomorrow.

They had no future together. Nothing that
bound them except leftover feelings from the past.

Chapter Eight

“Litigate? What kind of five-dollar word is
that?” Calvin huffed a disgruntled sound. “This ain’t the legal
category in Jeopardy.”

“There’s no rule, Calvin, except that it has
to be a word Webster’s would officially recognize,” Paige returned
coolly. “Litigate means—”

“I know what it means,” he snapped.

“Well then, what’s the problem?”

“It’s supposed to be a word you can guess in
this century, Miss P.” Calvin folded his arms over his chest. “I
don’t want to play no more. I think that bump on your head done
ruined your sense of humor,” he grumbled.

She exhaled a weary breath and leaned back
against the couch. “You’re right, Calvin. I haven’t been myself all
weekend.”

“It ain’t got nothing to do with lover boy,
has it?” Calvin looked her straight in the eye. “I noticed he ain’t
been around.”

“No,” she lied, straight-faced she hoped.
“I’m just feeling out of sorts.”

“Is it because we’re going to pull that trick
on Mr. Myers?”

“No,” Paige said with much more conviction.
“Mr. Myers deserves just exactly what he’s going to get.”

“Long as you know what you’re doing, I’m
game.”

She smiled at Calvin’s obvious uneasiness
with deception. No way was this kid bad guy material. “Trust me,
Calvin.”

“I do trust you.” He looked at her solemnly.
“With my life,” he added.

Paige held his serious gaze for a moment
before she busied herself putting away the pencils and tablets they
had used to play a homemade version of Password. She sure hoped
this little plan she and Silas had cooked up would work. If Calvin
could get Myers to repeat his offer, they would have him over a
barrel. The conversation would be taped, thus giving Paige the
evidence she needed to gain a little a little leverage with the
overly ambitious man.

“Want another glass of tea?” Calvin asked,
getting to his feet.

“No thanks,” Paige muttered distractedly.
Calvin had proven entirely too insightful for an eighteen-year-old.
His estimation that the bump on her head had little to do with her
state of depression was right on the target. Nathan was the
problem. He hadn’t called or come by all weekend. It had only been
two days, but it felt like forever since she had seen him.

She had mentally kicked herself a dozen times
for behaving like a sex-starved nymph. She still couldn’t believe
that she had actually asked him to make love to her. Not hinted,
mind you. Flat out asked. Demanded, really.

She closed her eyes and recalled the
mind-boggling kisses they had shared before Nathan had come to his
senses. Warmth flowed through her instantly as the event replayed
in her mind. No other man, not that she had dated that many, had
ever swept her into such passion with a kiss. It felt right with
Nathan. Natural. The feel of his hard body against hers filled her
with such need that she could scream with want.

But Nathan had been right. She sighed, a
heavy, fatigued sound. He had kept his head on straight when she
had lost it completely. Maybe the fall had scrambled her brains.
She rubbed the still-tender spot on the back of her head. Whatever
had possessed her at that instant she would never understand. The
only thing she knew at the time was that she wanted him more than
she had ever wanted anything in her life. Her first lovemaking
experience had been with Nathan and there hadn’t been anyone since.
Paige hadn’t wanted anyone else. She had tried, but her heart would
accept no one else.

She prayed she hadn’t ruined the chance of
their being able to maintain a friendship. And she still had to
tell him about Jesse. What a mess she had made.

Calvin as he sauntered back into the room.
Sorting out other people’s lives seemed so much simpler than
straightening out her own. He stretched out on the couch with his
iced tea and turned his attention to his favorite sitcom. A knock
at the door, followed by several chimes of the doorbell startled
Paige from her disturbing reflection.

“Oh, man,” Calvin protested. “That’s prob’ly
Nathan and my show ain’t over yet.” He set his half-empty glass of
tea on a coaster on the side table.

“Nathan?” Paige asked, her spirits
lifting.

Yeah, he invited me to go to the pool hall
with him tonight,” Calvin said as he laced up his high-top
sneakers.

“Hogan’s Pool Hall?”

“Yeah, that’s the place.” He stood to go.

“You just sit tight,” Paige ordered. “I need
to have a word with Nathan in private.” She stalked into the entry
hall and opened the door, prepared to give Nathan a piece of her
mind on the subject of bad influence. Only it wasn’t Nathan at the
door. Paige found herself face to face with two young men who
looked more menacing than junkyard dogs.

“May I help you?” She centered herself in the
doorway, effectively blocking their entrance.

“I’m here to see my cuz,” the shorter and
stockier of the two informed her.

“I’m sorry, I have no idea who you’re talking
about.” Paige attempted to close the door as an alarm sent
adrenaline racing through her veins. This might be the two men who
had threatened Calvin. She couldn’t let them fund him.

A large, dark hand forced the door open. “Oh,
I think you know exactly who we’re talking about,” the much larger
man insisted.

Paige stared up at him. She stumbled back a
step when he pushed past her into the entry hall. “Gentlemen, if
you don’t leave, I will call the police,” she announced in the
sternest tone she could muster.

“Yo, Calvin, get out here,” the shorter guy
shouted past Paige. “You chicken sh—”

“What you want, A.J.?” Calvin interrupted as
he burst into the hall, hands on his skinny hips.

“Boy, you got some explaining to do,” A.J.
threatened. He swung his arm around Calvin’s neck and ushered him
toward the door. “Baby Dave, you keep the lady lawyer company while
I have a talk with my homey.”

Baby Dave grunted, never taking his leering
gaze off Paige. A.J. and Calvin disappeared from view, leaving the
front door wide open. Paige willed herself to remain calm. The two
men seemed only to be interested in talking at this point. No need
to get excited just yet. Maybe they would have their say and
leave.

Baby Dave’s loathsome gaze dropped to Paige’s
bare midriff and then to her legs. She swallowed hard. Of all days
to decide to dress for comfort. She had pulled on an old cropped
T-shirt and ragged cutoffs.

She shifted under the man’s intense perusal.
Tiny beaded braids crowned his head. His black sweatshirt looked to
be about five sizes too big and a trifle warm. Baggy, wide-legged
jeans covered his long legs and puddled in folds around his
sneakers.

A fearful plea from Calvin reached Paige’s
ears. Her pulse rate quickened as a new surge of adrenaline raced
through her body. Maybe talking wasn’t all A.J. came to do. She had
to get to Calvin. He trusted her…depended on her. Paige shot a
sidelong glance at the front door. Could she outrun the hoodlum
ogling her?

“Now you ain’t thinking of making a run for
it, are you?” Baby Dave stepped closer and skimmed a hand over her
arm.

Paige shuddered and jerked away from his
touch. “Don’t touch me,” she warned.

“And just whatcha gonna do about it if I do?”
He eased a step closer, grabbed a handful of her hair and allowed
the strands to slip through his fingers. “I guess you ain’t gonna
do nothing.”

She allowed him to move another step closer
before she brought her knee up into his groin with every pound of
force in her body. “Guess again,” she muttered and shot out the
open door.

A.J. had Calvin backed up against the red
Mustang. Paige skidded to a stop several feet away when she saw the
knife he held to Calvin’s throat. Her heart thudded in her chest.
How could she stop this?

“Stop right now, A.J., before you do
something you’ll regret,” Paige told him calmly, inching a little
closer.

He glared at her. Calvin looked scared to
death. She had to do something. The phone in the barn. She had to
get to that phone.

Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her neck,
preventing her escape. Paige shrieked.

“Keep that bitch quiet!” A.J. ordered.

“My pleasure,” Baby Dave responded, giving
Paige’s head a backward jerk as he started back into the house.

“No,” Paige screamed. She dug her bare heels
into the ground and tried to slow him down.

“Let her go,” a low, masculine voice
growled.

Nathan
. Oh, thank God, Nathan! The
sound of his voice sent relief through Paige’s trembling body. Hot
tears slipped down her cheeks.

Baby Dave stilled, but didn’t release
her.

Paige heard a thud, then a grunt from Baby
Dave. The next thing she knew Baby Dave was on the ground with her
sprawled on top of him.

Nathan pulled her to her feet. “Go in the
house and call the police.” He turned and strode toward A.J. and
Calvin.

“Back off, man,” A.J. shouted over his
shoulder, the knife still pressed to Calvin’s throat.

Paige stood stock-still, unable to move, her
eyes glued to Calvin’s wide-eyed expression. Her heart lodged in
her throat as the scene evolved before her eyes.

“If you don’t back off, man, I swear I’ll cut
him,” A.J. warned in a nervous, high-pitched voice.

“If you hurt Calvin, I’m going to hurt you—a
lot,” Nathan told him in a voice so cold and dangerous that chills
ran over Paige.

“Calvin, tell your buddy to back off,” A.J.
threatened. “This is between you and me.”

Calvin looked from A.J. to Nathan. Even in
the dusky light, Paige could see the fear glittering in Calvin’s
eyes, but he said nothing. Paige knew he trusted Nathan to help
him. Realizing she was wasting time, Paige turned and ran into the
house.

Thank God the 911 service was back on line.
Five minutes. The police would be there in five minutes, but
anything could happen in that length of time. She rushed back
outside. Baby Dave still lay motionless on the ground. Paige looked
up from his still form to see an enraged A.J. shove Calvin to the
ground and turn on Nathan. Nathan backed away from the knife.

Paige glanced from Calvin’s crumpled form to
the two men circling each other. She inched slowly toward Calvin.
He had to be okay. Renewed fear crawled up her spine.

A.J. sputtered ceaseless profanities. Nathan
said nothing. His lethal gaze spoke for him.

A.J. lunged at Nathan. Paige felt the scream
burst from her as time seemed to lapse into slow motion. The sound
of her scream echoed around her leaving her weak with fear. A.J.
lunged again. Paige saw the slit in Nathan’s shirt caused by the
knife, saw the blood ooze forth.
Nathan’s blood
. Her breath
whooshed from her body. Before she could release an anguished cry,
A.J. was on the ground and Nathan had the knife.

Sirens blared in the distance. Calvin stirred
and tried to sit up. Paige crouched beside him and did a quick
visual exam. No visible signs of harm. Thank God. She gave her
nerveless limbs the command to move and then she was at Nathan’s
side.

“Are you all right?” She touched his cheek.
Blood trickled from the corner of his lips. Nathan held his hand
against the side where the knife had slashed him. “Let me see,
Nathan,” she demanded. Panic clawed at her throat.

“It’s not bad,” he insisted, though he winced
with pain.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.” She
clenched her hands into fists to help control her convulsive
trembling. A delayed reaction to the fear, she told herself.

“I’m okay, Paige,” Nathan slid his free arm
around her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “Calvin, are you
okay?” he asked as the kid staggered over to join them.

“Yeah, my head hit the car when A.J. shoved
me down. It kindda stunned me,” he muttered, shook his head and
then rubbed it. “But I’m okay now. Man, Nathan,” Calvin looked at
Nathan in admiration, “you’re a regular superhero.”

Nathan laughed and then grimaced. Blood
seeped between his fingers. “Damn, Calvin”—he glanced down at the
scarlet staining his shirt—“your friend ruined my only blue
shirt.”