Love vs. Payne (10 page)

"I can't believe you let him put his hand on your ass!" he roared.

"I didn't let him, I told him to move it three seconds before you came over and made a scene in front of
everyone
in our graduating class!"

"I don't give a shit about those people."

"You should, everyone in there knows our parents, what if it gets back to them, and what if they find out?" she started to panic. "If they find out about this, they'll find out about everything!"

"Calm down, no one's going to find out." he leaned into her, pushing her back against the tree as he kissed her. She tried to fight him at first, but the feeling quickly overpowered her, making her knees weak and she found herself kissing him back with everything inside of her.

What was it with him? How could he make her change her entire demeanor and her mind so quickly? She had to stop this!

"You have to stop doing that," she snapped trying to pull away.

"Never." he said pulling her mouth back to his and kissing her again.

"We're supposed to stay away from each other!" she snapped, pulling her head back again.

"I can't stay away from you," he said seriously.

"We're enemies."

"You're not my enemy," he held her face.

"But our families-" she cried out in frustration, confused by her feelings.

"Fuck our families," he kissed her again and she kissed him for a moment, before pulling back and looking him straight in the eyes.

"I dare you to stop!" she said.

"You would use it against me?" he actually looked hurt.

"I don't know how else to stop you!" she cried in frustration, she needed him to stop because she would not. He looked at her then stepped back as he put out his hand, she pulled the bow from the middle of her corsage then gave it to him.

"Now I have a dare for you."

"What?" she asked warily.

"I want one night with you," he said.

"No, it's betrayal."

"Fuck them, they don't care about what we want. Come on Gia, they forced this war on us!" he yelled.

"Its wrong." she cried even though she knew he was right.

"No, it's not wrong! You want to know what's wrong?" he was heated, his words full of hate and disgust, he grabbed her shoulders, "that I have to deny myself what I want most because of two old dead men that I never even met! I'm sick of thinking about you, you haunt my dreams, you're like a sickness to me, I can't get you out of my head!"

"Maddox-"

"No! I can't take any fucking more! You're driving me crazy, I want you all the time, every time I see you, do you know when you walked past me in the hall yesterday, I wanted to drag you into the bathroom and fuck you until you begged me to stop? I haven't slept in days thinking of you!" his eyes full of pain and a sadness that broke her heart, then he changed, his furious eyes burning into hers, "So I dare you, the dare of all dares," he held her face between his big hands, "Be with me tonight and forget everyone else except for me." He leaned his head against hers, his desperation written all over his face. "Please, Gia."

It was exactly what she wanted, and looking at him now, feeling his passion, she needed him just as much. She was just so scared.

"Do you know what will happen if we get caught?" she whispered.

"They won't catch us."

"I hope not." she turned away, he turned her face back to him, pleading desperately with her.

"I need one night with you, we don't even have to do anything, just let me hold you, baby. I need this! I need something to remember." He held her eyes to his for what seemed like an eternity before she finally answered.

"Only for tonight," she said looking around her nervously, "but I dare you to take me far away from here." He nodded, took her hand and led her to his new car. "And not let us get caught."

"I accept that dare," he kissed her lips, "and I won't let us get caught."

"I can't believe we're doing this," she felt the thrill of excitement shoot through her.

"Don't chicken out now." he said seriously and she shook her head. "I'm not letting you lose this dare."

***

Paige hid behind the bushes fuming as she watched them together. She watched them get into his car and once it was clear, she sprinted to her vehicle. She managed to step in a pothole on the way, breaking the heel of one of her new, expensive Italian shoes and cursed as she hopped the rest of the way. Once they were on the street, Paige started her engine, almost colliding with a parked car as she raced to catch up to them.

"Maddox I don't know what you're doing with that trash bin-dwelling, super-chunk, but I am going to put a stop to it," she said fixing her hair in the mirror, not paying any attention to the road she was speeding down.

The prom was going on without them, the entire class and all the staff looking around in confusion as they announced the prom king and queen, and neither Maddox nor Paige were there to accept the honor.

***

Maddox tried for over 20 minutes to reach his cousin Jaxon, it was the only safe place he knew. Jaxon's mansion was in the middle of nowhere, he had no neighbors for miles and rarely allowed visitors. They would never be found there and if by some chance they were, he knew without a doubt that Jaxon had his back.

Jaxon was his favorite cousin, he was a loyal, brutally honest, sadistic, overly aggressive, badass, motherfucker! If anyone had the right to be cruel, it was Jaxon, he had the misfortunate of being raised by the very devil himself.

Unfortunately, for them, Jaxon was not home, and Maddox did not have time to wait around, he only had one night with the enemy of his dreams and time was ticking.

They ended up driving for over an hour, before he finally found 'The Paradise Motel'.

Within that hour, they talked about anything and everything with no specific topics. However, they were careful not to mention family, time, or anything involving the future or the past. They talked like two old souls, revealing things to the other, they would not even admit to anyone else. They were so absorbed in each other, they were oblivious to the car following carefully behind them.

***

'The Paradise' was owned by Pascal Paradise, a small man with a slight hump, huge bright-blue eyes and a genuine smile that was full of warmth. His accent was as thick as the silver grey toupee on his head. He and the love of his life, his wife, Fiona had left France twelve years ago in search of the perfect home. They had moved to America, hoping to open a fancy French themed hotel and restaurant. Pascal helped build the hotel with his own hands, his strength and determination forcing his rickety old body to comply.

His hard work had paid off and their motel was an instant success. The rooms were decorated in an unusual style with an overabundance of elaborate décor. Each room was an entirely different theme, designed with close attention paid to detail. The restaurant served only the finest in French cuisine, but still managed to have a warm, homey feel to it. He had made enough money to live the rest of his life comfortably and he and his wife were happier than they had ever been.

He and his wife lived in the beautiful house outback and planned to spend the rest of their days adding to the structure. Pascal believed deeply in love, he lived his life by it, as did his Fiona. He was convinced it was the reason they had been able to cheat death so long despite their advanced ages.

***

Paige sat in her parked car across the street from the motel, looking at Maddox’s car in the parking lot. She began to shake with rage as she watched the two of them walk hand in hand to the motel office.

“Well Gia, I guess I am just going to have to teach you the hard way not to mess with Paige Chancellor!”  She hissed, her tires squealing as she sped off.

***

Pascal watched the couple walk into the office with their hands laced together. He took a deep breath, hoping to inhale a little bit of the love they exuded.

"We need a room," Maddox said, holding Gia's hand.

"Newlyweds?" Pascal’s smile was full of hope.

"No."

"Then you must be recently engaged."

"No." he answered.

"But Pascal knows love and he can feel it when it enters the room," the little man beamed proudly. He turned and grabbed a key with a huge red heart as Gia and Maddox looked at each other, smirking at the strange albeit friendly old man. Maddox pulled his credit card from his pocket and tried to hand it to Pascal.

"No, your money's no good here," he winked "I have the perfect room for you." his smile widened as he walked out from behind the desk, "follow me, if you will." he led them to the elevator.

"I keep a special room for these occasions," he said with a deep smile.

The elevator door opened and a very short man who looked an awful lot like Pascal greeted them with a smile.