Loveless (7 page)

Paige text me ten minutes after, frantically apologizing for her nephew’s text. For nothing, cause I was cool with it. Kids are usually awesome in my opinion, and her nephew seems like he fits the bill perfectly.

Thank God I only hit her up with a simple:
U free 2nite?

“Um . . . Eli?”

I stop mid-step, realizing too late that I almost walked right by the entrance to the gym.

Sophie holds the door open for me, wiggling her eyebrows. She doesn’t have to say anything, that expression conveys it all.

I walk by her, reaching out and pulling a platinum blond strand of hair on my way in.

“Ouch! You’re going to pay for that asshole!”

Yeah, but once again, it was so worth it.

nine

Paige

“I must have a name Paige. How the hell am I supposed to do a proper inscription on this man’s temple without a name?”

Laughing, I walk up to the sink and place my bowl inside. “Lana, the man’s ego is large enough as it is. He does
not
need a temple in his honor.”

“But he welcomed you into the world of orgasms,
chica.
He deserves it!”

I shake my head and get to work washing my bowl and spoon.

“Seriously, girl. You’ve been loveless, relationshipless, and sexless. The man is at least curing one of the three. I am entitled to be in awe. You finally went with me to buy a vibrator. A
vibrator.
The skies have parted and the angels are a-singing sister!”

Cringing, I place the bowl on the dish rack. Now, more than ever, I’m so glad I didn’t give Lana a name. “Calm down woman. It’s not like we had actual sex already.”

“Nope. But you’re heading in that direction, right?”

Yeah, we are, and I still can’t really believe it.

After a week of nothing—well, not nothing, if one counts how many times I’ve abused my new bullet vibrator—I’m having a hard time believing the lounge room happened. That physical connection with someone, however brief, is on a whole other level of existence.

Funny how a person never truly knows what they’re missing until they’ve experience it firsthand.

“Don’t tell me something put the brakes on it,” Lana says, clearly taking my silence the wrong way.

“No. Nothing like that. It’s still on. We’ve just been too busy with . . . well, there hasn’t be a chance.” I stop before I accidentally divulge too much. If Lana finds out that Elijah works with me, she’ll probably show up at JouerTech with all that gratitude and the plans for his temple . . . No. Thank. You. Not necessary. Some things truly don’t need to happen.

“Yes, well, it’s still on, as you said, and excuse me if I milk this happiness all the way to end.”

She’s acting like she’s the one getting initiated into sex. Shaking my head again, I walk into my room and begin changing into my gym gear. “What time are we meeting up at the fitness center?”

“I’m almost done getting ready. Thirty minutes or so? I’m driving.”

“I’ll take a cab.” I slip into my tight, black yoga pants.

“Remember to bring a separate outfit. We’re going out after.”

“I remember. I’ll text you once I’m at the center.”

“Cool.”

We end the call.

Walking up to the closet, I survey all of the new clothes I purchased last weekend with Elijah in mind. Sure, I won’t be seeing him tonight, but what the heck? He isn’t the actual reason I bought all of that. It was for the new me, the one he’s helping bring forth.

Why not rock my new aura while out tonight?

I grab a white v-neck tube dress and a pair of black flats. Dumping them in my gym bag, I pick up my black Nike’s and slide them on.

The cab arrives in less than ten minutes. I settle into the back, pull out my phone—and promptly try to convince myself that I’m not disappointed at the lack of messages from Elijah.

Not at all.

The last I heard from him was the night before, when Cole decided to respond to his text message. I almost groan at the reminder. My nephew can be way too straightforward and blunt, not to mention nosey as hell. Normally, I really don’t mind if he looks at my phone because I’ve never had something to hide.

A problem, I’ve realized, because he’s gotten too used to the liberty. It’s my fault he thought it was okay to read and respond to Elijah’s message.

Elijah was more than cool with it, however. At least, it seemed that way over text. We haven’t spoken over the phone or anything. His last reply to me had been:
Don’t B upset W UR nephew. He’s cool ppl. Enjoy UR nite.

At a loss, I’d only been able to come up with a simple:
Thx.

The cab makes a turn. Lowering my phone, I look out the window, taking in the street going by—

Is that Elijah?

The cab drives by too fast for me to be sure, but I could’ve sworn I saw a tall man that looks just like him standing on the sidewalk . . .

Hugging a short, blond woman.

That hug had been almost intimate.

Heart pounding, I look back in that direction, trying to see.

Impossible. We’re a block away already. Also impossible? That it would be him. Rolling my eyes at myself, I face forward. I’m so desperate to get some more action from the guy that I’m fooling my mind into believing that every tall guy with black hair I see is him.

Besides, Elijah doesn’t do the whole hugging thing with the women he sleeps with.

Then again, what do I know?

And does it matter? Well, aside from his whole
it’ll be just
you
and
me
spiel, it isn’t really my business if he does go around hugging other women.

My stomach twists, reminding me that I only had cereal for breakfast. At 4:00pm. And that I’m about to go rock-climbing on an almost empty stomach.

Whatever. I’ll catch something to eat after.

The cab pulls up in front of the Boston University Fitness Center and I pay before getting out. Once inside, I head straight for the locker room to drop off my duffel bag.

Ten minutes later, I stand on the first floor, right before the entrance to the rock-climbing area. The gym sports a thirty-five foot climbing wall, as well as many smaller ones. I’m relatively new to rockwall climbing, and the highest wall I’ve managed to scale so far is the fifteen foot wall over at Rock Spot Climbing.

I look around for my cousin, but the fitness center is huge and packed. Bringing up my call logs, I hit send on Lana’s number.

“Hey girl.”

What the hell? My cousin sounds close to tears. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s absolutely . . .  fine. Listen, something came up and I won’t be able to make it. I meant to call you earlier, but yeah. Sorry.”

“Lana.” I pause, my heart breaking. This has to do with Martin. There’s no way it doesn’t. God damn it, if that bastard hurt my cousin again . . . “What happened? What did he do now?”

“I can’t talk about it right now. All I can tell you is that I’m done. I’m so done, Paige. Just . . . just let me deal with it first then once I have all the facts straight I’ll call you.” Lana sniffs, eliminating any doubt I have—she
is
crying. “I promise I’ll call you in a few hours.”

“Oh my God, Lana. I’m so sorry.” I don’t know what else to say. I’ve been trying my best to get Lana to wise up and break-up with her boyfriend for over a year now. Martin has cheated on her twice in the last two years. I have no doubt Lana just caught him cheating again.

Hanging up the call, I stand there for a few seconds, seething silently. There’s nothing worse than watching someone you care about being hurt and that person just taking the emotional beating over and over. I can do nothing but swallow each wave of anger because, ultimately, the one that has to make the decision is Lana.

Please God, I hope what Lana said is true, that this time she truly is done.

Saddened by the turn the day just took, I turn to head back to the locker rooms.

A call comes through.
Elijah.
Unbidden, a small smile breaks free, and I grab onto the distraction with two hands, happy to concentrate on something else at the moment.

Oh, say, like the possibility of seeing him tonight and hopefully getting another orgasm or two out of him.

“Hey.”

“Hey you.”

His smooth low voice makes me shiver, and I fight to hide it in front of all the people around me. “How are you?”

“I’m doing really well.” There’s a lot of noise on his end, a ton of people talking, similar to what’s surrounding me. “And you?”

“I’m okay,” I answer, heart beating frantically. This is so weird. We’ve only talked a few times over the phone before, and all of it had been work related.

“I want to see you tonight, Paige.”

I inhale a shaky breath at the way his tone changes. Biting the corner of my lip, I stare at my feet, afraid someone will see my facial expression. “Okay.” My answer comes out totally breathy. Which is to be expected. I can’t freaking breathe.

“
Mmmm.
Say it again, baby. Just like that.”

Ohmigod
. How soon can I see him? Is
now
possible? “Elijah—”

One of the younger guys climbing the rock wall next to me loses his footing. It isn’t a big deal, everyone wears a harness, but the guy lets out a high-pitched yelp regardless.

I freeze. I’m pretty sure I didn’t just hear that yelp through my end.

I heard it through Elijah’s too.

“Paige?” Elijah asks, clearly having heard it as well.

I turn, disbelieving—

And yup. There he is. Standing less than ten feet away from me in black sweats and a white t-shirt that hugs every single muscle on his chest. Phone to his ear. Eyes wide.

The shock disappears in a flash when he takes in what I’m wearing, and his legs eat up the distance between us in seconds.

I lower the phone, watching him get closer, sensing the determination coming off him. I have no idea what he’s about to do to me, but I’m so freaking ready for it.

“Yo! Eli! Gonna introduce me to your friend?”

Elijah stops right in front of me, his expression twisting with annoyance, and turns around.

A woman runs up to us.

A short,
blond
woman.

Oh God, it was
been him on the sidewalk!

He’s here on a date with someone else and he called me to arrange one with me while at it?

I whirl around to leave.

Elijah grabs my arm.

“Paige . . .”

“Let me go,” I say under my breath calmly.

Something akin to panic flashes in Elijah’s eyes. Well, duh. He’s just got caught knee-deep in his own hypocrisy.

The tiny blond stops next to them, her dark blue eyes shining with excitement as she looks back and forth between us.

Elijah’s grip tightens on my arm and he brings me closer against my will. “Paige,” he says slowly, his eyes still wide and filled with that weird urgency. “This is my
best friend
. Sophie.”

His what?

“More like adopted sister, although it was never legal, but yeah, I was totally cursed to grow up with this annoying fucker. It’s so nice to meet you, though!” the girl, Sophie, exclaims, her excitement literally bursting out of her.

Elijah turns his head to look down at Sophie but doesn’t let my arm go. “Calm the fuck down, will you?”

Sophie shoves her middle finger right up against his face, then holds her hand out for me to shake, her smile so huge now that I half-expect her face to crack wide open.

“Um . . . hi.” Feeling like an utter ass for jumping to conclusions, I pull my arm out of Elijah’s grip and shake Sophie’s hand.

“How do you guys know each other?” Sophie asks.

“Work together,” is Elijah’s quick response. Too quick.

Sophie raises an eyebrow slowly. Very, very slowly. She doesn’t speak but her expression is total
“Is that so
?” and then some.

Did Elijah tell her about our deal? My face burns hot.

Sophie turns back to me. “Did you just get here or are you heading out?”

“Heading out. Was supposed to climb with my cousin but she couldn’t make it. So, yeah.”

Elijah’s best friend claps her hands together happily. “You can hang with us!”

Elijah throws his head back and sighs.

“Uh . . . it’s okay. I don’t want to intrude.” Obviously, he doesn’t want me hanging out with them.

His head snaps down and in my direction. “You wouldn’t be intruding,” he says in a low voice, trying to reassure me. Which is nice of him. Really nice. But his reaction was unmistakable. 

Sophie stares at Elijah out of the corner of her eye, a weird, sly smirk on her face. “You heard him, girl. You’re with us.” She grabs my hand and yanks me forward, heading toward one of the smaller boulders.

Elijah follows us. “Sophie, can you not be so overbearing for once?”

Sophie stops before the boulder and throws back over her shoulder, “Can you go suck your own dick for once? Yes?”

I slap a hand over my mouth, trying to muffle my surprised laugh.

Elijah pauses next to me, his eyes flickering to my tight black yoga pants. “Oh? You think she’s funny, huh?” The threat behind his soft tone stops my laughter.

God, he’s staring at me like he’s imagining me naked. Like he’s ready to spank me for laughing at him.