Sucker Punch (TKO #4) (14 page)

Chapter 28

Austin

It’s a little after five in the afternoon and I haven’t heard from Paige. I know she was meeting with her ex today so I didn’t want to bother her, but I wanted to talk to her today.

I just got showered up and my body is a little sore. Lance and I sparred continuously today and it was well worth it. I grab my phone and pull up Paige’s name.

Austin: How was your day today?

Paige: Surprisingly good! How was yours?

Austin: It was good. I wanted to see if I could see you this evening. I just wanted to talk to you.

Paige: Well, since you already know about Darla, I guess so.

Austin: Can I head over in a few?

Paige: Yeah, we’re about to order a pizza so just head over.

I’m elated she said I can go by. This means a lot to me and I can’t wait to get there. I grab my shoes and put them on and head out of the door.

Ruston isn’t home, but I’ll send him a text in a few and let him know I’ll be back a little later. I don’t plan on being at her house too late because she does have a daughter she has to get settled down.

I drive a little faster than I should to her house and as I pull into the complex, a grin spreads across my face. Things have been going so good today, they can only get better. I get out of the car and head straight to her door. I knock lightly and in a matter of seconds, she opens the door.

“Oh hey! I thought you may have been the pizza guy. Come in,” she greets me.

I walk in and notice her daughter is watching cartoons in the living room. This is the perfect opportunity to start talking.

“How’d the meeting go today?” I ask her quietly.

Her face lights up. “It went really well. He turned down his job offer out of state to stay here and get to know her. I’ve waited so long for this.”

“That’s good but does this mean that, uh, you and him may get back together?” I can’t help but ask.

“No, not at all. That’s been over,” she says positively.

I can breathe again. For a moment, all of the air got sucked out of my lungs. “I wanted to talk to you real quick if I can. Paige, from the moment you stepped into my hospital room I knew there was something about you. Then I ran into you again and I’ve gotten to know you a little better. I don’t care you have a kid, I just want to be with you. I want you to be mine.” I grab hold of her hand.

Her eyes widen but she doesn’t pull her hand away. “Austin, are you sure? Because on top of making a commitment with me, you’re also making a commitment with her.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything. Yes, I was shocked yesterday to learn about her, but she’s part of you and I damn well may just be in love with you, so that means I’m of course going to love her.” Christ, I can’t believe I just said that out loud.

Her eyes widen even more. “I wasn’t sure you’d even be able to forgive me for hiding her from you, Austin. Are you really sure?”

“Paige, I swear. You’re the best damn thing that’s ever come into my life and I’m not letting you go. I don’t know much about love, but I will love you with everything I have forever.”

“You sure you just want to date me? Because it almost sounds like you’re committing your life to me,” she jokes.

“I just may be, Paige,” I whisper. “You make everything better and dammit, I need you.”

I lean in and softly kiss her lips. She kisses me back and then slowly pulls away. “This isn’t going to be easy, Austin, but if you’re willing to work at this with me and bear with me then yes, I’ll be yours.”

“You just made me so happy. I already told you I don’t know much about love, but I really think I do love you.”

“Just go with the flow, Austin, and you’ll know with love. It just hits you like bricks.” She grins.

“Babe, I was hit with bricks the moment I met you,” I reply as there’s a knock at the door.

Paige grabs her money and goes to open the door for the pizza man. Darla finally looks up from the TV and comes running into the kitchen.

“Pizza!” she yells. She stops when she sees me and looks at my shoulder again. “You still have an owie?”

“Yeah, I still have an owie.” I smile at her.

“My daddy doesn’t have an owie,” she tells me.

“Really?”

“Weally. He’s nice.” She grins.

“I’m glad he is,” I tell her and I mean it. She deserves nothing but the best.

“You awe nice too,” she tells me.

“I think you’re nice too.”

Paige carries the pizza to the counter and grabs a plate for Darla. “Hey Darla, Mr. Austin is going to eat pizza with us. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes, I like him. He’s nice like my daddy.” Darla grins.

“She’s super obsessed with him now,” Paige informs me.

I think it’s cute. I think every little girl should know her dad and have a good relationship with him. Paige hands me a plate and I grab two slices of pizza and we all sit at the table. Darla rattles on and on about her day with her dad and I just smile as I eat. When we finish, Darla runs to her room and while she’s gone, I walk over to Paige and wrap my arm around her waist.

“Thank you for letting me come by today. I know this hasn’t been easy on you and I understand now why.”

“Thank you for being patient with me,” she tells me.

“I knew you were worth it.” I kiss her neck and pull away, knowing Darla could come running in at any minute. I notice Paige blushing a little and I love seeing the affect I have on her.

Darla comes running back in just as I figured she would, but she’s holding onto a few dolls. “Austin, will you play dolls with me?”

Paige starts laughing and I want to, but I keep a straight face as I answer her. “Of course I’ll play dolls with you.”

I follow her into the living room, where she hands me a doll and begins to tell me what to do with it. I have to feed the doll, then watch TV with her. That’s fair enough. Darla and I play dolls for a while until Paige tells her she needs to go take her bath. I look up and notice Darla frowning, but she stands up and walks towards the bathroom. I stand and walk towards Paige.

“I can go if you need me to,” I tell her.

“No, you can stay. I’m just giving her a bath and then she’ll go lay down soon,” she assures me.

She hands me the remote. “I’m sure you don’t want to watch these cartoons.”

“Yeah, thanks.” I chuckle as I start flipping through the channels.

A few moments later, Paige and Darla emerge from the bathroom and Darla is wearing her pajamas, which she comes to show me. “Mommy says I have to tell you goodnight. I have to go to bed.”

“Goodnight, Darla,” I tell her.

Paige’s phone rings and she grabs it. “Hang on, Darla,” she tells her. She talks for a moment before putting the phone on speaker. “Darla, Daddy wants to tell you goodnight.”

I hear his voice come over the speaker and I notice the reaction from Darla. She’s so excited to talk to him. I knew he never wanted to be around but seeing this from her, I’m glad he changed his mind. If I’m going to be in their lives, I’ll have to meet him one day.

They talk for a moment before Darla tells him bye and Paige brings the phone back to her ear. A moment later, she sets the phone back on the counter and brings Darla to her room.

I keep flipping through the channels until Paige comes and sits beside me. “She fell asleep pretty fast tonight. She had a lot of excitement today,” she tells me.

“You’re a great mom.”

“I try. Brendan gave me a check for her. He’s never paid anything until today and now he paid way too much. But he told me he’s going to start paying every month for her.” She sighs.

“It’s good he’s stepping up, Paige. You can tell how happy she is.”

“Yeah.” She closes her eyes for a moment before opening them back up. “So tell me about your day.”

She grabs my hand and pulls it into her lap. “Well, I found out at the gym today I can indeed fight in my condition so I trained a lot today. I’m just waiting to hear exactly when I’ll be fighting again.”

Her eyes widen. “Really? You’re ready to fight? That’s got to be hard with one arm though right?”

“It’s challenging. In practice today, it wasn’t easy but I could do it. I thought when I lost my arm I’d never be able to fight again, but I’m getting a second chance. I seem to be getting a second chance at a few things and I’m grateful,” I tell her. “Enough about all of that, though.”

I pull my hand from hers and run it through her hair before moving it to her cheek. She closes her eyes and I notice her breathing is erratic. I lick my lips and move them towards hers. She must sense me coming, because her lips slightly part as I close in on her. Softly, I kiss her lips and she kisses me back eagerly. Her kiss is sweet and I miss those lips of hers. I haven’t gotten to kiss them nearly as much as I want.

She breaks the kiss slowly and grins lazily at me. “I’m glad you came over tonight.”

“Me too. I was nervous to ask because I was sure you’d say no.”

“Well, Brendan knows about you, and now that you know about Darla I have nothing to hide. He asked about you, so I told him a little. I mean, if he were seeing someone, I’d ask the same stuff.”

“I get it completely. It means a lot to me that you’re trusting me to be around Darla. I won’t let you down,” I tell her.

“If I thought you would, I wouldn’t have let you in,” she whispers.

I notice a yawn escaping her and I kiss her forehead. “I’m going to head home. You need to get some rest. Can I see you tomorrow?”

“I work but when I get off I can call you,” she replies.

“Well, get some rest, babe.”

She stands from the couch and walks me to the door. As I open the front door, she grabs my hand and turns me to face her. She crashes her lips against mine. Her kiss is so damn passionate that my cock is beginning to stiffen. Talk about terrible timing. She breaks the kiss and I’m out of breath. I know what I’ll be doing when I get home to relieve this issue.

“Goodnight, Austin,” she says as I step out of the door.

“Goodnight, Paige.” I knew things were only going to get better.

Chapter 29

Paige

Things have been so strange but in a good way. I was nervous to let Austin deep into my life, but now he knows everything and still wants to be around, well, that speaks for itself. I’ve liked him since the night at the bar and when he asked me out, it did nothing but make my heart soar. I’m happy things are finally looking up for Darla and me.

Austin left a few minutes ago. I keep replaying the little bit of time he was here over and over again in my head. He said certain things that just keep sticking out and the butterflies in my stomach are fluttering around. The way he said he doesn’t know much about love but he’d love me with everything he has, well, no one has loved me since Brendan years ago. I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear words like that again. I like Austin a lot. He seems to make all my bad moments turn good. But I’m not sure about love, not yet anyways.

I go take a shower and afterwards climb into my bed. As I’m making sure my alarm is set, my phone vibrates and Austin’s name pops up. I grin as I tap the message to read it.

Austin: I wanted to tell you goodnight again, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Paige: Goodnight, Austin!

I set the phone down one last time and close my eyes. It’s not long before I’m finally asleep and I don’t wake until my alarm goes off.

***

I set my purse and keys inside my locker in the breakroom and before I shut it, I text Austin really quick. It’s early so I doubt he’s awake, but at least he’ll get it when he wakes up. As I close my locker, I can’t keep the grin off of my face. I turn around and nearly bump into Nora.

“Hey stranger, what’s been going on?” she greets me with her cup of coffee in her hand.

“Hey, it’s been really crazy lately. I have so much to fill you in on,” I tell her.

“Spill it then, Paige, because I’m curious!”

I begin by telling her about how Austin found out about Darla and then the conversation Brendan and I had. I leave nothing out as I tell her about the park and then lunch where Brendan gave me that back child support check. Her eyes widen, but I keep on with the rest of the events that have taken place, including the part where Austin asked me to be his.

Nora’s jaw is on the floor. I’m waiting for her to speak and finally she does. “Oh my gosh! I was seriously not expecting any of that!”

“I know, right? Brendan was supposed to be moving, but he told me he turned down the job because he wants to get to know Darla now. I’m probably insane for letting my guard down so easily, but why shouldn’t they have the chance to get to know each other? She’s practically infatuated with him right now.”

We begin walking out of the breakroom and into the busy hospital life that will consume the rest of our day. “Just be careful, that’s all I’m going to say. I think it’s great he suddenly wants to be in her life, but since he hasn’t been around the past four years, I’d just maybe keep my guard up a little. What do your parents think about this?”

“Yeah, about them. I need to let them know. I didn’t say anything when I dropped Darla off this morning, and I should have because I’m almost positive she’s going to say something to them. I should have thought this through a little better.” Seriously, I’m a ditz right now.

“It’ll all be good, Paige, I know it will. I’m so happy for you, though. Things are finally going good and Brendan isn’t being an asshole anymore. I’ll talk to you at lunch!” She waves as she reaches her wing of the hospital. I keep walking towards ICU, hoping for a good day. It’s heartbreaking in there sometimes. Maybe it’s because I pray deeply for them every day or maybe it’s just God placing his hand upon them.

I sit with a few patients throughout the day and talk with a few of their family members keeping them up to date on their status. It brings me much joy to be able to see some of the patients move from the ICU unit to a regular room. That’s when I know the prayers have worked.

It’s almost lunch time and I check in with the head nurse, letting her know what has changed with the patients since my shift began before I make my way back to the breakroom. I forgot to bring a lunch today, so I guess I’ll be eating out of the vending machine. As I walk in, I notice Nora already sitting down eating.

I get some change out of my wallet and grab a bag of chips and a soda. I sit beside her and we talk about our day so far. I get up to check my phone and see a message from Austin and then one from my mom. I already know what the one from my mom is going to say, but I decide to read it anyway.

Mom: Darla told us she met her daddy? What is this about, Paige?

Paige: Yeah, you heard right, and I should have told you sooner. Brendan asked to meet her.

Mom: I just worry about you two. The meeting went well?

Paige: Surprisingly, yes. He was very good with her. I think something finally clicked in his head, Mom. He even gave me a back child support check.

Mom: Maybe he has changed. We’ll talk more later. Love you, baby girl.

“Well,” I say looking up at Nora. “Darla spilled the beans. Mom texted saying Darla told them she met her daddy.”

“You knew she’d tell! I’m so happy for her, though. Every little girl needs her daddy.” Nora smiles.

I smile back, knowing she’s right. I’m ready for the rest of my shift to fly by so I can go and explain everything a little better to Mom. I know she just looks out for us. She always has, and I love her for that more than I could ever explain.