Twist of Fate (13 page)

I threw a twenty on the table, then darted out of there. My car couldn't get me to that damn rec center fast enough. I peeled into the parking lot, noticing Tommy's Jeep already there. He was already standing in the doorway, just watching her teach class, like he was keeping an eye on her for some reason.
 
I approached him slowly, cautiously unsure of what he was doing. "Hey, man. What's up?"

He glanced over his shoulder, nodding. "Nothing. She's still hungover, but she's good."

I sneaked a peek inside, and wished I hadn't when she was doing some move that looked not only enticing, but illegal. I stepped back. "Bro, what's going on? What did you mean by-she's good?"

He stepped back with me, slowly retreating toward the doors to outside. His phone beeped. He looked down, punching a few things in, then pulled me aside. "Listen, Ben. Paige has some history from the other school."

"What kind of history?" I asked, more nervous than I liked.

"I can't tell you. I promised her. Let's just say we all got nervous, but it was nothing. She's good, and all is well. Okay?" He placed his arm around my neck.

I shrugged him off. "No. It's not okay. What the fuck are you talking about?"

He ran his hands up and down his face frantically, then looked back at me. "It's not my story to tell. She'll tell you when she's ready."

"Dude. I'm not kidding. You're scaring the shit out of me. What is it?"

He glanced quickly back to the room she was teaching in, keeping his eyes on the door. He spoke softly, but didn't take his eyes off of her. "Just know she's here for a reason, and it's not to get some sun. Just keep an eye out for her." His phone beeped again. "I gotta go, can you get her home?"

"You're serious? You're leaving without answering me."

He shrugged, sighing. "I'm sorry. I need to take this. It's Paige's mom. Just get her home. She's done in a few minutes."

Paige walked out several minutes later than everyone else, and I could tell she was not expecting me, and she looked worked over from last night. "Ben, what are you doing here?"

I forced a smile. While I waited those short few minutes for her, I decided I needed her to come to me. To tell me when she was ready, so I didn't press her. Yet. "I heard you needed a ride."

Her eyes darted to the glass doors, and out to the parking lot. "I thought Tommy was waiting?"

"He was. He got an urgent call and asked me to come get you. Everything okay?"

She did this little shift in expression. I could tell she was not only hiding something from me, but was going crazy trying to figure out if Tommy spilled her secret. The whole ride I tried to make sense about what Tommy said. Not that it was much to go on, but I'd concluded it wasn't something good. I pulled up curbside to her dorm, and got out to open her door.
 

She looked at the door to the dorms, then back at me. "Can you walk me in?"

"Sure. Let me go park this. I'll be right back." I jogged around to get back inside, and I noticed her shiver slightly as I jumped inside.
 

We walked slowly up the stairs until she stopped at her door. "Do you want to come in? Watch a movie or something?"

I knew what I was going to say, but I wished to hell I could say what I wanted. "I don't know, Paige. I have some things to catch up on." I felt like an ass the words came out. I wanted to stay, but at the same time I wanted to get the hell out of there. Being next to her did something to me, and I hated the idea of letting her get close, to only hurt me in the end. Would she even do that to me a second time? She gave me these crazy, sad eyes, and I felt myself beginning to cave.

"Please? I hate being alone. Just stay for a little while, until Ellie gets home. We haven't really hung out this week."

There was a reason for that, I just hadn't told her why. I hated ignoring her, not being with her, but sometimes I couldn't bring myself to be around her. It hurt too much. "Are you forgetting the shower last night. We spent all night together. I'll have you know that you owe me big time for that one." What I didn't say was how terrified I had been and how I would never forgive myself if something happened to her.

She winced, but then smiled before putting the key in the door. "I am so sorry. I promise to never get like that again. I really don't know what happened to me. I'm not like that. I swear."

"Damn, right it's not happening again. You scared the shit out of me."

We both remained quiet on the walk up to her room.
 

Once inside she threw a bag of popcorn into the microwave. The smell immediately filled the room. I took a breath in. "Smells good, right?" She asked.

I looked around, and decided to sit in the desk chair. The bed looked too tempting today. My mind was already imagining what it would be like to see her lying down on it, with me on top of her. Not in a perverted way, but the way I use to want her. I just wanted to be with her, be able to touch her when I wanted, to kiss her when I wanted.

"So, how's Michelle?"

What? My brain needed to downshift. "Who? Oh, her. I don't know."

"I thought you liked her?"

"Who told you that?"

"Well, you have been seeing her for a while. Although last night I was pretty sure that half-naked girl you had in the corner was not Michele."

"Yeah, well, you owe me big time for that too. Not only did I lose my favorite shorts you puked on, but I lost my date for the night. And then I got stuck watching you get sick." I took a small pillow from the bed and tossed it at her. Suddenly, I stood up fast. "Hold up. I'm not with Michele. You know that, right? I mean, I don't do the girlfriend thing."

She bit down on her lower lip, nodding, trying to hold back a laugh. "Are you sure it's over?"

"It's over. I told her weeks ago to get lost."

"Always the heartbreaker." As she said this, I couldn't help but stare at her. I replayed that word over several times in my head. Is that what she thought of me? I guess it would look that way to her, however I never promised anything to any of those other girls.

She shook her head like she was trying to clear her thoughts. "I'll just turn the television on."

She yanked a sweatshirt from her drawer, throwing it over her head, then checked her door to see if it was locked.

Which brought me back to how I got there in the first place. "Pretty sure it locks automatically, Paige. You seem jumpy today."

She moved quickly to her bed. "No. I'm fine. I just like to be safe. You never know who's walking around out there."

"Yeah," I said, slowly studying her expression. "You never know."
What the hell is she not telling me? I'm right here.
I could help her, too.
Tommy was not the only one who could do some serious damage when needed. Shit, I had my share of fights, and I always won. "You're sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

"Why? What do you mean?"

I made my way over to her because, one, I wanted to always be next to her, and two, because I was desperate to know. When I sat down next to her, I leaned over, nudging her with my shoulder. "I just want you to know that I'm here. If there is anything you need. You call me immediately, and I'll come running."

Just as she seemed like she had thought it through, and was about to speak, the sound of keys jiggling in the door stopped her from going any further.
 
Ellie strolled in. Perfect timing. "Do I smell popcorn, Paige?" She asked without looking up.

I took that as my cue and stood. "I gotta go. You okay if I leave?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

I closed my eyes for a brief second, wanting to scream at her to just tell me. But, I didn't. I kissed her quickly on top of her head. "Remember to call me."

I started to walk past Ellie who hadn't stopped gawking at me from the moment she walked in on us. You would have thought we were naked or something. "Stay home tonight with Paige." I quickly turned back to Paige. "Oh, and here take these." Acting on instinct, I tossed her my keys. "I can borrow Tommy's car. Mine's parked out front."

"What? Your car? No, Ben."

"P, I'm not taking a no for an answer. It's yours for a few weeks, okay?" I shrugged like it was no big deal. I'd do anything for her, and I could tell leaving my car with her right then was the right thing to do, even if I didn't know why.

I swore she looked like she was about to cry. "Thanks, Ben."

As soon as the door clicked shut, I stood there listening for a minute for anything. But all I heard was Ellie saying, "Oh, my God, Paige. He is so fine." Then the sound of the television volume cranking up. I was about to go out of my fucking mind if I didn't find out soon what had Paige acting all jumpy and scared. I'd never seen her look anything less than confident.

PAIGE

Chapter 15

I couldn't wait until I could work today. It had been a whole week since I found the time to take care of myself.
 
Ellie and her flavor of the week split, so I'd been tending to her broken heart. We must have made more runs for yogurt in one week than I ever had in my life. She was supposed to meet me here today to let off some steam, and hopefully scorch a few hundred calories. There was something about teaching Yoga that helped me escape from whatever it was that day that had bothered me.

I was making my way across campus to the Rec a little earlier than necessary to begin class. I still felt tight, wound up, and even weak for letting last week get to me, so I wanted to do some stretching beforehand. One of the things I loved about teaching here was the fact that you don't need to be a student to register for class. People of all ages came every week. My favorite was this lady, Betty. She was sixty-five years old, and in ridiculously amazing shape. Every week she brought in pictures of her kids, and grandkids to show off to the class. I simply adored her. Not to mention the fact that she was my best student, and she brought me homemade cupcakes.
 

Once I was inside, I cranked up the heat a few notches, clicked play on the CD player, and then rolled out my mat in the front of the class. I pulled my water bottle and towel from inside my bag, placing them next to it. One last peek at the clock let me know I had ten minutes before people started shuffling in. I stood, raising my right arm over my head, bending slightly to the left side, switching a minute later to do the other side.

Betty was the first person to come into the studio, and when I saw her, I immediately smiled. I could tell she had something to tell me by the way she quickly got her area set up. "Hey, Betty," I waved.

Her hand reached in to pull out some of her famous pictures, then she hurried over to me. "Hi, honey. How are you today?"

"I'm good, Betty. What do you have to show me today?"

"I forgot these last week. Aren't they just the cutest babies ever?" Last week! God, I hated teaching hungover. My head pounded the entire class. That had to be one of the most painful hours I'd spent in a long time.
 

I rested my hand on hers. "They are adorable. Are you going to be seeing them for Thanksgiving?"

"I am. I have a flight to Portland all set up. I wanted to let you know I won't be in class that week. How about you, honey?"

"That's okay. And, yes, I'll be going home for a quick visit."

Everyone started to pile in, and when I said piled, I meant piled in. It seemed half of the fraternity was arriving, causing a scene. Betty turned around, doing a once over. "Oh, my," she said, her face bright red.

This was not what I needed right now.

I excused myself from Betty before making my way over to Ben. "What do you think you're doing?" I shouted.

He tilted his head up from placing his mat down on the floor with a big ass grin on his face. "A bet's a bet. I lost. Here I am."

"What bet? I thought I lost?"

"I gave in first doing funnels, so you won. You didn't think I was coming alone did you?" He smirked.

I grabbed him by his shoulder, forcing him to a stand. "Who the hell are these guys?"

He shrugged. "Pledges."

I groaned, stalking off, but turned abruptly. "You boys better behave and try to keep up."

They all started snickering and teasing me for being so bossy as I walked over to turn down the lights. Sometimes I hated boys. I was going to make them all pay for this.

I had a full class by the time I was supposed to begin. The guys in the back were doing more looking than stretching, but what else could you expect from a bunch of horny freshman. I swore one of them even checked out Betty. I really couldn't blame him, she had the body of a forty year old.

Today was one of those days where I wished my class only consisted of a few people. With this many I wouldn't be able to get a decent workout in. Once I had everyone stretched, we began with floor exercises. The pledges were pathetic. They were laughing at certain poses, refusing to try to get into position throughout most of the class. Every once in a while, Ben shushed them, and they listened for a few minutes. Ben on the other hand, did every move effortlessly, from the Tittibhasana to the Bakasana. If I didn't know better, he'd done yoga before, and not just once, but numerous times to be able to do those poses.