“I’m sorry… she did what? You can’t be serious.”
I sit back down. “As a heart attack. I told her that if she kicked me out, then that was that. She couldn’t call me or look for me. That I was going to be gone for good. She told me that she was finally glad to be rid of, in her words, her ‘ungrateful bitch of a daughter.’”
“Paige, I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. “Don’t be. That was the best thing she did for me. It was only a few weeks from graduation. I had been stealing money from Ralph, so I had been saving for a while. I found a cheap hotel where the manager let me clean in exchange for a room. I finished the tests I needed to take to graduate, and the day that I could leave, I left for Virginia and I never looked back.”
“You haven’t talked to your mom since?”
“No. Well, yes. Kind of. I changed my number and never made contact after I left Alabama. A few months back, I started getting calls from unknown numbers, but I ignored them. One day after school, I answered on accident. It was her. I freaked out and hung up right away. I hadn’t heard from her again until today. Now… Garrett now I think she’s in Virginia.”
“What makes you think that?”
I sit up, away from Garrett’s hold, because this is the part I need him to hear. “That last call. She told me. She said that I must have had a late night with my doctor. She knows about me. About you. Garrett, I have no idea what she wants. Or what shape she is in. I’m sure there’s a new boyfriend. Ralph was sentenced to fifteen years because of the kid who overdosed. But Garrett, she’s not right. She’s unstable. I don’t want… If something happens to you or your family. Or my students… I’m scared, Garrett.”
And just like that, I’m back in his arms. “Shh, Angel. I’ve got you. What happened to you, no one should ever have to go through that. Nothing is going to happen. I won’t let it.”
And somehow, I know he won’t.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Garrett
“Mark!” I shout my brother’s name as I come barreling through his door. “Mark! Where the fuck are you? Get your ass down here now!”
“What the hell, man?” he says, coming down the stairs, Charlie right behind him. “We just got the kids to bed. You’re going to wake them up.”
“I don’t care. I need you. Paige needs you.”
“Garrett, sit down,” Charlie says. “You need to settle down. What’s the matter?”
After Paige told me everything—and wow, I wasn’t expecting any of that—I didn’t want to leave her side. And I didn’t for the rest of the day.
She told me a little more about her childhood, and every time she brought up her bitch of a mother, it took everything I had in me not to punch a hole through the wall. How do you call yourself a mother and treat your child that way?
Then she told me about how she came to Virginia. How she was determined to let the past go and start something fresh. During her first week on campus, she saw a flyer about volunteering at a drug counseling center.
She started the next day.
So many people would have been crushed by what Paige went through. I know I would have. Not my girl. Not only did she overcome, she has also helped others along the way.
But who has helped her? No one. Which is why I have to do everything I can to make sure that she is safe.
Which is why I’m now talking to my brother—who just so happens to own a security firm.
I tell him and Charlie everything I know. Well, not everything. They don’t need to know that I’m never spending the night here again now that I know what it’s like to be inside Paige.
“Wow,” Mark says, rubbing his jaw. “What does she think her mom wants?”
“No clue. She hasn’t talked to her since she left Alabama. How could she get her number?”
“It’s not hard if someone really wants it,” Charlie says. “Heck, she could have called the school, said that she was her mother, and they probably assumed it was OK to give it to her. If you’re persistent enough, people will give you what you want. We can have all the security measures we want, but if people want it bad enough, they will find a way.”
“What did you just say?” I ask, something about her words striking a chord.
“They will find a way?”
“Son of a bitch!” I yell, shooting up from the chair. “The clinic. Mark, you remember? Someone tried to break into the clinic on the day of the carnival. What if… Could it have been her mom?”
“It’s possible,” Mark said. “Get me the security footage and I’ll have my guys look through it. Do you want me to put someone on Paige?”
I nod. “Yes. But I know she’ll hate it.”
“No one likes it. I’ll make sure my guy is discreet. She will barely even know he’s there.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. I just want to make sure Paige is safe.”
“Is Miss Blackstone OK?” I didn’t even hear Cullen coming down the stairs, still in his Transformers pajamas. Shit, I hope he didn’t hear too much.
“No, buddy,” I say, lifting him to sit next to me on the couch. “It’s just… Miss Blackstone and I have become very close. And just how I want you and your sister safe, I want her safe too.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
My nephew is way too perceptive.
“Would that be OK if she is?”
He stops and thinks about it for a second. “Does that mean she’d be around after she’s done being my teacher?”
I laugh. “As long as she doesn’t break up with me.”
He sits up a little straighter, trying to look much older than his six years. “Well, then we better make sure she doesn’t do that.”
We all laugh at Cullen, who doesn’t realize why we are so amused at him. Or why we are grateful that he broke the tension in the room.
“I’m serious,” he continues. “We need to do something nice for her. Have you done anything nice for her, Uncle Garrett? Because good boyfriends do that.”
“What would you know about being a good boyfriend?”
“Because I am one. Penelope tells me all the time.”
I laugh. Charlie rolls her eyes. Mark has never looked more proud.
“OK, Captain Boyfriend, what do you suggest that I do to make sure she doesn’t break up with me?”
A devilish grin forms on his face. “You need to listen to everything I have to say.”
What have I got myself into?
Paige
Something is not right.
Cullen is being… good.
I noticed it first thing this morning when he came right into the room. He didn’t stop to talk to any of his classmates, hung up his jacket and book bag, and sat down like a perfect little gentleman.
Cullen Dixon is a lot of things, but a perfect gentleman he is not.
This has now lasted the whole day. He hasn’t said a bad word once. In fact, he’s barely said anything. He’s raised his hand every time to speak. He hasn’t whispered anything to Penelope. He even offered to pass out the afternoon activity packets.