Chapter Twelve
Opening day was busy. Paige’s head throbbed with a pounding wine hangover and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Her parents came around noon and hung out in the front room to greet the guests and pass out the island information packets Paige had gathered from the local businesses. Her father hit it off with another man his age, and they were making plans to go golfing tomorrow. Her mother pretended as if nothing had happened and had cut her off when she tried to apologize for being such a bitch last night.
“I don’t want to discuss it any further,” her mother had said, and while things were still a little frosty, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.
Things only got a little hairy when two guests arrived at once and the elevator jammed. Jack and Dean walked in the door five minutes after she called them. She didn’t want to think about where they had spent last night—it was probably in Stephanie’s bed, and she should just get used to it. She avoided Jack’s eyes but was grateful when he ran the luggage upstairs himself while Dean fixed the elevator. She set out pitchers of iced tea and carafes of coffee in the front room and was just taking out a tray of cookies from the oven when he came into the kitchen.
“Hot stuff coming through,” he said, and grinned at her.
She gave him a small smile and turned her back on him while she used a spatula to put the hot cookies on the cooling rack.
“Dean said you were a little upset yesterday.”
“Not now, Jack. My parents are here and I’ve got an inn full of guests.”
He came up behind her and whispered in her ear. “I just want to tell you, I love you.” He kissed her on the cheek and then walked away.
She closed her eyes and almost burned herself on the cookie tray when the heat seeped through the mitt she was wearing. Leave it to Jack to drop a bombshell like that and then leave. Paige hid in the kitchen until the cookies were cool enough to handle. After plating them up, she took them into the front room and checked on the cream and soymilk she had set out with the coffee. As he passed by, wiping his hands on a rag, Dean winked at her.
She followed him outside to the porch, where Jack was telling one of her guests about the sunrise yoga on the beach. That sounded nice on paper, but really the only thing Paige wanted to do at dawn on the beach was sleep.
“Thanks for coming when I called,” she said to Dean.
“Always,” he said. “How are you holding up?”
She walked down the path with him. “Great. It’s been great.”
“Really?”
Paige shook her head. “It’s been pretty stressful.”
“Why don’t you come over to our house after you’ve straightened up everything from dinner?”
She shook her head. “I want to stay on the island in case something happens.”
“We will, too. We got the power turned on at the rental house on Dune Street. That’s where Jack and I are staying.”
Paige gasped in surprise.
Dean narrowed his eyes. “Where did you think we were staying?”
“With Stephanie.”
He tucked his fingers under her chin. “No,” he said. “We want you.”
“Don’t make me cry.”
“Then don’t let the monkeys in your brain start telling you lies.” He hugged her tight. “Oh, Dean,” she choked as the tears flowed down her face.
He wiped away her tears with his thumbs. “Then fight for us. Don’t give up.” He kissed her, a long and passionate one that made her breathless. “We’re 129 Dune Street. The red house. Come by tonight.”
She nodded.
“Where’s mine?” Jack asked, hauling her into his arms and kissing her senseless.
“Not now, you ass.” Dean thumped him on the arm.
He let Paige come up for air. When he put her down, Paige saw they had an audience—her parents were frowning at them from the doorway.
“Uh oh, it’s the cops,” Jack said.
“You need to leave right now,” her mother said, shaking her finger at them.
“Mom.” Paige was horrified.
“We don’t need any trouble,” her father said. “Just go.”
“Trouble?” Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she glared at her parents. “You are being inexcusably rude to my friends.”
“And you, young lady, are deliberately sabotaging your future.”
“That’s my decision,” she said.
“Is it?” her father asked. “Is it really?”
Anger threatened to boil over, and if it weren’t for Jack’s comforting hug, she might have said or done something she regretted. She waited for the familiar panic to engulf her, but after a few deep breaths, she knew she wasn’t going to succumb to an attack.
“It’s okay,” he said.
“No it’s not,” she muttered, feeling the sting of tears at the corner of her eyes.
“You want us to stick around?” Dean asked.
“No, I’ll see you guys later. I want to rest a bit before I have to prepare for dinner.”
“We’re just a phone call away.”
Paige nodded. Brushing past her parents, she gave them a tight smile as she went into the kitchen. Her luck held, because they didn’t follow.
…
Jack and Dean sat on the bench at the dock. Dean could see the ferry coming in on the horizon.
“We should have brought our poles,” Jack said. “We could catch a few bunkers while we’re waiting.”
“One of us should stay here in case Paige needs us,” Dean fretted.
“We’ll be gone two hours tops. All ten rooms are checked in. She’s going to be too busy with her parents and the food. We’d either just cause trouble or get in the way.”
“Did you see the way her old man was glaring at us?”
“Fuck him.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “Should have tongue kissed you next.”
Dean punched him in the arm. “Don’t make trouble for her. She forgave your dumb ass for Stephanie.”
“It was just lunch. Stephanie was our friend, in addition to being our lover. It was good to catch up.”
“Yeah, but you got caught. We both did because I tried to cover for you.”
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I didn’t need you to cover for me.”
Dean sighed. “I know. That’s basically what Paige said. I shouldn’t have lied. It made us both look guiltier than hell.”
Jack looked out at the water. “Stephanie is still as kinky as ever. She’s got bars in her nipples now. It’s hot. She showed me.”
Dean groaned. “Please don’t tell Paige that.”
“I behaved myself,” Jack said, holding up his palms. “I looked but didn’t touch. You would have looked, too.”
“Did she flash the entire restaurant?”
“Yeah, right in the open.”
“Wow,” Dean said.
“No one saw. The place was empty.”
“You’re lucky Paige didn’t walk in on that little scene.”
Jack sobered. “Shit, yeah. You’re right. I didn’t think of it like that.”
“Did she say when she’d have the results of the paternity test?”
“By tomorrow at the latest.”
Dean blew out a breath. “You ready to be a dad?”
“Hell yeah. I think. How about you?”
“We’ll do all right. Do you think Brendon will grow to love us?”
“Sure,” Jack said. “We’re likable guys. And if that doesn’t work, we can get him a shitload of toys and buy his love.”
“You’re impossible.”
A few seagulls swirled around and dove for some popcorn that had spilled on the deck.
“I’m so mad at Stephanie. All I want to do is shout at her.”
Jack fidgeted uncomfortably. “She knows. I can see why she did what she did. Let’s face it. Back then none of us were ready to be a threesome with a baby. Now we are.”
“I know you love Paige,” Dean blurted out, “but be honest. Are you going to regret not letting Stephanie back in our lives?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you asking? Do you want Stephanie over Paige?”
“No. But I want you to be happy.”
“So the compromise would be you keep Paige and I keep Stephanie? Because Paige isn’t going to let me within ten feet of her if I start banging Stephanie. And if you stay with Paige and I stay with Stephanie, that doesn’t leave a lot of ‘us’ time. The whole entire point of having a woman in our lives is I get to share her with you.”
“I will always care for Stephanie,” Dean said. “And if one of us is Brendon’s father, she’s going to be in our lives. But I love Paige. It’s her I want as our wife.”
Jack snorted. “That will never be legal. We’re lucky our union is still legal.”
Dean shrugged. “I don’t need a piece of paper or a ceremony. I never did.” He held Jack’s hand.
Jack squeezed it back. “Stephanie makes my dick hard.”
Dean sighed.
“But she doesn’t touch my heart. Paige is my choice. Now and forever. If Brendon is ours, we’ll make sure Paige knows that while Stephanie is the mother of our child, she’ll never be our wife. Paige is the only wife for us.”
Dean hugged him. “Then that’s what we tell her. As soon as her parents go back to New York.”
The ferry blew its horn and the dock crew scrambled to prepare for its arrival.
“What do you have to pick up at home aside from a few board games?” Dean asked.
Jack flashed him a wicked grin. “I’ve got a present for Paige I’ve been meaning to give her.”