CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
PAIGE
We were on drink number two, sitting at the bar with Joey serving us. For a few minutes, it’d felt like old times. Hannah came over as soon as she was done, changed out of her Ride’Em Rough uniform and into a slinky, sexy black tank top and scalloped pale pink shorts before she took a seat next to me.
Joey and Hannah and I talked. We giggled about Beaux and I answered all of her questions, even the ones like how he was in bed that made me slightly uncomfortable. It was girl talk, plain and simple, and if I had to step outside to mend the bridge, I’d do it.
When I asked how her life was, she waved me off. “Same old, same old. Struggling to pay for college. Guys all suck. You know how it is.” She took a sip of her drink. “Or, at least you did.”
“Yeah, but there are good guys out there. You’ll find one.”
“Sure.” She didn’t look like she believed me, but before I could pry into why she seemed more stressed than usual, she pointed at Jaxon. “What’s with the scary guy staring at us?”
“That’s Jaxon. He’s my security. It’s a long story.”
“Security? What happened?”
The gleam in her eyes I’d been missing was back, so I started telling her everything I could, and when I was done, she was watching Jaxon.
“They don’t know who it is?”
“Nope. And I’ve sort of stopped being concerned about it. I know letters still come but I don’t see them anymore. And personally, I think if something was going to happen, it would have weeks ago when the letters started coming.”
“Maybe whoever it is, didn’t want to move too hard too fast.”
“Geez, Hannah, thanks for the comforting thought.”
“Sorry.” She laughed and finished her drink. “You’ll have sweet dreams tonight now, huh?”
I was sleeping next to Beaux tonight. Headed to his house and waiting for him when he arrived from New York. I didn’t tell her I always had sweet dreams when I was in his bed.
I changed the subject, moved it back to her and the classes she was taking that semester. She was in college to become an elementary education teacher and with her usual, peppy personality; I could totally see her teaching a classroom of six-year-olds all day long. By the time we finished our third drink, we’d also devoured a plate of nachos and another order of onion rings when Hannah suggested she took me home. We’d been there for hours after her shift and I was certain Jaxon was about ready to blow his own head off having to stand in one spot for that long.
“Jaxon was going to take me to Beaux’s place,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “So he can follow us if he has to. Come on, I’m having fun tonight and it’s been so long since we’ve hung out like this. I miss you.”
She pouted and it did me in. “Okay. I’ll let Jaxon know. Come on.”
We said our goodbyes to Joey, slid off our stools and when we reached Jaxon, he looked ready to bolt.
“Ready?”
“Yeah, but Hannah’s going to drive me to Beaux’s. Do you mind following?”
“Your wish, my command.”
“Oh,” Hannah said, laughing. “That sounds like fun.”
He leveled her with a look, and Hannah looked away, hiding her laugh.
This was the girl I loved. Boy crazy and goofy.
“I’m parked out back, meet us there? It’s the white Nissan,” she said.
“Got it.” He left the restaurant and I linked arms with Hannah, pulling her toward the rear entrance we used.
As we stepped outside, I immediately jumped back into the hallway. ”Holy crap! It’s pouring.”
“Yeah, I didn’t even realize it.”
Rain was coming down in thick sheets and I cringed. Thunderstorms, crazy ones, and even the occasional hurricane, were totally normal in Raleigh, but I still never got used to them.
“Um.”
“It’s okay.” Hannah reached for my hand. “I’ll keep you safe.”
She tugged me into the rain and we ran to her car only a few spots away, under a shining light and a quick scan proved the entire lot as now well-lit with replaced bulbs.
I thought of Beaux and smiled.
We were drenched by the time we got into the car, and Jaxon’s lights were a pale blur behind us as Hannah pulled out of the parking lot, fishtailing through a puddle as she merged into traffic.
***
We were halfway to Beaux’s house, the rain still not letting up and only getting worse, when I realized that as we’d been driving, Hannah had already been prepared to follow my instructions before I ever gave them.
As soon as she yanked us into traffic, not bothering to wait for Jaxon even though she knew he was following us, I sensed something that told me I’d made a major mistake.
I didn’t realize what it was, but something wasn’t adding up.
Hannah’s hands were tight on the steering wheel, but her fingers were constantly tapping like she was nervous. She was too jittery for enjoying a night out with a friend.
“Hey, Hannah,” I asked, looking out the window. “Do you know where Beaux lives?”
Tap. Tap. Tappity. Tap. Her fingers were constantly jittering.
She laughed, but it was tight and strained. “Everyone who’s a fan knows where he lives, silly.”
“Okay.”
That wasn’t right, though.
Beaux had told me he’d never had fans outside his house. Never once been photographed out of it either. He said his house wasn’t even in his name, something common with famous athletes and celebrities. I hadn’t asked specifics, but he’d always assured me were safe at his place when we were there.
An alarm dinged in my mind, but I pushed it down.
This was Hannah. She was nutty.
A thick silence weighed down the car and I gripped the door handle as she flew through a puddle, giving that semi-weightless feeling.
“Hey, can you slow down a bit, sweetie?”
“Oh come on, Paige. Where’s your sense of fun?”
“I don’t like storms.”
She huffed then and laughed. But it wasn’t her laugh. My gaze went to my side mirror. Behind us, I knew Jaxon was there somewhere, but I couldn’t see a darn thing through the rain.
Rain pelted the car, making it hard to hear the radio and I almost missed it when Hannah finally said, “You know, I don’t know what’s so special about you.”
The heck? My head whipped in her direction. “What? Hannah—”
“No. I mean, sure you’re nice and all, but you’re not all that pretty. And you definitely don’t have nice boobs like me. I’m just trying to figure out, why is it you get everything you want? Why is everything so easy for you? I mean, me? I’ve tried to get Beaux’s attention for over a year now, and he’s barely said hello to me. I’ve got great tits. I’m nice too, damn it. Plus, I give a blowjob that makes men mindless. Can you say the same?”
She’d lost me. Totally lost me. I had no idea where this animosity was coming from, but it chilled my blood quicker than the storm had.
It wasn’t until she brought up Beaux my warning siren blared in my head, but it was on full force as she took another curve too fast.
“Hey, let’s slow down. We’ll talk about what’s upsetting you.” I grabbed the oh-shit handle above the door. “Hannah! Slow down!”
Another burst of thunder and lightning lit up the sky. The storm was heavy, late in the season for such a storm but they’d been warning us about it all week.
She flew through another puddle, not bothering to brake.
“I’m not upset.” Her eyes flashed to me, wild and green, and wide open. “Tell me, Paige. What is so damn special about you that suddenly, Beaux Hale gets one good look at you and it’s game over for me?”
There was nothing I could do. We were driving too fast. The roads were wet. I couldn’t jump out going seventy miles an hour. That’d kill me for sure.
I tried to calm her down. “It’s not a competition, Hannah. You’ll find someone.”
“I don’t want anyone!” she shouted and slammed her hand on the steering wheel.
Behind me, Jaxon’s headlights were now visible in the rearview mirror. Somehow, he’d closed the distance.
I sent up flares into the karmic air, screaming for help.
“Okay,” I said, my voice calm. I quieted my tone, ignored the rush of adrenaline roaring through my system. “Okay, Hannah. Please, though, pull over. We’ll talk. Maybe there’s someone else on the team I can set you up with.”
Her head whipped to me. “You’d do that?”
Her smile was manic. Green eyes were glassy like she was drugged.
Maybe she was. I thought I knew Hannah pretty well, and I never would have guessed she was a drug addict.
I also never knew she would have been the stalker I had to worried about but all her freaking out was making that glaringly obvious.
“Of course I would. Just please, you’re scaring me. We’ll get home, have a drink, and we’ll think of someone. Anyone.”
“I want Beaux.”
It was like she hadn’t heard me. Perhaps she hadn’t. The thunder was rolling constantly. Lightning flashed all around us. Rain hit her window so viciously I couldn’t see through it, and her wipers were on full blast.
Every time she splashed through a puddle in her two-door Nissan, we did a mini-fishtail.
“Hannah, Beaux and I are in love.”
“You’re not!” she screamed, and I jumped back into my seat. So much for calming her down. “He can’t love someone like you. You’re plain, and you have your stupid dad to take care of. He only pities you, Paige. He doesn’t love you.”
Two weeks ago, definitely a month ago, her accusations could have made me doubt what we had.
I had the recent benefit of spending time with Shannon. Of practically living with Beaux.
Hannah was hopped up on crazy pills and on her way to psycho town. Every word she spoke was a lie.
“That’s not true, Hannah. I wish you would have talked to me about this, earlier, but I don’t understand. You told me to go for him.”
“Yeah, because I knew you’d toss him away and then I could be there to make him feel better. I’m better for him.”
“You’re not. I love him, Hannah, and I’m not giving him up.”
She whipped her head toward mine and sneered. “You will if I don’t give you a choice.”
We hit another curve, a steep incline ahead and she didn’t turn the wheel.
“I told you and him. If I can’t have him, you don’t get him either.”
“Hannah! Slow down!” I shouted, but it was no use. I was frozen in the car, watching as she hit the curve. Rain splashed as she flew through a puddle and she didn’t care one shit about the iron railing at the side of the road.
She drove right through it.
I screamed.
Metal scrunched.
The car took flight and all I saw was trees before the screechiest, eeriest sound slammed into my ears and then everything went black.