A Touch of Heaven (12 page)

Paige's gaze shot up at that, staring at Amy
in the rear view mirror before she clenched her teeth. She couldn’t
explain why, but her temper flared hotter than she ever imagined it
would with her friends. "Amy, you do what ever you think you have
to, but you leave Colin alone!"

Everyone sat stunned in silence. Paige felt
her face flame as anger surged through her body. Why did they
always do that? Why did they act like spoiled bitches all the time?
Why destroy someone for the sake of doing it?

She took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
She glanced at Meg sitting in the seat next to her and her friend's
eyes were wide. She leaned her head to the side and a question
lurked behind her eyes. She saw her glance at the others before she
turned her attention back to the road.

Paige sighed heavily, looking in the mirror
before smiling slightly.

"Look, I'm sorry Amy. I didn't mean to snap.
Just… just promise me you won't go torturing Colin if he's there,
okay? I think we did enough of that ten years ago. We're all a
little old for childish games."

Her mind flashed back to the boy who had
done nothing but adore her from the first day he'd arrived at their
school. She hated their treatment of him, always had.

She wasn't sure why, but she felt brave
enough to stop them now. To finally speak up and stop them from
hurting him. She only wished she'd had the courage ten-years
ago.

Megan smiled, looking at Paige before she
turned to Amy and the others in the back seat. "You got that?" she
asked, looking at each of them. "No one says anything remotely mean
to Colin, or Paige will rip your hair out while I hold you
down."

Heather rolled her eyes. "There's no point
in going if we can't tease the dorks." Meg turned her head, looking
over her shoulder and glared. "Fine, whatever," Heather said,
looking out the window.

"Well, back to more interesting topics," Kim
said, breaking the eerie silence. "Did you at least get a sloppy
good-bye kiss this time, or did he high tail it once the deed was
done?"

Paige shook her head, and looked at Kim in
the mirror. "You just don't ever give up, do you?"

Kim laughed. "Nope, we want details,
girl."

"Well, I'm not giving any. I told you
already."

"But—"

"No buts," Paige said, before they all
became quiet again. Either her yelling had scared them all silent
or Meg's evil glare did. Paige smiled to herself when everyone sat
quietly.

Of course it didn't last. Why did she think
it would?

"You're going to see him again aren't you?"
Courtney asked softly, looking over at Amy when she snickered at
her.

Paige grinned at them when she looked into
her rear-view mirror. All their faces were alight with laughter.
"Maybe."

"Was it as good as last night?"

"Better," Paige said, her smile widening,
the soft giggles filling the car.

"Did you get good-bye smoochies?"

"Yes," she told them
calmly. She thought about their last few minutes together. She
wasn't about to tell her friends she actually had a
date
of any kind with
him. They could find that out later. She’d never get them to shut
up if she did.

She remembered the soft kiss he'd given her
and him telling her bye. Her smile widened as the sound of his
voice floated through her mind. The way her name sounded whispered
from his lips sent chills up her spine.

"Well, that's a start," Kim said grinning.
"Who knows, maybe you can venture back to the club and see if he
wants more."

Kim’s words were lost to Paige as her last
thought rang in her head. Simon said her name. He'd called her
Paige before he left. She thought back on their encounter and
remembered him whisper her name against her neck. He really had
said her name. Twice!

"Oh my God!" Paige yelled, her head snapping
around and looking at them wide eyed as she remembered.

Everyone in the car screamed when the car
swerved, running off the road as Paige screamed and straightened
the wheel. She slammed on the breaks, her heart nearly bursting
from her chest before the car came to a complete stop in the middle
of the highway.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Heather
yelled, her hand over her heart.

Paige's eyes were huge as she looked at her
friends. They were all wide-eyed and she turned in her seat to look
at them before she whispered, "He said my name."

"Well that monster!" Amy yelled,
sarcastically. "You almost gave me a fucking heart attack screaming
like that! Are you trying to kill us?"

"He said my name."

"Big deal. Simon said your name. Men tend to
do that from time to time!"

"He said my name!" Paige yelled back at her,
turning to look out the front window. She remembered him saying it.
At the time, she had smiled, loving the sound of it slipping past
his lips, but now, as she thought about it, it horrified her.

She racked her brain trying to remember when
exactly she told him what it was. As far as she knew, he didn't
know her name. She hadn't told him. Did one of her friends tell
him? No! When would they have done that?

Her breathing increased until she felt light
headed.

"Paige, calm down," Megan said, laying her
hand on Paige's arm. "Let's get off the highway, okay?"

"But, he said my name." Paige turned and
looked at Megan. She stared at her before her body went numb. "I
never told him my name, Meg. How did he know it?"

"Are you sure you didn't tell him?" Courtney
asked, looking confused.

"Positive," Paige replied, turning to look
at the others. "How does he know my name?"

As the question ran through her mind, Paige
thought of every possible explanation she could think of. How did
Simon know her name? Did she know him?

She knew the answer to that the minute she
thought it. No. There was no way she could ever forget him. But
yet, he apparently knew her.

But from where?

* * * *

Chapter 11

The rest of the ride to Riverdale was made
in silence. After Paige sat, mumbling quietly to herself for nearly
five minutes, Megan forced her from the drivers seat and drove them
to their destination.

Paige sat in the passenger seat, staring out
the window while occasionally looking at one of the others, her
thoughts a jumbled mess. She knew without a doubt she never told
Simon her name and the fact he'd said it, twice, caused her brain
to work overtime.

He apparently knew who she
was. There was no other explanation. No contact with the others
whatsoever except for back at the store and that was
after
he'd said it. It
was all too confusing.

Her mind drifted back to the first night in
the club and the way he came toward her from the minute he stepped
onto the stage. She didn't think anything of it at the time, other
than she happened to be the lucky girl of the night, but when she
started to think heavily on it, she had to wonder if she hadn't
been his target all along.

He told her the dance wasn't part of his
act. Did he lie to her? Did the other ladies at the club expect
that from him? Is that why he was so popular?

If it were, then why her? Why not one of the
other ladies lined up watching him? She was sure some of them were
regulars. Woman he was guaranteed a huge tip from.

As the questions mounted, her mind raced to
answer them. She couldn't explain why it upset her so much that he
said her name other than he was hiding something, but what? If he
knew her, then why didn't he just say so?

* * *

"Did you hear me Paige?" Megan asked.

Paige looked up from the sidewalk. She’d
stopped walking without noticing. They were all walking down Main
Street, leisurely taking in the changes since their last visit to
the little town.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Megan smiled, taking a step closer to Paige
and threading her arm through her friends. "I asked you if you were
hungry."

"Oh, no. I think I'll wait until the
reunion," Paige replied. "I'm a little too freaked out at the
moment to eat."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she lied. She looked over at Meg,
seeing the concern on her friends face, before sighing. "I'm just
still thinking about the whole Simon thing."

"I figured as much," Meg smiled. "Don't
drive yourself crazy over it."

"I won't," she said. Megan raised one
eyebrow at her before she laughed lightly.

"Okay, okay. No more Simon worries. We're
here to reminisce and have fun."

"Damn straight we are." Megan laid her head
against Paige's trying to show her support. "Speaking of fun, we're
heading over to the high school. Heather feels the need to
walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk."

Paige cracked a grin, raising her eyes to
look at the others.

"That would be fun," she said. "Too bad
there won't be anyone there to see."

"Oh, I'm sure we aren't the only ones going
to be there."

* * *

Simon stood on the sidewalk looking up at
the building where he'd spent the better part of two years feeling
like a total outcast. Starting a new school in his junior year
wasn't the easiest transition, especially with the social groups
established at the school. Being a new kid, and one so totally
different from the others, only made it that more difficult to fit
in. The only highlight in the whole experience was Paige.

He'd seen her not ten
minutes after walking in the front door and she had literally taken
his breath away. When the
girls
had all passed by him, Paige had turned to look at
him, flashing a brilliant smile, and he knew at that moment he
would be forever lost in her. She was the most beautiful girl he'd
ever seen.

He spent years trying to get over her after
graduation and finally convinced himself he did. Well, until he saw
her again. The minute he laid eyes on her at the club, all those
feelings came rushing back. He didn't know what it was about her
that held his heart captive. She was like a drug he couldn't get
enough of.

Was it the whole
challenge
aspect of it?
Did wanting something you knew you couldn't have make it that much
more tempting? He really didn't think that was the case. It was
simply her. It was the smile she gave him for no reason. The way
her eyes lit up when she laughed. Everything about her was
intoxicating to him.

Even now—after ten years of not seeing her,
with one tiny glance, she captured his heart and held it in the
palm of her hand again. He only hoped this time it wouldn't destroy
him like the first time.

Colin Gregory had died with every laugh he'd
received on the day he poured his heart out on paper and with a
single red rose. That was the day he gave her one last glance and
vowed never to look upon her again. And he didn't. It was easier
that way. He avoided her. Knew where her and her little group of
friends hung out and purposely avoided them. Even on graduation,
when her name was called, he'd sat there, staring at his feet. Her
smile tore his heart out and he couldn't bring himself to even
glance at her. It was too painful.

The endless nights of tears staining his pillow
because of the cruel and heartless things her friends said to him
had worn him down. But he suffered through it… for her. He loved
her enough to endure anything they dished out and he did. For a
year and a half, he took everything they threw at him. He took it
and filed it away in that tiny place in the back of his mind to use
later on if he needed it.

But that day… that day had been different.
That day he'd seen. He'd seen the look on her face when everyone in
the room laughed. He'd seen her embarrassment… because of him. His
beautiful angel held pain in her eyes and he caused it. His world
crumbled around him then. He'd hurt her. He hadn't meant to but he
did. Every day he hurt her with the taunts and laughs of her
friends. They weren't just directed at him. She felt them too.

He knew what he had to do then. He had to be
someone she would want to love. Colin would never be the man she
needed. Colin would never be the kind of man any woman would
want.

Simon had risen from the ashes of his broken
heart. A man who didn't take shit from anyone and didn't let his
heart get in the way of what he wanted. He'd searched for years for
someone equal to her but never found her. There hadn't been a woman
in ten years to stir any emotion in him other than the feelings
that a pleasurable night wrapped around another warm body could
give. And he knew now that no one could ever take her place. He
would forever love the girl who couldn't see him for more than what
her friends thought he was.

Taking a deep breath, Simon let it out
slowly before he tossed his spent smoke to the ground and crushed
it with the heel of his boot. He turned, sitting back down on his
bike.

The loud roar of the engine rang out across
the street before he gave the old school one last glance, pulled
away from the curb, and headed into town.

* * * *

Chapter 12

Paige pulled her car to a stop outside the
Riverdale Country Club. She glanced at everyone milling around and
took a calming breath before killing the engine.

Their afternoon consisted of walking the
halls of their old high school before ending up at Meg's parents
home. They spent time with the couple, reminiscing before retiring
to Meg's old room to freshen up and change their clothes. The girls
spent the rest of the evening dressing and getting made up. It
wouldn't do for Riverdale's elite to show up wearing day old
clothes, now would it?