Conquer (Control) (24 page)

I smiled when it appeared my attraction was not one-sided. 

“…and it is pathetic for any person, male or female, to refuse information about themselves in order to continue some type of crappy pet name.”

I wanted to keep taunting her, but I knew she’d never give up her name if I kept pissing her off.  Not knowing what else to say, I tried to entice her into just telling me who she was.  “I’ll make a pact with you; you tell me your name, and I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night.”

She thought about my statement before responding. “I’m not enough of an imbecile to believe that you mean that.  How do I know you will stick to that agreement?”

“You don’t.”

She rolled her eyes as she finally admitted, “Paige.  My name is Paige.”

She turned to walk up the stairs leading to the upper level dance floor and I remained motionless where she left me.  My entire world felt like it just dropped out from under me.  Paige.  Holy shit.  It is her.   Memories of pigtails, climbing trees and days spent in the sun invaded my mind and I just stood there watching as she walked away.  What the fuck was I going to do about this?  I wanted to run after her to explain who I was.  I didn’t know if she’d want to talk to me, or if she would even remember me.  She was only six when I last spoke to her.

I watched her as she headed over to Logan’s bar.  She disappeared from my sight so I climbed the opposite stairs to go stand on the other side of the club.  My eyes were glued to her when, Marcy, one of my other bartenders approached me to let me know we were running low on some alcohol, asking if I would grab her a few bottles from storage.  I half listened, not being able to remove my eyes from Paige.  Holy shit, she’d grown up to be beautiful.  My mom had been right about that one.  Paige was discussing something with Logan and it became clear that he must know something about her.  As soon as I got the chance, I would make sure to ask him.  Their heads both turned in my direction briefly before turning back to look at each other.  Logan looked irritated.  What the hell was she saying to him?

After a little while, she walked away from the bar and took a seat at one of the tables.  She just sat there, drinking water while watching the crowd.  I needed to get closer.  I wanted to walk up to her to tell her who I was, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Truth is, after the way I treated her as a kid, I feared she would want nothing to do with me, but I couldn’t stay away from her, even if it meant I only had a few more minutes to look her over. 

I quickly crossed through the pit and took a position near the area where she was sitting.  My eyes scanned the crowd, but kept finding their way back to her.  I caught her eye briefly, when three women were suddenly in front of me, laughing and giggling while taking the liberty of running their hands all over me.  Annoyed, I looked down to tell the women to take a fucking hike.  I tried to play nice at first, but they weren’t taking the hint that I wasn’t interested.  I couldn’t exactly shove them away, and it appeared they didn’t care much that I should have been working instead of standing around talking to them.  When I gave up trying to convince them nicely to leave, I looked up to find that Paige had left the table.  I quickly searched out over the crowd and found her seating herself at the bar on the opposite side of the club.

Paige kept looking over in my direction, apparently disgusted by something she saw.  Maybe she did know who I was.  I tried smiling at her when I caught her eye, but she just scowled and turned to face the bar.  The women in front of me began dancing, but I wasn’t really paying attention.  Eventually the red head slid her hand up my chest and forced a piece of paper into my hand.  I took it and excused myself.  Maybe Paige had told Logan she recognized me.  Paige looked over as I walked towards Logan, so I winked, only to be met by another deep scowl.  Man, she really fucking hated me.

Logan looked up from the drink he was pouring as I approached.  I leaned across the bar and tilted my head in Paige’s direction.  “What’s her story?”

Logan’s eyebrow arched and he looked annoyed to be asked about her.  “No offense, Daemon, but leave that one alone.  She’s an awesome girl and she doesn’t need to be made into another easy fuck for you. Not to mention, she has a boyfriend.  You might as well give up and move along to someone else for tonight.”

I glanced back in her direction. A boyfriend.  She had a fucking boyfriend.  Never before had I hated someone who I’d never met, much less seen.   Lucky sonofabitch.

I turned back to Logan. “Did she say something about me?  Why are you being so fucking defensive?”

Logan squared his shoulders, obviously pissed that I was asking about her.  “Yeah, she said something.  She told me you were a chauvinistic prick that couldn’t keep his hands to himself.  What the fuck, Daemon?!  I mean, we know you are a ladies man and all, but I’ve never heard about you being so disrespectful towards a woman.”

My jaw clenched while Logan basically accused me of molesting her.  I shook it off, realizing this is the reason I trust the guy.  He says what he thinks and I know I can believe what he tells me.  “I didn’t do anything wrong.  She was about to get crushed by the crowd in the pit so I pulled her out of the way.  Other than that, I didn’t touch her.”

Logan backed down.  “Listen, just leave her alone, will ya?  She’s not your type.”

That caught my interest. “What type would that be?”

“The type that will follow you home for the night and leave quietly the next morning.  Paige is a good person, Daemon, just let it go.”

Let it go.  I wanted to fucking lay him out right where he stood, but I had to remind myself he was just trying to protect her. “Listen man, I think I might know her from somewhere.  I’m not trying to get in her pants.”  Okay, I was at first, but now that I knew who she was, my intentions had changed…maybe. “Just tell me what you know about her.”

Logan huffed out a breath.  “All I know about her is that she works for some private investigation company in town. She comes in here once or twice a week, but she’s only interested in the music.  Sometimes she comes alone and sometimes she has her friends or her boyfriend with her.”

“What’s the story with her boyfriend?”

“Couldn’t tell you, man.  He’s a big sonofabitch, I’ll tell you that.”

Well….good.  At least she had someone around that could take care of her.  I laughed a little at the fact that she’d become an investigator.  I remembered her being nosy as shit when she was little, it didn’t surprise me that she carried that into her adult life.  My heart fucking dropped though.  It would be pointless for me to approach her after what Logan told me.  The fact that she had a boyfriend was one thing, but she thought I was trying to cop a feel.  Not good.  I didn’t want to let her go, but I couldn’t think of any good reason why I should approach her again.  It was obvious she’d made a life for herself and I wasn’t about to interject myself into it, only to screw everything up that she had going. 

I looked over to see that Logan had moved to take some drink orders and left me standing alone by the bar.  My eyes found their way back to Paige and I noticed someone approaching her from behind.  Must be the boyfriend.  He put his arms around her and she turned around to face him.  Standing up suddenly, she was saying something to him.  He leaned in and I closed my eyes so as not to have to watch him kiss those perfect fucking lips of hers.  I opened my eyes again to find that she appeared to be struggling against him.  When she started screaming at him, I quickly realized she was in need of help.

I ran over immediately.  Nobody was going to fuck with that girl while I was around.

Chapter Twelve

~~Paige~~

“So tell me again why I should bring a bathing suit with me.”  I called out to Daemon as he walked to the bathroom to grab a shower.  I was still lying in bed, not really looking forward to moving after what Daemon put me through the day before.  My muscles ached and I wasn’t sure I would be able to remain upright if I attempted to stand or walk.

Daemon’s head poked out of the doorway.  “That’s for me to know, Damsel, but you will be spending some time in the water today, although I’d suggest against a bikini.”

I thought about his suggestion.  What the hell did he have planned that would require more than a bikini?  I groaned.  Whatever it was, I’m sure it wouldn’t be good.  “I don’t own anything but bikinis.  Plus, I don’t think I brought any bathing suits with me to your place.  We may need to stop by the apartment.”

Daemon didn’t respond.  When I heard the water turn on, I laid my head back down on the pillow.  I woke up again to Daemon nibbling my ear.  Water from his hair dripped down on my face and the smell of his soap overtook me.  “Hey beautiful, you need to wake up.  We’re going to be late.”  I looked up to notice that Daemon was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts.

I couldn’t help the yawn that escaped me before asking, “Are we going to the beach or something?”

He laughed.  “Yeah, something like that.”  Pulling the covers from me, he lifted me up, carried me over to the closet and placed me on my feet.  “Now, get in there and get dressed.  Don’t forget your bathing suit.”

I was amazed to find that I was able to stand on my legs without collapsing.  Although they were tight, it actually felt good to stretch them out.  “Little problem there, Daemon.  I don’t have a bathing suit here.  I never thought to grab one.”

Daemon waved off the issue.  “Not a problem, we’ll stop by a store on the way.  Get dressed. I’ll go make coffee.”

He left the room and I quickly put on some shorts and a tank top.  I slipped my feet into a pair of flip flops, then headed into the bathroom to pee, wash my face and brush my teeth.

I walked out into the living room to find David waiting patiently on the couch.  A bag sat next to him with a rolled up towel and what appeared to be folded up cardboard sticking up out of the top.  David was wearing a plain white t-shirt and some board shorts.

“You’re coming today as well?”

He smiled.  “Hell yeah, I’m coming!  I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”  He clapped his hands excitedly.  “Today is going to be fun.  You’ll see.”

What the hell?!

I walked into the kitchen and stood next to Daemon.  We were watching the brewing coffee when I asked, “So why does David get to know where we’re going and I don’t?”

Daemon put his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.  “Because, I have a thing for surprising you, Paige.  It’s one of the small joys I take in life.”  He looked down at me and winked.  I just smiled and shook my head.  I’d finally learned that there was no use arguing with Daemon when he was keeping information from me.  I’d have better luck convincing the President to give me classified government documents.

We sat in the living room for a bit to drink our coffee, but then we were quickly packed in the truck headed towards my surprise destination.  We drove for about twenty minutes before Daemon pulled down a small dirt road that led to a hidden parking lot.  A lake came into view to my right.  I noticed several cars with empty boat trailers parked throughout the lot and my curiosity peaked when I saw where Daemon was taking me.

Daemon parked the truck and came around to open my door.  He grabbed my bag from me, leading me toward the launch dock.  It was a good distance to the dock so, while I was able to see the boat, I couldn’t quite make out the person standing in it who was presently waving in our direction.  Daemon waved back as we approached.    I was really surprised but excited as hell to recognize that it was Logan as we got closer. 

Letting go of Daemon, I ran the last fifty feet to the boat. I jumped in and threw myself into Logan’s famous bear hug.  “Paige! Good to see you, babe!  How the hell have you been?”  We let go of each other and he smiled brightly at me.  “Daemon tells me he’s been toughening you up?”  Logan took two play swings at me.

“Yeah, I guess.  Although, I’m a little confused as to why we’re here.”

Logan laughed and held out his hands to indicate the boat and lake.  “To have fun, of course.  Can’t be all work and no play, babe.  That’s not how a person should live, you know?”

Daemon and David climbed in the boat as Logan and I talked.  Daemon came up to stand behind me.  He reached over my shoulder to bump fists with Logan.  “We all set, man?”

Logan gave two thumbs up.  “Yep!  Got us some drinks and food in the cooler and the skis and vests are stowed away in their cubbies.  Let’s do this!”

“Skis?!”  I looked up at Daemon.  “What does Logan mean by ‘skis’?  I don’t know how to ski, Daemon.”

He smiled mischievously at me. “Well, you will after today, Damsel.  Everybody’s got to learn some time.  Plus, it will help build up your legs.  You need the added strength to get your speed up in the ring.  What better way than on the water?”  He laughed again and winked.

Fuck.
  This was not going to be good.  I’m a klutz on my own feet.  I had no idea how I was going to navigate on TOP of water with only two pieces of wood strapped to me.  I turned to look for David.  He’d already made a place for himself at the bow of the boat, a broad smile covering his face.  I bet the asshole probably knew
exactly
what Daemon was planning today and let me walk right into it anyways.

I looked out over the water.  The lake itself was massive, but there were many weeded areas dotting the shores.  “I don’t know about this Daemon, what about gators and snakes and shit?  I’m not sure I want to be in the water.  This is Florida, you know there’s some nasty reptile out there waiting to bite me….or eat me.”  My eyes continued scanning over the areas where I knew nasty surprises were hiding.

“Fuck, Paige!  When did you turn into such a girl?  Where’s your sense of adventure?!”  His lips came down to kiss me on top of my head.  “You’ll be fine, Damsel.  I promise, if you get into any trouble, I’ll jump in and save you. Nothing is going to harm you while I’m around.”