Country Love (7 page)

Chapter Ten

Because the radio station had sold this live appearance to The Cat’s Cradle after the publishing deadline of the weekly entertainment magazine Roxanne worked for, she was not aware the radio station was going to be there on Saturday night. Now that CJ was back in town, Roxanne was going to have him all to herself.

Over the last month, she
hadn’t been able to get out of town to follow him to his gigs, and night after night she fantasized about him missing her and being desperately sad and lonely without her. That week leading up to the Saturday gig at The Cat’s Cradle, Roxanne went shopping and took extra care buying a new outfit.

As she tried on
her new items, she fantasized about CJ telling her how pretty she looked and how much he wanted to take her clothes off and make love to her. She could actually hear his voice in her head and her mind swam with fantasies about how happy he was going to be when he saw her. Roxanne was giddy with excitement and compulsively thought of nothing else that entire week.

Her obsession with CJ had risen to an all time high and she had lost all ability to separate what was real and what wasn’t. She was pretty darn sure she had been successful breaking him and the radio bitch
up because the week after dropping off the dead rat, Roxanne followed CJ just about everywhere he went prior to going out of town and she didn’t see him with her once.

Serves that damn bitch
right for trying to encroach on her man! Little Miss Radio Pants was lucky it was only a rat in the box.
Roxanne knew if she ever saw them together again, that skanky radio whore would really get what’s coming to her.

***

When Paden and Neal, the sales person who had sold the live appearance to The Cat’s Cradle, got to the club, CJ and his band were already there setting up the stage for the night’s performance.

When CJ saw her, his heart skipped a beat and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She  looked so beautiful and he missed her terribly. He was abs
olutely sure he had fallen in love with her, which made this entire situation even more tragic.

CJ had gone to the police station to ask for advice on what he could, or should do about the situation but they said there was nothing they could do because no one knew who this person was.

Ever since Paden had broken up with him, nothing suspicious had happened and he figured the same was true on her end. Trying to find out who was plotting to keep them apart was like looking for a needle in a haystack. As long as they stayed apart, they were both safe. It was cruel and unjust, but he didn’t know what else to do. Finishing his final set up, CJ headed to the bar where Paden and Archie were still talking. As he approached, he saw Archie glance his way, and feigning work to do, he moved away to give them some space.

Coming up right beside her
, CJ looked deeply into her eyes to try to gauge what she was thinking and feeling. When he saw her tenderly smile at him, he said, “Baby, I miss you terribly. Every day sucks knowing you’re not in my life and I want you so badly.”

Paden was so grateful to hear those words. Part of her wondered if he was mad at her for ending their relationship and she wanted so much for him to not be upset with her. She had honestly felt there was no other choice and she didn’t want harm to come to either of them.

Reaching out for one of his hands, Paden said softly, “I miss you beyond belief. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of you. I just don’t know what else to do.”

At that point, people started flooding into the bar and they knew their time to talk was coming to an end.

“Can we talk a little bit after the first set?” CJ asked.

Having no reason to say no, Paden nodded her head
. “I’d like that.”

***

By the time Roxanne arrived at The Cat’s Cradle halfway through the first set, the bar was jam packed but she managed to find one barstool at the end of the bar next to the doors to the kitchen. From where she sat, the only thing she could see because of the standing room crowd was the stage and her beautiful man singing his heart out. She knew he was singing every word to her and she watched him with a faraway look in her eyes. She had dressed up in a new outfit just for him, gotten her hair cut, and knew he had dressed in his black jeans tonight just for her. She had convinced herself that after the first set, he would come looking for her and she was ready with a well-rehearsed speech of what she would say to win his heart forever.

Finally, the last song of the set ended
, and after reminding people that their CDs and T-shirts were for sale over at the WSIX radio table, CJ jumped off the stage and started walking in Roxanne’s direction. The bit about the WSIX radio table didn’t even register with her because her fantasy was so deeply embedded into her psyche that it drowned out everything else. As CJ continued walking in her direction, Roxanne’s smile got even wider as she watched his sexy body move toward her.

Suddenly, CJ turned left through the crowd
in a different direction. The smile on Roxanne’s face disappeared instantly, replaced by a pout and a scowl. As he headed away from her, she stood up and watched him with a furious expression.

It was that sudden movement of Roxanne’s that got the brief attention of Archie
, who had been working behind the bar all night. When he noticed her red hair, his memory went back to the conversation he and CJ recently had about the crazy redhead that dressed down Paden with her eyes at the Memphis bar. Being that the band was between sets, the drink orders were now piling in, and as quickly as he looked at Roxanne, his attention was drawn back to filling the drink orders.

What followed next almost caused Roxanne to scream out loud and throw her drink across the bar. Now she understood where CJ was going! All at once she dialed in to what he had said on stage about the WSIX radio table. That radio bitch was here, in HER club with HER man and her whole body felt like it was on fire as she watched him sit next to little
Miss Radio Pants and put his arm around the back of her chair. Watching the radio whore smile and flirt with
her man
drove Roxanne completely mad. As quickly as it takes to flip a light switch, Roxanne snapped and knew exactly what she had to do.

***

Sitting and talking together had been wonderful for both CJ and Paden. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other and spent much of the forty-five minutes catching up with each other. It had been a long month since they had seen each other and even though Paden knew she would have to say goodbye again at the end of the night, she was grateful for the short rendezvous they had tonight in what they both thought was the safety of the club.

When CJ and his band got back up on stage to begin their second set, Paden said to Neal, the salesperson with her, “I’ll be back in a minute. I left my sweater in the car and I’m a little cold.”

Nodding his head in understanding, Neal gave her a little wave indicating that he would hold down the fort. As Paden walked past the bar heading to the front doors, Archie gave her a wink and a big smile. Paden understood completely why CJ liked him so much. He was not just a great bar owner, he was also a great guy.

It was only a few moments later when reaching for a bottle of tequila to make a margarita, when Archie’s eyes crossed the monitor to the parking lot cameras. He could see Paden walking to what he assumed was her car, but coming up fast behind her was a redheaded woman holding what looked like a hunting knife. Snapping his head around to look at the barstool where the re
dheaded woman had been sitting earlier, he could see she was gone. In literally seconds, it all came together that this was the same woman that was glowering at Paden in the Memphis bar and that Paden was in terrible trouble.

Dropping everything, Archie raced out from behind the bar
, heading for the doors. From the stage, CJ could see Archie running at breakneck speed, and looking instinctively for Paden, he became panicked when he realized she wasn’t at her table.

As Archie barreled out the front door into the parking lot, he saw that the woman with the hunting knife was right behind Paden and her hand clutching the knife was up over her head ready to strike.

“Paden, look out behind you!” Archie yelled at the top of his lungs.

Hearing his warning cry, Paden quickly turned around, only to
come face to face with the same evil looking red-haired woman she had seen over a month ago in Memphis.

The woman was
seething and her expression was one of sheer hatred toward Paden. It was then when Paden caught the glint of a knife in the woman’s hand and threw her arms up in self defense.

“You filthy bitch!”
the woman screamed.

When Ray, the bar’s bouncer saw Archie running at top speed past him
, he knew something bad was going on and followed right behind him. As they both raced across the parking lot toward the women, Archie could see they were too late and that the woman holding the knife had struck Paden and she was sprawled unconscious on the ground.

Just at that moment, some people appeared in the parking lot on their way into the club and Archie yelled to them, “Call 911.”

Immediately upon reaching the women, Ray tackled Roxanne, pulled her off Paden, and ripped the knife from her hand. Archie immediately went to Paden and dropped down on his knees to see how badly she had been hurt.

There was definitely a lot blood on the ground
, but when he checked her pulse, she was breathing and it looked like she had gotten deeply slashed in her upper right arm.

As Paden lay passed out on the pavement, Roxanne continued screaming hysterically “Bitch, bitch, bitch!”
It was all Ray could do to keep this deranged woman confined in his arms as she thrashed around, trying to break free. Roxanne then tried to spit in his face but missed, which only pissed off Ray even more.

The next thing they knew, the police were on the scene
, followed by a fire truck and ambulance. As the police handcuffed Roxanne, the EMTs lifted Paden up onto a stretcher.

Even though the band had been playing, the volume of the sirens that came screeching into the club’s parking lot was easily heard and CJ stopped the band. He was overcome with a sick feeling of dread in his stomach because neither Paden nor Archie had come back inside.

Telling the audience they would be taking a quick break, CJ moved very quickly through the club, trying his hardest to not break  into a run. Some of the patrons were looking out the windows to see what was going on, but many others just stayed in their seats. As CJ plowed through the club doors to the parking lot, his heart jumped in his throat. He could see a redheaded woman in handcuffs being directed into the back seat of a police car, another woman on a stretcher, and Archie and the bouncer talking to police.

As he came closer to the scene, CJ saw it was Paden on the stretcher and fear tore through every core of his body.

Just as this realization was hitting CJ, Archie excused himself from the officer for a moment and was by his side. “She’s gonna be okay, CJ. She got pretty badly slashed on her arm and she was unconscious for a time, but outside of being scared and in shock, she’s going to be fine.”

At the moment, CJ wasn’t interested in what happened. He’d find that out later. Right now, all he wanted to do was run to Paden. When he reached the stretcher, even in the darkness of
night he could tell she was very pale and her eyes were closed. Trying to stay out of the way of the paramedics while they tended to her arm, he gently stroked her forehead and face.

Feeling a familiar touch, Paden opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. Looking at her in such a weakened state broke his heart. After asking the paramedics what hospital they were taking her to, CJ bent over, kissed her on the lips and said, “Don’t worry
, baby. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

Giving him a nod, she whispered, “O
kay, I’ll see you later,” and closed her eyes again.

After the ambulance and the fire truck left, CJ walked over to where Archie and
Ray had been talking to the police. The officers had just finished their questioning of the night’s events and were heading back to their car to take Roxanne to jail.

Throwing up his hands
, CJ asked, “What the hell happened?”

As Archie recounted the story about looking into the monitor and seeing a woman coming up quickly behind Paden with a knife in her hand, CJ physically trembled. Archie explained how the woman kept yelling
bitch
hysterically and screaming how she wanted to kill Paden for stealing her man. It was at that moment when it became crystal clear to both of them that this redheaded woman was the one stalking them and she was also the same woman from Memphis.

As they stood processing this information
, Archie said, “You know, CJ, although it was terrible that she vandalized your truck that night, if it weren’t for that happening, I would never have installed parking lot cameras. That’s why Paden is alive now. Otherwise I wouldn’t have seen what was happening. Even with the cameras, I couldn’t get there in time to stop the first blow, but if Ray and I didn’t show up when we did, it’s very likely Paden would be in much worse shape, if not dead.”