Let Me Go (2 page)

“You can come over here,” I offer and her head reels back.

“Really?”

I nod. “Yeah. Don’t seem so shocked by my kindness.” I inch closer to her. “I want Paige to think I’m a nice guy.”

A smirk crosses her lips and she shakes her head. “Chrissy will kill you,” she reminds me.

“That’s why we’ll keep it a secret.” I wink and she laughs. Who would have guessed I’d ever be enjoying a conversation with Sadie Miller after the asshole I was to her.

A small smile churns up her lips and I’m surprised how satisfying it is to be responsible for her happiness. I swore when Brady saved me I’d be nicer to the girl he loves, even if I hate what she comes from. My stereotype of her rich, sorority, daddy’s girl proved wrong once I took the time to get to know her. She doesn’t fit the mold from the money and country club she came from, but she sure does fit in our misfit of a group.

Brady and Sadie disappear upstairs and I continue straight to the basement. Sectioning off a spot for only Paige’s belongings, I notice my unopened boxes in the corner. For the first time in forever, an urge to open one triggers inside of me. I stand on the concrete floor in the middle of the basement, dredging up what’s hidden in those boxes. Memories long gone, memories that haunt me every day. Maybe I should conquer the therapist’s advice and open them. Envision the good times, before I transformed myself into someone else. I step closer, my hand reaching out. My fingers linger on the rough cardboard, but when footsteps echo down the stairs, I yank my hand away and step back.

I glance up to find Paige standing in the middle of the stairs, peering down at me. Her intrigue is clear in her wounded puppy dog eyes. “I’m sorry,” she says, tentatively taking each step down.

“Sorry?”

“For interrupting.” She places the box down on top of her stack. “You look . . . lost.”

The chick has no idea how lost.

Shaking off the past, I close the distance between us until I’m two steps away from her. Already sniffing that flowery perfume, I shift my stance. “Lost before I found you.”

Thankfully, my intention to divert her works, and she finds amusement in my flirting.

“Please tell me you don’t use lines like that?” She shifts backward and I allow her to gain the reprieve of my nearness, temporarily.

“No, just wanted to hear you laugh.” Her laugh is as cute as the one dimple in her left cheek.

“I hate cliché pick-up lines, you know? Like, do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?” She shakes her head and I chuckle, inching one step closer.

“How about damn girl, you’ve got more curves than a racetrack?” I raise my eyebrows and she laughs harder.

“Seriously?” She shakes her head.

“Heard it last weekend at a race.” I’m so close to her now, there’s barely any space. Her eyes are an electrifying mix of brown and green, and I could quickly lose myself in her innocence. “I have to admit as cheesy as the line is, I would love to lean into your curves.” I draw back and watch her cheeks turn the sexiest shade of red. It’s addicting, propelling her to that level of heat that it embarrasses her.

“Nice, Rob.” She tosses my admittance off her shoulder. I’m guessing she’s not into the whole roommates slipping under covers thing.

“Remember, I never lie.” My eyes slowly drink in her body from head to toe, and when I focus back on her eyes, she swallows. “What do you say you—”

“Paige, are you down there?” Chrissy’s loud voice booms down the stairwell and Paige jerks back. Her reaction makes me recall when Carly and I got caught making out by her mom in sophomore year.

“Yeah, Chrissy. Just on my way up.” She steadily passes me, but I grab her wrist, forcing her to stay by me.

When Chrissy appears midway down the stairs, my promise to her comes to the forefront.
No fucking the roommate.
So, I release my grip and Paige rushes up the stairs. Chrissy’s eyes focus on me, and her lips do that little twisting thing she does every time she doesn’t believe me.
I’m caught, red-handed.

“Let’s go, Chrissy. Thank you so much for helping me.” She bypasses Chrissy, venturing up the stairs without so much as a glance back.

“It’s no problem,” Chrissy says to Paige, while she narrows her eyes at me. Then her two fingers point to her eyes and then point to me.

Jogging up the stairs, I chuckle and swing my arm around her shoulders. “Calm down, Godfather.” I refrain from adding that I’ll keep my promise. Paige is way too tempting to stay clear of and I don’t want to lie to Chrissy.

“PAIGE, PIZZA IS
here!” Chrissy yells up the stairs.

Opening my door, I scream, “I’ll be right down!” I shut my door to change into comfy pajama pants and a T-shirt.

My phone rings just as I have one leg into my pants, and I hop over to my phone, lying on my bed, struggling to get my other leg in my pants. I must admit the plum comforter makes the room a little more girly and homey, I think, right before I fall into the mattress.

Grabbing my phone, I check who’s calling before actually answering. When her name flashes, a sigh falls from my mouth and I stare up at the ceiling. Do I really want to endure her today, right before I’m about to spend time with my new roommates? She only leaves me in a bad mood with every one of her phone calls. But knowing she’ll only continue to call until I pick up, I decide I won’t delay the punishment.

“Hi, Mom,” I answer, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

“Hi, sweetie.” I roll my eyes because she’s being overly nice. Which means that she’s fishing for one thing. “How is it going?”

“It’s good. I’m unpacking again. How’s Matty?” I pick at the lint on my pajama pants, patiently waiting for her to ask me.

“He’s good. Fast asleep.”

I glance at my watch, seven o’clock. “Already?”

“He didn’t nap all day and collapsed in front of his chicken nuggets.”

Wanting to redirect this conversation, I stand up to pace. “What do you need?”

A loud huff carries over the line. “Why do you assume I need something?” she snaps.

“Because nine out of ten calls from you, you need money. The other one is requesting my babysitting services.”

“That’s not true, Paige.” I can just imagine her hand resting on her hip as her head rotates on her neck as though it makes the lie more believable.

“So you don’t need anything?”

“Well,” she pauses.

“Thought so.” My shoulders drop. Maybe one day I’ll be wrong about my mother’s selfish intentions. Maybe one day she’ll stand on her own two feet.
Yeah right.
After I turned eighteen and my dad was no longer mandated to pay child support, her hand turned my way. She’s smart. She knows my dad deposits money into my account every month. I loathe her self-entitlement to everything that’s mine. My anger toward my mom for not being able to take care of herself increases when the figures in my bank account circle through my mind. Am I even able to cover what she considers a necessity?

“Just two hundred. I’m in a bind.” What’s new? She’s always in a life-threatening bind.

“Mom, I just moved in here. I just paid first and last month’s rent, plus a security deposit.” Moving to my purse, I pluck my checkbook out to examine my meager amount.

“Oh, Paige, call your dad. He’ll send you some more.”

Anger boils in my veins. “Who do you think gave me the first and last month’s rent? He pays for my college, my car, and most other things,” I rant, wishing she’d realize his obligation to me doesn’t inadvertently link to her.

“He loves you, he’ll give you more.” Her complete disregard to my relationship with my dad pisses me off.

“He’s asking questions. Wanting to know why I moved. Mom, you can’t tell Carl where I live, okay?” I attempt to be nice again before I disappear and don’t tell her where the hell I’m going. Matty’s the only reason I stick around Western, otherwise, the minute Carl, Matty’s dad, started showing up at my last apartment demanding money, I would have run far away from here. Carl is slimy and couldn’t give a shit about his son. All he cares about is his next fix, and in his eyes, I’m his bank roller.

“It was a slip. Plus he wanted to pick up Matty. What was I supposed to tell him?”

“You should have told him that Matty was with me and would be home the next morning. Or another idea, you could not go out all night, coming back shit-faced, leaving him with me. Be a damn mother for once.” My anger gets the best of me because I can heal from her absence mother figure to me, but I want Matty to have more.

On cue, sniffles ring over the line and I’m not sure if she’s faking or if she’s truly upset about the person she’s become. She’s a Grammy Award-winning actress most of the time.

“I’m sorry, Paigey. I swear I’ll get it together. But Matty really wants to play T-ball this year, and I just don’t have the money.”

“And dickhead can’t pay for his son to play baseball?”

More sniffles and a blow of her nose. She’s really laying it on tonight. “He barely pays child support. You think he’ll pay for this? Matty’s been begging me all day; supposedly he heard another kid in school talking about it.”

Before she continues on and I offer more than the two hundred, I intercept. “Okay, come by tomorrow and I’ll write a check to the park district.” I specify to whom because cash isn’t an option this time around.

“Oh great! I’ll be by. Where do you live again?”

“You know what, I just remembered. I have class early. I’ll meet you at McDonalds at noon.” I dodge her because I don’t want her to know where I live just to relay it back to dip shit.

“Perfect, thanks Paigey. I love you and have fun with your new roommates.” Click. The line goes dead and I press the red button on my screen then throw the phone on my bed.

Investigating my checkbook balance again, I whimper to myself because after my mom’s loan, I either ask my dad to deposit more money into my account, get a job, or starve. Not wanting to ask my dad for anything more, I opt to find a job. Tomorrow, I’ll search after I give my mom the money. Hopefully I find something fast.

Grabbing some bills from my wallet, I jog down the stairs, hearing the laughter floating in from the kitchen. Jealousy smacks me in the face with their close friendships. Ever since I was younger, I struggled with forming true friends that weren’t in it for themselves. Having your father be the lead guitarist for the oldest rock ‘n’ roll band does that.

Speaking of lead guitarists, I stop at the bottom of the oak railing staircase, noticing Rob emerging from the kitchen.

When he spots me, my pulse speeds up as I watch his eyes roam up and down my body. “Nice pants.” He laughs and I glance down realizing the ones I scrambled to toss on. Ugh, I need to upgrade my lounging wear from ‘Bacon makes everything better’ pajama pants.

“It does.” I shrug, proud of them nonetheless.

“I’ll try that next time, but I promise nothing makes sex better than me.” He winks and I grip the railing to hold myself up. “But we can try Bacon in the mix to test if the theory is true.”

This guy extracts laughs out of me every time his mouth opens. “Trust me, Bacon makes everything better,” I repeat the text splattered on my pants. “Maybe if you fry up a pan of bacon, you’d have a chance with me.” I flirt, sliding past him.

He lightly cups my elbow and I shift toward him. “Don’t tease.” His eyes smolder and I’m about ten seconds from letting him kidnap me up these stairs with bacon or not.

Every muscle in my body stays in place, not wanting his fingers to flee my skin. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a tease.” Truth be told, Rob scares me and thrills me at the same time. I want him to manipulate my body however he wants, but he’s someone I could fall for and from what I’ve observed, he’d break my heart. The old saying is true. Daughters fall for people like their daddies. Guys in bands, especially tattooed guitarists, pique my interest every damn time. Just like good ole dad. It’s sick really.

He chokes on a laugh. “Good to know.” He releases his grip and jogs up the stairs. “I think we’ll have an interesting relationship, Paige.” Once he reaches the top of the stairs, he continues to his room and I wait for the click of his door before taking control of my body back.

“There you are.” Chrissy saunters around the corner from the kitchen. “I was just about to look for you.”

She hooks her arm through mine. Chrissy may be the sweetest person I’ve ever met. From day one, I felt as though I could trust her and that quality doesn’t come very easily for me.

Pizza boxes are piled on the stove when we pass through the doorway. Sadie and Brady are seated on the side closest to the back door, while Dex’s back is facing us. All the chairs are taken so I decide to grab my pizza and eat upstairs. I’m not going to be the type of roommate that intrudes on their private conversation.

I’m about to exit the room when Chrissy stops me. “Where are you going, Paige?” she asks and then stands up and sits in Dex’s lap. She picks up his pizza and begins to feed him, making Sadie giggle.

“Enjoy those days, Hulk, because they get limited as time goes on,” Brady chirps in and my eyes flick to him. He’s good looking with brown hair swept to the side and soft calming eyes alluding to how content he is in his life.