Where Forever Lies (25 page)

He leaned
up and one corner of his mouth pulled up. “Did that show you
anything?” he asked in a low voice.

She put
one finger against her lips as she pretended to think. “Hmm, a
little. But I think you’ll need to put in just a little bit
more effort next time.”

“Oh,
really,” he said as his hands drifted down to her sides. She
saw the mischievous grin even in the dimness of her bedroom and she
quickly yanked her arms down to block his moves.

He
squeezed in around her and she started squirming as his fingers began
tickling, a scream escaping her as he started laughing. “Tyler,
oh, my God, quit. I. Can’t. Take. It. Anymore.” Her words
were coming out in a hoarse yell as her laughing overrode her ability
to speak coherently.

After
giving in and telling Tyler he was perfect in every way possible
tonight, she was relieved when he drew her into his arms and she
heard his breathing begin to slow as he drifted off to sleep. As her
eyelids began to close, she found herself hoping this was the
beginning to her life finding peace.

Paige
awoke with Tyler’s strong arms wrapped protectively around her
waist and his face nestled into the back of her neck. She would be
lying if she said it wasn’t the best feeling in the world. Best
feeling was an understatement; it was more on the intoxicating side.
Everything felt wonderful. From his hot breath tickling the back of
her neck to the feel of his hands skimming her stomach. She felt as
if she were on cloud nine and drifting to a place she never thought
could exist.

She looked
over at the clock, which read eight o’ clock, and nudged him in
the stomach. Rolling over to face him she said, “Do you not
have to get up and go to work?”

Tyler’s
long lashes fluttered open and his mouth twisted into a lazy smile.
“Morning.” He gave her a peck on the cheek as he looked
over at the clock. “Yeah, but I’m the boss, so it’s
okay if I’m late. Plus, waking up in your arms was worth the
hell I’m going to hear from the guys when I get there. They
never miss an opportunity to harass me when I’m late.” He
pulled her closer against him and sighed. “Are you off today?”

She
stretched her arms out and smiled, “Yeah, but I’m meeting
Kyleigh later for a quick run, and then I need to pick Kyra up. My
last day off for the next three days though, so I’d better
enjoy it.”

“Lucky
you.” Tyler groaned, as he got up and got dressed.

Paige
threw her legs over the side of her bed and hissed. “Man, my
legs are sore.”

Tyler
laughed. “From me or riding?”

She gave
him a look and answered with, “Riding, Tyler. I can handle you
any day.”

“Well,
if I had time, I’d prove that answer wrong,” he said, as
he tackled her to the bed. She started laughing as he gently started
biting along her neck.

“Tyler!”
she shrieked, as he ventured to her chest. “You need to get to
work.”

Groaning,
he rested his chin on her chest as he looked at her. “I’ll
call you tonight and maybe we can do something this weekend?”
he asked, his brown eyes expectant.

“Yes,
I’d love that,” she breathed as she wrapped her arms
around his neck.

He leaned
forward, gave her another kiss, and then jumped up, “Okay, I’ve
gotta go before those guys walk off the job.”

She walked
him to the door and after another long kiss, they both reluctantly
pulled away so he could get ready for work.

After
talking to her mom to check on Kyra, she poured herself a cup of
coffee and then headed for the shower. She was meeting Kyleigh at
noon at one of the walking trails where they frequently jogged.

An hour
later she was dressed in her black jogging pants, white shirt, and
neon pink Nike’s. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail,
grabbed her keys off the counter, and threw her purse over her
shoulder.

As she
drove, she thought about last night. The night had ended wonderfully
even with the incident that had happened. Putting herself out there
was proving to be harder than she thought it was going to be, but
Tyler was making it a lot easier. Whereas, she was quick to judge and
expect the worst, he was beginning to prove to be the rational one
who would rather talk things through, versus running away from the
problem. It’s not that she wanted to run from him, she wanted
to run from the problems so she didn’t have to suffer with more
agony. But she was hoping her life was done throwing punches at her
and maybe she could have a good relationship with Tyler.

She pulled
into the blacktop parking lot and saw Kyleigh’s car waiting for
her. As she parked and got out, she was met with an energetic Kyleigh
who was bouncing up and down, ready to go.

“Are
you ready?” Kyleigh asked as she began to start jogging in
place.

“Hold
on, Kyleigh, let me stretch a minute. My thighs are killing me,”
Paige laughed as she began stretching.

One arched
eyebrow rose as Kyleigh asked, “So, what on earth happened last
night for you to be that sore?”

Paige
rolled her eyes, “It’s not what you are envisioning in
that dirty mind of yours. I’m sore from horseback riding for
two hours yesterday. I didn’t know it took every muscle in your
body just to sit on top of a horse.” Paige said as she extended
her right leg out into a short lunge, grimacing from the pain.

“Okay,
we’ll get to the reason why you of all people were on the back
of a horse, but what happened with you and Tyler last night?”
Kyleigh questioned as she put her phone in the waist band of her neon
green running pants. Paige eyed them, thinking there was no way a car
couldn’t see her coming if they were actually going to be
running on the road.

“I
think I’m limber enough now. I’ll tell you as we run,”
Paige said as she took off in a slow jog.

Kyleigh
followed after her and once they got on the paved trail, Paige began
at the beginning of the date yesterday. They jogged as Paige talked,
telling her all about the incident with Sarah yesterday and how Tyler
had rushed over to explain everything. It took her several minutes to
go through it all.

“So,
do you think he’s telling you the truth about that girl,
Sarah?” she asked with a ragged breath.

“Yeah,
I do. He was very open and sincere when he came over and I really
felt that he was telling the truth. Of course, I’m still going
to be cautious because I’m just paranoid like that,”
Paige blew out a breath, feeling her lungs burn. It had been awhile
since she and Kyleigh ran, and with sore legs, she was feeling the
ache of unused muscles.

“Well,
I just hope he’s serious about you. I think you guys could make
a really cute couple, but I don’t want him to put you through
more hell. You’ve had enough shit to deal with lately, you
don’t need to deal with his,” Kyleigh said as she began
to slow down.

Paige
dropped down to a walk and said, “I know but I think things
will go smoothly now. At least, I’m hoping they will.”

They
walked quietly for a while; the only sound was from the birds
chirping in the woods and the roar of engines in the distance. They
passed a few other joggers and walkers, but it wasn’t too
crowded at this time of day. Paige felt her breathing slow and her
legs were beginning to burn.

“So,
how are things going with you and David so far?” she asked as
she stopped and leaned against a tree. Her legs were killing her from
that long horse ride yesterday.

Kyleigh
bent over to catch her breath and smiled. “Things are going
good. We’re taking it slow. Just seeing each other occasionally
on the weekends. Neither of us are really ready to get too serious;
he with Randy dying and me with leaving Brad. We’ve both just
had a lot going on, too, and we’re not ready to rush into
things just yet.”

“Well,
I really hope things work out between you and David. He’s a
great guy,” Paige said as they began walking again in the other
direction towards their cars.

“Yeah,
he is—”

Paige
looked over at Kyleigh, wondering why she abruptly stopped talking
midsentence. She followed her gaze in the direction of their cars and
saw why she looked like she’d just seen a ghost. Her eyes
narrowed in Brad’s direction, feeling anger sweep over her. She
didn’t know why he was here but it couldn’t be good.

“Kyleigh,
what is he doing here?” she asked quietly.

Kyleigh
resumed walking as she breathed, “I don’t know, but we’re
about to find out.”

Brad was
leaning against Kyleigh’s car with his arms crossed, looking
bored as he waited for us to approach. His numerous tattoos and the
smug look taking over his face made him look like stalker material,
which Paige guessed wasn’t far off.

“Well,
look who I ran into,” he said as they approached.

“What
do you want, Brad?” Kyleigh asked as she stopped in front of
him, her hands resting on each hip and her face showing the hint of
anger she was trying to keep at bay.

Brad
looked from Kyleigh to Paige and then said, “I just wanted to
see what you were doing. You know, see if you had changed your mind
yet.”

A laugh
escaped Kyleigh’s mouth and she crossed her arms, gripping her
stomach tightly. “Uh, no, Brad, I haven’t. I told you we
were over. It’s time for you to move on and leave me alone.”

She
grabbed Paige’s hand and pulled her forward towards her car
when Brad grabbed her arm, making her drop her grip on Paige.

“What
the hell is your problem?” she yelled as she tried to jerk her
arm away.

He gripped
her arm even tighter, a crazed look momentarily passing through his
eyes and then he looked at Paige and smiled. “There’s no
way you can leave what we had behind. I’ll wait for you to come
to your senses and come crawling back to me. I can be a very patient
man when I want to.” He let go of her and Paige saw the red
marks on her upper arm from his fingers.

Kyleigh
stood there and watched as he gave her one last nod and then walked
off to his car. Paige waited until he was gone before she said,
“Kyleigh what the hell was that about? Has he been threatening
you this whole time?”

Kyleigh
let out a long breath and leaned against her car. “Not really.
I mean, he’s left a few messages on my cell, which I was
already anticipating, but nothing too crazy for him.” She
paused for a moment as she stared down the road and then said, “I’m
sure it’s fine. He’s just blowing off steam or
something.”

Paige
touched her arm where the marks were and asked, “Is this how he
blows off steam? You need to be careful Kyleigh, I don’t want
anything to happen to you. Make sure you call the cops if you ever
think someone’s been messing around your apartment or anything
weird like that.”

Kyleigh
looked down at her arm. “It’s fine, Paige. It’s
just the way he is. He’ll get over it, it’s just going to
take some time.”

“Well,
I don’t like it at all. There’s something about this
whole incident that makes me nervous.” Paige followed Kyleigh
and leaned against her car as she eyed her reaction.

“I’ll
be fine, Paige, really. Don’t worry about me, you have enough
crap on your mind as it is.” Kyleigh swung the door open and
got in, giving her a big smile.

“Call
me if you ever need anything, okay?” Paige asked as Kyleigh
started the car.

“Yes,
Paige, I will. Now, go pick up Kyra and enjoy the rest of your day.
We’re both on schedule the next three days, which is going to
suck.”

Kyleigh
gave her a small wave as she backed out of the parking lot, leaving
Paige alone with her worrying thoughts.

As she
watched Kyleigh’s car disappear down the road, Paige turned to
get in her car, cursing under her breath and feeling a sense of fear
taking over her heart. There always seemed to be something to worry
about.

That
silver lining was starting to fade again but she hoped it wasn’t
going away completely.

The sun’s
rays beat down on Paige as she stood on her balcony and looked out
into the beautiful, clear blue sky. She blew out a nervous breath as
she thought about their plans later today. It was already hot, and
after standing out here for just a few minutes, sweat was already
beginning to drip down her back. Her eyebrows creased together,
showing the worry that was dwelling inside her. She had given their
dating several weeks, now, before she had agreed to getting the kids
together and spending the day with them but now she was second
guessing herself.

Paige
looked behind her through the open sliding glass door to Kyra
watching cartoons. The apprehension that was holding her back was the
fear of her daughter being let down. Paige knew she had to give
dating Tyler a real chance and that meant at some point Kyra would
have to be introduced to Tyler. She knew Tyler would never
intentionally hurt her, but there was that chance things wouldn’t
work out between them and Kyra would feel that loss.

A slight
gust of wind blew, making strands of her long curls whip around her
face. She pushed them to the side as she looked out into the city.
But after several wonderful weeks, she felt things were truly moving
in a good direction. They had spent a lot of time together lately
with lunch dates, phone calls, weekend dates, and it was starting to
feel like the right time. Besides, it was just a day at the lake and
maybe dinner later, nothing serious, like him and Brandon spending
the night. Now that was something she definitely wasn’t ready
for.

Her phone
beeped and she looked down to see a message from Tyler.

Meet us
at the beach at noon?

She bit
her lip as she read the text, feeling her hands sweat from nervous
tension. Finally she typed.

Yes,
we’ll be there with our beach ball and bathing suits
