Close Encounters of the Cheating Kind

PAIGE – CHAPTER TWELVE

Real Life is Never Like a Harlequin Romance

This is just freakin’ great; the man of my dreams is taken, and I practically threw myself at him.  No, I climbed him and attacked him without a thought to his relationship status.  But in all fairness, he came onto me first!  Oh, the nerve of him!  He’s probably lookin’ all sexy and innocent, that Bastard!    Oh God, what am I going to do?

Bang, bang, bang, “Paige, did you not hear me?  You’ve got a visitor of the sexy kind.”  I splash water on my face and take some deep breaths trying to center myself.  I’m mad as hell and I’m afraid I’m going to jump Cody, but this time to beat the hell out of him.

Yelling, “I’ll be right out, have Cody sit down in my office.”  I can hear Danny shuffle around outside the bathroom door, “You got it.”  I can hear Danny showing Cody to my office.  Oh crap, I left Jessica’s journal on my desk.  Maybe he won’t see it.  Better yet, I hope to hell he sees it!

I exit the bathroom and go into my office and close the door.  Before I know what’s going on, Cody has flipped me around and has lifted me up against the door, pushing his hard bulge into my center.  His lips are scorching my skin up my neck.  I let out a surprised yelp as his mouth comes down on mine in a hungry kiss that I can’t stop.

This feels so good but it’s wrong.  I manage to pull away, “Cody stop, stop, I mean it, stop!”  I push at his chest and he releases me causing me to hit the floor and lose my balance. Catching me, he grabs my arms to keep me from falling.

The Gig is up

Cody is looking all confused, “Paige, what’s going on?”  Yelling softly at first and getting progressively louder, “What’s going on?  What’s going on?  You have some nerve mister. Was this just a final hook-up before you get married?  A random encounter to brag about at your bachelor party?”

His forehead is crinkled with confusion, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.  I’m not getting married.  What kind of guy do you take me for?”  Moving away from him toward my desk, “I don’t know Cody, maybe the kind that has one last fling before tying the knot.  Isn’t it convenient that you found someone in a small backwater town where Jessica will never find out about it?”

I lift the journal off my desk, “Jessica Collins, the girl you’re supposed to be marrying in a couple of weeks.”  His expression changes from confusion to anger. Through clenched teeth, “How in the fuck did you get a hold of that?  You shouldn’t look through things you don’t understand.”

Danny to the rescue

“Hey what the hell is all this yelling going on back here?” Danny has opened the door to my office.  “Paige, do you need me to get him out of here?”  Cody reaches over and grabs the journal out of my outstretched hand.  Thinking he’s going to hit me, Danny reacts by grabbing him from behind.  Cody is too fast for him and punches Danny knocking him to the ground.

Screaming, “Get the hell out of here you bastard!”  Danny jumps up and runs at Cody’s gut taking him down into the hallway.  They struggle to dominate the other and Cody being better trained in combat, knocks Danny off him causing him to stumble back into me.

I hear the familiar sound of Daddy’s siren and breathe a sigh of relief.  “What in Gods green earth is going on here?”  “Sorry Sir, I was just leaving.”  Cody tries to side-step my Dad, but he manages to grab his arm.  “No, I’m sorry son but you’re going to need to come with me down to the station.”

“Daddy it’s ok, just let him go.”  Shaking his head, “I’m afraid I can’t do that Peanut, someone called in a domestic disturbance.  I’ll need you and Danny to follow me down to the station to give your statements as well.

Daddy pulls out his handcuffs and pulls Cody’s hands behind his back.  “You have the right to remain silent….”

Later at the police station

Danny and I pull up to the station and park, both of us in a daze.  “What the hell was that back there?”  I expel a couple long breaths and begin to cry.  The tears just start flowing down my cheeks and it turns into a full body spasm.  “Hey, hey, come here little girl.”  Danny pulls me into a hug and is stroking my hair as I lean into his chest.

“He’s getting married and I nearly slept with him.  I’m so stupid, a guy like that doesn’t just show up in town and fall for the first girl he sees.  I really thought he liked me and was a good guy.  But he’s like every other guy who comes into town looking for a one-night stand.”

I go into my ugly cry and Danny just holds me and continues stroking my hair. “Shhhh… shhhh… it’s going to be ok baby girl.”  I sink my face deeper into his shirt and wipe my face on his shoulder.  Danny hands me his handkerchief, “Here why don’t you blow your nose on this instead of my shirt.”

smart guys always have a handkerchief ready

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”  I start wiping his shirt with the hankie making it worse.  “Hey, hey, stop just blow your nose, ok?”  “Now, put on your big girl panties and let’s go in there and tell your Daddy what happened.”  I start ugly crying again, “I’m afraid of what Daddy will do to him.  I don’t want him hurt, I just want him to leave town.”

“Listen, look at me.” He pulls my chin up so I’m looking into his eyes.  “Paige, your Daddy is not going to do anything stupid.  Come on let’s get this over with.”  He gets out and comes around to my side of the car.  Opening my door, he helps me out and puts his arm over my shoulders walking me inside.  I’m grateful for the extra support as my legs have turned into spaghetti and are unstable.

“Well hello Paige, Danny, how can I help you all today?”  Maggie, the station clerk for the last 15 years, is always so damn cheerful.  “Uh hello Maggie, we’re here to see Paige’s Dad.”  “Oh, ok, let me just ring him, he just brought in an out-of-town fella that was raising a ruckus over at the Garage.”  She pauses and realizes that it’s our garage she’s talking about. “Oh goodness, are you all ok, oh my goodness, I forgot that you guys run the garage.”  “It’s ok Maggie, so is it alright if we just go back to Daddy’s office and wait for him?”  “Of course, you all go right on back.”  She’s giving me a worried sympathetic look as she buzzes us in and we pass back behind the front desk.

the waiting is the hardest part

Ten minutes later, Daddy’s office door opens, “Well at least he didn’t put up a fight as I was booking him in.  You two want to explain to me what the hell happened before I got there?”

Danny and I are looking at each other and he’s signaling to me to go ahead. “Well Daddy, I discovered that Cody is engaged to be married and was leading me on.  I confronted him about it, and he lost it.  Danny thought he was going to hit me and that’s when he grabbed Cody.  Cody punched Danny knocked him down and then Danny jumped up and knocked Cody down.”

I start crying again and I pull out Danny’s handkerchief and blow my nose.  Daddy’s office door flies open, “Peanut are you ok?”  Momma, I jump up and run into her waiting arms.  “Shhh now, there, there.  It’s gonna be ok baby.”

“Danny, is that what happened?”  Danny is moving around in his chair trying to get comfortable, “Well, yes sir.  I heard Paige start yelling, so I walked back to her office to see what was going on.  I opened the door and saw Cody grab something out of her hand.  It looked to me like he was going to hit her, so I grabbed him from behind.”

he may be no good but i think i love him

“Daddy, please don’t hurt him.  He wasn’t going to hurt me, he was just upset because I had read his fiancée’s journal and found out he’s getting married in a couple of weeks.”

“I knew that boy was no good!  Didn’t I tell you, Delores, he was no good?  That son-of-a-bitch is lucky I didn’t know any of this when I was booking him.” Momma is always the voice of reason, “Now Bob, we don’t know the whole story.  Let’s not be too hasty and judge him before he’s had a chance to explain.  I don’t know the young man but Paige, you thought a lot of him this morning when we talked.  There’s probably a simple explanation.”

“I don’t care if there is a simple or complicated explanation, he made Peanut cry.  I will keep him locked up for 24 hours, so he can cool down, then I’m going to personally escort him out to the city limits.”

“Paige, honey, why don’t you come home with me, and I’ll make you some hot chocolate.”  I look over at Daddy and he’s signaling me to go on with Momma.  “Danny, can you go back to the Garage and finish out the day for Paige?”  “Yes, ma’am.  I was planning on it.”

“Well, I guess I’ll let the asshole have his one phone call.”  Daddy gets up and walks us out of the station.  Reaching for me he pulls me into a bear hug.  “It’s going to be ok little girl. Don’t you worry, you won’t have to talk to him or see him ever again.”  I don’t know why but the thought of never seeing Cody again made me break out into another ugly cry session.