OBTP (15 page)

"You ok Paige?" Dalton's hand lingered on her shoulder when she

stood up.

She nodded, not used to him touching her like this anymore. He

wasn't demonstrative like he was when they first got married. They

touched and hugged, but his hands never lingered on her like they did

now. She felt weird knowing what had just happened with Casey.

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Dalton was her husband and the remembered warmth of his touches

was nice, kind of. She leaned into him. Reaching up on the tip of her

toes, she kissed his jaw and whispered. "I missed you." And really

she had, until two nights ago. But, Dalton was always at the back of

her mind no matter how long they were apart and she did love him.

What happened with Casey was never, ever going to happen again.

And she resolved to herself that she could not tell Dalton and would

make sure that Rosa nor Lamar, if he had heard, never breathed a

word of it either.

Smiling, she turned to see Rosa and Lamar staring at her. "You

mentioned going out tonight?" Paige made sure her voice was light

and sounded happy. She was ready to move on. She would have to

battle her guilt internally and never let on.

Rosa jumped up, grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the

bedroom. "I was going to give this to you earlier." She raised her

eyebrow, waiting for her to answer.

Paige leaned close. "You can never tell Dalton." She told her,

barely whispering. "And if Lamar heard."

"Don't worry about Lamar." Rosa waved off her worries and

motioned towards the bed. "These are all yours."

"What?!?" Paige's eyes widened in surprise she stepped back, away

from the bed. "I told you no!"

"It appears I don't listen very well." She grinned and began

gathering boxes, shoving them into Paige's arms; she picked up the

rest and motioned for the door. Lamar offered to help, but Rosa told

him to just get the doors so they can get into Paige's room.

Paige's stared at the boxes that had been dumped on her bed. All

the clothes she had tried on and then some were lying across open

boxes. The dress that Rosa insisted she wore out that night was on top

and she felt overwhelmed by it all.

They had hours before it was time to get ready, so they all decided

to go to the fair that had been set up outside the gate. Dalton held her

hand while they walked through the isles, taking in the Japanese

culture, checking out the vendors and their wares.

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At one point, Paige stood back and stared at Dalton. His shoulders

were broad. His waist a little thicker than it was when they first met,

but he was still in pretty good shape for being forty four years old. He

worked out every so often. She remembered the feel of his arms

around her. She felt his warmth, but had never felt the safety in his

arms like she did with Casey. Shaking her head, she had to stop

thinking of that and move on. Later, if she happened to run into him,

she would tell him it's over. He had promised that if she told him to

leave and never come back he would respect her wishes. She just

hoped like hell he meant what he said, and that she could survive

having to break his heart.

At that moment, Dalton turned around and smiled. Walking up to

him she wrapped her arm around his waist. They walked over and

watched a mini version of the Nagasaki Lantern Parade go through the

main street. The brightly colored dragon bobbed up and down with

the twenty to thirty people moving the poles up and down, side to

side, imitated the slithering motion of a snake.

Paige enjoyed the many different costumes worn by men, women

and even children. Then suddenly, when she turned to look back

towards the rear of the parade, a costumed figure had red eyes that

alternated to black when he blinked, his face was painted white and

fangs protruded out of his mouth. He was so close she nearly

screamed when he made like he was going to lunge at her. Dalton

laughed and put his arms around her when she ducked her head into

his shoulder. She was shaking so hard she felt like she wanted to cry.

The face was exactly what had been in her dreams, other than the

figures being Rosa and Casey.

"I think I'm ready to go." Paige turned away, her hand covering her

mouth, her heart pounding.

Dalton frowned down at her, but turned away from parade and led

her away from the crowd, back towards the gate. Rosa and Lamar had

wandered off and would meet them back in the rooms later.

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She already knew what to expect when they got back to her room.

Dalton sat down with the remote in hand and flipped through the

channels on the television. He found reruns of Family Guy, and

settled in to watch. It didn't matter that he had seen the same one at

least a dozen times,

Paige heard him still chuckle while the cartooned played loudly.

Shaking her head she grabbed her school book and began reading.

But the words were a blur and she had to keep reading the same

paragraph over and over again. Her mind kept wandering to the

dreams and the vampire in the street today. She felt out of sorts, her

mind running all her thoughts together. Casey's smiling face, the

dimples, his broad shoulders and the way he held her kept playing

over and over in her mind. Drawing a deep breath she sighed.

"You okay?" Dalton asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yeah, just can't concentrate." She tossed the heavy book onto the

table where it landed with a thud and she got up. There was nothing

really for her to do in the room other than watch TV. Used to going

along with what he wanted. Paige found herself falling back into the

same old routine and couldn't help remember Casey's words. A
ll you

have to do is tell me what you want.

What did she want? She couldn't complain about coming back to

the room because she was the one who said she was ready to go. So

she sat back on the couch with a resigned silent sigh.

* * * *

cliché little black dress from the bed, Paige was surprised once again

how well it fit since she had not tried this one on either. She would

have never considered wearing anything that fit so snuggly, the

corseted style top came together in the front and pushed her boobs up

high. Looking down at herself she was afraid they were going to spill

over, but looking in the mirror, there was just enough showing to be

sexy. The corset actually pulled in her waist and gave her a nice

curve. The skirt flared only slightly so she didn't look too hippy. She

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actually felt sexy. She twisted her hair up into a tight knot at the base

of her skull and slipped the earrings and necklace on that she had

worn the night before. The heels were a little higher than the other

ones. She stepped gingerly out into the living room.

Dalton looked up from pulling his boots on, his eyes raking her up

her body and she actually felt like a piece of meat. She was a little

disappointed when all he said was "Nice."

What had she expected? He was the same old Dalton. Just because

she was resolved to make this work didn't mean he was going to be

any different. Her shoulders drooped a bit and she followed him out

the door to meet with Rosa and Lamar down in the lobby. She

couldn't help recalling the night before when Casey had handed her

into the car. Dalton walked to the passenger side of the car and

climbed in. Shaking her head slightly, she made her way around to

the other side of the car where Lamar reached out in front of her and

opened her door for her with a smile. "Thanks Lamar. I see someone

has some manners."

"What?" Dalton looked dumbfounded staring from her to Lamar.

Paige just shook her head, her mouth set in a grim line. "Don't

worry about it Dalton." He shrugged and remained silent in the seat

beside her while he looked out the window.

Preoccupied, she didn't even pay attention to traffic. She was

surprised to see that they were pulling up to The Haven. Breathing

deeply to calm her nerves, she wondered if Casey would be inside.

Lamar and Rosa walked out front while Dalton gave her an irritated

look for walking slow. She was not used to wearing heels and didn't

want to fall on her ass.

Holding the door open, Rosa and Paige went through the door first,

and then Lamar took both their arms and led them inside where he

found a table. Paige sat stiffly on the edge of the chair, her eyes

nervously scanning the bar. The lights were not dimmed and it wasn't

crowded since they were there earlier than they were the night before.

The consensus had been to skip dinner since they had such a late

lunch. Paige knew she was probably going to regret that since she

hadn't eaten all her lunch, but she wasn't going to make everyone else

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wait on her. Again, she realized she was making sure that everyone

else was happy.

A round of drinks was delivered to the table. She noticed that hers

was the light chardonnay while the others, even Dalton, drank the

darker whatever it was. "What is that?" Paige leaned over to Dalton,

her hand on his to pull the drink to her and he shoved her hand,

pulling the drink away.

"Something you wouldn't like." He snapped at her, not taking his

eyes off the door.

She stared at him, bewildered at how rude he was being and how

rough he had pushed her hand away. She also noticed that he was

surveying the room and wondered who he was looking for.

Rosa and Lamar stood up when a song came on that they liked.

"Come on, go dance." Rosa urged Dalton. He rolled his eyes, downed

his drink and almost reluctantly held his hand out to Paige.

With his change in attitude, she really didn't feel like dancing with

him, but she went anyway. His hand was on her waist and he barely

held her, almost as if he didn't want to touch her. He never once

looked down at her while they danced and he didn't speak. They

glided around the dance floor with ease. He was nearly six foot, so

her eyes landed on the second button of his shirt and that is where she

stared, her stomach churned.

She kept all emotions from her face, but she knew then. With him

dancing the way he was, he was seeing her again. Darcy enjoyed

dancing and he had made the effort to learn to dance for her. She had

asked him repeatedly to learn to dance. It rankled that he was willing

to do something with his mistress, but not with his own wife.

Her throat tight with emotions, when the song ended, she excused

herself and went to the bathroom. Leaning against the wall she

wanted to break down and cry, but she refused to allow him that much

power over her.
How could he do this to me, again?
Closing her eyes

she reminded herself that she had done the same thing. But to her it

was different. She had decided that seeing Casey was not going to

work, but now? Knowing what Dalton was doing? Shaking her head

she was resolute in what she needed to do.
I am not going to fall into

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another man's arms just because my husband is a prick
. She would

find out for sure if he was seeing her again, then she would divorce

his ass and just go on her own for a while. After all, she had been

practically by herself all this time anyway.

Head held high, Paige walked back to the table. She saw Rosa

looking at her, but didn't say anything. She picked up her drink and

downed it, turned and walked to the bar. She needed something

stronger. "Double Jack and Coke." She ordered and stood at the bar

tapping her fingers, waiting for the bartender.

A small burst of air sent a shiver up her spine. When she turned

around there he was, Casey's ice blue eyes smiled at her. "I could just

eat you up, you look so beautiful."

A warm feeling spread through her body and she smiled sadly up at

him.

"Paige, are you okay?"

"No, but I will be. Dalton is here." She motioned her head towards

the table where she saw him talking with a woman. Normally she

would wonder who it was, but right then, she was too tired to worry

about the woman he was with or what he was doing any more.

"Ah, that explains the sad look." Casey grabbed her drink and