Divided Interests (Southern Bride 3)

“Paige? What about Paige? Is that little tramp in town? Is she trying to put the moves on you?”

“What?” I said, a little too loudly. “Why in the hell would you call her a tramp?”

“Come back to this hell hole now, Lucas. We obviously need to talk.”

Instead of telling Bianca my plans over the phone, I decided it needed to be done in person.

“I’m finishing up a meeting, then I’ll head that way.”

“Is she in the meeting?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”

More silence.

“Right, I’ll be there soon.”

Before she could say anything, I hung up.

When I turned around, Paige was standing there.

“Did she really call me a tramp?”

“Did you really stand there and listen to my phone call?”

She smiled. “I really did. She sounds like a real winner. Good job, Lucas.”

Paige started to walk away, so I followed. “You don’t know anything about her, Paige.”

“She obviously has been told lies about me if she thinks I’m a tramp, and she appears to have you wrapped around her little finger, not to mention she caused you to miss your grandfather’s funeral. So yeah, I know plenty about her, and that’s just what I’ve learned in the past couple of days.”

Paige turned back to face me, causing me to bump right into her. My hands reached out to steady her. I quickly let her go when I felt the zap of electricity rush between us.

“Did I miss anything that would give someone a different impression of exactly the type of woman she is?” she asked, a smug smile on her beautiful face.

“You missed a lot. She’s a really nice person who does a lot of things for different charities.”

Did I really just say that?

Her brows raised. “With or without camera crews?”

“Excuse me?”

She rolled her eyes like I had said the stupidest thing. “These charities…are there camera crews around when she helps them?”

I thought about it for a moment. “As a matter of fact, there are.”

She smirked. “Then she’s doing it for PR. Doesn’t count, sorry.”

Spinning on her heels, she walked away, and I balled my fists up and followed her into the kitchen.

“I need to leave, so I need you to tell me the magical number that will get you out of here, Paige. You name it, I’ll pay it.”

Her head tilted as she regarded me. Finally, we were getting somewhere. If I had known all it was going to take was money, I’d have done this when I first walked in.

“Let me get this straight, I can throw any number out at you, and you’ll agree to pay me if I sign over my half?”

“Yes! If I knew money was your driving motive, Paige, we could have done this without all the drama.”

Something in her eyes flashed. Either she was angry, or she was coming up with a number. I decided to help her.

“One-point-one million for you to walk away from this house.”

Holy hell, why did I throw that number out there? I didn’t have that kind of money. Bianca did, but I didn’t.

Her chin wobbled, and I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet. She wasn’t interested in money. That wasn’t who Paige was. It was like she said when I first got here. Her motivation for wanting to live in this house was the memories.

Paige looked away for a moment, then cleared her throat.

“I don’t want your money.” Her voice shook. “None of it. I’m not selling. And if you honestly think you can throw some crazy number out there and I’ll bite, then you never knew me at all, Lucas.”

“Paige, wait.”

She pushed past me and grabbed her purse. “Lock our door when you leave.”

“Wait, Paige. Please stop.”

I could hardly keep up with her as she rushed through the house and walked out the front door.

Pulling the door shut, I quickly pulled out the house key and locked it.

“Wait a freaking second! You set me up for that.”

I watched as she climbed into a Toyota 4-Runner. That made me pause. I had initially wondered who that car belonged to, but it never crossed my mind it was Paige’s. I knew she had a successful job, she made six figures and lived in a swanky downtown loft in Austin, which wasn’t cheap. Not that I stalked her or anything. I may have asked Jen, who was more than happy to fill me in on what Paige was up to in her life. I had figured she would be in a little sports car. But then, that wasn’t Paige Miller.

Shit, I had messed all of this up from the get-go.

Paige peeled out down the driveway, kicking up dirt and rocks in her wake.

I groaned and dropped my head back, staring at the sky. “Good going, Lucas. You’re watching her leave one more time.”

Lucas

AFTER LEAVING GRANDDAD’S house, I went to my parents’ and spent some time with them. I needed the sense of normalcy that my family gave me before I faced Bianca.