AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Someone knocked on the door. Clay swore under his breath.
"Go away," he murmured, too low for the visitor to hear.
"It could be Jeremy," I said.
"Jeremy wouldn't bother us. Not now."
"Elena? It's me," Paige called.
Clay lifted himself onto his forearms. "Go away!"
"I just wanted to see how Elena--"
"No!"
Paige's sigh fluttered through the door. "Stop shouting, Clayton. I'm not going to harass her. I know she's been through a lot. I only wanted to--"
"You'll see her when everyone else does. Until then, wait."
"Maybe I should talk to her," I whispered.
"If you open that door, she won't go away until she's pestered every iota of information from you."
"I heard that, Clayton," Paige said.
He snarled at the door and muttered under his breath. Something told me Clay and Paige hadn't become fast friends in my absence. Fancy that.
"Ummm, Paige?" I called. "I'm kind of tired, but if you'll give me a minute to dress--"
"She won't go away," Clay said. "You need time to relax. You don't need to be answering questions for a bunch of strangers."
"I'm not a stranger," Paige said. "Could you be a little less rude, Clayton?"
Clay was right. If I let Paige in, she'd want to know everything. I wasn't ready for that. Nor did I want to lie here while Clay and Paige argued through a closed door.
I crawled from the bed and tossed Clay his jeans. When he opened his mouth to protest, I jabbed a finger at the window, then lifted it to my lips. He nodded. As I slid into Clay's T-shirt and boxers, he eased the window open and unhooked the screen. Then, while Paige patiently waited for us to open the door, we escaped into the surrounding forest.
"That probably wasn't very nice," I said as we tramped deeper into the woods.
Clay snorted. "Won't catch me losing any sleep over it."
"I know Paige can be difficult, but--"
"She's a pain in the ass, darling. And that's being generous. The kid is barely out of school and she thinks she's a leader, pushing her way into every thing, arguing, second-guessing Jeremy. Until she met you in Pittsburgh, she'd never been within screaming distance of real danger and suddenly she's an expert." He shook his hand. "Don't get me started."
"Seems I already did."
"Nah, that's nothing, darling. Give me a few hours and I'll tell you what I really think of Paige Winterbourne. Nobody talks to Jeremy that way, especially not some little girl with an overinflated sense of her own importance. If I had my way, Paige would have been sent packing last week. But you know Jeremy. He doesn't put up with her crap, but he won't let it get to him, either." He pushed through a tangle of tree branches. "Where're we going?"
"How about a run? Even Paige wouldn't pester a wolf."
"Don't count on it."
After our run, we made love. Again. Afterward we lay in the grass, soaking up the late summer sun that pierced the canopy of trees overhead.
"You smell that?" Clay asked.
"Hmmm?"
