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“You think I have a death wish?” she laughed at my question. I couldn’t help but shrug; I mean, what did she expect me to say? She hadn’t really given much detail. “No, Phee, it’s not a party. Just you and I, and your two friends, if they decide to come. A little wine, good Chinese food, mani/pedis, and shitty teen movies to take your mind off things, even if for the night.”
What she described was kind of interesting. It brought back memories of my other girls nights. Like the night I told them about Stryker and I. I had to admit, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. “Why can’t we do it at the beach house?”
“Because that overgrown neanderthal I call cousin will be all up in our grill if we do that, duh.” Her answer made me chuckle a little, the way she described Stryker. I wouldn’t go as far as calling him a neanderthal, but he was a little more protective of me these days. “So, what do you say, Phee-Phee? You ready to blow this place and have a girls night?”
I looked at her for a minute before getting up. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Chapter Eighteen – Phoenix
“Come on Phee Phee, snap out of it,” Paige chided as she flopped down on the sofa next to me. Picking up the remote to the television, she started to flick through the channels. “I didn’t suggest a girls’ night only to have you sit there feeling sad and sorry for yourself.”
It wasn’t that I was ungrateful, I just should have followed my instincts. When Paige suggested that we have a girls only night, I should have insisted that it be at the beach house. I could see that she was trying, and I really appreciated the efforts, but I just wasn’t ready for it yet.
The hotel room was more like a palatial suite. On one wall, there was a huge T.V. screen that overlooked three large cream sofas. A wet bar was to the left of that. Behind the sofas were two doors, one leading to a bedroom, while the other opened onto a bathroom. The last was a wall of windows that overlooked the city. The view was beautiful, and had it been any other time I may have been able to appreciate it in its entirety. Unfortunately, I was still stuck in my head.
“Why don’t you give her a break?” Cami retorted. The two of them had been going at each other for the last few hours, and as much as I appreciated her effort, Cami was only making it worse. “You’ve been on her case since we got here. Can’t you see she’s been through a lot already? She doesn’t need you telling her how to feel.”
The two of them stared at each other, both looking just as pissed as the other. It was starting to get old, and I didn’t really want to have to play referee if it got ugly. It was the last thing I needed. Getting up, I decided to make use of the bath tub. I needed to get away from everyone. I wanted time to gather my thoughts, work through my shit, without people telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing.
“Where are you running away to?” Paige snapped at me. Her words came out a little harder than I think she intended them to.
“Wasn’t aware that I needed to ask permission to take a bath,” I answered. I was starting to get annoyed with all the shit. But the one thing that really stuck was the accusation that I was running off. “Would you like me to ask you when I should eat, too?”
“Phee, I didn’t mean it like that,” Paige tried to apologise, but I wasn’t having it. She wanted me to snap out of my sad funk? Well, she fucking got her wish.
“No? Ever since we got here you’ve been coming at me,” I yelled, heaving, as I tried to control my erratic breathing. She had finally pushed me over the edge, and now I was angry. I was angry at her, at the guys, hell, I was angry at the world. The cards I’d been dealt so far fucking sucked.
I watched as a smile started to spread across her face. What the fuck was she smiling at? How was any of this a cause to smile? Was this chick crazy?
“Now there she is,” Paige said, as she made her way over to me, standing right in front of me. “I knew she was in there somewhere.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I questioned. This chick fucking confused the shit out of me, and I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not. Shaking my head, I backed up towards the bathroom door. I needed to calm down before I did or said something I’d really regret. “You know what? Fuck this.”
Chapter Nineteen - Phoenix
I stayed holed up in my room for a few hours. Paige had broken me out of the sorrow stage and sent me careening into anger. When I closed my eyes, all I saw was Kyle’s face, and that had me[1] reeling. I wanted to wipe the fucking smug look off his face.
“Dinner,” Damon yelled down the hall from the kitchen.
Since my girls’ night with Paige, the guys had put me on lockdown. Apparently, Paige hadn’t told anyone she’d planned to bust me out of the hospital, and the boys went bat shit crazy because of it. They blew up our phones the minute they realized Paige had signed me out. After the first hour, she’d finally answered her mobile, and I swore you could have heard Stryker raging in Sydney. My Grey Eyes had a temper on him.
It didn’t help that Paige refused to give up our location either, and because of that, I’d been locked down ever since. It was stifling, and it hadn’t helped that Logan had seemingly moved in and taken over the spare room. I’d hoped it was temporary, but when I came down for breakfast that morning, he and Damon were in a deep discussion about getting the rest of his stuff from his parents’ house.
A knock at my door pulled me from my thoughts. I knew who it was before they even spoke.
“Phee, Damon called you for dinner,” Logan quietly said from the other side of the door.
“Tell him I’m not hungry,” I sniped back. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but I also didn’t want to cop another lecture about always letting someone know where I was, or even better, taking one of them with me everywhere. It felt stifling .
“Come on Phee, don’t be like that.” I heard the light thump of his head hitting the door. He had been doing that almost every day now, it had become predictable. “You know he only wants the best for you.”
“Great Logan, that’s just peachy. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not hungry.” I couldn’t help but still be defensive. After everything, it was still a raw topic when it came to him. The old saying ‘once bitten, twice shy’ came to mind. I wanted to believe that his change of heart was permanent, but I was still learning to trust my own instincts again. It was also weird how close he and Damon had become.
“He’s not gonna like this, Phee.” There was a warning in his voice as the door handle jiggled before it was flung open, hitting the wall with a thud. Next thing I knew, I was flung over the shoulder of a big beefy biker. I looked up when I heard Logan’s laughter and shot him the mother of all death stares.
“You didn’t think Damon would send me down without an arsenal, did you Tiny Dancer?” he managed to get out through fits of laughter.
“Screw you, Logan,” I ground out, before hitting the douche canoe that had me over his shoulder square in the back. “Put me down, Madden, now!”
