Page 80 of Her Holiday Heartthrobs

“Come on, Paige. Show me you’re alright.”

But when the door opens, it’s her roommate, Jackie, instead of her, and he looks tired and pissed. “You.”

Shit. This isn’t good.

“Is she here?” Please be inside, hiding behind him. Fuck, as soon as I have the thought, I know Paige would never do that.

“No, she ain’t here. Not closing the door kind of fool you are, showing up late like you think she’s just sitting here waiting to be saved. I ought to put my boot in your ass except these are my favorite slippers, and I don’t want to ruin them. Or break a toe.” Jackie plants a hand on his hip and raises a brow at me, like I’m supposed to have some kind of retort to that.

I shake my head. “Where’s Paxton?”

The eyeroll he gives me looks like it might strain something. “With her, of course. Like, duh. You truly aren’t thinking straight.”

I lean my hands on either side of the door. Right now, it feels like the only thing keeping me upright. “Where is she?”

Jackie narrows his eyes at me again. “She split. And I’ve had a long day. It’s only going to get longer, so if you don’t mind?—”

“Jackie.Please.I need to find her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”

“She’s surviving. It’s what she does.” He still looks ready to slam that door in my face, but he doesn’t. “Do you have any idea the kinds of things they’re saying about her?”

That lands a stunning blow I am in no way prepared for. “No. What are they saying?”

Jackie scoffs. “Things her best friend wouldn’t dream of repeating.”

Phone at the ready, he swipes and faces it toward me. I scroll through nasty comments calling her a whore, a gold digger, good for nothing except spreading her legs. They’ve made memes out of the pictures, asking which one of us is Paxton’s father. Whichone of us is hers? Every one of them makes me sick. Twists guilt harder in my chest.

Her attacks have gone viral. No wonder she ran.

I should have protected her better. We should have been more careful.

I’ve failed her a second time.

“Plan on groveling. Because she shouldn’t have learned about it from me.”

“God, Jackie. Tell me where she is. I have to find her. Make this up to her.”

Someone stomps up the stairs, and I don’t think anything of it until they stop behind me. A hand lands on my shoulder and spins me around. Just recognizing Patrick before his fist slams into my jaw. I admit, the sucker punch is well deserved, but I duck the next, holding up my hands to fend off my best friend. Paige’s father.

I didn’t mean for him to find out like this.

“You son of a bitch.” His fists are still clenched, but at least now, they’re down at his sides. The wild look in Patrick’s eyes, though. The betrayal and hurt. They don’t hide how deeply worried he is for Paige too. He shakes his head in despair. “It was you, wasn’t it? All this time, it was you. Fuck, Henry. Paxton looks just like you. How did I not see it?”

He wipes a hand down his face and turns away, turning back with more anger. “How could you do that to my baby girl? Barely eighteen and going off to college to start her life, and you?—”

Patrick’s jaw clenches, he can’t finish his thought.

I’m haunted by all of the times I could have told him—should have said something. Slowly lowering my hands, my shoulders slump. “I need to find her, Patrick.”

He hesitates, looking behind me to Jackie and then meeting my gaze again. “I know where she went. Come on.”

Patrick turns and clomps back down the stairs without waiting for me. Sparing a glance at Jackie, who simply lifts his brow at me before he closes the door, I follow Patrick outside and to his double-parked truck. Lucky bastard hasn’t gotten a ticket or towed.

I pull myself back together and get in the passenger seat. I wait to ask until we’re in traffic. “So, where is she?”

Huffing, Patrick wrings his steering wheel. “The only place—or person—she always runs to, when she needs to feel safe. Her sister.”

He’s beating himself up for the fact that she never told him. About any of it. I wish I could go back in time and make it right.

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