Page 37 of Demo

Paige: It’s been about an hour. I understand. I warned you I’m a mess.

Paige: Again, sorry. I hope you have a good night.

Demo: Open your door.

Paige was sittingon her couch with Nelly Bean resting on her lap while Mikey colored on the floor on his belly. Her oldest was shirtless with four glass cups suctioned along his spine. The faint trace of burnt cotton hung in the air.

She stared down at her phone wondering if she somehow misread the message. Nope, the instruction to open her door was still there.

Paige looked up and over at her front door, which she could just barely see from her position on the couch. She hadn’t heard an engine outside, nor had she seen any headlights shine into her house like someone had pulled into her driveway.

Demo had been silent for over an hour prior to his last text message. What did he mean by open her door? Had he sent a food delivery?

The leftovers from the diner food he had delivered again to her clinic had been their dinner, which the boys appreciated. There was only so much boxed mac and cheese she could serve them before they started complaining.

Paige had been in the middle of texting Demo when Mikey had started coughing. His asthma was worse in the winter months and it didn’t help that she had to keep the internal temperature of the house colder than she normally would to keep the electric bill down. The fancy house Richard had insisted on purchasing had electric fireplaces that provided no heat whatsoever and an HVAC system that controlled the entire house instead of sectioning off different areas. So she was forced to keep the house at a lower temperature than she personally preferred and lower than Mikey was supposed to have it long term. She absolutely hated that she couldn’t afford to turn the temperature up any more. Even a couple of degrees could increase her bill exponentially because of the ridiculous square footage of their home.

As soon as he’d started coughing, she’d moved him onto a blanket in the living room, placing cushions and jackets around him. After removing his shirt, she applied the heated cups to his back along with eucalyptus oil to his feet.

Ding!Paige looked down at her phone to see another message come through.

Demo: My balls are starting to shrivel up out here. Mind opening the door?

Not knowing what else to do, Paige stood. She repositioned Nelly Bean in her arms. Her baby was awake but resting after a day of running around with his brother and grandmother. She had a blanket swaddled around his little body. As much as she loved Cindy for her ability to watch her boys, Paige was tempted to take Steel up on his offer if the club opened a daycare center. Cindy wasn’t getting any younger. Ronald was still recovering from his attack over a year ago when a deranged criminal had followed him down from Detroit and assaulted Ronald and Cindy in their home.

Peeking around the curtain, Paige wasn’t sure why she was so surprised to see Demo shivering on the front porch.

Seeing her through the window, he reached into the plastic bag he was carrying around his left wrist and pulled out a carton of Rocky Road ice cream. He had an extremely cocky smile on his face.

Paige’s jaw dropped, but she quickly unlocked her door and opened to allow him entrance. “What are you doing here?”

“You said you wanted ice cream and alcohol,” he answered smoothly. “I came to deliver.” He shuffled inside, kicking the thick wooden door with an intricate design closed using his snow covered boot.

Paige hadn’t realized it had started snowing again. No wonder Mikey had an attack.

“Brrr…” Demo shuddered. “It’s fricken cold out there!” He started to take his coat off, paused, and then put it back on. “It’s fucking cold in here too!”

“Language,” she hissed, indicating Nelly Bean in her arms. Her reaction was automatic. Richard had openly cursed around the boys and she’d always hated that.

“Oops.” At least Demo had the decency to appear sheepish about his slip-up. “What’s wrong with your heat? Why is it so cold in here?”

Her cheeks flamed as she admitted, “There’s nothing wrong with it. There’s just no reason to keep the house warm. We have sweaters and blankets. It’s more environmentally friendly to preserve resources.”

Demo stared at her for a solid second before he asked her, “Do you smell better when your nose grows longer?”

Her blush deepened.

Demo pushed past her into the foyer. “Where’s your thermostat? There’s absolutely no reason for your house to be this cold, Paige! You’re going to get sick! The temperatures are supposed to drop into the teens tonight!”

She winced. She hadn’t heard that. Then again, she no longer had a television to get the weather on and she rarely checked the app on her phone because she didn’t want to waste her minimal data plan. She needed to save that for posting her foot fetish photos and videos as much as possible. Shame washed through her. She’d been riding high after nearly being booked up all weekandhaving most appointment spots filled for the following week that she had turned down two special requests from the fetish site that day.

Only to do the math of what she’d earned this week versus what she owed this week and finding she would still be coming up short.Stupid, foolish, arrogant… If she had just done the degrading requests maybe she could afford to turn the heat up in her own home.

She heard the heat kick on and flinched.

Nelly Bean must have sensed her embarrassment. He burrowed closer to her and asked, “Mama okay?”

She squeezed him tighter to her chest, needing his contact for support. “Yeah, baby. I’ll be fine.”

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