Page 64 of Demo

“I was hoping it would.”

He studied her face carefully. “Are you sure? As much as I want to say ‘yes’, I want to make sure you’re really okay with that.”

“I am.” When he said nothing, Paige shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe I hope I am. I want you to spend the night, Demo. I just…” She shook her head. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea. Forget I asked.”

“No.” He used his left hand to move her face back towards him when she tried to move it away. “I won’t forget, because I love that you asked.” He leaned down and kissed her. “But my answer is also ‘no’. I respect you too much to push you too soon, Paige. Last night was an exception, I get that. As much as I want to spend tonight too, I won’t until you can ask me with confidence.” He touched his lips to hers again. “Because, I’ll be frank with you, I won’t be able to leave your bed once I’m in it for real—as in, without two little boys between us. So make sure that’s the move you’re ready for us and I’ll jump into it so fast I might break that one too.”

She chuckled. “You better not.”

“I make no promises.” He kissed her forehead. “I really do have to go.”

Paige nodded sadly. “Thank you.” At his raised eyebrow, she explained, “For seeing I wasn’t ready, even though it’s what we both want.”

“Your safety and wellbeing will always come first, Paige,” he vowed. After one final kiss, Demo left her house.

Paige quickly threw the deadbolt and lock. Walking back to her bedroom, she peeked in on the boys first. Both were sound asleep. Paige was a bit jealous of that ability to sleep so soundlessly after what had happened the night before.

Deciding to get some work done on her finances, Paige headed to her room. She spent the next few hours going through her accounts. Over the last week, Demo had been helping her get everything organized. He knew about the insurance checks and how Paige had been putting the money aside to help pay off her stepfamily. Though Demo was confident that she did not have to pay back Richard’s debt to them, Paige was not willing to risk touching that money until the restraining order was finalized. Demo advised that she pay current debts first and worry about future debts later. So her goal for tonight was to figure out which debts were most immediate and what to pay off first with the money she’d been putting aside.

They had also discussed her declaring bankruptcy. That was a scary thought in and of itself, but mostly because of the stigma surrounding such an endeavor. Paige needed to do more research on it and speak with a bankruptcy lawyer to figure out if that was a better option for her. Demo mentioned that he didn’t know enough about it to advise her with specifics. However, he did know that it was generally better to file for divorce first and then declare bankruptcy.

Paige hadn’t heard anything from Steel about what his PI found regarding Richard’s whereabouts. Next time she saw him, hopefully he would have answers. If not, she would ask.

Ding!

Paige glanced at her phone and was instantly disappointed when she saw it wasn’t Demo sending her a message. It was a notification from the foot fetish site.

Since going out with Demo, she’d only done a handful of requests to help make ends meet and none since they’d started sleeping together. It hadn’t felt right. Not like she was cheating, per se, but close to it. It felt dishonest if anything. She’d told him about her debts and the financials for the clinic…but she hadn’t told him about this.

Paige was about to swipe left to ignore the notification, but her finger paused when she saw the message. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. The request was for two thousand dollars!

She’d never had a request that high before. She was honestly surprised no one else had grabbed it up by now. This wasn’t the first time some of the requests had sat there longer than she would have expected. But two thousand dollars? That should have been grabbed up faster than a winning lottery ticket.

More curious than anything, Paige opened the app. As tempting as that dangled carrot was, she had no intention of accepting the request.

Private Request: Place donuts (big or small) on your toes. Smear them in toppings of your choice. Then eat them. I want to hear you moan. Be naked.

Paige gagged. Eating donuts off of her toes? No, thank you. As much as two thousand dollars would help her, she had her limits. Plus, she didn’t have any donuts in the house and she couldn’t leave the boys to go get them…

Or did she? Demo had brought them donuts the day before for breakfast. Were there any left over? He always bought too much, saying he wasn’t sure how much the boys would eat. Paige knew it was bullshit, but she didn’t call him out on his generosity. He was being sweet while also respecting her wish for him not to swoop in and save the day with money and objects. In all honesty, he’d found the one loophole she couldn’t refuse: feeding her boys.

There potentially was a partial box of donuts in her fridge downstairs.

Paige put her phone down, shaking her head. No, this was crazy. She wasnotgoing to accept a private request to eat donuts off her toes. Even for two thousand dollars.

Her eyes landed on the Past Due notice for her clinic. Business had picked up so much that Abby had been coming in on a part-time basis to help her out. But she still was past due on her rent. Her landlord could pull her lease at any time and then where would she be?

She was still seventeen hundred dollars short on her notice. The request would cover that. Even with the fees taken out by the site, she would have some leftover to replenish some of her dwindling supplies.

Paige stood up. Leaving her phone where it was, she decided just to check her fridge.Ifshe had donuts left andifthe request was still there when she got back, thenmaybeshe would answer it.

One last video.

“Where is he?”Demo demanded as soon as the Chapel’s doors closed.

“In the cellar,” Bulldog answered him. “Carlos made it look like he made bail and left town.”

Demo raised an eyebrow. There was a time when Carlos wanted nothing to do with the club’s grayer side of their lifestyle. “I hope that didn’t cause an issue between you and him.”

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