Page 31 of Demo

“That was mean, Abby!” Keys scolded as he took his jacket off to try to dry his hair even more.

Abby leaned around Bulldog’s thick arm and smiled. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Keys!”

Keys looked like he wanted to retaliate again, but his eyes flicked to Bulldog and he clearly thought better of it. Instead, he made a gallant bow. “I concede to the victor.”

Abby’s smile looked like it could have been seen from space.

Bulldog gave Abby her moment of victory before he turned his attention back to Paige. “What’s wrong?” he repeated.

Both Abby and Keys turned towards her too.

Paige tried to stand up straighter, appear more confident. This was her place ofbusinessafter all. They were herclients…plus Keys. She was supposed to be professional. “Nothing,” she told them. “Therapy room two is ready for you if you want to come back.”

Bulldog wasn’t having it. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” His eyes scanned around the room and outside her windows. Like he was looking for danger.

“Nothing,” Paige insisted again. Her eyes flicked to the computer equipment.

Bulldog must have caught the move. “Don’t play poker, Paige. You’ll lose.” He gestured towards the computer. “This is a gift from the club to you. If you’re worried about the expenses, don’t. It’s covered.”

“I even contacted your internet provider and squared away your account,” Keys added as he stepped around Bulldog. More like sidestepped, in case there was any retaliation on Bulldog’s part for Keys shaking snow onto Abby. When Bulldog did nothing, Keys’ posture straightened and he walked more confidently to the reception desk. “I need to give you your new password, but you have Wi-Fi again. I even created a guest network for you to advertise. It’s a great amenity to have at really no additional cost to you. People specifically go places with free Wi-Fi over businesses without.”

Paige’s jaw dropped. “You… You… How… You…”

Abby approached her. She was wearing a cute little dress with flannel leggings. Bulldog carried a small drawstring bag that had a change of clothes that were a much looser fit. Looser clothing meant they weren’t as warm, so Abby changed once she got to the clinic during the winter months and Paige could put the heat lamps on her.

Paige always ignored the fact that Bulldog would go into the therapy room with her to ‘help’ Abby change. She once walked past the closed therapy room door to overhear Bulldog’s deep baritone tell Abby it was too bad he didn’t have any handcuffs with them because Abby looked sexy enough to eat. Given what she knew of Abby’s history, it was difficult for Paige to wrap her mind around Bulldog tying Abby up for sexy-kinky fun but she tried not to judge. They were consenting adults and there was no way Paige would ever believe Bulldog would do anything to harm Abby.

And good for Abby for working to get past her trauma enough to be intimate with her husband. But it was also difficult to get that image out of her head after that, so from then on, Paige stayed away from the therapy room until Abby said she was ready to start her treatment.

“This is what they do,” Abby told her as if that was explanation enough. “Welcome to the club.”

Paige looked between Bulldog, Keys, and Abby. “I am not a part of your club!” she finally shouted. “I don’t need you guys coming in here with your fancy computers and cameras,” she waved her hands around at the offending objects, “and making my life more complicated. I don’t care if Steel thinks he ‘overlooked’ me or feels guilty about not including me. That’shisproblem. I,” she tapped her chest, “need to be able to run my own business and live my life without you guys bulldozing your way through it. I didn’t ask for all of this! I don’t want it and I don’t need it.” Paige rounded on Keys. “And you ‘squared away’ my account? How the hell do you even have access to it? There’s a reason I let the account close! It’s too expensive for just me to run the clinic.”

Keys shifted, guilt radiating off of him like sunbeams. “I thought it would be easier for you. I set you up with social media accounts too. I was just trying to help. And with you being Demo’s, he said?—”

“Demo’s?!” Paige shouted. For as much as she longed for a relationship like Bulldog and Abby’s and as much as she thought perhaps she might find something like it with Demo, she was not the sort of woman to allow a man to come crashing into her world and take over for her.Shehad the right to choose her own path. Paige thought Demo understood that after offering her time to figure out what she wanted from a relationship between the two of them. “I am not ‘Demo’s’! What is it Demo said, Keys?” Paige demanded. “Did he tell you to come here with all of this equipment? Did he pay for all of this and expect me to be grateful for it? To fall on my back with my legs spread wide with gratitude?”

Keys’ face turned redder than a tomato. She hadn’t meant to embarrass the kid, but she had also been expecting him to argue and defend Demo. To say thatSteel, not Demo, had been the one to order all of this equipment and upgrades.

But he didn’t. Even flustered as he was, he didn’t argue that all of this wasn’t Demo’s idea.

Paige felt her nostrils flare. She didn’t know if she was more pissed or hurt. ShewantedDemo to want her. He claimed he did. But for him to come barging into her life like this? And he wasn’t even here himself to explain things to her? Food was one thing, but this was thousands of dollars of electronics.

She turned towards Bulldog. He was a straight shooter. He would tell her as it was. “What is going on? Was all of this Steel’s or Demo’s idea? Who is paying for all of this?”

“Demo is,” he told her without preamble. “He wants you to be safe while you’re here. We already had one shop attacked,” he indicated out the windows towards where Angel’s tattoo shop was across the street, “and he wanted to ensure you were safe since you work here alone.”

Paige’s eyes also looked to Angel’s studio. She’d heard about her attack by a rival MC and it had scared the crap out of Paige to think she’d been so close that night. What if she’d had her boys here at the clinic too that evening? She was beyond grateful Angel and Bree had gotten away unscathed, but the proximity still shook Paige for a long time following the attack.

She’d even looked into a security system afterwards, but the costs had been too high. That was how she knew how much a setup like what Keys was installing was worth.

“I can appreciate that,” Paige begrudgingly admitted. “But it doesn’t explain the computer equipment or Keys paying my internet bill.”

“You’d have to talk to him about that part.” Paige did not appreciate the amusement in Bulldog’s voice. “But, if it were me,” he looped his arm around Abby’s waist, pulling her back against him, “I’d be doing everything in my power to ensure your life iseasier. Not by taking over,” he pressed when Paige opened her mouth to argue. “But by providing the needs to help you along to your success.”

Paige rubbed her forehead. “Why would Demo do that?” she asked through gritted teeth. “We’re not dating. We’re not…anything.” Phone call the night before aside, she hadn’t made any decisions yet regarding their relationship, whether platonic or romantic.

“You’re not?”

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