Page 38 of Demo

She hated lying to her son. Would she ever be fine again? She had less than two months to pay back her stepfamily and she couldn’t even afford to keep the heat on in her own home? She wasn’tfine.

“Hey.” Demo’s voice was soft, soothing. She opened her eyes to see him standing right in front of her. She hadn’t even heard him walk back up. “I’m sorry for snapping. I don’t like the idea of you and the boys suffering needlessly.”

It wasn’t needlessly. She took the edge of the blanket wrapped around her Nelly Bean to wipe at her eyes. “You think I want to keep my house this cold? Look at Mikey,” she snapped. “Keeping the house cold aggravates his lungs! But what else can I do? I have bills to pay and the amount of electricity this house uses is ridiculous! I can’t afford…” Her voice cracked. Her chin wavered. “I can’t affordanything,” she settled on. “Every time I dig myself out just a little bit, another bill comes out of the woodwork. How can I possibly get ahead of it and keep my babies safe?”

Paige wasn’t sure what sort of reaction she was expecting, but Demo stepping forward to embrace her with Nelly between them wasn’t it. With his cut and jacket still on, Demo brought the two of them against his chest, squeezing his arms against her back. Paige buried her face in his warm chest as tears started to free-fall down her cheeks.

She had warned him how close her dam was to breaking… Well, it had officially broken.

Demo lifted her and Nelly Bean into his arms. Paige wanted to protest with his shoulder, but her fight seemed to have left her entirely. He never uttered a grunt of pain or seemed to struggle. At least, he only walked over to the couch to sit down. He arranged Paige on his lap with Nelly Bean still on hers.

Paige felt him shift under her as if he was stretching for something. Then he asked, “So, um, why does Mikey look like he was attacked by a giant octopus?”

Despite her tears, a laugh escaped her.

Demo was utterlyand completely lost. He didn’t know how to help Paige. He’d never been around a crying woman before like this and, frankly, he didn’t like it much. He wasn’t used to feeling so helpless.

Made him really wish Richard was still alive so he could kill him himself. Fucking Scar and his quick knives. At least he’d made the man suffer. Richard had not died a quick death. Scar had taken his cock and balls; Richard had died from blood loss. But seeing how Paige was suffering now? It wasn’t enough.

He wanted Paige laughing and happy. Always. Never wanted to see another tear fall from her eyes unless they were happy ones. He could handle happy tears. Like…her standing at an altar before him…

Fuck, they’d only been dating a few days and he was imagining theirwedding? What the fuck was wrong with him? Had her witchy magic done more than help his shoulder pain? What love spell had she put on him that he was entirely wrapped up in her so effortlessly?

He hadn’t turned the heat up that much, not knowing if she liked her house on the cooler side or sweltering like a sauna. But there was no fucking way he was going to allow her to freeze tonight with the incoming weather. He’d pay for the damn bill himself and damn her pride before he allowed that to happen. Demo had hitched a ride with Pumpkin to the grocery store and then been dropped off here so Pumpkin could use his Bronco. It had better traction in bad weather than Pumpkin’s four-wheel drive Camry. Thankfully, SJ had been asleep and Ranger, who had young nephews so he knew what he was doing, agreed to keep an eye on him. Pumpkin only needed formula, wanting to ensure he had SJ’s brand in case the weather turned worse than predicted.

Demo looked over the back of the couch towards where he’d seen the kitchen entryway on his journey to the thermostat. Did Paige have enough supplies to last them if the storm continued into tomorrow? He’d only brought Rocky Road ice cream and a bottle of gin with him as a joke. Did this monstrosity of a house have a generator? Even if it did, was it gassed up for use?

Mikey eventually got up. He still had the cups on his back. Demo thought Paige was asleep against him until she instructed her son to turn around so she could release the suction cups. A slight whiff of burnt cotton reached Demo’s nose with eachpop. Then, to Demo’s surprise, Mikey picked up all of the extra blankets and pillows from the floor and put them on the couch next to Demo. The kid burrowed and crawled his way into them before pressing his little body against Demo’s side.

Demo froze. He had no idea what was going on or why this little boy was curling himself around Demo’s left arm like he was a burrito shell.

Paige’s hand reached over and touched the little boy’s hair that was the same shade as his mother’s but not as curly. “Kids have good instincts,” she murmured softly. Her eyes were droopy, like her lids were too heavy to lift. “He knows you’ll protect us.”

Demo leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Always,” he mouthed against her skin. She had an odd scent clinging to her that was different than her usual mixture of lavender, lemon, and peppermint. Almost like wintergreen or maybe rosemary? It wasn’t abadsmell. In fact, after a couple of whiffs, he rather liked it. Whatever it was, it was earthy and he felt his sinuses open up more.

He didn’t know if she heard him. Paige became dead weight on his lap, which he didn’t mind in the least. Between the heat of the house rising, the body heat this spontaneous puppy pile was creating, and whatever that scent was that was clinging to Paige, Demo felt his eyes start to droop too.

Was this what it felt like to be in a family? To have a wife and kids so trusting of your love and protection that they could fall asleep so soundlessly in your arms? No wonder his club brothers had so easily given up their lives as bachelors. No wonder wars were fought and songs were written about this feeling.

It was new, like a pressure against his soul, but it was also all powerful and consuming. Demo knew he would do anything to ensure thatthis, right here with Paige and her boys, was his future.

Even if it meant burying the lies of her past so they never resurfaced.

The scentof coffee roused her. She was warm. Sweltering to the point of discomfort. Paige cracked her eyes open to discover she was in her living room. Had she fallen asleep on her couch? Where were her boys?

For a moment, her sleep-filled brain thought the noises from the kitchen were coming from Richard and anger rose up at the idea that she had fallen asleep on the couch waiting up for him again and he hadn’t bothered to wake her.

But then she started to blink away the haze of sleep, and realized it wasn’t Richard in her kitchen butDemo.

Paige’s eyes opened in shock, horror, and embarrassment as the memory of the night before returned. He’d brought her ice cream and alcohol—and she’d ended up ugly crying in his arms. What the hell must he think of her?

The source of the heat on her became obvious as she started to move. Mikey was sound asleep amongst the pile of blankets surrounding her. Where was Nelly Bean? Mouth open with little snores, she doubted even a marching band could wake Mikey. Still, she carefully eased herself out from under him and slid her way onto her knees by the couch. She’d sold most of their furniture, but kept the couch, kitchen table, and bedroom sets.

Gently, Paige rearranged the blankets around her son. She wondered if he was sleeping so soundly because he was warm or because he had gone to sleep reacting to her high emotional state. She didn’t like the idea of the latter.

Closing her eyes, Paige bowed her head with a hand on his tummy. Prayer hadn’t been a big part of her life for a while, but she needed it now. She neededsomeoneto believe that she was a good mother, to acknowledge that she was doing her best andtrying.

Paige forced herself to stand up. If she stayed as she was, she could very easily start to break down again. She needed to find Demo and apologize. It was early still, but she also needed to shower and get herself ready for work. If there were any private requests from the foot fetish site, she should probably grab it—regardless of how low the offered money was or what degrading action it asked of her. She needed to be able to pay for the heat being turned up the night before. Demo meant well, and she truly did appreciate the idea of what he’d done, but the reality was that she couldn’t afford the heat to remain on like this. If it was propane-sourced like their old house, maybe. But electric heat was expensive.

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