Page 79 of Demo

Bulldog said nothing to her. He bent over Abby and kissed her as if the two of them were the only people left in the world. Paige actually had to look away, the moment seemed too intimate to witness. “Be back soon, Red,” she heard him promise. “Angel is right across the street if you need anything.”

As he passed by Paige, he vowed, “We’ll get this sorted, I swear.”

Paige crossed her arms over her chest. “Clearly you’re not going to listen to me on this.” She waved him towards the door. “Go! Just make sure you mansplain in a way that my delicate womanly ears can understand when you get back.”

His eyes narrowed on her. “You know damn well this has nothing to do with you being a woman.”

“Yes, I’m aware,” Paige snipped. “Abby’s happiness is your top and only priority.”

Bulldog gave her a stern look and then headed out the clinic’s door.

Paige rounded on Abby. “How do youstandthat? He’s so overbearing. Normally, I look up to the two of you as far as romance goes, but damn. That was a bit over the top.”

Abby looked adoringly after her husband. “He means well. There’s something fundamental about knowing he’ll do anything for me.”

Paige could understand that. To a point. She knew that Demo would do the same for her. The difference was, she would fight him tooth and nail to do it herself first andthenaccept his help. Paige needed to know that she could stand on her own two feet. She didn’t look down on Abby for needing such support from Bulldog. In a way, she admired her for it. But it just wasn’t the sort of relationshipshewanted and she loved that Demo respected that.

“What do you want to do today?” Abby asked her.

Paige shrugged. “I guess we can start on the back room. I was able to cancel the supply order I placed on Monday, but I mean to stay open until I’m forced to close my doors. I need to make sure I have enough supplies for the appointments I know are still going to come in.”

Abby nodded and pulled the clipboard out of the bottom drawer of the desk. “Lead the way, boss!”

Paige shook her head but also couldn’t fight the smile from touching her lips.

The chimeof the door caught their attention not even ten minutes later. Paige and Abby looked up, a bit confused since the eleven o’clock appointment had cancelled.

“One of the guys?” Paige asked.

Abby shrugged. She was on the floor with a box of cotton ball bags in front of her. “Probably Angel checking in on us.”

Paige would not be surprised if it was. Bulldog would not want to leave Abby alone for too long. She got up from her spot on the floor. “Be right back.”

Heading out down the hall, she tried to catch a peek as to who was out in the lobby but didn’t see anyone. “Hello?”

Paige just barely stepped out from the doorway when a hard body slammed into her. She lost her balance and toppled into the hallway. Her head collided with the edge of the frame. Immense weight landed on top of her, forcing out all of the air from her lungs.

She heard a muffled shriek of “Paige!” before she felt something wet draw a path up the side of her cheek. Hot breath touched her ear as a menacing voice snarled, “My goddess, I found you!”

Then a large hand tightened around her throat.

Paige came to slowly.Her throat and head hurt, making her wonder if she was coming down with something. She hoped not, because that meant the boys would likely get sick too.

Something grunted to her right. Her mouth was dry, but Paige found an obstruction when she tried to lick her lips. What the hell was in her mouth? When she went to move her hands to find out, she found they wouldn’t budge.

Paige forced her eyes open. The bright lights above her hurt her retinas, but she needed to figure out what was going on.

Her eyes looked towards the muffled grunting sound and widened in shock when she saw Abby was sitting on her rolling stool. They were inside one of her therapy rooms. The rooms were nearly identical, but Paige could tell them apart. They were in the first one.

Abby had a cloth gag in her mouth, tied behind the back of her head. Her hands were zip tied at the wrists in front of her. She was pushed into the front left corner upon entering the room with her legs drawn up against her chest. Fear radiated off of the poor woman. She was trembling so badly that the wheels kept shimming beneath her.

Paige made to move to get to her but was once again stopped.

She turned her head to figure out why. In the mirror on the wall across from her, she saw her reflection—and blanched.

Paige was tied to the massage table on her back. Her arms were bound to each other by a long rope linking them underneath the wood of the table. There was a white cloth gag in her mouth, just like Abby. Rope bound her hips to the table as well as her shins. Her ankles were bound together.

Her shoes and socks had been removed, but otherwise she was still clothed.

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