Conquer (Control) (20 page)

He chuckled.  “Oh, whatever, Paige.  Your parents had to know
something
would happen between the two of you.  Soul mates can’t sleep under the same roof without a little nookie happening every once in a while.  Anyways…”  He rolled his eyes. “I came to tell you that the intercom went off just a second ago.  Annie and Dr. Carter are at the front doors.”

My heart leapt into action, beating happily in excitement to see one of my best friends.  Daddy pushed himself up and reached down to help Momma to her feet.  Her hands brushed down the front and back of her dress before she said, “Daemon and David.  I’d like for you both to stay outside or in the recreation area while we bring Annie in to get her settled.   The only person she has requested to see at this point is Paige, but I’ll be sure to ask if she feels she’s at a point where she wants to see the two of you as well.”

“But Momma, she’s already seen David.  He went with me when I visited her at the hospital, “I protested.

Momma had her business face back on; the effects of the talk having disappeared completely.  “Now, Paige, you know the rules around here.  Nobody visits the women or children who live here unless I’ve been told that it’s okay with them.  I’m sure Annie will have no problem seeing the boys.  Dr. Carter advised that she’s made excellent progress and just needs some fine tuning at this point.  However, I’m sticking to my rule.”

I nodded my head in agreement.  “Okay, Momma, you’re right.”

“Now let’s go open those doors.  It’s rude to keep her and Dr. Carter waiting.

Chapter Ten

I stood back as Daddy swung open the large doors at the front of the Center.  Sunlight invaded the darkened foyer, backlighting Annie and Dr. Carter as they walked through.  Daddy reached out to grab a suitcase from Annie’s hands.   My breath caught as I was reminded of the day I watched Daemon and his mother enter through those doors.  Annie looked nothing like Daemon’s mother.  Her time in the mental facility had all but erased the physical marks of Chris’ attack.  I knew, however, that the emotional injuries were still very much present within her.

Once Daddy closed the doors, we led Annie to a small sitting and receiving area situated to the right of the foyer.  Momma and Daddy spoke quietly with Dr. Carter as Annie moved across the room to take a seat on one of the chairs.  I followed her across the room and sat down in the chair next to her.

“Hey, Annie.  Long time, no see.”  I smiled brightly at her, trying to convey my absolute joy at her arrival.

To my surprise, she returned the bright smile.  “Hey, Paige.  I’m so freaking happy to be here.  No offence to the place I was just at, but mental facilities are really depressing and creepy when you are no longer a basket case.”

I laughed and jumped up to give her a hug.  My hand came up to ruffle her hair.  “You’ll have to tell me all about it later.  I’m sure you probably heard or saw some strange shit there.”

Annie nodded in response just as Dr. Carter and my parents moved to join us.  “Now, Annie.  Don’t go telling Paige about all the patients at my facility…but if you happen to mention the exceptionally odd cases, just remember to keep their names private, okay?”  Dr. Carter beamed pridefully at Annie.

“Will do, Doc.”

We spoke as a group for about an hour and then Momma asked me to show Annie to her room.  I’d pulled some strings and convinced Momma to make sure Annie’s room was private, unless Annie decided later on that she preferred to have a roommate.   Normally the private room were reserved for women with children, but Momma conceded to allow Annie a private room as long as a mother and child didn’t arrive in need of it.

After walking Annie back to her room, I sat and watched as she put up the things I’d brought from the apartment.  I noticed that she’d continued wearing the dragonfly bracelet that I’d bought for her and my chest swelled with pride that she’d liked it.  It wasn’t much, but it was all I could do for her at the time.  Annie’s beautiful red hair was growing out and was just long enough to drop below her shoulder.  Sunlight shining in through the window danced along her hair causing the golds and reds to shimmer.  When Annie turned to look at me, I smiled to see her beautiful green eyes sparkling back at me once again.

“So, Momma was going to ask, but I might as well while we are sitting here.  Would you mind seeing Daemon and David?  They are in the recreation area or the backyard and I’m sure they would love to see you.”

Annie smiled.  “Of course, I want to see David.  Are you kidding me?!  The man is a walking ray of sunshine...well, that or a court jester.  I haven’t made a decision on that one yet.”

I laughed at Annie’s levity.  She really had made progress and the girl I knew and loved was seemingly back.  As Annie put away her clothes, her brows furrowed as she frowned.  “Paige, could you do me a favor?”  She turned to me with a few of her shirts in hand.

My eyebrows raised up.  “Sure, Annie.  What’s up?”

She handed me the shirts and then turned to grab some other items to give to me.  “Would you get rid of those clothes?  I don’t really need much while I’m here, but once I get out, I’m going to need to go shopping for a new wardrobe.” 

I looked down at the clothes she’d handed me.  Most of them were practically new, having been purchased shortly before the attack.  “Yeah, no problem, Annie, but if you don’t mind my asking, why do you want me to get rid of these.”

Annie looked hesitant to respond.  “Because I want to start dressing more conservatively.  Those clothes are way too revealing and it attracted the wrong kind of attention to me.  I’m starting over, Paige.  I need to start over.  So the first place I’m going to do that is my appearance.”

“Annie, you can dress however you want.  What happened wasn’t in any way your fault.  Your choice in clothes can’t be blamed for the actions of another person.”

She smiled.  “I know that, Paige.  I don’t in any way blame myself for what was done to me.  That was the act of a depraved person.  I’m going to move past that, Paige.  I have to; but I also need to work on other problems I have as well.  I believed a lot of stupid things about myself before…you know…before.  I had a lot of time to think while I was at Dr. Carter’s facility.  The counseling sessions helped me figure a lot out about myself as well.  I didn’t respect myself enough.  That’s why I kept going for the same types of men and it’s also the reason I put up with their disrespect.  I want to change my life, Paige.  I don’t want to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.  I wasn’t happy, not truly anyways.  I deserve so much more than what I was getting. I deserve everything I dreamed about as a child; a loving husband, kids, a white picket fence, the whole thing.  My former beliefs prevented me from finding that, and I’ll be damned to fall back into the same pattern.  Things are going to get better and I’m sure that with your mom’s help, and yours, I’ll walk out of this place with my head held high and I won’t take shit from anybody ever again.”  She paused briefly and smiled.  “I’m excited, Paige.  For once, I’m really excited about my future.  It sucks that it took…well, that I had to go through the things that I did, but for once, I have something to really look forward to.”  She nudged me with her shoulder.  “Who knows, maybe I’ll even give the big and bad Paige a run for her money on who can be the toughest chick.”

I couldn’t contain my smile.  “Annie, you already are giving me a run for my money.  Hell, I think you’ve surpassed me as the toughest chick.   I can’t believe how well you’ve pulled through all of this.  It’s amazing.  You’re amazing.”

When she winked at me, I couldn’t help but laugh.  I loved Annie to death, and I was looking forward to meeting the new and improved version of herself I knew she would become.  I also understood that she would need a lot of guidance, but I couldn’t have been more proud of her for her strength and perseverance.  She made me proud.   I hated that it took something so dramatic to finally make her see the error in her ways.  However, I couldn’t be more happy to know that from here on out, she would be a stronger woman.  When Logan suddenly popped into my thoughts, I chanced asking her about him.

“So, Logan is still wanting to eventually see you again, Annie.  He knows it won’t be anything more than as friends, but in the short amount of time he knew you, he grew to care about you immensely.”

She flopped down next to me on the bed.  She kept her eyes trained on the bracelet she was spinning around her wrist.  “Logan was a really good guy, Paige.  I liked him a lot; but I don’t know that he wouldn’t end up disappointed with me if I did agree to speak to him or see him again.  I’m far, FAR, from ready to even think about dating, and I’d hate to hurt him by refusing anything other than friendship.  I’d feel like I was leading him on if I started talking to him.  I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. Plus, I still have nightmares…and panic attacks.   I…I’m not ready for anything more right now.”

I nodded my head in understanding.  I knew that Logan cared for Annie as a friend, but I wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t end up hurting him to be kept at arm’s length by her.  “Tell you what.  Why don’t I talk to him and let him know how you feel?  If he can handle just being friends, I think it might be good for you, Annie.  You can use all the friends you can get right now and Logan is an awesome guy.”

Her eyes came up to meet mine.  “Sounds good, Paige, but it will take some time.  Let me get adjusted here and if he still wants my friendship, I’d be happy to talk to him on the phone at some point.  I know I need to regain my life and I have every intention to do just that.  Dr. Carter said it was okay, and maybe even better for me to do so in small increments.  Baby steps, you know?”

I reached out and squeezed her hand in agreement.  “Of course, Annie.  Whatever it takes to put things back together for you.  You just let me know when you are ready and I’ll give him the number to The Center so he can reach you.”  She smiled in response.

We sat silently after having finished conversing about that difficult topic.  Annie eventually let out a long breath and turned to me to ask, “So, Daemon’s here?  Things must be going pretty good between you two.  What’s it been, a few months?  Tell me what’s going on.”

I smiled brightly, causing Annie to gasp.  “That good, huh?  Geez, Paige.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face light up like that over a guy.  He must be something special.”

“You have no idea, Annie.  Well, first I guess I should tell you some background information before you hear about it when we go back out there. Ummm…so Daemon is actually Buddy.”  I peeked up at her from under my lashes hoping she would remember the stories I’d told her about my childhood.  As soon as I caught sight of her eyes, recognition came over her face.

“Holy shit!  You mean Buddy from here?  The kid whose mom was killed?”

“Yep.  The very one.  There’s a long story behind it and why he didn’t immediately tell me when we first started seeing each other, but I couldn’t be happier to have him back in my life.”

Annie giggled.  “I should have known.  Well, I mean, there was no way that any of us would have guessed that, but I remember the way he looked at you that night in our apartment.”  She paused momentarily, but continued when she saw the questioning expression on my face.  “When he came over the night your bike was trashed, he looked at you like there was nothing else that mattered in the world.  I was confused, honestly, considering everything was so new between the two of you.  However, now that you mention his background, I completely understand it.  Wow, Paige.  Talk about ‘meant to be’, I think you two should be the poster children for that phrase.”

I felt my cheeks heat as she spoke.  “I know, Annie.  I think I’m in love with him, but not just because of the fact that he’s Buddy.  He’s amazing.  He puts up with my shit, he takes care of me, and I’ll admit this…he’s the first guy to ever really be able to put me in my place.  For some odd reason, that means something to me.”

Annie’s eyes widened at my confession.  “Crap, Paige.  Do you think you’ll end up marrying him?”

“He wants to.  Well, he hasn’t asked me officially or anything, but he’s mentioned the desire to do so in the future.  I don’t know.  It feels weird to think of me as a wife.  What if he wants kids?!  I’m not sure I’d be a great mom.”

Her arm came up around my shoulder as she pulled me against her.  “Oh, whatever.  I’ve never seen you fail at anything you set your mind to do…”

I cringed.  She had obviously missed a lot of my most recent fuck ups due to being in the mental facility.

“…Paige, I have no doubt that you would be the best mother.  Those kids would have to walk a tight line, I’m sure of that, but you are extremely loving and affectionate when you want to be.  Plus, look who you had as examples.  Your parents are fabulous.  I can’t think of a better set of parents than yours.”

Yep…she missed a lot.  I opened my mouth to tell her the role my parents had played in Buddy’s absence from my life, but reconsidered after looking at how her face shown with happiness.  I didn’t want to burst her bubble with unhappy thoughts, so I just smiled and went along with what she was saying.

“No doubt, Annie.  Well, it’s getting late and we’ll need to be going soon.  Do you want to go out now and say ‘hello’ to everyone?”

Annie stood up and reached down to pull me up alongside her.  “Let’s do this, Paige.  I haven’t been more ready for anything.  From here on out, things are going to change.”

I squeezed her hand and we made our way out into the recreation area.  David and Daemon were nowhere to be seen so I led Annie out to the backyard in search of the boys.  When we stepped outside my eyes immediately caught sight of the two of them.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

“Dammit, David, hold still so I can’t get you out of the mud!”  Daemon’s booming voice echoed throughout the back yard.  Leaving Annie on the veranda, I ran out to assist Daemon in freeing David.  When I approached, David looked over at me and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t say it, Paige.  All I can tell you is I’m never, NEVER, walking around back here again.  I have no idea how you and Daemon didn’t go missing when you were kids.  I swear to all things high and mighty that this backyard is a death trap waiting to happen!”