The Neverending Hangover

Chapter Thirty-Six

I assured her she had never been anything but generous and forgiving, but she simply cried until she threw up again, and I had to get her stomach and her emotions back on track.

She was about three months along now, and I thought her chest looked huge but otherwise she was as slim and athletic as ever. No one could tell she was pregnant if they didn't already know.

All day, it seemed like anytime we interacted, either she was crying and I was comforting her, or I was struggling physically and she was taking care of me. What a pair of hot messes we were. I did show her the band pages Tommy had created across multiple media platforms, and she watched quite a few of our videos. She said she loved our band's songs.

Steve arrived home at quarter after five and we had supper waiting. We ate together and told him I wanted to visit Brad after we were done. He readily agreed.

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Brad was fine. He didn't enjoy being in jail but it wasn't so bad. He knew bail was coming and he had learned how to pass the time when he was in prison. He was thankful Jay was dead, and honestly wouldn't care if he did end up back in prison, as long as it was for killing him. The threat was gone and Paige was safe, which was all that really mattered.

He did miss her, though, and his heart was troubled about that look she had exchanged with Rev. She was so strange when she was with that man. She blindly did everything he told her and she allowed her perspective to be twisted by him until she wasn't even thinking for herself. It wasn't until Tennessee that she really came around and started acting like herself again.

Is she in love with Rev?, was the disturbing thought which kept floating around in his head. Brad was never one to avoid conflict or hard things, but this was hard. It wounded him to the very depth of his soul to think about, but he had to. He realized that if Paige were in love with Rev, that would explain everything about her behavior. As disturbing as that thought was, what Brad found more disturbing was that he was pretty confident Rev was in love with her. His face told him so, and thinking back on their interactions over the past couple months, it pretty much confirmed it.

And they were staying alone together at some safe house she wouldn't tell me about. Twice.

That thought literally made him feel physically ill. Had something happened between them? He couldn't fathom Paige cheating on him, but he guessed it wouldn't bother Rev, and since his influence on her was so impactful, Brad had to believe it was a possibility.

Fuck.

They had spent a lot of time together over the past couple months, most of it alone. Brad's gut was telling him that the possibility of something happening was very, very possible, as much as he wanted to give Paige the benefit of the doubt.

Scott had come to meet with him, and told him they were going to definitely take the approach of third party self defense for him. Scott's take on his perspective was exactly what Rev said. He knew Jay and Paige's history, and he knew Jay had kidnapped her, so when he saw her vehicle, he shot Jay as soon as he opened the door (he had), without pausing to consider any other factors.  He believed Paige's life was in danger, and it definitely had been. Also, because of Jay's pending charges, Scott was pretty confident that no one would care to pursue anything against Brad.

In the evening, he was called up for another visitor, and he automatically knew it was Paige.

He approached the plexiglass with a smile and sat across from her. The right side of her cheekbone was bruised and her right arm was still in the sling. Her hair was in a low, loose braid which he guessed someone had done for her. She had dark circles under her eyes but overall she looked okay. He had definitely seen her worse.