Chapter 9

*Trigger warning: Depictions of physical abuse*

They walked a few miles and found a motel. Paige checked in and obtained two rooms. They were next to each other. She paid cash. She got the keys and passed one to Carrie.

"Paige, honey, before you get settled in for the night, let's have a talk, okay?" Carrie said.

Paige nodded and let Carrie follow her into her room. It was a cheap motel, but it was inside and the room had two beds and a bathroom. She sat on one bed and Carrie sat on the other, facing her.

"Paige, I don't know how you got in this predicament, but I can tell by looking at you that you ain't cut out for this. This is a hard life that you're choosing. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Paige said in a small voice. Her head hung down and she stared at a patch in the carpet in front of her.

"If you can go back home, you should, honey. You don't deserve a life like this," Carrie said, attempting to look into her eyes.

"I can't," Paige whispered, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes at any minute.

"I'm sure whatever it is can be moved past, honey," Carrie said in an attempt to reassure Paige.

Paige started crying and hugged her knees to her chest. "If I go back, I'll die," Paige sobbed.

Carrie moved over to Paige and touched her back, but Paige jerked away immediately, causing her to lose her balance and fall on the floor. Paige hissed in pain. Carrie knelt down and had concern on her face.

"Paige, are you hurt? From this fall or something else?"

Paige just cried. Her memories of what transpired before she ran away resurfaced and she was breaking down.

"Paige, honey, can I see your back? I promise I just want to see if you're hurt," Carrie said as gently as she could.

Paige nodded, still crying and sat up with another hiss. She got back on the bed with a great deal of effort. She didn't know why she trusted Carrie, but a part of it was probably her saving her earlier in the night. Part of it was because she had no one in this world and she wanted someone to care about her. She removed her jacket and lifted her shirt to expose her back. Carrie gasped. There were black and purple horizontal lines, spaced out about 6 inches, across Paige's back. Carrie also noticed Paige's left side had a huge purple, red and black bruise across her rib cage. Carrie looked closely and she could see old scars and bruises, too.

"Paige, honey, have you seen a doctor about this? You might have broken ribs!" Carrie said, the shock and concern in her voice evident.

Paige hurriedly pulled her shirt down. She wiped her tears and shook her head. "I can't. They'll find me if I see someone about it," Paige whispered.

"Honey, they have a program for homeless that's free at this clinic. We'll go. They have paper records. You can't hack a piece of paper," Carrie said confidently.

"They might record it in a database later," Paige countered.

"We'll fib a little about your age and they won't be super descriptive in the note. They understand safety." Carrie was confident and Paige felt somewhat reassured.

"Ok, we'll go on one condition," Paige said.

"What's that, honey?" Carrie asked.

"I'm going to enroll in college and get an apartment. I think you and I both need a fresh start. Be my roommate?" Paige asked, hopefully.

"Paige, why do you want an old lady like me as a roommate? I ain't no fun," Carrie said with a laugh.

"I trust you. You're kind and are helping me for no reason. You also know where things are in this town. I think we can help each other," Paige said with a small smile.

Carrie laughed. "Alright, we'll help each other, honey. As long as you go to the doctor, I'll stick around as long as you want."

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Present Day

Paige arrived at her apartment. She left the paperwork for her presentation in her car, locking it in the glove compartment. She walked up the stairs to her door and unlocked it, entering her home and locking the door behind her.

The apartment was neat and tidy. She had the necessary furniture to make it look lived in, but there were no personal touches or decorations. A passerby would not be aware of who lived here if they were going through her things.

She went to her closet and looked at her clothes. She still didn't know what to wear. Her phone buzzed, letting her know she had a message. She unlocked it and looked at the screen. Looking at the picture, there were two outfits hanging on hangers. They were hanging in a closet, but facing her rather than hanging normally. The first outfit was a suit. The second outfit was jeans and a dress shirt. But, looking more closely at the photograph, Paige saw that there was a mirror in between the two outfits that was reflecting the flash of the phone camera. She clicked on the picture and zoomed in, and then gasped and almost dropped her phone.

In the mirror, she could see a naked man with a towel wrapped around his waist. She couldn't see his face because of the flash, but she saw the outline of his abs and the v that was dipping down into his towel-covered waist. Paige swallowed hard and read the message underneath: outfit 1 (left) or outfit 2 (right)?

Paige wondered if he knew that she could see his almost naked body in the picture. If he did know, then Paige was in dangerous territory. If he didn't, well, he didn't have common sense in Paige's eyes. But, Paige didn't think it was possible for Nathaniel Donovan to make a move without it being calculated. She decided to pretend she didn't notice and sent her reply.

She grabbed a pair of jeans, a black turtleneck sweater and a pair of black heels. She also grabbed a blue blazer with a black etching of flowers on it. She hurriedly stripped and put on the outfit. She looked in the mirror and approved. She opted against changing her hair or doing anything different with her makeup. She did put on a nude long lasting lipstick, though. She felt ready.

Paige looked at her phone and realized that she needed to leave in a few minutes. She changed her purse into a small black clutch and was ready to go. She exited her apartment and locked up before getting back into her car.