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enough to hastily turn away, only to come face to face with a sight that was much, much worse. A mere two tables away, Guy lounged in a booth that looked remarkably similar to the one she herself occupied.
         Both sported worn leather and chipped table tops and were so identical they might as well have been the same booth. Only they weren’t the same, and the girl draped over Guy’s lap wasn’t her. Paige felt her heart break all over again as she stared, transfixed, at the sig ht of the boy she had once given pieces of herself to and his new date.
         How many did this make, her bruised heart demanded. Four? Five? She didn’t know but it didn’t really matter. Watching him with someone new tore at her , period. How could he sit there and look so…normal. Why wasn’t he hurting like she was? But most of all, how could he be kissing someone new while she was steeped in so much misery she feared she would drown in it? Paige doubted she would ever get over him, and he had forgotten all about her, from the word go. How dare he?
         Betrayal warred with hurt, and Paige reeled from the uncharacteristic urge to scream. She wanted to yell and rage and throw things at him. She wanted in that moment to hurt him like he had hurt her, except…she had told him she was seeing someone else. The lie tasted every bit as bitter now as it had that night.
         The air that swirled around her grew thick, the whir of the dusty ceiling fan above her head was too loud. Oh God she had to get out before she did something stupid like make a scene or worse, broke down in tears, which was I imminent, whether she bolted or stayed put.
         She gathered her purse and scrambled clumsily from the booth, making a bee line for the grimy plate glass doors, eager to put the cigarette smoke and honkey tonk music and things she couldn’t take seeing, behind her.
         “Hey Paige!”
         “Oh Lord no.” S he prayed, frantically swabbing at her eyes with her fingers. Maybe if she didn’t turn around, didn’t acknowledge him, he would think she was someone else and he would turn around and leave her alone. Oh, how badly she wished she was someone else, anyone else, but Paige Frey, daughter of a criminal, the girl who tried her best to survive; she had suffered alone more times than she cared to count. But she wasn’t someone else and when Guy’s hand settled on her shoulder and spun her around, she got the hint that he wasn’t going anywhere.
         “Stop already-didn’t you hear me calling you? Hey,” He frowned, “Are you crying? Paige?” His eyes were full of questions that she no longer had answers for.
     “No.”
         “Yes you are.” He groaned.
         “Just leave me alone, okay?” She pulled her arm from his grasp and dropped her watery gaze to the slick pavement. It had rained while she’d been inside sipping cola and watching the love of her life paw all over someone else. A fresh wave of tears threatened to overflow.
         “Please don’t do that.”
         “What do you care?”
         “I care.” He insisted, wrapping his arms around her, one hand winding around thick strands of dark hair and pressing her head to his t-shirt clad shoulder.
         “Then why-“ she started, quickly pressing together lips that tasted like salt before she could finish the humiliating query that was probably none of her business in the first place. Not now anyway.
         “H ey, you broke it off with me,” He gently reminded her, wiping at her cheek with the pad of one thumb.
         “I guess I did.” She swallowed, stiffening in his hold.
         “So what is this about? What are you trying to tell me?” His breath warmed her cheek and she shoved away from him, suddenly alarmed that he meant to kiss her and fearing very much that she would be ill if he did.
         “I am not trying to tell you anything. Let me go.”
         “Paige-“