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Right Where We Left Off

Chapter 21

Paige woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. The shades were drawn, blocking the bright morning sun, the hum of the air conditioner had just clicked on and there was a big tattooed arm wrapped tightly around her. Careful not to wake the man sleeping behind her, she gently turned around in his arms so she could face him. While he was sleeping, Randy looked like the picture of peaceful. His blue eyes were covered with his sleepy eyelids and his mouth was slightly open. Her eyes trailed down his body and stopped at the hand now on her hip. She smiled as she intertwined her fingers with his. She was surprised when she felt him squeeze her hand. Her eyes found his face again, this time he was awake, his eyes open and a smile gracing his lips.

"Morning," He said before leaning forward to kiss her lips.

She sighed in content when they separated. "That's a nice way to wake up." He moaned his agreement as his lips found her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed and her hand navigated its way up to rest on his neck.

"John doesn't have anything today so I'm free. Do you have anything?" She asked hopefully. She would love nothing more than to spend the day in bed with Randy.

Randy groaned and brought his face up to look at Paige. "Unfortunately I do. I think, one o'clock is my radio appearance." He said and they both turned to look at the clock behind them. Randy scrambled out of bed and started getting dressed when he saw that it was 12:30. Paige propped herself up on her elbows as she watched him hurriedly get ready.

"Sorry babe, I gotta go shower and change before I head over there, I gotta go." He leaned down and placed a couple pecks on her lips.

"Call me when you're done." She whispered against his lips.

He smiled at her and nodded. "You got it." He said before he left in a hurry to get to his room and into the shower.

After Paige took a shower of her own, she put on some sweats and a tank top. She had already sent John a text, telling him he was free for the day. He should be happy about that, she thought bitterly, it will give him more time with his girlfriend.

She called Dave to see what he was up to. He too had a day full of appearances, as did the handful of divas she called. She let out a sigh of frustration. She wanted to take advantage of her day off, not sit in the hotel room bored.

When there was a knock on the door a few minutes later, she jumped up, hoping it was someone that was available. She opened the door and her hopeful smile turned to a frown. It was John. She let out an annoyed sigh and leaned against the door, in an unwelcome stance. "Didn't you get my text? You don't have anything scheduled today."

John cringed. Ok, so she was mad. "I, uh…" He scratched the back of his neck. "kinda wanted to talk."

She narrowed her eyes and avoided eye contact for a minute before rolling her eyes and walking into the room, allowing him inside. He quickly walked into the room before it closed in his face and shut the door behind him. He made his way across the room and sat next to her on the couch.

"So, you, uh, switched rooms?" He asked first, wanting to slowly lead into talking about Carla.

She nodded. "Yeah, I thought it was about time I let you have your space."

"You didn't have to do that. I really like sharing a room with you." John said softly.

Paige shook her head and looked at him with raised eyebrows and wore an unconvinced expression. "Yeah, well I don't think your girlfriend would feel the same way."

John closed his eyes tightly. "Yeah, about that…" He trailed off.

"When were you going to tell me you had a girlfriend John?" She asked suddenly.

"Soon! I was going to tell you soon. I just…I didn't know how to say it."

She looked at him dumbly and stood up. "How about 'Paige, I have a girlfriend.'? Seems simple enough to me."

John stood up too. "It wasn't that easy. I don't know, I just…I wanted us to be friends again and was worried if you knew I had a girlfriend you would…I don't know want to keep it professional and not want to be friends again."

She snorted. "That is ridiculous."

"No, it's not!" John exclaimed, defending himself. "It may sound stupid but if you knew I had a girlfriend, would you really have spent so much time with me outside of work? Would you have honestly opened up so we could be friends again?"

"Yeah I would."

"No," He disagreed. "I don't think you would."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever John. And what do you have to say about not telling her about me?"

He sighed. "Carla and I…We've been having some problems lately." He sat down and spoke in a gentler tone. "If you knew Carla, then you would understand why I would want to keep this from her. When I tell her, she's going to freak out. She's going to think that just because you are my ex girlfriend that there is something between us. She won't listen to a thing I have to say and she's going to expect me to fire you." Paige looked a bit surprised. True, looking at Carla for the first time, she had a feeling she was a bit tense and not very understanding but still, forcing your boyfriend to fire his assistant just because they have a history? That's a bit extreme and more than a tad controlling.

"I'm sorry John." She said feeling bad for him. "But you should have just told me, I could have helped you figure this out." Thinking that John hired her, even though he knew this would make his already rocky relationship with his girlfriend even rockier, put a smile on her face. But even with this information, it still hurt her that he didn't tell her about Carla, and she couldn't forgive him yet.

"I know," John agreed before letting out a sigh and looking Paige in the eye. "Paige, I know I screwed up and I'm sorry. But you know me, I try to make everyone happy and sometimes go about it the wrong way. It's what makes me my mothers son." Paige smiled at him, knowing this was true. "I know you can't forgive me yet and I understand but hopefully one day you'll see where I was coming from and give me another chance."

"And I hope that one day you'll trust me enough to tell me about your personal life." She couldn't help but fire back. She saw John cringe and continued. "It really hurts that you didn't feel comfortable enough to tell me about her and that's something you need to work on before we can go forward in this friendship."

John nodded. "I know,"

"And for now, it's just going to be professional between us. It's got to be, at least until I can forgive you."

John shook his head, not thinking that was necessary. "Paige, that's just you trying to push me away."

"No John, me pushing you away is quitting and going back to Boston." John didn't say anything; he didn't agree with this but he didn't want to fight about it. "So maybe now would be a good time for you to leave and go talk to Carla." To be honest, Carla was the last thing on his mind. Right now he just wanted to focus on repairing his relationship with Paige. But he knew Paige was right and he had to go break the news to Carla.

After knocking on the hotel room door for the fourth time, John was about ready to count his lucky stars and go to his hotel room, when the door opened to reveal an always professionally dressed Carla. "Hey babe, what's up?" She asked, opening the door wide for John to enter before closing the door and kissing his cheek.

John set his lips in a straight line and sat down on the couch. "Uh, I think we need to talk."

Carla hesitantly sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. There's just…something I need to tell you."

Carla was silent for a few moments. "John, you didn't cheat on me did you?"

John shook his head with wrinkled brows. "No, of course not." He took his hand from hers and rubbed both his hands on his knees. "Um, so remember I told you I found a new personal assistant?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I still need to meet him, by the way."

John cringed. "Well see that's the thing," He began but was interrupted.

"Oh no John, you didn't fire him already did you?"

He rolled his eyes at her predictable way of always blaming him and expecting the worst from him. "No, but he, is a she."

She pursed her lips in annoyance. "John, I thought we talked about this. I don't feel comfortable with you have a female assistant. It's too intimate." He resisted pointing out that she assisted Randy in the same intimate way she disliked him in participating.

"There's more." He interrupted her rant, stopping her actions. She blinked at him with a tiny, unamused smirk gracing her lips.

"Excuse me?" She questioned, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Well see, she's not just any girl. Her name is Paige and she is my ex girlfriend." He said avoiding eye contact, not really in the mood to be on the receiving end of her death glares.

Her eye brows shot way up and her nose flared in anger. "You hired your ex girlfriend?" John nodded, finally taking a chance and facing her. "Why would you do that? You know that I am already uncomfortable with you having a female assistant. But added on top of that…you used to date her?" She stood up, shaking her head. "You are unbelievable! And so inconsiderate. Did you even stop for a second to think how I would feel about this?"

Though John knew he was in the dog house, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "No, I didn't. For once I wasn't thinking about what would make you happy, I was helping her out. She didn't have a job and she has experience in this area."

She laughed, thought it wasn't an amused laugh. "Ha! John you are so gullible! Even if she does have experience, she would eventually find a job. I'm sure she didn't need you're help."

"No, she didn't need my help but she's my friend and I'm not going to make her struggle to find a job in the same field that I need a position filled. And don't you go thinking she just took the job to meet superstars and get money; she didn't even want to take the job in the beginning."

She licked her lips in anger and was silent. "How long did you two date anyways?"

John sighed. He knew this was coming. "Almost 4 years." He said softly.

Carla's eyes widened. "Four years?! Four years! You date this girl for four years, hire her as your assistant and you expect me to be ok with you working with an ex you dated for four years? That's a pretty serious relationship John."

"Of course I didn't expect you to be ok with it, you're never ok with anything I do!" John yelled, beyond frustrated.

She glared at him, putting her hands on his hips. "That's not true and you know it. Do not accuse me of things that aren't true."

"It is true Carla, it's so true it's scary."

"John, this is not ok. You will fire her." Carla demanded in a low tone.

John grinned. "Excuse me? I'm not firing her."

"Yes you are. If I mean anything to you, you will fire her."

"Oh please Carla, don't throw that into this. I'm not firing her so you better just get used to it." Carla and John just glared at each other before she reached her hand out to slap John. John was too fast though and grabbed her wrist before her hand could make contact with his face. He gently threw her arm back at her and left the room, shaking his head the whole way out.