Author's note: Happy Scorpion Monday! Sorry about not posting last week. My schedule got totally thrown out of whack by several factors (like the small glimpse of what it's going to be like when my husband retires). Hopefully I'm back on track, but as always, I make no promises.

CHAPTER TWENTY

He didn't have time to process her threat as her mouth descended upon his, all thoughts of Paige or anything else driven from his head as the blonde's tongue thrust its way between his lips.

Oh. Hell. No.

It took every ounce of self-control Paige possessed not to march over to the kissing couple and yank Zalina away from Walter by her bleached blonde hair. Maybe knock a couple of teeth down the Russian bimbo's throat while she was at it.

As for Walter. . . She couldn't see his face, the backup singer's big stupid head was blocking her view. But she could see his hands tighten their grip on the other woman's bony hips, watched as his fingers slid downward toward her ass. . .

Rage flowed through her and she took a step toward them, coming to an immediate halt as the pair separated. Zalina murmured something she couldn't catch into Walter's ear before snatching up her bag and walking off, allowing Paige to glimpse his face. It certainly looked like he'd been enjoying himself. His eyes were glazed and an odd smirk graced his mouth.

Then his whole body shuddered and he darted toward the nearest exit. Paige glanced from side to side, determined no one was paying attention to her before hurrying after him. She arrived in time to see him empty the contents of his stomach next to a dumpster.

"Oh, God, Walter, are you all right?" She reached out and touched his shoulder, causing him to flinch violently away. Clutching his abdomen with one hand, he braced the other against the concrete wall of the venue. His raspy breathing filled the air.

He shook his head. "P-Paige, I'm. . .I'm s-sorry. . ."

"It's not your fault," she said, her earlier anger dissipating. "Walter. . ."

"She knows." He swiped the back of his hand over his mouth as he straightened, keeping his gaze aimed at the ground.

"Knows what?" Paige didn't like the fact he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"She said I h-have to. . .w-with her," he began, his voice shaking, "or she'll t-tell Yuri y-you didn't. . .you didn't w-with him."

"Oh, God." She felt as though she had been dropped into the middle of a nightmare. She'd convinced herself Zalina was just being a bitch, and had no idea whether or not Paige had slept with Yuri. Although, now that she thought about it, there had been an appalling lack of evidence. Just an unbuttoned shirt and an unzipped pair of leather trousers.

Pressing her hand to her forehead, she realized how stupid she'd been. Granted, it'd been awhile since she'd had sex, but now that she and Walter had. . . She'd been reminded sex left behind certain smells and sticky fluids, things a woman like Zalina would be an expert at detecting.

"I-I can't. . .I can't d-do it. . ." he was saying, still staring at his shoes.

"Of course not," she replied briskly, putting her hand on his arm. He didn't shrink away from her grasp this time, which she took as a sign of encouragement.. "Walter, I know you can't. I certainly don't want you to."

"But she's blackmailing you, us. . ." Finally, he lifted his head and she could see a swirl of emotions in his eyes; panic, fear, disgust. . .

Paige took a deep breath. There was no way Zalina was going to get her claws into Walter. She probably should be, but she wasn't afraid of Yuri finding out she'd tricked him. He would come out looking like the fool if the others found out he hadn't really slept with her. . .and why.

"Walter, you don't have to sleep with her," she declared, a grin growing on her face as her plan fell into place. "I need to talk to Toby. . .and then you and I need to put those condoms you bought to good use."

His expression was so puzzled, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She was about to explain what she meant when the door was flung wide, nearly hitting her.

"Dammit, noob. Where the fuck are you?" Akim's angry voice proceeded him outside.

Walter unceremoniously shoved Paige behind the opened door, knocking her a bit off balance as he hid her from the other man's view. With an apologetic glance, he stepped out so the head roadie could see him.

"S-Sorry," the genius said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I, uh, I wasn't feeling well." He vaguely waved his hand in the direction of the dumpster.

"I said to come back sober."

"You didn't say anything about being hungover."

Hostile silence hung in the air before Akim replied with his usual threat. "Get back to work, noob, or you're fired."

"You keep saying that, but I've yet to see you actually fire anyone." Walter knew as soon as the words left his mouth he should have kept the thought to himself. Paige's soft gasp seconded his opinion.

"Fuck you," said the head roadie. "You lucky we're shorthanded. Get back to work."

With that, he turned around and went inside the venue. Waiting until the door slammed behind the other man, Walter snuck a glance at Paige.

"Dammit, Walter," she began, and he could hear the annoyance in her tone. "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry." He stared down at his shoes. "I didn't mean. . . It's just he's always. . . But he's never. . ."

"That's still no reason to tempt fate." Paige sighed. "Okay, change of plans. . . I'll need to clone Nazar's phone now since we'll be. . .uh. . .busy. . . Later. . .during dinner break."

"Busy? Oh. . ." It finally dawned on him what she had in mind. Oh, boy.

"You better get back to work before Akim does decide to fire you," she said, winding her arms around his neck. "It'll be okay, Walter." She kissed him on the cheek. "I want this to be over as much as you do."

But that was the problem, he mused ten minutes later, peering up from the subwoofer he was repairing to observe Paige as she approached Nazar. He didn't want it to be over. . .not if it meant their relationship would be over as well. Because being in love with her was the one thing in his life he knew would never end.

ooooo

Paige walked as casually as she could toward the roadie Walter had pointed out to her. Nazar was a few inches shorter than the genius, with a much stockier build. His coloring was the same; dark hair, dark eyes, and he wasn't unpleasant to look at. But he was missing something, something which Walter had. The something that had made her fall head over heels in love with him.

The other man was fiddling around with a guitar when she stopped in front of him. According to Walter, Nazar was in charge of the band's instruments. Paige checked her watch as she turned on the cloning device, hoping the roadie had his phone with him, or else her little ruse was all for naught.

"Hey, Nazar, isn't it?" she asked a bit breathlessly. He grunted, not looking away from the tuning pegs he was adjusting. "Do you play?"

He glanced over at her then. "A little," he said, eyeing her with suspicion.

"Oh, I've always wanted to learn how to play," she gushed. "Maybe you could teach me a few chords."

"Sorry, I'm not suppose to play instruments, just tune them."

"Oh, please," she wheedled, "one little chord won't hur. . ."

"Hey, you. Paige." She turned her head to see Darby hustling toward her. "You need to practice new song one more time. You know where Zalina and Anya at?"

"No, I haven't seen them for awhile." She sidled closer to Nazar. "Maybe you can give me a private lesson later?" she purred in what she hoped was a seductive tone.

"Lesson in what?" the manager asked as he dabbed his forehead with a large white handkerchief.

"Oh, how to play the guitar," replied Paige, pointing to the instrument in the roadie's hands. She was sure the mindless smile on her face was an unflattering grimace, but neither man seemed to notice.

Darby let out a loud chuckle. "If you serious about learning to play, you should ask Alexei."

"Alexei? Who's Alexei?"

" Zhalo's guitarist." The portly manager jabbed a finger across the stage at a man with stringy long brown hair standing next to Yuri as the band members practiced their choreographed dance moves. "You not know this?"

"I'm just terrible with names," Paige said, bobbling her head like she was a ditzy starlet. "Silly me." Sneaking a peek at her watch, she saw the three minutes were up and Nazar's phone was cloned. Turning off the device was going to have to wait, however, as both men were staring at her.

Darby shook his head. "Come with me. We go find other girls."

"Okay," she readily agreed before glancing at the roadie. "Sorry to bother you."

Nazar just grunted again. With an inward sigh, Paige followed the manager in search of her fellow backup singers.

ooooo

"Oh, God, Walter." Paige collapsed on top of him as he groaned out his own release. The room was filled with nothing but the sound of their harsh breathing for several minutes

He moved first, pressing his lips against her neck. "I love you," he murmured, kissing her ear.

"I love you, too," she whispered back as he caressed his hands up and down her back.

"It, uh, it felt d-different," he said before adding, "n-not b-bad different, but different."

"And now you know why most guys don't like to wear condoms," she said with a chuckle. "Just tell yourself it's for the greater good."

"Greater good, huh?" He grinned mischievously, totally melting her heart into mush. Lifting her mouth, she mashed it onto his,

A knock rang out on the hotel room door. "Oh, crap," Paige said, rolling off of him and sliding out of the bed. "Quick, in the bathroom. And don't forget. . ." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of his groin.

Paige snatched up her robe as Walter dashed into the other room. Suppressing a smile as she caught a glimpse of his naked bum, she secured the belt before peeking through the viewing hole.

"Get in here," she said as she opened the door, yanking Toby inside before closing it again. "Did anyone see you come up here?" she asked as he stumbled over his own feet.

"Several people," he declared, regaining his balance. "It's not as though I'm invisible. Although that would be a cool superpower."

"You know what I mean."

"Not as far as I know," the shrink shrugged as he reached into his jacket and produced a small vial. "This must be the first time a guy roofies a woman so he doesn't have to have sex with her," he said with a smirk.

Paige just rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Toby." Taking the drug from him, she then tried to push him back toward the door. But he stood his ground, not budging an inch.

"Speaking of having sex," drawled the psychiatrist, looking her up and down then deliberately staring at the mussed up bed, "you look well ravished. Where's 197? Hiding in the bathroom?" He rose up onto his toes, attempting to peer over her shoulder.

"Dammit, Toby, it's none of your business." The last thing Walter needed right now was for the shrink to tease him. Narrowing her eyes, she glared at the other man until he held up his hands.

"Okay, okay." He took a step back. "Do you know where Happy is?"

"I haven't seen her since earlier this afternoon," Paige replied. "I think she went out with the rest of the roadies to get dinner."

Toby frowned. "With the other roadies? Does that include Akim?"

"I don't know. Probably."

"Shit."

"I thought you guys made up," she said.

"I thought we did, too." The shrink took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. "You and Wally need to stop screwing around, both figuratively and literally, and solve this case."

Heat rose on her cheeks and she ducked her head so the psychiatrist couldn't see her blush. It had be the newness of it all. It wasn't because she was embarrassed to be with Walter. She just wished it hadn't become common knowledge so quickly, although she should have expected it, considering there were few, if any, secrets in the garage.

She took a calming breath before replying. "It's not that simple, Toby. We can't just walk up to people and ask them if they're illegally arming a rebellion."

"I know that." The shrink shifted his gaze to the floor. "I'm worried about Happy. She's on a self-destructive path and this constant circus atmosphere you're all caught up in is like pouring gasoline on a fire."

"I'm sorry," she said with a nod. "But we're doing the best we can. Hopefully, we'll narrow down the suspects even more tonight."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Toby grinned impishly. "197's going to have his hands full from what I've heard. I mean really full." He made a gesture with his hands which raised Paige's ire.

"You're not helping," she snapped. The whole idea of Walter being alone with Zalina, let alone touching the blonde singer made her sick to her stomach.

"Sorry." The psychiatrist sighed. "Seriously, though, you don't have anything to be concerned about. You're it for him. He's never wanted anyone else like he wants you." A sad smile touched his lips. "I better leave you guys to it."

"Hey, it will be okay," she said, holding up the vial. "And thanks."

"No problema." Toby lifted his chin in acknowledgment as he exited the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Walter emerged fully clothed from the bathroom. "How much of that did you hear?" she asked, a little disappointed he'd gotten dressed.

"Most of it." Flicking his eyes between the floor and her face, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I'll be f-fine. What he said was true. I don't want anyone else but you."

Paige closed the space between them, sliding her arms up his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair. "It's not that I don't trust you. I do. It's her I can't trust." She touched her forehead to his. "We still have 50 minutes until sound check. We can. . ."

Paige had to stifle a giggle at how fast Walter whipped off his t-shirt.