#paige ... threads

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iMessage 💬 pos from poker

PAIGE: so, by YOUR mistake, i found out what car you drive PAIGE: thought i should let you know you have a flat tire PAIGE: good luck, shit stain

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iMessage 💬 maverick

approximately 1:15am

PAIGE: hey PAIGE: i'm sorry i need you

five minutes pass

PAIGE: i know it's after 1am but idk what to do PAIGE: my face is bloody and i just need some help. i'm not strong enough to hold him back

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iMessage 💬 miriam (pretty vet lady)

approximately 2:45am

PAIGE: does it bother you that giraffes have no fucking shelter in storms because they're too tall?? 😭 PAIGE: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUkZ_iiiIrs/

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FROM: paige beckett <[email protected]> TO: alice brenner <[email protected]> OOO forwarding to author SUBJECT: muted chaos by kenneth sorkin THOUGHTS/QUESTIONS?!?

hi, so i just finished this book and...what the fuck?!

okay, let me back up, please know i really enjoyed this. it was beautifully written and i really connected with the characters. there was an ache about them that was familiar and relatable to me. maybe even haunting. well, lets just say it made me feel lonely. or to understand just how lonely i am. that's not the point. i liked the book and i googled and am gonna get the second book but

i'm a storyteller myself. err well i used to be??? idk anymore. but this went so heavy into the character dev that it seems like there was no overall plot arch?? i mean shouldn't the story move? i feel like i got intricate details of the characters, their thoughts, their feelings, even their relationships but where's it all going?

now that i'm invested i wanna see where the characters are going, you know??

p.b.

[ paige believed she clicked 'save as draft' so that she could edit and rewrite the email more professionally when it's not in the middle of the night and she's not emotional over a book she just finished. as she closed her laptop she missed the notification that said 'email sent' ]

sent 2: 47am

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closed starter ... elliott archer sedona public library @nextchaptcrs

shamefully, paige couldn't remember the last time she was in a library. she loved books, enjoyed stories so much she'd tried to make a career out of telling them, but when she was in the market for a new book she usually hit up the bookstore. having already tried the nook paige had crossed her fingers upon stepping foot amongst all the stacks that held countless pages of infamous words that she'd be able to get a copy of pop pop's comfort novel.

walking the aisle of fiction and looking for the author alphabetically, nothing. there actually happened to be a section dedicated to historical fiction so paige tried there next. no dice. frustration began to bloom at her temples, her fingers rubbed at the the tension as she continued to meander up and down rows of books. maybe the book would jump out at her or she'd get lucky and cross a librarian or clerk that worked there and could give her a hand. the thing was, paige couldn't go home empty handed. pop pop had been especially agitated and something about those familiar words he'd read time and time again settled him. arms still tender from the fresh bruises and ass sore from landing on her tailbone, paige really couldn't take him being even more upset.

"hey, what's goin' on in this town?" only having seen most of an arm and part of a leg between stacks, she spoke as she approached because there was a book cart next to them and she'd witnessed the ministrations of filing books onto a shelf. this person had to work here. "y'all ban hemingway or somethin'? or have ya got some asshole hoarding all the books and all the copies?" with a paperback she'd found for herself clutched at her side paige stopped about six feet away. "listen, i can't go home empty handed or pop pop's gonna have a fit and i'm fuckin' tired, alright?"

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iMessage 💬 pos from poker

3 days later

PAIGE: so, it was me. yeah whatever you already fuckin knew. but since my reaction was psycho and over the top 🙄 i paid for your new tires. PAIGE: idk if you'd been wondering who'd picked up the bill since you'd collected your car but yeah PAIGE: whenever you're at the casino don't come to my table PAIGE: just leave me the fuck alone

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closed starter ... maverick malone outside of desert diamond casino @nevermindcrs

"oh, hey, there ya are, good lookin'," paige greeted when she'd come across maverick waiting near the employee exit of the casino. "i was told there was some hot guy loiterin' around out here so of course i had to rush out," she continued to tease, the smile on her face immediate the second she had him in view and not going away anytime soon. the blonde had gotten used to her cheeks hurting in his presence. "been thinkin' about ya all night," she easily confessed upon closing the distance between them, "and that ass of course." her arms went around his neck, hugging the firefighter a little but mostly pressing herself to him as she went in for a kiss.

it'd been usual for them to talk after her shifts and when she was walking home, and finally their schedules allowed for maverick to tell her it wouldn't be a phone call tonight, he'd be here in person and she felt giddy by his presence. in fact since that night where everything had changed between them they'd been in a lot more contact. daily, actually. but it was more than their usual flow friends, something they'd built up over three years, and now that they'd opened up the affection she couldn't put it back in the bottle and didn't want to. paige craved kissing him, touching him, flirting with him, and it was weird how none of it felt weird. the only thing she wasn't sure of was if he was feeling anything of the same.

with her hand slipping into his, another smile curled her lips as she peered up into his beautiful, sparkling blue eyes. "ya ready?" taking a step away she tugged on him gently. the blonde wanted to leave work behind just enjoy his company alone on the way to her home in red ridge heights. "i know we chatted about it a bit in the phone," meaning their texts, "but how was your day?" in the back of her mind she was wondering if he could stay the night with her. she was always trying to prolong her time with him but she was also a little shy of outright asking maverick.

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closed starter ... miriam morales paige's home in red ridge heights @nevermindcrs

"how's anyone supposed to make any damn fuckin' sense outta this?" frustration had paige leaning forward and dropping her head into her hands where they sat at the dining table off from the kitchen with her pop pop's insurance paperwork spread out. miriam had maybe arrived at her home some twenty to twenty-five minutes prior and they'd really only been sifting through things for little more than ten minutes.

there were two cold modelos on the table and her grandfather was outside doing his little gardening in the setting light. "i swear to fuck whoever aspires to be a cocksucking insurance person is fully a demon. who actually wants to do this shit?" the money argument wouldn't work on paige, this was absolutely soulless work in her opinion. "why's it so fuckin' hard to get some decent care?" then after a beat, "and costs a shit ton fortune."

when her phone buzzed with a text, vibrating on the table, the blonde checked it and seeing it was the firefighter she replied and then set her device back aside. "should we take a break and eat? i'm starvin'." from mir she hadn't tried to hide the now fading bruises and had told her what had happened a couple of days later from the incident. partially in needing to vent but also so that whenever they saw each other miriam wouldn't freak out.