Chapter 21
Quinn
“Are you guys having fun?”
Quinn gasped and spun away from the fridge, brandishing the bottle of wine he was about take to his room. He saw Eren’s startled face staring back at him, hands raised like he was prepared to defend himself if Quinn started swinging.
“Motherfucker,” he breathed, lowering the bottle and pressing a hand to his chest. “Eren, it’s almost midnight, the lights are off, and you have practice early tomorrow. What are you still doing awake?”
Now that the danger had passed, Eren lowered his hands and grinned, looking far too mischievous for Quinn’s liking.
“I’ve been listening to you guys giggle all night, so I was awake when I heard you stumbling in the kitchen.
I’m here so I can bring you to your room and keep you from falling down the stairs. ”
Eren’s frown suddenly vanished, and then he asked, “Why are you so jumpy? Did August do anything?”
August? What the fuck did August have to do with this conversation?
“No,” Quinn said, lowering his voice into the danger zone level that never failed to make Eren nervous.
“August is great. I told you not to start with the alpha male bullshit, so drop it. If you really need to know, Bea and I were watching creepy serial killer documentaries, so excuse me for turning into a spazz when someone, who is supposed to be in bed, jump scares me in the kitchen.”
His glare must have been acting faulty because instead of being nervous, Eren resumed his grin and grabbed the bottle of wine, tugging Quinn forward with it.
“I keep telling you to stop watching scary shit before bed. The girls get super confused whenever they wake up and find all the lights in the house on. Lights won’t stop a serial killer.”
Quinn was a bona fide chicken; a fact he wasn’t ashamed of.
“Are you going to be nice to August tomorrow?” Quinn said, using the abrupt topic change to stun Eren enough so he could grab the wine back.
Like all the other times, Eren’s poor, overworked brain started conjuring fuck knows what images involving Quinn and August, and he went motionless and wide-eyed.
“Are you panicking because it’s us, or because you weren’t expecting one of your bros to play for the other team?” Quinn asked, cursing himself for being such a catty drunk.
“What? No—” Eren looked appalled. “I had a feeling he was bi after his drunken confession at the loser’s party last year.
He told Esme and me that he had no friends and couldn’t find a girlfriend.
Then he started rambling about how guys were pretty, and how he should try dating one.
Then he tried to kiss Logan, but they were both so drunk that I don’t know if they remember. ”
That was…a lot to unwrap.
Quinn pushed the fridge closed, plunging them into darkness, but before his pulse could start racing, Eren crossed the room to find a light switch.
“Logan and Bea were at the party together, weren’t they?” Quinn asked when he returned.
Eren snorted and folded his arms over his bare chest. “Oh yeah, but she was just as hammered as the rest of them, so she didn’t seem to care.”
Quinn pinched his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
“It’s not about that,” Eren said, bringing them back on track to the original question.
“It’s just that you’re like my brother, and he’s…
August. He can be difficult, and he smiled less than ten times before Niko showed up.
He’s got the attitude of a hormonal teenager that’s trapped in the body of an adult, and I fucking love him because he’s my teammate, but sometimes he’s a big, careless idiot. ”
Quinn shrugged. “I’d say he’s comfortably above average, so nothing to get excited about.”
He opened his eyes in time to see Eren smack himself in the face. “And that—that right there! I see him walking with his dick out all the time, so comments like that will make me think about you two fucking whenever I see him naked.”
Quinn needed more wine and for Eren to go away before he clubbed him over the head with the wine bottle.
“You’re such a crybaby,” said Quinn, reaching a wobbly hand out to poke Eren on the nose. “It’s just sex. It’s not like I’m bringing you home another brother-in-law.”
Eren’s scowl made Quinn burst into giggles. He looked like an angry puppy when he was grumpy.
“Help me bring snacks upstairs and then go to sleep,” he ordered, sweeping his arm to gesture at the pantry. “I can’t carry all of this by myself.”
“The entire pantry?” Eren asked, his tone irritated. “I have a feeling that you guys are partaking in something more than wine.”
Oh boy, were they ever.
“Hey, I’m an artist. I didn’t choose a life that came with mandatory drug screening,” said Quinn. “Besides, weed is legal, unlike that menace to society growing on your face.”
Eren touched his beard, frowning as he ran his fingers through the patchy spots of hair. “I was never good at growing one. Sue me.”
Quinn snorted so hard that he wobbled, making Eren scoff and shake his head—but he went to the pantry to do as he was told.
Once an appropriate amount of chips, cookies and alcohol was collected, they delivered it to Quinn’s bedroom without anyone falling down the stairs.
Bea jumped when Quinn reappeared, but her fear vanished in the next instant, replaced by a scowl matching Eren’s. “Where did you go to get more wine? Italy?”
Quinn shoved a bottle in her face to shut her up, while Eren carelessly dumped the snacks he was holding onto the bed.
“Are you guys good?” Eren asked, raising his brows at them. “No sudden urges to strip naked and run through the streets?”
Bea and Quinn met each other’s eyes, then turned to Eren, flabbergasted and speaking in unison.
“And get murdered?!”
That was apparently the last straw for Eren. He rolled his eyes and left the room, muttering under his breath about hockey, goal-scoring, and whatever shit puckheads liked to think about.
“He’s just mad because he can’t get high,” Quinn said a little too loudly.
The door immediately swung back open, and Eren gave them the middle finger, flipped the lights off, and then closed it.
It was a good thing he did because the screams Quinn and Bea let out were not quiet, and children were sleeping downstairs.
Quinn dove for his bedside table and clicked the lamp on, too intoxicated to do anything else other than fall onto his back and let out a series of breathy laughs while Bea hit the bed beside him.
The THC gummy he had taken was starting to really kick in, making everything seem ten times funnier than it actually was, which meant they were both laughing for a stupid amount of time.
“I was so scared. I almost peed,” said Bea while wrapping her arms around him for protection. “I used to think he was attractive when I was single, but I revoke all kind comments in favour of violence.”
Quinn nodded slowly, smiling at the ceiling as flickers of blue eyes and bulging biceps made it through the haze of his mind to tease him.
“August is attractive,” he mumbled. “Attractive arms. Attractive eyes. Attractive smile. Attractive ass. His stamina is on point, and he knows what to do with his mouth—and his dick—and his—”
“Ohmygod!”
Quinn halted his nonsensical rambles, flopping his head to the side to look at her. “What?”
Bea was doing a solid impression of a fish, opening and closing her mouth several times before she snapped it shut. Quinn had seconds to grab a pillow and use it as a shield when she started slapping him on the arm.
“Did you sleep with August Snow?!”
Shit. He forgot about the reason he had invited her over.
“I was hoping to tell you in a better way,” Quinn said when the barrage of hands finally stopped. “I wanted to talk to you about it since Eren doesn’t get it, and I really don’t want him to beat August up while they’re playing hockey—”
“Beat August up?” Bea cackled like his concern was the funniest thing in the world. “Have you seen the size of that man compared to Eren? All he would have to do is sit on him—wait, ignore the wording of that.”
She tangled their legs together, eyes sparkling with excitement now that she had juicy gossip to hear about. “I didn’t know August was attracted to men. I’ve seen him with girls a few times, but it was never anything serious.”
Quinn shrugged because he wasn’t sure what August had going on in his brain since they were only a step above strangers right now, and he didn’t like to put labels on people unless they were sure.
“We were boyfriends in high school—”
“Shut. Up.” Bea clutched her hands to her chest, and a frown tugged on her smile. “Right, you said you knew each other, but I didn’t think it was like that. What…happened?”
Quinn was reluctant to tell her the truth because it made him feel like an idiot for sleeping with August again, but he didn’t think she would judge, so he gave in.
“We dated for a year, I sucked his dick a few times, I lost my virginity to him, and then he ghosted me the next day.”
Bea immediately went on the defensive. “He’s dead. I’ll kill him, babe. Don’t you worry about it.”
Yes, Quinn could picture Beatrice standing up to a man twice her height, throwing fists at him, while August stood silently and watched, unbothered.
“Wait. The way you were talking made it sound like you were just fucking him.” Bea leaned in and narrowed her eyes.
Quinn held her gaze for as long as he could, but he was a wimp, so it didn’t take him long to start squirming.
“You horny bastard.”
It was Quinn’s turn to start cackling, laughing so hard he ended up with a stitch in his side, and the laughs quickly died into curses.
“Revenge sex,” Quinn wheezed, cringing through pain and lack of air. “I was going to fuck him and ghost him—but that’s why I need help. I don’t think I can do it.”
Bea began fanning herself, letting out an impressed whistle. “Damn, Quinn. Revenge sex? And here I’ve been thinking you were a sweet, harmless thing.”