Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Ineed to get out of here before my rage and grief fully consume me in front of these strangers surrounding us. My breathing comes in strangled gasps as I push my way through the small crowd.
I need to get out of here.
I hate that I’m doing it, but I scan the crowded room without really taking in any of my surroundings. My heart is still pounding with both anger and hurt after such an emotionally tolling start to the evening.
I know exactly who I’m looking for. Did he watch me on the screen? I want to ask him if he had to go through the escape room to enter this massive hall, too. Or was that horror just reserved for my friends?
Though, after what I just learned, I don’t think I have any friends left.
Like a moth to a flame, Lexi appears on my left and whispers into my ear, “Can we talk somewhere private? Please, T? I really need to explain.” Her voice sounds pathetically desperate. I can’t stop wondering how Josh and she got away with sleeping together behind my back.
No. I don’t want to know.
“Teagan, please?” Lexi asks again, her voice straining with the pressure to keep her secrets between us.
Screw that, and screw her.
I turn and raise an eyebrow at her before saying firmly and loudly, “Why? Are you going to try to lie your way out of the fact that you were fucking the man I loved?” Lexi winces.
I watch with satisfaction when her eyes dart around the room.
“Oh, are you worried that the rest of these fine people are going to hear that you’re not only a horrible friend, but also a whore?
News flash, Lexi, they saw everything!” I point to the giant television.
“You don’t have to pretend to be a decent person anymore.
These people all know your secret now, too.
” My voice is stoic and cold. I know it’s like a dagger straight to Lexi’s heart.
I’ve never once in my life spoken to another person this way.
And of all people, I never thought I would speak to my best friend like this.
She deserves nothing but my contempt and hatred after what I learned about her tonight.
“Teagan, please,” she sobs and tries to grab my arm. I jerk away from her touch as if I’ve been burnt.
“Stay away from me, Lexi. I want nothing to do with you ever again,” I seethe, not caring that our audience is on pins and needles as they soak up the drama between us. “You might as well be dead to me.”
Lexi brings her hand to her mouth and gasps loudly, nearly falling to her knees before Capri catches her from behind.
“Teagan,” Capri pleads. “Don’t be like this. Let her explain.”
I scoff loudly as her betrayal cuts me deep to my core.
“You’re just as guilty as she is, Capri.
You knew what she was doing with Josh, and you kept it to yourself!
How could you do that to me?” I ask her.
Her face fills with hurt. “You can bury yourself right next to her because you’re both dead to me. ”
My eyes sweep the room again, only this time I notice that I’m in a large, overly decorated sort of parlor room.
There are paintings of every medium hanging on the deep burgundy paneled walls.
Dark leather furniture is clustered in little sitting pods around the room.
The windows are shut, but the cream velvet drapes have been pulled to the side with a thick gold cord.
I make my way to the closest one and stare out into the night sky, taking deep, calming breaths as I try to ground myself and my overwhelming emotions.
The moonlight illuminates the garden below. I feel it calling to me.
Beckoning me.
Screaming my name.
Maybe that’s just the first sign that I’ve finally been truly and utterly broken by three of the people I trusted the most with my heart.
“Care to take that stroll now?” His voice is velvety and smooth, like a whisper on the wind, sending a chill up my spine.
I turn and see a hand, outstretched and waiting for me. I look up into those same tantalizing eyes that dazzled me earlier today. They are the deepest shade of blue, like the ocean’s waves during a brutal storm. There is mirth, joy, and mischief in them as they gaze into mine.
I’m hesitant to trust him, but when I see Lexi and Capri coming up behind him, I give that hesitancy no more room in my chest and place my hand in his. “Just take me away from here. Please.”
He turns and sees Lexi and Capri heading this way and raises his eyebrow in question.
“I need to get away from them,” I tell him.
“Of course,” he says, then brings my hand to his lips and places a soft, but intimate kiss on my knuckles before flashing me the most wicked smile I’ve ever seen. “Well then, Teagan. Let’s get out of here before your friends ambush you. Or worse—our host.”
My eyes widen as I take in his words before I glance around the room nervously. I forgot the strange voice in the escape room claimed to be the author himself. I’m not sure if I care to meet the person who thinks it’s appropriate to throw that kind of thing at strangers he invited here.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we get back in time for the real party to start. Now follow me,” the stranger insists as he pulls me behind him with a quick pace.
We leave the main room and bob and weave through hallways, leaving the gawking faces, noise, and chatter behind us, but most importantly, losing them in the process.
The stranger pulls us to a pair of double doors and opens them with a flourish.
The cool, crisp air caresses my skin like a phantom kiss.
The sweet floral air impregnates my senses in the most calming way, leaving me breathless as the rage I felt just moments ago dissipates around me.
My toes are greeted with plush green grass, and I realize that I left my shoes on the dark staircase in the room that destroyed everything I’ve ever counted on.
No, I don’t want the memory of that to follow me out here. I take a deep breath, and I let my mind empty. There’s something about fresh, unmasked air that has always had that effect on me. I stand in the garden with my eyes closed, just taking in the serenity of it all.
A loud pop from a champagne bottle nearly startles me out of my skin. I bring my hand to my chest as I spin around towards the assaulting noise.
“Sorry,” the handsome stranger says with a shrug that makes me feel as though his disruption was purposeful. I narrow my eyes at him as he pours the bubbly into two flutes that have magically appeared out of nowhere. “I snagged these during our getaway.”
I cross my arms as the breeze skates across my bare skin.
This dress might be gorgeous, but it does nothing to protect me from the natural elements.
I feel stupid for not bringing something warmer to wear.
Then again, I wasn’t supposed to be out here in the garden.
I’m supposed to be inside with my best friends, meeting our favorite author.
The blue-eyed Adonis saunters over with two glasses in his hands.
“I know you probably have nothing to celebrate at the moment,” he says with a sigh.
“But how about we forget everything that happened inside and get drunk while exploring the garden,” he suggests, handing me one of the flutes.
“Unless you want to talk about it? I’m not much for advice, but I’m sure I can whip up an inspirational quote or two to get you through the night. ”
I don’t know what I expected him to say, but that was definitely not it.
A small chuckle escapes my lips as I tip my glass to his.
“No inspirational quotes necessary. A punching bag would be nice, though,” I confess before taking a sip of the champagne.
It’s crisp, sweet, and pleasantly chilled as it slides down my throat.
“But I have some questions before I abandon all my common sense and disappear into a poorly lit garden with a strange man I only met hours ago.” I look him up and down and feel a strange thrill of excitement as I watch him take a sip of his own drink.
His lips are very distracting with their perfect fullness and pointed cupid’s bow.
Those same lips flip upward into a playful smirk as he steps closer to me. “What would you like to know?”
I gaze up into those haunting blue eyes again and swallow hard as they flick down to my lips. “What’s your name?”
“Ah,” he says, one of his brows arching in jest. “I told you I’d tell you my name at dinner. Did I not?”
“And what if this is my dinner?” I hold up the champagne flute before taking another sip. I don’t know if I can go back into that room after the humiliating scene I just made.
He must read my thoughts because his expression shifts into something softer. “Then I guess I would be honor-bound to fulfill my oath,” he says playfully while he holds out his arm for me. “My name is Quinn Gibson.”
I thread my arm through his and relish the warmth of him. “Well then, I guess I have to let you give me a tour through the gardens. Now don’t I, Quinn Gibson.”
“My friends typically just call me Quinn.”
I raise an eyebrow at him as we walk deeper into the blooming garden. The moonlight illuminates it just enough that I don’t feel like we are in any real danger, while still being dark enough to enjoy the company of this strange and mysterious man.
“Are we friends now?”
Quinn stops and faces me, his free hand taking mine. “I’d like to be.”
Maybe it’s the champagne. Or perhaps it’s the fact that I not only lost Josh, but also Lexi and Capri.
But right now, all that drama and pain fades away as I stare into Quinn’s eyes.
Something about him feels right. Safe, even.
And I know how foolish that makes me after everything I’ve learned tonight.
Those things don’t seem to matter anymore, at least not in this second. All that matters is the burning desire and rush of excitement as I yearn to place my lips against his.