Chapter 14
The cop at the front door is never a stripper when you want him to be.
—Hollis’s secret thoughts
HOLLIS
Iwas such a sad sac.
Ishould really be at home, not allowing my bad attitude to inflict others, but here I was, riding in Quincy’s truck, heading to places unknown.
“Are you sure you won’t tell me?” I begged.
Iwasn’t fit for company right now.
Intruth, I shouldn’t be doing anything more than grabbing drive-through Whataburger and asking him to take me back home.
Buthis presence was… soothing.
Thepain and anger I’d felt after leaving my parents’ place was almost… gone.
Justspending time with him had made a whole world of difference.
Thatdidn’t mean I wanted to deal with anything beyond just him, though.
Whichwas why, when he pulled into a dirt road ten minutes later, without, might I add, answering me, I was relieved.
Maybehe was taking me to…
Thethought of being alone flew out the window when we rounded the bend of the dirt road, and I was faced with the fact that there would be no being alone.
Notwhen there were eight cars parked in front of the house we were pulling up to.
“Quincy…” I hesitated, unsure what to say or do.
Onthe one hand, I wanted to stay with him. Just being around him was comforting.
Butthere was no way that wherever we were, I wasn’t about to be bombarded with people.
“I’ll take you home the moment you feel overwhelmed,” he said.
Theway he said it, making me more than understand that he truly meant what he said, had me deflating in my seat. “I’m awkward.”
Hisbrows rose. “You do perfectly fine with me.”
Iscoffed. “That’s because you are threatening me with arrest half the time. Had you just shown up, smiling at me, I would’ve been a completely different person.”
Speakingof smiling, the front door opened and a little girl, all of three at the most, came barreling out of the house.
Shewas wearing a leotard with so many sequins on it you could see her from outer space, a smile a mile wide, and bright red cowboy boots.
“You have…” I pointed out the windshield at the little girl. “A little girl barreling toward you at a mile a minute.”
Quincygot out of the truck, a large, welcoming smile on his face, and crouched down.
Thelittle girl hit him so hard that he was forced to stand or fall over.
“UncleIncy!”
“Addie girl,” I heard Quincy say as I got out of the truck, my eyes huge.
Becausenow there wasn’t just a little girl outside, but the cutest little toddler, too.
Hewas pumping his legs, running as fast as could be, and would’ve taken a fall right off the porch had his uncle not caught sight of him and launched himself forward.
Quincycaught him with his legs still spinning.
“And there’s my Tex,” Quincy said, placing the girl on one hip, and the boy on the other.
Heartstill in my throat, I placed my hand over my chest just as a woman, likely Quincy’s mother, came out of the house.
“I know you didn’t just leave this door open like you were raised in a barn, AddisonMarieCarter!” the woman bellowed.
Mylips twitched at the use of the full name.
Ididn’t get full-named myself. My mother would have to care for that to happen.
ButI did used to hear Keda’s mom say it to her a lot.
KedaLouisaJones, get in here right now and clean this kitchen up!
Icouldn’t tell you how many times I’d heard that over the years of being her friend.
Thething was, Keda was hell on wheels before her accident. Cleaning up after herself just took up too much time.
Irubbed my chest again, this time for a different reason.
God, I missed her.
Wouldit ever stop hurting, this pain inside my chest? This huge, Keda-sized hole that felt like it got rawer every day.
It’dbeen six months now, but it felt like it was just yesterday that I’d learned she was gone.
“Mamasauce,” the little girl sounded apologetic. “I wasn’t raised in no barn! I was raised in a circus!”
Iblinked, then had to pinch my lips together to keep from bursting out laughing.
Itwas apparent that the ‘Mamasauce,’ aka, the grandmother, had the same issue.
Quincydidn’t even try to hold in his laughter. He let it free, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever experienced.
QuincyCarter smiling? Yeah, that was fantastic. But his laugh, paired with that smile? It was like angels weeping up in heaven, shining their bright, angelic light down on the world.
“Shut your piehole, QuincyDeclanCarter.” Mamasauce pointed at her offending son. “And get that girl in here so we can meet her. You rude little shit.”
Declan.
Iliked it.
“Mamasauce said ‘shit,’” the little girl, Addison, whispered loudly.
Soloudly that her grandmother heard her and rolled her eyes.
Iquietly walked around the front of the truck, worried that I was going to bring too much attention to myself if I moved too fast.
ButI shouldn’t have bothered. The moment I was no longer being hidden from the front bumper of his fancy blue truck, all eyes turned toward me. Even the youngest of the clan turned his angelic little face toward me.
“Peas!” the little boy said, wiggling himself in Quincy’s strong arm. “Dow!”
Quincyset him down, and it surprised the crap out of me that instead of heading for his grandmother, he headed for me.
Hetoddled over the uneven ground, uncaring that he nearly tripped four times, and walked right up to me and held his hands out.
Iglanced at the two adults. “Is this okay?”
Quincy’smom smiled. “It’s totally okay.”
Ipicked up the little boy, and loved the way he immediately leaned into me and laid his head on my shoulder.
“Usually when I see cute little kids like this, I’m making them mad,” I admitted a bit sadly.
“Why is that?” Quincy’s mom asked.
Iwalked toward them both, but it was Quincy who answered his mom. “Hollis is a rad tech in the hospital. The first time I met her, she was squishing this little boy into this hollowed out tube.”
Ichuckled, unsurprised that he remembered exactly what I was doing at the time.
“Rad tech is a radiology tech,” I explained when the woman stared at me with curiosity. “My name is HollisAue. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hollis. My name is GarnettCarter. It’s nice to meet the woman my eldest son invited to dinner.” Garnett smiled.
“GarnettCarter is also a forty-year veteran of the DallasPoliceDepartment, and has a soft spot for her grandkids,” Quincy mused quietly. “You just cemented your place in her heart by picking up this hellion.”
Quincythen tickled said hellion, causing him to squeal in delight and laugh himself sideways.
Luckily, I had a strong grip on him, or he would’ve tumbled right out of my hands.
Amade a mental note to always hold onto him tight, because I didn’t want him to go launching himself headfirst into some gravel.
Quincyjerked his head toward the open front door, and I dutifully followed into… chaos.
Thatwas the only way to describe the amount of people all in one room.
Wewere in the door all of three seconds when he placed the little girl on the floor, and she ran toward a man in the corner of the room who caught her with laughable ease. As if he was used to doing it every single day, even in the middle of conversations like he was having now.
Ifollowed suit with Tex, and he took off running, not toward who I assumed was his dad, but toward the kitchen where I could see an older, but just as sexy, version of Quincy in the kitchen fiddling with something on the counter I couldn’t quite see.
Myeyes stayed there long enough for it to be awkward to everyone else in the room.
“Mom, Dad,” I heard Quincy call out. “Where’s that…”
“Here.”
Ilooked up to find a man very similar to Quincy holding out his hand, an opaque bag extending toward him.
Quincytook it, then turned to me, bag in hand.
Istared at him, wide-eyed.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to everyone?” I blurted, not sure I wanted to see what was in that bag, but knowing he was going to force me to take it.
“Sure,” he said. “Along that outer wall right there,” he pointed at the wall that held the longest couch. “That’sAtlas and Gable sitting down. Auden is standing up but leaning on the couch. Then,” he pointed at the next wall with a smaller couch, “that’s Quaid and Quinn, the two and three of our triplet pair. The one in the kitchen is my dad, Germaine. The one outside peeing off the back porch is Garrett. He gestured toward the man and woman from earlier. “These two are Keene and Ande. Ande is my sister. Keene is the extra.”
“The extra?” Keene chuckled. “I guess that’s not a bad thing to be.”
“Unless it’s an extra thirty pounds,” Gable called out, his eyes fixed on me. “AmI right?”
Inodded with commiseration.
“Okay, time to rip the Band-Aid off,” I heard Quincy mutter.
Thenhe pulled out a box from the bag he was holding and handed it to me. “Before you freak out on me, I’m not going to give this to you. You can make payments, or whatever you need to do. I just got it because I saw the relief on your face when you saw you got a computer. My sister, Ande,” he pointed at a gorgeous curly-haired woman in the corner with the toddler on her hip. “Stopped by the mall on the way here and grabbed it. It’s exactly like the one your sister got.”
“Wait, what?” The woman came forward. “Your sister?”
Thelarge man beside her, the one who looked vaguely familiar for some reason, pulled her back then placed a hand over her mouth. He said something in her ear that had her melting into him.
Thejealousy that speared through me at the sight was surprising.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Long story.”
“I’m here for a long story. You can tell it over dinner. We’re having lasagna.”
Myeyebrows went up, and I stared at Quincy. “We’re having lasagna?”
“Mom was trying to decide what to make, and I kind of pointed her in the direction of Italian and she ran with it,” he said.
Thisman…
What the hell was he doing to me?
Ifelt the tears start to come, unable to stop them.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Garnett said as she hustled to my side. “He’s just so extra sometimes.”
Thetears that were threatening dissipated under her words.
Ilooked toward her and said, “I mean, he is. He’s currently stalking me.”
Garnettgasped and turned toward her son. “Hewhat?”