Chapter 19 #2
I don’t know what to say. Between last night and the car with serious stalker vibes earlier, I can’t think.
“Yeah, the parents did a good job.” Madoc sucks in air. “She’s the best of us. Grew up with everything and took nothing for granted.”
His eyes meet mine before he takes another shot.
“She’ll never risk what’s good in the pursuit of what she thinks might be better,” he tells me.
I pause, my shot going over my head. Madoc makes a face and goes to retrieve the ball.
The grass is greener everywhere you’re not standing, he means.
Quinn knows how lucky she is. That’s a lesson I could’ve used all those years ago when I went looking for friends that Madoc wouldn’t have approved of.
“We don’t want her to be alone forever.” Jax whips his racket. “We just never want her to know how awful people can be.”
I jerk my head left and right, cracking my neck. The people you love the most are the ones who can really hurt you, though. He must know that. She’ll suffer in love as much as anything.
“So, what’s the agenda for tomorrow?” I ask, swatting the ball and needing a change of subject.
Madoc dives, missing his shot. “Parade at ten,” he growls, “barbecue crawl starting at Eagle Point at noon, fireworks at nine.”
“What time do I have to be up?” Jared grumbles.
I clench my fist around the racket.
“Five a.m.,” Madoc replies.
“Fuck.”
Jax laughs.
I don’t. I drop my arm, letting the ball fly past me again. “Guys, I’m not in the mood for this today. I’m sorry,” I tell Madoc. “I gotta run laps or something.”
I have to get out of here and clear my head. I need silence.
“Amen.” Jax turns and starts walking past me as if he was thinking the same thing. “I’m going to swim some laps.”
Jared follows his brother. “I’m going home for cardio.”
I walk out after them, Madoc calling out behind us. “I thought you guys liked racquetball!”
I surprise myself with a smile. I love them; although, I feel bad not one of us are in the mood to indulge him. It finally feels like I’m home.
“See you tomorrow!” I shout back at him.
Bright and early.
Jumping onto the track, I mark the time and start jogging. I keep my pace steady and slow, my stride carrying me lap after lap in no time. Quinn rides a Peloton bike and meets my eyes once.
But not again. Every time I pass, she’s lost in her music or her workout, and I leave her alone.
The gym empties more and more as time goes on, and when I pass by again, she’s no longer on the bike. I find her at the leg machines, tuning into a cooking show on the TV while she works out.
Still learning. Forever curious. She sits on a leg curl machine, but she’s not working, her attention lost in the cake decorating show.
Eyes wide. Lips parted just slightly. I swallow, unable to not look at her as I cruise by. She’s beautiful. Just the view of her. And the things she says. It all culminates in this world according to Quinn that I like living in.
There’s no way I’m fucking leaving her to live in the same town as Hugo Navarre and Green Street. She stays. They go.
“Lucas.”
I slow, popping my head up to see a woman just off the track in an Astrophysics black polo and black shorts.
Breathing hard, I reach her and stop, recognition happening almost instantly. “Sarah?”
Auburn hair, beautifully wavy, blue eyes, and freckles—still in shape as she always was. An ex-girlfriend.
She smiles, and I tense, about to move in for a hug, but I don’t. The last time we spoke she told me my life would be shit and then threw her milkshake at me where it splattered all over my car.
Glancing at her name tag, I see that she works here.
“I heard you got married,” I say, trying to catch my breath.
“I did.” She speaks gently. A lot kinder than the last time. “It didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We live and learn.” She looks me up and down. “It’s good to see you.”
I cock my head playfully. “Is it?”
She waves me off. “Oh, a lot’s happened since. I’ve cooled off,” she teases. “And I’ve grown up. You?”
We broke up because of me. I liked her, but I didn’t love her. I didn’t want to waste her time anymore.
But now…
I breathe out a sad laugh. “We’re never where we think we’ll be by a certain age, are we?”
She frowns. “No, we’re not. They don’t tell us that.”
Nope.
She was nice. And we had fun. I hurt her, but I knew it was the right decision.
Now, though… We’ve both been knocked off our high horses.
“Any kids?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No. You?”
“No.” She wets her glossy lips, a little orange to match the red in her hair. “Married?”
I shake my head again.
“Are you back for good?” she asks.
“I work abroad now,” I tell her. “Just home for some family business.”
I glance at Quinn as she changes the channel to another show, her shorts and sports bra showing her glistening skin and every curve of her ass. Some guy stands nearby, stealing glances at her.
“Things on your mind?” Sarah asks.
I look back at her, breaking into a smile. “I was never relaxed.”
“I remember.”
Yeah, I’ll bet she does.
She pulls up her clipboard and writes something on a business card. Handing it to me, she says, “I still remember how much you liked blowing off steam too.”
I take the card and see her address on the backside.
“I’m home after ten every night,” she tells me. “Key’s under the mat.”
Something jolts in my heart, and I dart my eyes back up to hers, that easy playfulness in her gaze just like I remember.
She walks away, throwing a smile back at me, and my stomach swims, my mouth like sandpaper.
She didn’t ask me out. She didn’t give me her number. Just ‘here’s the key, come after ten.’ How many single men wouldn’t love the invitation of a good fuck with no strings attached?
I drift to the fountain and gulp down some water.
It would help to have her to go to. I’m still fucked up from last night and haven’t had a release.
And we’re both older, a little more jaded and willing to take an hour of escapism for what it is. She doesn’t care if I love her or not.
I could never use Quinn for an escape.
Oh, Quinn…
My Quinn.
I shoot up, swallowing, but I bump into someone.
“Excuse me,” I say.
“Don’t mind me.”
I rear back, taking in the same dude from last night. What was his name? Deacon?
But he doesn’t go for the drinking fountain, just leans back on the wall, gazing at me. I start to walk away, but I only make it two steps when I realize he’s staring.
Is he following me?
“What do you want?” I ask.
“To keep watching.”
I face him, straightening my spine. “Who the hell are you?”
But he turns his eyes to Quinn, looking lost in thought for a moment, and I don’t like it. I move to block his line of sight, but he speaks up. “She looks like someone I used to know,” he murmurs. “Someone who’s not here anymore.”
I glance at Quinn as she sets down a barbell and refastens her ponytail.
“You’re going to need to binge her,” he tells me.
I narrow my gaze, looking at him.
“No matter where you go,” he says, “or who you meet or the time that passes, you will want her when she’s with someone else. When she’s thirty. When you’re in the same room with her… You will want her until you’ve had your fill of her.”
What the fuck?
But my gaze shifts to Quinn again, just for a moment.
Is that true?
She starts jump roping, her ponytail bouncing, and the years ahead of us start piling up. Her career expanding. Mine in Dubai becoming more and more like a prison. Someone climbing into bed next to her at night. Me getting her wedding announcement in the mail.
Standing next to her in a room and watching other people make her happy.
I don’t notice when the guy leaves, but when I come back to myself, he’s gone.
I look around, seeing him disappear through a door that I don’t think is for customers.
Who the fuck is he?
Glancing at the clock, I see it’s almost nine. I need to talk to her, and I can’t do that here. No one is getting into the car with us when I take her home. No one’s dragging me out for a drink. I need to deal with this.
Heading downstairs, I slip into the locker room, grab a towel, and strip, climbing into a shower. Luckily the place is emptying, and I’m alone. I just hope that creep isn’t in here. He’s weird, and I prefer not to be bothered.
I smooth my hand over the top of my head, rinsing the suds.
He’s weird, but he knows. And if a stranger can tell, then Madoc, Jax, and Jared don’t know yet simply because they don’t want to. One of them should take her home tonight. Bingeing her isn’t the answer. I need to purge her.
Finishing washing, I shut off the water and rake the towel over my body and head before wrapping it around my waist. I exit the shower and stalk back into the locker room.
As soon as I get to my row, though, I see Quinn digging into my locker.
I start for her. “What are you doing?”
“Taking my brother’s car,” she snaps. “You can find another ride home.”
I charge over and take her wrists, pulling them out of my shit.
But when she fires her eyes up at me, I see the flush in her cheeks and the tension in her jaw.
She’s mad.
I draw in a breath, struggling to contain all the shit swelling in my chest. “You saw me with Sarah.”
I wasn’t trying to make her jealous…
Pinching her brow together, she spits out, “Saw you with who?” And then grabs something out of my locker, flinging the business card at me. “Oh, you mean, that? I don’t care.”
Sarah’s card falls to the floor, and I close my eyes for a moment. Should I piss her off some more and tell her I memorized the address off one glance? I don’t need the fucking card.
But, no.
I’m almost elated, unfortunately.
She watches me just as much as I watch her, and we’re both fucked.
She searches for Jared’s Mustang keys. “I don’t want to think about you anymore.”
I know.
“I’m done.” Her voice is thick with tears she won’t let go. “I just want to be free.”
And I move. I don’t know if I’m thinking with my head or acting from my gut, but I take her in my hands and pull her into my chest.
Gazing down into her dark brown eyes and her pink lips that are puffy from chewing on them, I whisper, “You’re all I think about.”
I crash down on her mouth, kissing little Quinn for the first time and unable to slow down as I move over her lips.
Skin soft enough to eat… Oh, God. She moans, and I wrap one arm around her waist, pressing her to my body as my other hand holds her face.
I go at her, kissing her again and again before tilting my head to the other side and sinking deeper.
Fuck. I dig my fingers into the flesh of her hip and bear down on her, tasting her tongue.
And she matches me, gripping my waist and moving her mouth over mine.
I back her into the lockers, opening my eyes and doing a sweep of the area as we kiss to make sure we’re alone. My body stirs with a thousand fucking currents of heat, and any resistance in my head is drowned out.
I tell her, “I can’t stop looking at you and wanting to touch you…”
“I wanna feel my skin on yours,” she whimpers.
Together, we pull her sports bra over her head, and I palm one of her breasts as she sinks into my body again. “She offered me a roll in bed if I need to blow off steam,” I pant between kisses before devouring her neck.
“But you want to blow off steam with me,” she says.
Yes. Quinn is the sole reason my body and head are jacked. Only she will do.
I start to peel down her shorts. “Your family is here.”
“I don’t care.”
I’m not fucking her in a men’s locker room. But I gotta get off. I need to feel her.
She kicks off her shorts, leaving her nearly naked in her thong, and I lift her up, letting her wrap her legs around me.
She moans again and again, leaving little kisses all over my face.
God, I can’t think about anything anymore. She feels so fucking good. Like home.
“I need a shower,” she whispers.
I should take her in a shower stall—out of view and shielded by the noise of the water. But she’ll be too hard to keep hold of if she’s wet. I know what I want.
“Not yet.”
Taking a seat on the wide bench in the middle of the row, I let her straddle me as I rip off my towel. Leaning back on my arm, I hold her waist with the other hand as she starts grinding on me. The rock-hard ridge of my cock rubs against her wet panties.
She leans in, riding hard and fast as she kisses me. “I’m safe with you. Show me what you like.”
I groan, tipping my head back as she bites my neck. “I like you.”
For the first time in nearly a decade, I’m out of my mind with want of something.
And someone wants me. It feels good to have muscles in my arms again. To be scared her family’s going to fucking kill me, but I want her more than I fear them.
Heat pools in my stomach, and I punch up a little, pressing my dick into her thin panties.
“Oh, God.” She rolls her hips faster, her clit running over my dick over and over again. “Don’t stop.”
Our foreheads together, she pumps on top of me. “You know what to do,” I pant. “Just like that.”
Leaning back a little, she thrusts, her orgasm rising as her breathing stutters. I can’t take my eyes off her full breasts, taut stomach, and the way her ass rolls on top of me.
“You just move the panties aside and you can be inside me,” she teases.
Fuck...
I grunt, feeling my orgasm coming. The mere idea of how tight and hot she’ll be sending me reeling.
I shoot back up, squeezing her thighs in both hands and gliding the tip of my tongue over her jaw. So fucking hot.
Fire courses up my body, flowing from every limb to my center.
“Oh, God,” she cries out. “I want to feel you inside me. Please, Lucas. It feels so good.”
I know, baby. I want to fucking fill you too.
But not here.
She throws her head back again, crying out so loudly, and I don’t fucking stop her, because I can’t. I growl, squeezing my eyes shut, and I pull my dick out from under her and stroke it just as I shoot onto her stomach.
“Oh, baby.” I breathe hard. “Oh, God.”
She grinds a few more times, her orgasm coursing through her, and I just stare at my cum on her skin, dripping onto her panties.
Goddammit.
Grabbing her, I take her mouth in mine, not an ounce of fucking guilt.
We kiss for a while before she finally mews, pulling back for air. “Thank you,” she says.
I kiss her mouth, her nose, and forehead, running a thumb over her nipple.
Binge her.
I feel spent but not sated. We’re going to have to do that again. A lot.
Her forehead meets mine again as she smiles at me. “I want frozen yogurt downstairs before you take me back to Weston,” she pants. “Or else I’m gonna tell my brothers how good of a summer I’m really having.”
I cock a brow. But I smile too. Well, we can’t have that, can we?