Chapter 4 Quinn
Standing, watching the car drive away, I looked down at his text.
Gray: I hear you, I’ve always heard you . . . I’m just done listening
Unexpectedly, I felt tears, and hastily I wiped one away as it had the audacity to spill over.
I wasn’t used to crying; my emotions were under control.
Tight control. I had cried so much for so long, I was done letting my emotions rule me.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I made my way slowly back to the bar, but as I rounded the corner, I was surprised to see Ava standing there, waiting for me.
Her hesitant smile made my feet falter, but I plastered my smile on my face and tried to loosen my arms from the fake comfort they were giving me.
“Hey.” I looked at her as she literally hopped from foot to foot in uncertainty, and I braced myself for the question that I knew was coming.
“Where do they go?” Ava’s eyes showed her anxiety, and I cursed my Devils for leaving me with this to deal with.
“They have practice tomorrow, early.”
The “that’s bullshit” look she gave me was merited, but it wasn’t my job to soothe her concerns. I felt a pang of . . . guilt? Was it my job? Ugh, this friendship thing sucked.
“I’m not stupid.” Her whisper was worse than the stab of guilt I had felt.
We stood for a moment longer, and I knew that the fleeting feeling of belonging I had felt earlier was disappearing as quickly as it had come.
“I don’t know where they’re going.” I surprised myself with my own words, and I saw Ava mirror my shock, but she speedily overcame it as she took a step forward. “I don’t know, they don’t tell me either,” I added quickly.
“But you know why?” Ava’s eyes were shrewd as she watched me. My resolve must have been clear on my face as I saw her slowly nod in acceptance. “I understand, if it was Mia . . . I wouldn’t be saying shit either.” Her hands ran through her ponytail as she looked away from me. “Is it bad?”
“Ava,” I began.
“Don’t tell me. I know that it is. He’s been out twice when he thought I was sleeping.”
Twice? Pushing my alarm down, I curbed my tongue.
“He comes back and it’s late and he feels . . . off.” Troubled green eyes met mine, and I saw her harden herself for the reply to the next question. “Is he seeing someone else?”
“No.”
The speed of my reply caused her to smile with relief. “Really? I know we’re new and we started off, well, wrong, but I . . .” Ava’s troubled look eased as I placed a hand on her arm.
“He will never cheat, I promise you. He isn’t and he wouldn’t.”
She startled me when she gave me a hug, and I awkwardly patted her shoulder. “He makes me crazy,” she admitted with a self-deprecating roll of her eyes. “I’m that girl. The crazy clingy girl that knows her boyfriend is insanely hot and women will throw themselves at him.”
“Of course they will.” I wasn’t dissuaded by her frown at my honesty. “He’s a nineteen-year-old good-looking guy with a very big future ahead of him; people will want their hooks in him, in all of them, very early on. He knows that. They all do. It’s one of the reasons they’re so fucking arrogant.”
“Just one?” Ava teased as she shook off her melancholy.
“Yeah, they’re also all overbearing, trust me.
” I nudged her shoulder with mine. “They’re also disgustingly stubborn, and I swear Ash was in that womb with the twins — they’re more like triplets sometimes.
When they set their mind on something, they do not let go.
” Watching her secret smile, I nodded in agreement. “You know that better than anyone.”
“He is persistent.”
“Bah!” I laughed. “He cares about you so much, trust me.” Watching Ava question herself and then give herself an inner shake was a nice distraction from my own problems.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it. They’re a lot to take.”
As she concentrated on the sidewalk, I felt her lingering uncertainty and was ready when she raised her head to me one more time. “Is it illegal?”
“You need to talk to Jett,” I deflected like a pro. I saw the understanding, and I appreciated it more than I realized that I would.
“You did tell me you were the fourth Devil.” Ava placed her hand on my arm. “I shouldn’t have asked, it was a bitch move, and I would have smacked me down if I were you, so thank you for being kind.”
Kind? Me? Well, that was a first.
“And of course it’s shady shit,” Ava carried on. “I fear for the opposition.”
“Opposition?”
“The other team.”
“Of course.” Gesturing to the door to the bar, I asked if she wanted to go back in, and as she turned to walk back into the bar, I marveled at her naivety to think they were merely out causing mayhem with their upcoming competitors.
However, as I followed her inside, it didn’t make me feel much better, in that I didn’t know what they were doing either, but I knew it sure as shit wasn’t college pranks.
I noticed that Ava’s friend Mia, who seemed like a nice enough girl, didn’t seem concerned that Ava and I had been gone.
She was dancing with some other girls, and it was another five minutes before she turned, looking for her best friend.
I understood now how Ava had wandered drunk out of a party alone.
My mom used to say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I already had Mia whatever-her-name-was in the book bargain bin.
The cover looked good, but the story within had no depth.
She was shallow and self-centered, and I was by no means a saint, but I didn’t abandon my friends. No matter how much they wished I did.
“Does she always leave you?” I asked Ava as the band announced they were wrapping up their set.
“Hmm?” She looked over at Mia and smiled fondly. “She’s sociable. Literally can talk to anyone.”
Except you. “What’s next?” I asked instead of airing my thoughts.
“Party probably.” Ava gave me a smile, but I saw the tiredness in her eyes.
“Or we could get food?” I suggested as I watched Mia laugh with the bass guitarist’s girlfriend.
“Food?” Ava’s eyes lit up in anticipation as she looked at Mia. “Mia won’t want to eat, but she might want to go with Bea and the others.” She patted my arm, which I assumed was a command to stay here, and then she crossed the floor to her friend.
“You look lonely.”
I fought the eye roll and looked at the guy who had sidled up beside me. “If you’ve been watching, you’ll know I’m here with people.”
“Saw your guy leave you.”
How long had he been watching? “Aren’t you observant,” I snarked at him.
Tall but not too much taller than me, dark hair in a low fade, stubble that looked more unkept than designer, gray T-shirt pulled too tight over his shoulders, and instead of looking fit and formed, he should just have gone the next size up.
“You’re gorgeous. How could I not notice?” He smiled, and I was sure he thought it was a sexy smirk. Instead, he looked sleazy.
“You said you saw me with my guy, right?” I asked him with a smile.
“Yeah, he left you. I wouldn’t leave you, baby.”
Ugh, kill me now. “Aren’t you a catch,” I murmured and saw the idiot ignore my tone and think I’d complimented him. “My guy’s coming back.”
“We could split now?”
Was he serious? Oh, he was, I realized as he stepped closer.
“Want to?”
“Want to? What? Split, with you?” I shook my head as I gave him my best pity smile. “No.”
His whole demeanor changed, and I looked over to make sure Ava was out of the way. “Too good for me, Queen?”
He now had my full attention, and I looked him over again. He was older than me — I would say mid-twenties — and his brown eyes were hard, while his earlier flirty tone was gone. “Yes, I am.”
His hand snapped out and held my arm tight, and I was ready to punch him when I heard Ava call for me.
“Let go of me, now, before I rip your balls off,” I warned him, my voice low.
“Your Devils aren’t here now, bitch.” His arm tightened, and I didn’t let him see that he was hurting me.
Stepping into his space, I met his glare with my own.
“Who said I needed them?” My hand shot out, jabbing him in the throat, and I felt immense satisfaction as he dropped my arm and covered his neck as he coughed.
Stepping back, I smiled at him. “Touch me again, it won’t be my hand in your throat, understand? ”
“You okay?” Ava was beside me, and as I turned to reassure her, I saw her glare at the guy and realized she was here to back me up in case I needed it. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m good.” This girl just kept on earning my respect, and I liked it.
Ava looked to the bar and the few onlookers I had attracted, but she raised her hand to the older woman at the bar. The woman turned to the bouncers, and soon they were on either side of him and escorting him out.
“You have friends in high places,” I teased her, and she gave me a tight smile.
“We’ll be careful when we leave. I don’t want the scumbag waiting for you.” Ava squeezed my hand before she pulled me after her to her friends and asked them to wait outside with us until our cab was here.
I didn’t want to tell her I was perfectly capable of kicking the guy’s ass myself, and truthfully, it was entertaining watching her boss the guys around. She was protecting me, and I decided I would personally castrate Jett if he fucked this up with her.
“I’ll come with you,” I heard Mia tell Ava. “Sleazy douches have taken me out of my social mood.”
“So you want to come have some food and be Debbie Downer with us?” Ava baited. “You’re not ruining my pizza fest with your sour mood.”
“No, I won’t.” Mia stuck her tongue out at Ava, and I watched as they giggled. “I’m not eating pizza though.”
“Eating on Monday gives you all week to work it off.” It was how I justified slices of cheese pizza on a Monday night anyway.
“Exercise?” Ava looked horrified.
“Yeah, running, Pilates, light weightlifting.”
“Like actual exercise?”
“And look at that, you’re already running with me on Wednesday and Friday morning,” I told her with a grin.
“You look like you seem pleased.” Ava’s voice was high-pitched, and I realized I was her worst nightmare.
“Healthy body, healthy mind.” The mantra I repeated every day to myself.
“Cab’s here,” Mia said as she pulled Ava to the car, and they called their goodbyes to their friends. Mia looked at me with a grin. “You’ve just become her kryptonite.”
“Yeah, well, sex with a Devil is all well and orgasmic, but you need more than that to be in shape,” I said with a smirk as I got into the car. “Exercise builds stamina. Trust me, Ava, he’ll thank you. Or me,” I mused. “Semantics.”
“Where you heading?” the cab driver asked, and we paused awkwardly as we exchanged looks.
“You can come to ours,” Ava offered. “It’s not much, but it’s clean and it’s home.”
“Sounds good.”
It was small. It was tiny, but they looked so at home that I kind of envied them.
We sat and shared a cheese pizza, with music playing in the background, and I learned more about Ava and Mia.
I realized the dynamic I had missed before; they were as close as sisters.
They were in the same class at school, and both had one-parent families, their moms had realized early on that when money was tight, you pooled your resources.
So instead of paying for two sitters, they paid for one who watched two girls.
Ava joked that it was a good thing they got on so well, or maybe it wouldn’t have been so successful.
“What about you?” Ava asked me as she rubbed her tummy after finishing her slice. “Siblings?”
“No. Just me.”
“But you have three brothers, kind of.” Ava reached for her glass when Mia snorted.
“Awkward. She slept with her brother, remember?”
Ava looked at me and then started to laugh. “Sorry, I never thought.”
“It’s fine, what’s a little incest between friends?”
Both girls froze before they collapsed in laughter, and I laughed along with them. “So, Mia, music major?”
“Yeah, afraid so.”
“What do you play?” I asked her, even though I knew. I just wanted the conversation off of me and the Santos.
“My voice.” Mia gave me a mock bow. “I play the chords I was born with.”
Wow.
Ava was also speechless before she cracked up again and gave her friend a playful swat. “What bullshit was that?” Ava cried. “You play the chords you were born with? That’s . . . that’s just . . .”
“Dickish,” I spoke.
Ava nodded, and Mia was scarlet. “I made it up in class today. We have to write bios for the upcoming arts show, and I wrote it down and hated it, but the prof was all gushing about it, and I thought I would try it out. Sounded bad?”
“A little pretentious,” I murmured as Ava was already sitting back down with a notepad and pen.
“For someone who hates to sing in front of an audience, you cannot say you play the chords you were born with.” She gave me an exasperated look as she turned back to Mia. “We’ll brainstorm; I’m fueled by cheese.”
My snort of laughter earned me a grin from both girls. “Okay, what do you sing?” I asked her. “Soprano, mezzo, or alto?”
Mia looked impressed as she looked at me. “I range between mezzo and alto.”
“You must be good to get in here with just your chords,” I told her honestly. “Okay, lay it on me.”
“Lay what on you?”
“Sing.”
“Oh.”
I watched the girl I had thought shallow and self-centered become a complete introvert in the space of seconds. I knew I must look as shocked as I felt. “You’re shy?”
“Horrifically so,” Ava answered as she leaned into her friend in a show of support. “Stage fright is real, hey, Mee?”
“It’s cracking hell.”
She also didn’t swear, and I thought that was peculiar. What was the point of a good rant if you didn’t drop the f-bomb a few times? Where was the satisfaction in that? “What if I turn my back?” I asked curiously.
“You’re still you.”
Ouch. “That is true.”
“I don’t mean it that way,” Mia apologized. “I mean you’re Quinn Lawrence, you’re intimidating.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t be silly,” Ava scolded her. “This is Quinn, she’s perfectly normal.”
Perfectly normal? Was that more of an insult? I wasn’t sure.
“Keep them coming, ladies, I’m here for a while longer,” I deadpanned. My phone buzzing with a new text alerted me to the fact that that may not be the case. Ava also grabbed her phone, and I realized the Devils were heading home.
Gray: You home?
Me: No.
Gray: ?
I remembered his earlier text and his attitude and decided to fuck with him.
Me: With company
I waited as I saw the three dots come and go, and my heart stuttered when I received the thumbs-up emoji.
Tossing my phone on the floor face down, I looked up to see Mia watching me, and I slapped a smile on my face.
Her look was thoughtful as she broke the stare and reached for the empty pizza box to tidy up.
I had maybe been too hasty in my assessment of Mia Davis.