Chapter 21 Quinn
Sitting in the cafeteria, I was reading my textbook when I heard the chair scrape back, and looking up, I smiled in greeting at Ava. “Hi.”
“Hey.” She lowered to her seat and placed her tray in front of her. I looked at the plate of fries and the bowl of grated cheese, which she unceremoniously tipped over her fries. She looked up and saw my nose wrinkled in distaste. “What?”
“How are you so slim?” I asked her as I looked her over. Her loose gray sweater over black leggings emphasized her curves, but she wasn’t plump in any way. “You eat terrible food, you don’t exercise, and you still look good.”
Ava shrugged as she started to eat. “I eat better at home. Mia’s always on a diet of some kind, so at home, I make nice healthy food. Here’s my place to gorge on the not so good stuff,” she said with a grin as she held a fry out to me. “Want some?”
“No.” I shuddered as she shrugged and popped it in her mouth.
“What did you bring?” Ava asked as she nodded toward my containers.
“Chicken breast, salad, and a few crackers.”
“Dull,” Ava commented as she ate more of her lunch.
“I enjoy it,” I countered wryly. “Where’s Mia? I wanted to thank her again for the help with the spreadsheets. The guys have been sending me regular updates.”
“Oooh, I’m glad it worked,” Ava said enthusiastically. “I know you’ve been busy, and I was wondering.”
Shifting in my seat, I avoided her look. I knew she was curious — she had every right to be — and I knew that Jett would have told her nothing. I liked Ava, I did, but this wasn’t something she needed to know. “Yeah, the sheets were a hit.”
“It sucks so bad Gray’s out for the month,” Ava said as she scrolled through her phone. I knew she wasn’t digging, but I was still uncomfortable.
“Broke more bones than he thought.” I told her the lie that the Devils were telling.
“Well, he shouldn’t have punched Denzel,” Ava muttered as she ate. Her shoulders were hunched over as she ate and scrolled; she looked like a teenager. Okay, she was a teenager, but her posture was that of a teenage boy.
“You should sit up straight,” I chided her quietly. “Your posture is terrible; your back will ache.”
Ava straightened automatically and then frowned at me. “Mom?”
“You’ll thank me later,” I assured her. “Back straight, feet on the floor, elbows off the table,” I finished.
“I just want to eat my fries,” Ava complained.
“I know you’ve been invited to Sunday lunch with the parents. You can’t slouch at Sable’s table.” Ava squinted as she looked at me, trying to decide if I was joking — I wasn’t.
“I have no idea what to wear. They’re like . . . rich.”
“They are,” I agreed as I sat back and assessed her. “You’ve met them though, and you were wearing jeans and a jersey.”
“At a game. This is Sunday lunch. With my boyfriend’s parents, his rich parents. Who have staff in the house to cook and clean.”
“That’s because Sable can’t cook.” I grinned. “It’ll be fine.”
“Are you coming?” Ava asked, and I saw the desperate hope in her eyes.
When I met Ava, I never thought I would be on her wish list of people she needed for support. “I’ve been invited as have my dad and stepmom, so yeah, I’ll be there too.”
“Oh, is your mom nice?”
“My mom was wonderful,” I answered as I looked over the cafeteria. “Anne, my stepmom, is nice.”
“Oh, sorry.” Ava waited a nanosecond before she asked. “Are they divorced?”
“My mom died when I was twelve.”
“Oh,” Ava automatically reached over the table and squeezed my hand. “I didn’t know, sorry.”
“Why would you?” I smiled at her as she sat back. “She had cancer, everywhere. By the time they realized there was something wrong, it was too late.”
“How do you miss cancer?” Ava asked with confusion in her voice.
“Dad was away a lot. I’m a Navy brat. Dad is — was — an admiral, not a lot of home time. Mom thought it was fatigue from looking after me.”
“Which is why you’re older than us.”
“Yes,” I answered as I reached forward for my soda.
“I’m sorry, I’m prying, you’re just really mysterious.”
I snorted out a laugh. “I’m really not.”
“You are!” Ava leaned forward as she looked around. “You’re like the glue to the Santo guys. I mean, before, I just thought you were a friend, but the more I see you all together, you’re another Devil.”
“I told you that.”
“I know, but I thought you were simply insane.” She swirled her fries in the melting cheese. “But you really are.”
“Really what? Insane?” I teased as she laughed.
“Yeah.” Pushing her plate away, she sat back in her seat. “You have to help me, I don’t know what to wear.”
“Wear what you’re comfortable in,” I said easily and then thought about it. “But maybe not jeans.”
“A dress?” Ava’s nose wrinkled as she grimaced. “Will you be wearing a dress?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” I told her honestly. “I usually just grab something,” I added with a shrug. “But for Sunday lunch . . . yeah, it wouldn’t be pants.”
“Drat.”
“Drat?” I laughed at her terminology. “You have a black skirt, I’ve seen it. Wear that with a top you like. It’s simple.”
“Okay.” She nodded thoughtfully. “So, who else will be there?”
“Us, Jett’s parents, Ash’s parents, my dad and Anne.”
“The other brother?”
I clenched my jaw. “Only if we’re very unlucky.”
“You don’t like him?”
“We have a mutual agreement to detest each other.” There was no point denying it. “But you will get to meet Tilly, Ash’s little sister. She’s adorable.”
“I’m not really good with kids.” Ava shrugged awkwardly.
“It’s impossible not to love Tilly, she’s awesome.”
“I’m so nervous,” she said again.
“You’ll be fine. You’ve met them already. Jett will be there and so will the others and me. You’re going to be fine.” She nodded before she picked her phone up.
I returned to my textbook while Ava spent time on her phone. I heard them approach before I looked up and saw them. The calls and commiseration that Gray was injured had been pretty consistent for the last few days.
They all stopped at the table we were at, and I looked up. “What?”
“Come sit with us.” Jett gestured to the football table, and I shook my head.
“No.”
“Queeny,” he started.
“I’m not on the football team, I’m no longer in high school, and I don’t need to be sitting beside you all at lunch time.”
Gray was grinning openly as Ash huffed out a laugh as he carried on to their usual table.
“I thought you would want to, now that . . .” He glanced at Gray, who raised an eyebrow at his brother.
“Now what?” Ava demanded as she looked between us all. She was half-turned in her seat as she tried to figure out what Jett was saying.
“You thought wrong,” I told him as I packed my books away.
“Anyway, I’m heading to the library.” I saw his look of disappointment before he reached out to Ava’s discarded plate.
I pulled it sharply out of his way. “Don’t even think about it,” I scolded him.
“You know what’s on your food plan for today, and it better be in that backpack. ”
“Have fun at the library,” he said dryly as he pulled Ava to her feet, and they headed to the back table.
Gray tilted his head to the side as he waited for me to walk around the side of the table.
“What?” I asked him as he crossed his arms across his chest.
“Nothing, have fun.” He winked as he walked past. I jumped a foot in the air when his hand slapped my ass, and the cafeteria hooted and hollered.
Bastard.
With my face on fire, I walked quickly out of the cafeteria and detoured to the coffee shop.
Me: Was that necessary?
Gray: Yup
Me: Why?
Gray: Why not?
I didn’t bother fighting the smile as I entered the coffee shop and placed my order.
There was still so much for us to sort out.
There was a lot of hurt to heal and things to talk about.
I still needed to know who he had been with in the pool house, and I was reluctant to ask.
Did it matter? Hadn’t too much happened since?
No. I still needed to know who she was. Call me irrational, call me jealous, call me insane. The need to know was as strong today as it was then. Maybe just less violent . . . maybe.
Gray wasn’t like Jett, who genuinely had never cared who he was hooking up with. Ash had made sure I knew who every one of his hookups was after we broke up. After they locked me out, I hadn’t been much better. I hadn’t slept around, but I hadn’t been a nun either.
Until Gray, until that night when he spent the night with me.
Afterward, I was hurt he hadn’t made a big deal out of it. Then I was furious that he shunned me. Then he was with someone else, and then none of it mattered because I was pregnant. After the miscarriage, I’d pretty much shut up shop and hadn’t been with anyone.
Until Gray. Again.
Always Gray.
Gray, who was the complete opposite of Jett. Gray never shared who he was with. He never bragged, and whoever his hookups were, they never boasted. Jett had once let slip that Onyx took Gray to his college parties now and then, and it was then that I realized he was sleeping with college girls.
Why would they want him? I’d wondered. Until the day in the bathroom when I realized I’d asked myself the wrong question. Why wouldn’t they want him?
Was that who she was? A college girl?
I needed to know.
Me: Who was she? That day, the girl in the pool house?
He didn’t immediately answer, and I wished I could take it back even as I rationalized that he would be eating his lunch. Finally, three dots appeared.
Gray: Audrey. She was a casual fuck nothing else.
Me: Charming
Gray: The day you thought you saw her with me, I wasn’t. I was drunk and sleeping, she woke me up and I told her to get out.
I read the message a few times. I needed this to be true so much it scared me.
Me: Promise?
Gray: I’ve never lied to you before, not going to start now
Was there something wrong with me that reading that message gave me butterflies?