Chapter 22 Gray
The shocked silence was deafening, and I saw her freeze in her chair before the rumble of my brother’s laughter broke the stunned stupor.
“You bastard,” Quinn seethed. Pushing her chair back, she stood in one smooth motion. “Are you happy now?” she asked him as she looked at him, and as if in a daze, I turned to look at Onyx.
“Makes no difference to me.” He lifted his fork and resumed eating.
“Quinn?” Her dad, George, was sitting rigid, his back ramrod straight.
“I’m going home,” Quinn said to the room. She looked at Ash, who was white with shock, and then she looked at Jett. “I can’t . . .”
Jett was on his feet and moving around the table as I sat there, frozen. When I saw his hand land on her arm, I was on my feet, pulling her to me.
“I’ll take you.” My voice sounded far away, and I heard a clamor of voices as Quinn shook beside me.
“Sit down,” George commanded. His voice was hard and authoritative, and I felt Quinn wince at the tone. “Now.”
On autopilot, she sat, her hands clasped together in her lap as I hovered beside her.
“Gray, I suggest you sit,” he directed me, and my brain registered that this was still my house, even as I sat.
“Sable, Charlotte, perhaps Tilly should be removed?” It was more of an order than a request, and Aunt Charlotte quickly ushered Tilly, who was now crying, from the room.
Ava looked uncomfortable, and I saw her raise her hand. George’s attention snapped to her, and she flinched. “I think I should be removed too. This isn’t for me . . . It’s private, I don’t think I should be here.”
“Stay.” The whisper was Quinn’s.
Aunt Charlotte came back in, closing the doors firmly behind her. She sat beside Sable, who was staring fixedly at the tablecloth.
I watched George look at Onyx, who had put his fork down, and then he turned to look at Quinn.
“From your reaction, I think there may be something you need to tell me?”
I heard Quinn take a deep breath, and then she squared her shoulders and looked up at her dad.
“I had a miscarriage last year.” Her voice was steady, matter-of-fact, her face a blank mask.
“I fell down some stairs and knocked myself out. When I came to, I was in the hospital, and I had lost the ba— it.”
“Quinn.” My mom reached out to her, but Quinn was fully focused on her dad.
“I didn’t tell you because there was nothing to tell.” She wet her lips quickly. “I was going to tell you, and had it not occurred, I was coming home to tell you.” Her eyes flicked to Anne, who had a hand pressed to her mouth. “Both of you.”
“Pregnant?” her dad asked. His face was stern, but I saw his confusion as if he had mistaken what she said.
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
Quinn flicked her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Answer me.”
“It was mine.” I met and held his angry glare. “The baby was mine.”
I heard my mom gasp, my dad curse, and I heard him chuckle. I was off my feet and launching myself at my brother, much to the horror of my family. As the two of us punched the shit out of each other, I felt hands pulling at us, trying to separate us.
“Enough!”
Startled at the scream, both Onyx and I stopped to look at Anne, who stood over us and a broken dish at her feet.
“You’re not helping,” she shouted angrily. “Now get up, shut up, and sit the fuck down.”
The whole room stared at her in shock. Anne was one of the meekest women I had ever met.
Slowly, I picked myself up off the floor, wincing at the pain in my hand. I may as well have chopped the fucker off. My eyes searched the room, and I saw Ava standing by the door.
“She’s gone.”
I hurried to the door, but George grabbed my arm, stopping me. “No. Not you.”
“With all due respect, sir, you either knock me out now or get the hell out of my way. I’m not leaving her alone.
Jett and Ash can tell you what you need to know.
” He moved forward, and I shoved past him.
“I’ll let you beat the crap out of me later,” I said as I ran out of the room, leaving chaos behind me.
Running to her house, I climbed the stairs two at a time. She was curled up on her bed, her eyes fixed on the wall as silent tears ran down her face. Kicking off my boots, I climbed onto the bed behind her and pulled her close. She didn’t resist.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in her ear as I wrapped my arms around her.
“Tilly hates me,” she whispered.
“She’s eight, she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” I assured her.
“Why would he tell her?”
“I’m so pissed at him, I am, but even Onyx wouldn’t tell Tilly this. She must have heard him talking to someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
We both heard the front door slam open, and I felt her stiffen. “I can’t do this,” she admitted quietly.
“Course you can.” I kissed the back of her head. “I’m here, we’ll do it together.”
I looked up when the bedroom door slammed against the wall, and her dad was standing there, rigid with anger.
“If you could both come downstairs, I would like to speak with you.”
Quinn sat up, and I followed. As we headed down to the living room, she reached out for me, and I took her hand.
Anne was sitting in a chair, and George was at the window. He half-turned when we walked in, and Quinn led us to the couch.
“How long have you two been a thing?” he asked with scorn.
“Since I was ten and she was eleven,” I answered, and I saw Quinn dip her head and the small smile that broke free.
“I’m not in the mood for games,” her dad snapped.
“I’m not playing a game,” I answered him as I pulled Quinn closer. “Your daughter miscarried our baby. She’s not at fault here. She was eighteen when she was pregnant, an adult. Which is why the hospital didn’t notify you and why she never told you.”
“Gray,” Quinn murmured softly. “It’s okay, he deserves to know.” Quinn stood and approached her dad. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was scared, I was really scared, and I know you would have been disappointed in me, but I also know I should have told you.”
“What happened?”
“I was giving the baby up for adoption,” she told him honestly, ignoring Anne’s gasp behind her.
“But I couldn’t do it, and I changed my mind.
I fell down some stairs — it was an accident — I tripped and fell.
I woke up in Nashville Memorial, I had a concussion, a few stitches, and I . . . I wasn’t pregnant anymore.”
I saw her dad close his eyes before his head dipped to his chest. “I’m sorry,” he said to her when he looked back at her.
Quinn sniffled, and then I heard her hiccup. She wiped her eyes as she nodded. “Me too, Daddy.”
Her dad pulled her into his arms, and I heard her crying as he rocked her. Turning away, I met Anne’s sad look, and she held her hand out to me, which I gratefully accepted.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Come, let’s make some tea.” She pulled me to my feet, and we left Quinn and her dad alone.
The two of us were in the kitchen when my mom came running through the back door. I placed my cup down on the counter as I took a step toward her.
“I need you,” she told me urgently. “Jett’s going to kill him.”
We ran out of the kitchen, and I heard the raised voices coming from the pool. Running past my mom, I skated around the side of the house before I stopped in astonishment at the sight before me.
Jett was on top of Onyx and was literally banging his head off the concrete paving.
“Fuck!” I ran toward them and threw myself at Jett, knocking him off Onyx.
Jett growled as he got to his feet, and Onyx staggered to his. “What the fuck are you doing?” Jett screamed at me.
“Are you crazy?” I shouted back. “You’re going to kill him!”
“He’s a piece of shit,” Jett seethed.
“Yes, well, he’s our piece of shit.”
“You’re defending him?” Jett looked stunned, which was good as it calmed his temper down.
“No, he’s a dick. But he’s our brother, and if anyone is going to kill our brother, it will be me.” I thought about it as Onyx staggered slightly. “Or Quinn.”
“How is she?” Jett asked as he spat blood on the grass.
“She’ll be okay, she’s strong.” I watched Onyx shake his head as if to clear it. “You okay?” I asked him begrudgingly.
He looked up at me and nodded before his eyes rolled backward in his head and he passed out, falling right into the pool, which was covered with a mesh net for the autumn leaves.
He and the covering disappeared, and I yelled as I dove after him, vaguely aware that Jett had jumped in too.
The panicked thought that my mom was going to lose all her sons today raced through my head while I struggled to grab my brother as my feet snared in the mesh covering.
All three of us were tangled, and I was losing my grip on my unconscious brother as I fought to free us both.
Another pair of arms grabbed me, and I was being hauled upward. Jett was suddenly in front of me in the water, helping to move Onyx, who was still unconscious.
Strong arms pushed us to the side of the pool, and I remembered the time Quinn jumped in and we had pulled her to the shallow end.
Gasping, I pushed my hair out of my eyes and looked at my dad, who was pulling Onyx out of the water.
“He needs a doctor.”
George stood in front of me and held his hand out, and with a slight hesitation, I took it, and he pulled me out of the pool.
My foot snagged on the mesh, and I kicked it free before I was on my back, beside the pool, trying to catch my breath.
Turning, I helped Jett out of the water, and then we were both lying side by side, taking a moment before we had to face reality again.
“He okay?” I asked anyone.
“Taking him to the ER,” my dad replied. “Both of you better be here when I get back.”
“I don’t need the hospital,” Onyx protested, now semi-conscious.
“I suggest you go,” George spoke to him, “before I drown you.” He looked down at me. “I think we all need to talk.”
“Yes, sir.” Jett sat up, and I heard him curse.
“Dad!” I called from my prone position. “You better take Jett too.”
“Kerr,” my mom spoke up. “Take them all. Gray’s no doubt done more damage to that hand.”
Which is how all three of us ended up in the ER on a Sunday afternoon. Neither of us spoke, and each of us was given a very curious look by the doctor who treated us, who clearly knew there was more than “we tripped and fell into the pool,” but we weren’t questioned.
When we were discharged, Dad drove us home, and in single file, we headed to the kitchen where my mom and George were waiting.
Quinn was there too, and when I went in, she flew across the room and flung her arms around me.
Burrowing my face into her neck, I didn’t care that we were in front of our parents; all I needed was to know she was all right.
“You okay?” I asked as I pulled back, stroking her hair as she nodded.
“Where’s Ava?” Jett asked tiredly. “And Ash?”
“We sent her to sit with Anne,” Mom told him. “Kage took them home. Tilly’s quite upset.”
“You sent Ava away? Bullshit,” Jett grumbled as he searched the kitchen for his phone and ended up opening the back door to leave before he hesitated. “Quinn?”
“Yes, both of them.”
“Will do.”
He was back minutes later with Anne and Ava as the rest of us settled around the table.
When we were all seated, my dad fixed his sights on me, and I met his stare. “Tell us everything,” his hand shot up as I went to speak, “everything.”
My eyes flicked to George, who was waiting for it. “Quinn thinks she’s clever, but she isn’t; she forgets I’m her father. Tell me it all.”
I didn’t. Obviously. Despite today’s actions, I wasn’t a complete idiot. I told them what they needed to hear. Onyx was silent, Jett nodded when he needed to, and Quinn sat beside me, with her head on my shoulder, saying nothing.
“Did they hurt you?” Anne asked Quinn directly when I was done.
“No, they never hurt me. I got a call after I met with them to make sure I wasn’t going to change my mind, but I never heard from them again.”
“Who told Tilly?” I asked as I forced myself to look at Onyx.
My brother met my accusatory stare before he looked away in disgust. “I’m a bastard, it’s true, but I’m not a cunt.”
“Onyx!” Mom chastised him. “Language!”
“She’s eight; someone must have said something,” I insisted.
Jett suddenly looked at me. “Does Ash still keep a journal?”
Fuck.
I saw Jett glance at our brother guiltily before he turned to Quinn. “I didn’t even think of it.”
“I forgive you,” Onyx grunted.
“Shut up,” Jett and I snapped at the same time.
“His hand?” Mom asked my dad.
“He isn’t playing for the rest of the year,” Dad said with a sigh.
Quinn turned to look up at me, and I rubbed my nose against hers. “It’s okay.”
“So, this is happening?” George asked us both sternly. “After everything you’ve been through, this is your idea of a good idea? You two, together.”
“I love her,” I told him simply. “I’ve been apart from her for too long. She is and always has been mine.” It was the truth, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was done hiding my feelings for Quinn.
“And Ash?” my mom asked us both.
“Will learn to accept it,” I told her firmly.
George stood and held his hand out to Anne. “I’m going home. I’m sorry the lunch was ruined. I need . . . time. Quinn, you’re coming home with us.”
“Yes, Dad.” She stood and bent down, dropping a brief kiss on my lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I watched her apologize to my parents for the chaos of this afternoon, and then she surprised me when she turned to Ava. “I could use a friend, you ready for that talk?”
Ava rose swiftly, and with a hug of Jett’s shoulders, she dutifully followed. My mom stood too and sighed.
“I need a long soak in the bath. Will you all behave if I leave?”
She filled a large glass of wine before she left with a kiss on each of our heads. “I love you all, please try to heal from this.”
We waited until we heard the upstairs bedroom close, and then Dad rose and closed the kitchen door to the hallway just as the back patio doors opened and Uncle Kage and Ash walked in.
“Right, now tell us what the fuck you’re all involved in. Don’t bullshit me.” Dad’s hard stare met each of ours. “I will do more than send you for a visit to the ER if I hear one more lie tonight.”