Chapter 26 Quinn
Striding angrily down the sidewalk, I had to stop myself from running, but there were students out, heading to classes, and I would have brought too much attention to myself.
When I heard his desperate cry behind me, I put power into my pace and speed walked so fast that I probably would have been less noticeable had I run.
A strong hand wrapped around my right arm, and I was being pulled into Gray’s embrace. Despite my inner monologue about not wanting to cause a scene, I punched his arm to get away from him. Gray cursed but merely held on tighter, his splint an immovable force on my back, pinning me to him.
“Quinn, you need to listen,” he began as he ducked the hand that went to slap him. “Baby, calm down. You heard that all out of context, let me explain.”
“Fuck you!”
“That can be later. Right now, calm down.” His voice was soothing as he walked me backward, and I glanced around, realizing he had maneuvered us behind a tree. We could still be seen, but we weren’t right in front of everyone.
“Fine. Explain.” If he had given me room, I would have been able to cross my arms, but he didn’t. Gray pressed into me, his splint still at my back, his other hand cupping my face.
“Look at me,” he ordered, his voice low and gentle.
I refused and kept my eyes trained on the point of his shoulder, focusing on his black T-shirt and hoodie, his standard attire when he wasn’t in his jersey.
“Babe, look at me.” His nose trailed along my jawline, and I felt the press of a soft kiss below my ear.
Gray pulled back to look at me, and my eyes involuntarily darted to his. “What?” I demanded.
“Eyes, Quinn, on me.” His hand slid to cup the back of my neck as he tilted my head to look at him. “You know I like to look into your eyes,” he whispered as he dropped a chaste kiss on the corner of my mouth.
“I thought that was only when you were physically fucking me, not verbally.”
Gray whistled through his teeth as his fingers tightened minutely on the back of my neck.
“I love your fire,” he breathed into my ear.
“Don’t fight me, listen to me. Jett was being a dick.
I embarrassed him in front of Ash this morning over Ava blowing him on the drive home yesterday.
Jett thought he was being smart, reminding me to use a condom with you.
” He felt me stiffen, and he continued as he looked at me because I had jerked my head in surprise when he said Ava gave Jett a blow job in the car.
“He actually was thinking of you. He reminded me about my box and told me he didn’t ever want you to go through what you went through again.
That last remark that you heard was just shit, he’s a shit, we’re both shits. He was messing around.”
“I don’t think it’s a laughing matter,” I snipped at him as I tried once again to push free of him.
“It isn’t, and if you’d heard all of it, we weren’t laughing. We lost something too. Fuck, baby, I almost lost you. Don’t do this. You know Jett would never let anyone, especially himself, hurt you.”
I did know that, but it wasn’t that easy. The words had hurt, and yes, maybe I was overly sensitive or maybe I was overly defensive, but either way, I wasn’t ready to kiss and make up. “Let me go.”
“Quinn.” Gray’s hand tightened on my neck, and his lips hovered over mine. “No. Not like this.”
“Let me go. I’m going to be late for class, and I don’t want to be the girl that gets manhandled by a Devil up against a tree on a Tuesday morning,” I snarked at him.
His eyes narrowed slightly before he took a step back. “Better?”
“It will be.” Without another word, I resumed my walk at a slower pace and ignored the fact that I could see Jett in my peripheral as I walked away.
I headed straight for the sports building. I didn’t look behind me to see if they followed; I suspected they would, and it pissed me off even more. I was not a fragile damsel in distress.
Okay, I had maybe acted like a fragile damsel in distress, but that didn’t mean that I was one.
Dumping my stuff in the locker beside the gym, I shrugged off my coat and changed my shoes. Retying my ponytail, I took a deep, calming breath, smoothed my hands down my thighs, and headed into class.
There were several tables laid out throughout the room, and I groaned inwardly when I saw Denzel talking to Jada.
Shit. Two people I didn’t want to see.
My professor saw me before they did, and I turned to Dimitri. “Morning.”
“You look tired,” he said immediately. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, thanks.” I tried for a smile and knew I failed. “Spent too much time on the nutrition spreadsheets.”
“It’s a good assignment,” Dimitri said enthusiastically. “Difficult because the serious athletes already treat their bodies like temples.” He jerked his head back to indicate Denzel. “And then others think vegetables on pizza count as your five a day.”
My laugh burst out of me before I could stop it, and Dimitri beamed. “That’s better,” he said fondly. “I thought pop quiz physical-style today.”
My laughter turned into a groan. “Why would you lull me into a false sense of security like that? Thinking you were a nice professor?”
“Because I’m evil,” he said with a grin. More of my classmates were behind me now, and I turned to share a look of commiseration with a guy in my class. “Did you all hear? Pair up, pick an athlete, we start in five minutes.”
“Me and you?” the guy suggested, and I nodded. I didn’t mind who I got. “Who we taking?” It was a mix of volleyball and basketball players, and I knew who I didn’t want. “The point guard took a fall on Saturday. He’s been hiding it, but his ankle’s giving him issues.”
“Really?” I asked as I started to walk to the poor victim of my morning.
“Yeah, saw it happen, been watching him ever since,” my partner said, then hesitated. “I’m not saying I have been, but if someone said stalker, I may not be as innocent as I would like to claim.”
I grinned at him as we stood in front of the athlete in front of us: six-eight and a bad ankle? I flexed my fingers; this was exactly what I needed.
Two hours later, I was happily finishing a mocha caramel latte as I strolled leisurely to the library.
Class had been exactly what my inner peace required.
My mind had cleared as I worked on the physio of the Saint this morning.
My partner had been knowledgeable, and Dimitri had been completely underwhelmed when we aced his pop quiz.
Now I needed some alone time with my spreadsheets to get my assignment back on track.
It’s why I had gone to the house this morning.
Waking up to find Gray gone and a note telling me he would see me later, reminded me that I hadn’t checked their fridges.
I’d been away from my project for a few days, and Dimitri’s quip about Denzel eating pizza had been my same fear when I woke up this morning.
I hadn’t expected to overhear my boyfriend — weird that it didn’t feel weird saying that — and best friend joking about pregnancies.
Gray and I had been careful since we got together.
I had condoms at my apartment, and when I was back at home, he had pulled out each time we’d been together.
Not ideal, and he had laughed that when the time came for him to reach his orgasm, his body was screaming at him to dig in deep, not pull the other way.
I’d changed from the pill to the shot after the miscarriage, but still, it made me nervous, Gray coming inside me. I hadn’t been ill — I hadn’t even had a sniff of a cold — but the thought of him being let loose in there made me squirmy.
As I tossed my empty coffee cup into the recycling and entered the library, I realized the idea of it wasn’t as abhorrent to me as I thought.
Selecting a seat in a reclusive part of the library, I set up, but my mind had one track, and it was the track that led to me and Gray, naked in the bedroom with him coming inside me.
I dropped my head into my hands. Oh my God, did I have a fetish?
Gray liked to wrap his hand around my throat; it really got him off.
Was my kink him getting off inside me? My other partners had worn condoms, Ash included, but it felt fundamentally wrong for Gray to be covered when he was inside me.
I wanted him flesh to flesh, I wanted to feel him spill either inside me or on me.
“Hey, you.”
I jerked up in surprise as Ava grinned at me with Mia beside her. Mia snorted at whatever my face said.
“Three guesses for what you were thinking right now!” she teased.
I was so flustered I couldn’t even lie. “Um . . .” Licking my lips, I decided to just own it and gave a half-hearted shrug.
“Nice.” Mia high-fived me, and I thought it was slightly odd, but I went with it.
“We saw you come in, but you looked lost in thought,” Ava said as she crouched at my one-person table. “You want to be alone, or do you want to sit with us?”
“Alone.” Wow, major bitch issues, I chided myself.
“Cool.” Ava stood easily and dove into her purse, producing an apple and a protein bar. “I never see you snack, not really. And I know, you’re like the guys, your body’s a temple, but you need fuel too, okay?”
She was adorably sweet. “Thank you,” I told her, and her happy smile was enough to know she knew I meant it.
“We’ll be here for about another half hour, then we’re going for coffee,” Mia said. “Text us if you’re coming; otherwise, catch you later?”
“Yeah, I’ll catch up after,” I assured her.
The two girls said their goodbyes, and I watched them go. Even with the no food policy, I surreptitiously opened the wrapper of the protein bar. My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my bag as I chewed.
Gray: Okay?
Me: I guess.
I thought back to what I had been thinking of before Ava and Mia interrupted my thoughts. Immediately, I was squirming again. Is this what animals felt like when they were in heat? This was ridiculous.
Gray: He never meant it the way you took it, we wouldn’t. Ever
I remembered the way he held me and the sure, confident touch of his fingers as he took ownership of me.
Ownership of me? The startling realization that I wanted to be dominated by Gray was almost as alarming as the fetish thought. Maybe I’d drunk something weird? Maybe I was having an allergic reaction to something. One that made you hot and horny and think delirious thoughts.
Gray: Why are you so quiet?
If only you knew. I couldn’t possibly answer him.
He’d either run away very fast or, knowing Gray, would spread me wide on the library table and fuck me.
I groaned when my pulse raced at the thought.
On what planet, in what universe, do you decide on a Tuesday morning that you’re so deliciously wicked?
Gray: Quinn?
I stared at the phone for a long time, drawing my bottom lip between my teeth. I pulled my teeth over it time and again as I stared at my messages.
Me: I think my period is due
Random, but then I realized that’s what was wrong with me. I should have known as soon as my brain said animal and heat.
Gray: Aren’t you on the shot? Do you need painkillers?
Good grief. Not only was he listening, he was sensitive too. Could he be any more perfect?
I didn’t answer, and then he called me. Looking around, I saw no one and slipped the phone to my ear.
“I’m in the library,” I whispered.
“Oh. You okay? Do you need anything?”
“No,” I said as I swallowed, and the itch that I needed scratching ramped up as he spoke to me, his voice low. My sigh of want was too loud.
“You sure you don’t need anything?”
“I need something.” My eyes squeezed shut at saying that out loud. I heard Gray’s sharp intake of breath.
“Quinn?”
To hell with it. “Yesterday, you said I couldn’t. Can I . . . can I do it now?” My foot was tapping off the floor as I waited for the answer, praying he would know what I was talking about.
I heard movement, and then I heard his voice, low and tight. “Baby? Are you asking for permission?”
“I might be,” I said as I tilted my head back to look at the ceiling tiles, my whole body strumming with anticipation.
“Ask me.”
My stomach flipped as I chewed my bottom lip like a crack addict jonesing for their next fix. “Gray,” I whispered.
“Say it.”
“Can I?”
“Can you what?” His voice sounded strained, thick with lust.
I looked around me. There was no one there. “Can I touch myself?” I asked him, my voice almost inaudible.
His breath caught, and I knew exactly how he would look, eyes heavy with desire, his cheeks would be sucked in as he looked at me, making him look angry, fierce, masterful.
“No.”
My whole body deflated at the word; I could feel the gnawing in my gut intensify. “Why?” I actually flinched at the neediness in my voice.
“Only I get to touch you.”
I wanted to hang up on him. I wanted to shove my hand down my pants and find my release while he listened. I realized in a certain foggy part of my brain I was acting irrationally; the rest of my brain didn’t care.
Packing my stuff, I kept him on the phone. “Fine. I’m on the third floor of the library, and I’m heading to the disabled bathroom. If you’re not here within ten minutes, I don’t care what you say, I’m doing it whether you say I can or not.”
He was there in seven minutes.