5. QUINN
QUINN
Someone grabs my arm in a firm grip, so I turn with an annoyed look, thinking that it’s Beck again. I quickly fix it when it’s Jace instead.
He quickly takes note of my sour face and drops his hold. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
I wave my hands in front of me to assure him that it’s okay. “Please don’t—I’m just a little on edge.”
He hums in understanding. “I know my conditions might be difficult to meet, but please do take your time and carefully consider my offer.”
He falls silent for a moment and looks away.
I follow his line of sight to find him watching Beck, who is storming off to one of the cars.
We just had an altercation as I was exiting the jet, when he was reminding me of our conversation earlier.
He looks pissed, and even though I hate to admit it, I understand why.
His siblings are making a huge decision about his life without really considering his feelings.
“I love my brother,” Jace speaks up, pulling my attention back to him. “And he’s finally willing to turn his life around, so it’s only natural for me to want to help.”
“I know you’re only looking out for him, but we don’t really get along. I don’t think I’m the best person for this job,” I reply.
“I don’t want you two to become best friends—all I need is for you to fix his reputation, and that does not require the two of you to like each other. It’s business, not personal,” he insists.
He’s making it sound so easy, but Beck and I have history that no one else knows about. I don’t hate him for no reason—I’m not that petty. It goes way beyond what he did to make the whole town hate him. It sucks that I can’t tell anyone; otherwise, they would understand why I am so against this.
“Miss Atwood.”
“Sir?”
“My family means the world to me, and I’d go to the ends of the world for every single one of them, including Beck. I trust you will make the best decision that will favor everyone, so I do hope to be hearing from you soon,” he decrees with a confident smirk.
He gives my shoulder a comforting squeeze before walking away.
I stand on the tarmac, watching them get into the waiting SUVs before driving away.
When they are all gone, only then am I able to find my way to where I parked my car.
Landon is behind the wheel of his truck, waiting for me.
He doesn’t say anything, just watches me silently get into my jeep.
It’s only been thirty-six hours since I decided to tail Landon and was invited to join the Morgans in Vegas, yet it feels like I’ve been away for a week. So much that I was unprepared for has happened, and now I’m left with a very big decision to make.
On the drive home, my fingers tap restlessly on the steering wheel, eyes focused on the road ahead, but my mind might as well be back on that jet.
For some reason, I find myself getting angry.
What do those Morgans take me for? Just because I need money from them, they think they can use me as a rehabilitation retreat for their brother.
Wait—he already went to one. There was a rumor around town of Beck being in rehab, but I confirmed it this morning when he blew up at his siblings.
It’s good that he’s trying to get better, but why do they have to pull me into the mix? Beck is as much against this as I am, but I have more to lose. It’s also not up to him but Jace, the brother who is actually in charge.
How did I finally manage to get that meeting with the Morgans only for them to give me the most ridiculous ultimatum? I am so frustrated with this whole situation I could cry, but I pull myself together.
I am quickly running out of time, which means I have two options: find another investor or give in to the Morgans’ ridiculous conditions. But it’s not easy to find someone willing to cough up fifty million dollars—believe me, I’ve tried.
By the time we get home, I am no closer to finding a solution than I was when I left yesterday.
“Are you okay?” Landon asks as we park our cars in the garage.
“What do you think?” I grumble, running my fingers through my hair.
“I don’t know much about what happened—it’s clearly none of my business—but it’s gonna be okay,” he assures me.
I manage a tight smile in response. “Thank you.”
He gives me a side hug as we walk out of the garage toward the front door. “Of course. You still owe me, though.”
“I know. I’ll make it up to you.”
“I’ll take cash—credit is fine too,” he teases, finally managing to make me laugh.
“I’ll double it if you talk to Jace for me and get him to be my investor without me having to give in to his crazy demand,” I request.
He ruffles my hair, giving me a sad smile. “I don’t have that kind of power, Quinn. My only connection to the Morgans is Beck, and he’s the person in question here.”
“It was worth a shot,” I grumble as he unlocks the door to let us in.
It’s weirdly quiet, but I know the whole family is home.
“Can we please keep this between us, at least for now?” I request.
My family doesn’t like Beck at all, so if they learn that the condition of me getting the money is us working together, they will be completely against it.
They already don’t like that he’s friends with Landon, so this will send them over the edge.
I want to make the decision on my own without their influence.
“Of course. It’s your business.”
“And that’s why you’re my favorite brother,” I grin at him.
“I better be.”
“I need a shower and twenty-four hours of uninterrupted sleep,” I groan as we make our way upstairs.
“Mom will have your head if you miss dinner, especially since you didn’t tell her that you weren’t coming home last night,” he reminds me.
“Argh! Kill me now. It’s not like I intended to spend the night away. Plus, I’m twenty-six years old—I’m old enough to come and go as I please.”
“I dare you to tell her that to her face.”
“Are you crazy?! Do you want me to die?”
He chuckles. “Go take a shower and a quick nap. I’ll see you at dinner,” he says, stopping outside my room.
“Okay,” I nod and watch him walk away.
Recalling something, I call out to him just as he gets to his bedroom door. “Landon.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” I say with a smile.
“You’re welcome. And don’t worry—everything will work out. You’re Quinn Atwood; you always figure it out,” he encourages.
“Thanks.”
We disappear into our individual rooms, and I don’t stop until I’m in the bathroom, under my steaming hot shower, burning off my worries.
As soon as my head hits the pillow, exhaustion takes over, and I pass out like a light, but not before I set an alarm on my phone to wake me in time for dinner. My mother dislikes it when we’re tardy, and I’d hate to get on her bad side, especially when I’m not in the best mood myself.
Just as Landon predicted, she doesn’t spare me.
“Where have you been?” my lovely mother asks before I even get a chance to take a seat at the dinner table.
I’m still in need of more sleep, but I feel better after my nap. I look up to face Mrs. Atwood, who is as prim and proper as always with flawless makeup, blonde hair in a tight bun, her blue blouse crisp and immaculate like she hasn’t moved an inch to avoid creasing it all day.
“Hello to you too, Mother,” I greet as I take a seat across from her, sandwiched between my father, who is at the head of the table, and Landon, who’s to my right.
“You didn’t spend the night here,” she accuses.
“I know. I went on a business trip,” I answer vaguely.
“What kind of business trip has you staying out all night where you couldn’t even call your mother?” she demands.
“The kind where I had to fly out of town,” I reply, then turn to my younger brother Louis, who is seated next to her. “Please pass me the rice,” I request.
I’m the only sister in a family of four.
We have Rhett, thirty-five, our oldest, who is my father’s right hand; Landon, thirty, the rebel, a professional bareback racer and Wrangler Creek’s heartthrob, as I’ve been made painfully aware; me, who’s still trying to figure my life out; and Louis, the youngest. He’s twenty, in college, a mama’s boy whose life is already planned out, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about any real responsibilities for a bit longer.
Before Mother can respond to me, Rhett speaks up. “How was Vegas?”
“You went to Vegas?” Louis chirps excitedly while my mother’s jaw drops in shock.
I turn to Landon with an accusing look. “You snitched on me?”
“No, he saw my Instagram,” he quickly explains.
It’s been less than four hours, and the cat is already out of the bag. There is no such thing as keeping a secret in this family.
“So tell us, how was your ‘business trip’? Did you manage to get the money from the Morgans?” Rhett asks, a bit too sarcastically for my liking.
“I’m still working on it,” I grumble, filling up my plate with rice.
“So that’s a no?” he mocks.
I sneer at him, reaching for the chicken.
Of course he’s not vouching for me to be successful. If I am, it’ll mean I’ll have done more in my two years on the council than he has in his ten years under my father.
“Why are you here? Don’t you have your own house, a wife, and kids to get back to?” I retort.
“Jess took the kids to see her parents, and besides, this is my house too. I can come and go as I please,” he smugly explains.
Oh, how I wish Jace had signed off on the investment—it would have been so satisfying to slap that look off his face with a fifty-million-dollar check.
“Sweetheart, you’re already doing great work on the council. Why do you have to go so far?” Mother asks.
“Because if I don’t, no one else will.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” she sympathizes.
Of course she thinks that. Her whole existence is centered around being a wife and mother. There is nothing wrong with that, but I want more for myself.
“I’m not being hard enough.”
“Your mother is right, Quinn. You bit off more than you can chew. It’s okay to accept defeat and realize your limitations. Now you can give up on your silly idea and focus on your true responsibilities,” Father speaks up, his words direct stabs to my heart.
“You mean being your glorified secretary?” I scoff.
His face turns sour at my jab, but he doesn’t respond because he knows I’m right.
The more they talk, the more I realize that they were all banking on me failing.
“None of you thought I could do this, did you?” I ask, my voice cracking.
They all fall silent except for Landon and Louis, who raise their hands, making me smile. “We did.”
“Thank you, guys,” I say, then turn to the other three.
“I was doing everything I could for the sake of our town, but now I’m going to do it out of spite.
To show you three that I can do this. I don’t care what it takes—I am going to get that funding.
You can bet on that,” I grit out, pushing my chair back and getting to my feet.
“Sit down, Quinn. It’s rude to walk away before we’re all done eating,” Mother demands.
“And it’s even ruder to have a family that makes fun of my efforts to make our town a better place,” I retort, picking up my plate and walking out of the dining room in a huff.
I’m not going to sit through a whole meal and listen to them make fun of me. If their words have done anything, it’s to make me realize that turning away such a great opportunity just because it’s challenging is not the way to go.
Working with Beck has got to be less torturous than facing the ridicule from my family and not achieving my dreams. But I am not going to rush into it—I am going to take a few days to make sure that I’m making the right decision as I come up with a plan.
I’m going to get that investment, one way or another, and watch those three choke on their words.