Chapter 39
Quinn
W e’ve just finished running through our first set when Nick storms into the warehouse, slamming the side door closed behind him so hard that the overhead lights rattle.
He lifts one hand, signaling for us to stop playing, and the look on his face, what the actual fuck? He looks like he’s got death on his mind, and his eyes are as dark as rolling thunder.
“What now?” Reed steps away from the mic stand.
I don’t know what Nick’s problem is, but he better watch himself because Reed’s expression is suddenly just as dark as his.
“Quinn! My office. Now!”
My head jerks in shock. Me? Nah, that can’t be right. I’m never in trouble. I look over at the others, but they all look just as confused as I am.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, sliding my guitar strap over my neck, setting it carefully against a speaker at the side of the stage. “You sure you got the right guy? What did I do?”
“Trust me, Quinn, you’re going to want to talk to me about this in private.”
He exchanges a few harsh words with Reed when Reed steps forward, looking to intervene, but I don’t catch most of it being that my head’s currently spinning like a carnival ride.
“My office. Move it!”
Jesus. Settle down. I jump down off the front of the stage, giving Reed one final look that screams your guess is as good as mine before leaving the rest of the band to stare after me in stunned silence.
I follow Nick across the warehouse toward his office, a small room that’s sandwiched between the record producer’s office and the part of the building where Dee stores all our merchandise.
Thankfully, neither one of them are in today.
There are two separate entrances into the building. The first is through the front door right off the street. The second is the side entrance from an alleyway to the east of the warehouse. This entrance is the one used mostly by roadies and the sound crew. For reasons I can’t explain, I find myself mentally mapping out the nearest escape route as I trudge after Nick.
Nick storms into his office, and once my feet are barely through the door, he slams the door shut behind me. The thick wooden panel only just misses clipping my ass.
“I warned you, didn’t I?” he seethes .
Call me clueless. But I can only stare at him as he draws closer, my hands falling to my sides. “What are you talking about?”
“Told you to stay away from her, didn’t I?” Nick’s gaze slides up the wall to the popcorn ceiling. He looks at it for a really long time, like he’s thinking really hard. Or at least he’s pretending to think really hard. “Didn’t I?” he repeats. “I’m sure I did. Yes. I most definitely did. That’s not something a guy forgets in a hurry.”
Dread sinks deep into my stomach. “Nick, calm down.”
“No, I won’t calm down, Quinn. I told you to leave her alone. You promised me she’d be strictly off-limits. And yet I roll up to her apartment just now, and she’s wearing your fucking T-shirt. Tell me you didn’t go there.”
“Nick, please—”
“Tell me you didn’t go there,” he demands.
I stand tall, holding my hands up. “It’s not like that, man. It’s not like that at all. Cassie and I, we’re—”
“She’s my brother’s fiancée, for Christ’s sake!” Nick’s words are spoken through anguish, through the lips of a man who still aches for the tragic loss of his younger brother.
But those same words slam into me so hard that they almost knock the wind out of me.
“No, she’s not,” I whisper, shaking my head.
And that’s all it takes for Nick to launch himself at me. His fist comes toward me at lightning speed, landing square on my jaw.
Fuck. That hurt.
And then we hit the floor with a loud thud, rolling and wrestling, and I don’t hold back because screw that. This has gone on for way too long, and Nick has no right to hold any of this over me.
“Say it again,” he growls into my ear, the threat clear in his heavy breathing. “I fucking dare you.”
Another blow, a sharp uppercut to my stomach this time, and it drives all the air from my lungs.
I swing back at him, clipping the underside of his nose, and the rich copper scent of blood instantly assaults my senses.
Shit. I just punched Nick.
Our band manager. I just punched our band manager. Fuck.
“Nick, I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“What the hell, Quinn?” he shouts, sitting back on his haunches, gripping his face as blood trails down his chin. “You just hit me!”
“You…you hit me first.” Great. I sound like I’m in kindergarten.
Shoving him off me, I clamber back to my feet, using his desk for balance. “I know you don’t want to hear it, man, and I know it must be tough for you, but Cassie, she’s not engaged to Jeremy anymore.”
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
“Jeremy’s gone, Nick. He’s gone.”
More blood drips from beneath Nick’s nose. “You gave me your word,” he says, his voice low and lethal. “How could you do this to me?” Staggering back to his feet, he stands on the opposite side of his desk, pressing his fingers into the polished glass. “Cassie’s like a little sister to me. And what?” The pained look on his face almost breaks me; it’s filled with so much anguish. “You got bored being a famous rock star who can get any woman he wants? They throw themselves at you, literally. But that’s not enough for you? Oh, hell no, you have to chase after the one woman I warned you to stay away from. Is that what this is to you, a game? Someone to screw around with until—”
“I fucking love her, Nick,” I suddenly blurt out, and the confession brings a flash of annoyance with it because the thought of saying those words for the first time to anyone other than Cassie makes me feel sick to my stomach.
But Nick didn’t leave me with much choice. I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
“I love her,” I say again. “I’m in love with Cassie. I’ve fallen head over heels in love with her, and I’m so tired of not being able to shout it from the rooftops because that’s all I’ve wanted to do since the beginning.”
“Are you serious?”
“I love her, man, and if anything comes in the way of her happiness…this warped industry, the media, me being so busy all the time, or on the road, if any of that threatens what we have together, I would give it all up in a heartbeat.”
Oh god, it feels so good to finally say all that out loud.
Nick’s eyes widen.
But I’m not done.
“Cassie Brooks is the most important thing in my life,” I say fiercely. “And all of this…” I wave my hand around, gesturing to the enormous rehearsal space surrounding us. “The music, the money, the upcoming European tour, all of it… it means nothing to me if Cassie isn’t by my side because I love her like crazy. ”
Nick halts, and total silence falls over the room. There’s a rustling noise behind me, and then his eyes dart past my left shoulder, locking onto something.
When footsteps echo in the doorway, my heart skips a beat, and Cassie’s voice has me spinning around.
“You love me?”
Her blue eyes lock onto mine, meeting my gaze straight on. For a brief second, I don’t know how to respond. We’ve been hiding our feelings for one another for so long now that it almost feels like second nature to slink behind the dark curtains.
But Cassie heard me. I know she did by the huge smile that’s threatening to surface and the way her lips start twitching uncontrollably.
“Do you mean it?” she asks.
My own smile breaks free, stretching my cheeks from ear to ear, and as far as I’m concerned, there’s no one else in the room right now.
Nick who?
“Of course I mean it, Cassie. I’m in love with you, head over heels in love with you. I love you so much. And I love our baby more than anything in the world.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I hear Nick grumble behind me, but I don’t bother turning around. All the air in his fancy leather chair escapes in a forceful rush, and I think I just heard his head hit the desk, but again, I can’t be bothered turning around.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Because I was scared you didn’t feel the same way. I was worried that you were confusing love for lust or loneliness or longing for something that’s not me. I can’t be anyone other than just me, Cassie. Am I enough for you?”
Cassie rushes from the doorway and into my waiting arms, kissing me over and over again on the lips with tears clinging to her long lashes.
“Are you kidding me? This hasn’t been about lust for a really long time. I love you, too, Quinn. I love you so much.”
She kisses me again, and her kisses aren’t adult-type kisses, passionate and sensual. Instead, they’re sloppy and messy and really frantic, and I can’t get enough of them.
My hands slide around her waist, and I hold her tightly. She’s practically mauling my mouth, and her fingers are in my hair, and now I’m laughing like a crazy person because it feels so good not to have to hide how much she means to me.
“I love you,” she says again in between frenzied kisses.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Cass.”
Before I can fully wrap my head around everything that’s going on, Cassie leans into me a little more, and that’s when I feel it, her tiny hard bump pressing against my lower stomach.
We break apart slightly, and both of us look down as my hands move to frame her belly on both sides.
Neither of us says the words out loud, but I know Cassie is thinking the exact same thing I’m thinking.
This baby is the best thing that’s ever happened to either one of us.
Nick makes a gruff sound behind us, and honestly I’d forgotten he was still even there. Glancing over my shoulder, I notice that his eyes are glued to where my hands cradle Cassie’s stomach.
The questions, hundreds of them, are written all over his face.
“Oh, yeah, and by the way,” I tell him. “Cassie’s pregnant.”