Chapter 36 #3
She wore her emotions on her sleeves. The first time it came out of her mouth, Quinntessa looked confused.
The second time, she appeared gravely suspicious.
The third, as Amanda cracked a joke like she knew Chris personally, Quinntessa shifted in place, her eyes flashing like she was stuck inside war flashbacks.
She didn’t know.
This poor girl had no idea, and I thought she just found out how much of an unfaithful bastard her father truly was.
“You’re more like Christian than I could have ever imagined.”
Amanda had to be blind if she didn’t see how uneasy Quinntessa appeared. The girl looked up, jerked out of her thoughts once again at the unfamiliar name.
“Christian?” Quinntessa scoffed.
“Your father?” Amanda frowned slightly and glanced between Mustang and me. “I thought that photo was him, and now you’ve just added proof. Honestly, you’re a lot like he was when we went to school together.”
My heart ached for her as the realization filled her eyes. I could see it. I hated that it was so painfully obvious how much backdoor information had skipped over Mustang and forced her into this situation.
I myself was struggling to make sense of all this.
If it was true, I still couldn’t believe it.
I’d been struggling to figure out why Quinntessa was so important, much like I had when it was Christian’s family I was helping Papa deal with.
It was never about the taxes and the dues on the Rome-Morley family.
Oh my God. Leo died because of Sebastian. Christian’s college savings were destroyed because of Sebastian. Quinntessa was going to die because of Sebastian.
Sebastian was Christian Rome Senior. A war hero who left his fucking pregnant wife by what? Faking his death? He gave Christian daddy issues so he could—how old was Quinntessa?
Seventeen!
Christian just turned eighteen.
That motherfucker cheated and ran off with his other kid, just to bring her back to this horrible town. All because of what? Revenge on my father? Revenge on my family? He almost killed my mother and me when he was undercover the first time.
My head spun like that tilt-a-whirl ride at the carnival. If I was this shocked, I couldn’t imagine how Quinntessa felt standing feet from me being told all this and that her dog needed a lot of work.
“Don’t worry,” Amanda added. “I have no intention of throwing in the towel with Scrabble that easily.”
“You went to school with my dad?” Quinntessa asked.
“Oh, yeah!” Amanda laughed. “Football star over at Blackhawk Academy. I thought for the longest time, he and Courtney would have stayed together. They met during a game against Styxton all those years back. It was fun watching rivals fall in love.”
I choked on my own unattractive reflux at the information. Tears burned my eyes as I coughed violently into my elbow, barely able to breathe.
C.R.
My mom went to the prom with Christian Romero! My mom dated Quinntessa’s father. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to curl up on the floor and cry until this all made sense. Why was my life turning into a season of Pretty Little Liars?
“You okay?” Amanda asked, eyeing me suspiciously. She probably thought I was high the way I was struggling more than normal to keep it together.
I glanced Quinntessa’s way to see her watching me curiously.
“Mhm.” I swallowed back the throbbing in my throat.
“I had no idea he went to Blackhawk,” Quinntessa confessed, moving on from my miniature breakdown. “Or about his ex-girlfriend.”
“Ex-fiancée.” Amanda really wanted to rub salt in that wound or something, because Quinntessa did not need that right now. “The Chronicles had a field day when they got engaged young. Must have come to their senses and broke it off.”
Or a dumbass man knocked up another woman and decided dying was better than confessing he cheated.
“Yeah. Maybe,” Quinntessa hummed.
“Weird. I swear they said Chris died overseas.” Amanda turned and walked away to grab something off the shelf.
I puckered my lips and glanced toward Quinntessa, who looked about as expected. If we wanted a picture of someone’s face when told the most ridiculous thing known to man, it would be the wide-eyed girl beside me.
“Let’s get a jump into things so I can give you an idea of what we’ll be doing.” Amanda prepared herself to evaluate Scrabble, her back to Quinntessa.
I slid over to the girl when I noticed she was shaking. Her chest wasn’t taking deep enough breaths, and I was sure she’d become three shades paler.
Quinntessa jumped when I gently laid a hand on her back.
I retreated for a moment, scared I was overstepping, but Mustang leaned into me before I could escape.
I sighed, relaxing as she did. I took another step forward and placed a hand on her hip, encouraging her to breathe through the panic attack she was so obviously fighting.
“Everything will be fine,” I whispered, tracing her spine with my finger. I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth when I felt her shiver. “You’ll be fine. Keep breathing, sweets.”
Quinntessa turned into me and laid her head on my collarbone. I nervously glanced at Amanda when she turned around.
The woman glanced between us and pinched the bridge of her nose.
At least I wasn’t sleeping with this client.