Chapter 19
One, two, three…didn’t work. I still want to kill him.
—Hollis taking deep breaths
HOLLIS
Thedoor to my apartment opened, and a little piece of my heart broke off and traveled toward him.
Butthe moment I registered his face, I took a deep breath.
Thelast thing I wanted to do today was listen to whatever had put that look on Quincy’s face.
I’dhad a bad day.
“I’ve had a no good, very bad day,” I said tiredly as I pushed my way inside.
It’dstarted with my former boss, Marla, throwing me under the bus, telling everyone I’d been the one to get the X-ray wrong when it’d been her—the woman was rusty to say the least.
Thenit got even worse when I’d gotten my food from the security guard that Quincy had gotten me. WhenI’d left the food on the counter in the break room, it’d been gone, along with the lunch Quincy had packed for me. Thrown away by some asshole I felt for sure was Marla.
Thenit’d ended with me walking out of work and being immediately served papers about being sued.
ByTaiteDeRosa.
“Why?” Quincy asked, reaching for his phone.
Igave him the papers, and he started to flip through them, his eyes hot.
“He’s saying you caused him ‘emotional damage’ on…” he read through. “You were with me, in bed, all night.”
Iwas.
Mycheeks flushed. “I can’t very well give them that information.”
“Well, they will take the word of a cop,” he said. “He’s saying that you purposefully cut his brake lines, honey. That’s a police matter. Why wouldn’t he go to the cops?”
“Because he can’t prove it.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. But there’s no way I can get all the way to SanAntonio from here in the time to cut his brake line and cause him to wreck.”
Hepulled up his phone and Googled how long it would take to get to SanAntonio from here.
“At peak time, it would take you four hours and eleven minutes. But with you getting off of work at the time you did, traffic in Dallas would’ve been bullshit. I’d say you could easily add another forty-five minutes to that time. You could probably make it in four hours if you pushed it. Say, going eighty-five?”
Thehilarity of that statement was missed by him.
Istill laughed my ass off, though. “Quincy, have you seen my car? It doesn’t go more than seventy, and that’s pushing it to the max. Not to mention, I have that Progressive thing that watches my every move when I drive. It would ding at me if I went too fast. I think you could probably get those records from them.”
Hechuckled. “You’re right. You have a lawyer?”
Whywould I have a lawyer? Normal people didn’t have lawyers.
Ishook my head. “No.”
“I know one,” he said. “She’s a shark. She owes me a favor, though. She’ll get this thrown out before it even gets to court.”
Heimmediately started back toward the coffee table where he’d been spread out looking at his cases again. I’d had to force myself not to glance at them this morning, but one in particular caught my eye, and I couldn’t stop staring at the photo of the woman lying dead on what looked to be dirty concrete.
Why did she look so familiar?
“I should make it go to court,” I grumbled. “ThenI can tell anyone who’ll listen what an asshole he is, how he yelled at my friend, and made her want to kill herself.”
Hepulled me into his arms, forcing my attention off of the dead woman, and then pressed a kiss on top of my head. “You don’t want to go to court for his stupid bullshit. You can, however, counter sue. Emotional damage goes both ways.”
Iliked the sound of that a whole lot more than I probably should have.
Ichuckled against his chest, but then wrapped my arms around his muscular torso and held on. “I’m giving up that life. I already told Kaylee that I wasn’t going to do anything to the douchebag anymore. You told me some wise words, and I took them to heart.”
Plus, Quincy wasn’t being a butthead anymore.
Andsince Quincy was a cop, I needed to make a choice, and it was him.
“Why did you have that look on your face when I walked through the door?” I asked.
Hegroaned. “You’re not going to like this…”
Thenhe proceeded to tell me everything and not a bit of it surprised me in the least about my parents.
Ihad wondered where they got the money to do what they did.
Imean, when I was a kid growing up, those kinds of things weren’t available to me.
Youdon’t just walk into that kind of life without winning the lottery or something.
Which, I guess, for them they did.
Untilthey were caught.
Theassholes.
Ipulled back, and then rubbed my face with my hands, hating the way my parents always tried to cut corners.
“Let me tell you a story,” I said, eyes alight with fire upon hearing everything he’d told me about Tayson and my parents. “WhenI was ten, I asked for a Barbie for Christmas. They didn’t get it for me. They got me the wrapping paper and gave the actual Barbie to my sister. WhenI was twelve, I asked for three dollars to go on a field trip. They refused, and then I had to sit at the school because I couldn’t pay. When my class got back from the field trip, they told me they saw my mom, sister, and brother there, all of them in the gift shop buying souvenirs. WhenI was fifteen, I bought a car, fixed it up, and they sold it and kept the money. WhenI was eighteen, I moved out with the clothes on my back. So, when I tell you that this is their problem, I’m not lying. I tried. I really did. It’s not my circus anymore.”
That’swhen he suggested that we go out to eat.
“We can go eat. Anywhere you want to go,” he said.
“How about that hamburger place next to the hospital?” I requested.
Heblinked. “You just had that for lunch.”
Iwas already shaking my head. “WhenI went to eat it, I had to pee really bad. So, I put it on the table and went. Only, when I got back it was in the trash with the lunch you packed, too. There was a bunch of unknown liquid on it. So, I couldn’t eat it.”
Quincy’seyes narrowed. “That’s fuckin’ bullshit.”
Itreally was.
“Only, if we go there,” I said as I thought about how nice it would be to take my bra off and collapse on the couch. “You have to get me ice cream after. From the grocery store on the corner. They have the kind I like.”
Hewinked. “Done.”
“You know,” Quincy muttered under his breath. “You’re acting a whole lot like Tay right now.”
Myhead whipped around, and my eyes narrowed. “Take that back.”
Heheld up his hands. “It’s just that he was a shit all day, too. Though, at least you are cuter when you’re mean.”
Iflipped him off.
* * *
Wewere placing the carton of ice cream into the conveyor belt of the checkout when a woman sporting way more items than ‘15 or less’ cut us off.
“What the fuck?” I heard her grumble under her breath.
Iwasn’t the only one to hear it, either. The woman in front of me in the checkout lane turned to survey me.
Quincygroaned under his breath.
“What?” she asked, her gaze traveling up and down over the length of my body, and obviously finding me lacking.
SoI was wearing sweatpants. SoI had my hair up in a bun. SoI had Crocs with CrocLights on.
Awoman could be comfortable! And dammit, but the hallway and the stairwell were dark. Sometimes a woman wanted to make sure she didn’t fall down the stairs!
“Math wasn’t your strong subject in school, was it?” I asked, pissed off at her obvious disdain.
Quincycaught me around the belly and turned me, his eyes huge, as he gave me a look that clearly said, “Behave!”
“Because you definitely have thirty items in a fifteen items or less line,” a voice finished for me.