Chapter 32 Quinn
Quinn
The weekend passed in a blur.
I spent Saturday crying. It was like a leaky faucet I couldn’t turn off no matter what I did.
It didn’t help that my body still felt a little bruised and I was sore from where he was inside of me.
The tears didn’t stop until about two a.m. when I think I ran out of moisture in my eyes.
I managed a few hours of sleep before I woke up feeling empty and alone.
I’m not sure sleeping with him had erased the sweet, loving Theo that I had in my head, but it made me feel like at least something about this had been in my control.
Sunday, I did nothing. I sat, I thought, I looked at the walls of my apartment that no longer felt like home. I let myself sink into the emptiness and the abyss.
I’d turned my phone off as soon as I woke up on Saturday and hadn’t bothered turning it back on. I didn’t know what would hurt more, having messages from the everyone or having nothing at all. I was too scared to check.
After another sleepless night I went into the office feeling like shit. I didn’t even know what I would be working on anymore since I’d already sent an email asking to be removed from the Knight Enterprises account, something Richard was more than happy to do.
Tossing my purse on my desk I sat in my chair and didn’t even make a move to wake up my computer. I didn’t love this job and after losing something I did love, it felt pointless to be here.
“You look terrible.” James startled me out of the emptiness.
“It was a bad weekend.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lift an eyebrow, he had insulted me like that before and every time I said something sassier back.
“What the fuck happened to your wrist?” No one had seen me last week since I'd called in sick. I looked down at the cast, having kind of forgotten it was there, I was hoping to get it off soon. I didn’t bother answering as Richard called my name from behind me.
“In my office,” Richard barked before turning back and expecting me to follow. I let out a sigh and pushed back from my desk.
“Are you being fired?” James whispered, but I ignored him and went where I was beckoned.
The problem with being all cried out meant that I was only left with the anger.
“Close the door,” Richard demanded as I walked in.
I honestly couldn’t work up the emotion to care about why he was calling me in here.
I moved to stand behind one of the chairs facing his desk and gripped the back.
“You did well with Knight,” he said as he leaned back in his chair and looked me up and down. I didn’t hide my eyeroll.
I had bags under my puffy eyes from crying and not sleeping well, my red hair was pulled back into a single braid down my back with strands falling out and only enough makeup on to cover my bruises.
I was wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, and a blazer.
He could literally see almost zero of my skin.
I looked like a wreck and he still decided to be gross.
“I quit the account, I don’t think I did that well.” My comment didn’t bother him.
“Well, they paid their invoices. I don’t know if they’ll do more work with us, I think they said something about moving in house but we were paid and I’ll get my bonus,” he gloated. “I have a dinner tomorrow. I need you to come with me.” I waited a minute to see if he was kidding.
“I’m not going with you to dinner,” I said when he didn’t give me anything else.
“You whored yourself out to Knight, you’ll do it for me,” he said with a smug smile and then licked his lips.
As I stood there being harassed and insulted by my boss, I decided something.
I didn’t have to put up with this.
“I quit.”
Richard burst out laughing but stopped as I stared at him with a blank face. “What?”
I couldn’t believe he was actually confused.
“I quit. Effective immediately.”
“You… you… can’t do that!” he sputtered. “You are required to give proper notice.”
“I’m not working out my notice.” I smiled for the first time in over forty-eight hours.
“Legally—”
“Now, now, Richard, I don’t think you want to start talking legal with me.
Because if you don’t let me walk out this door, and pay me out for two weeks, then I’ll find myself a lawyer and then you will have to explain the sexual harassment claim I’ll hit you with.
” He paled a little. “And while we are going through proceedings, I might just have to tell your boss how you spend your time here, you know, shoving all your work off on other people and screwing women in other cities. I’m sure your wife would be open to talking to me too. ” I lifted an eyebrow, waiting.
He cracked faster than I was expecting.
“You’ll get paid out,” he said in a bit of a panic.
“Wonderful, I expect to see a full package in my inbox today. Get a better life, Richard,” I said as I turned and walked out.
Breathing was easier than it had been all weekend as I strolled to my desk and grabbed my purse.
“He fired you?!” James exclaimed as he rushed to follow me out.
“Nope, I quit.”
“You what?” His voice hit a higher octave.
I stopped at the doors to look at him. “You heard me. Give me a call in a few weeks and we can go for drinks.”
I couldn’t explain this to him right now, mostly because I couldn’t explain it to myself. I smiled as he nodded and I left this place behind.
I went straight home because I was exhausted and didn’t want to go enjoy unemployment. I changed into sweats and a hoodie, resisting the temptation to wear the sweater Theo left here.
It seemed like only minutes after my head hit the pillow on my couch, where I’d been sleeping the last two nights, that someone started banging at my door.
I heaved myself up and closed my eyes thinking whoever it was decided to leave. But nope. The banging started up again and got more insistent. I didn’t even bother to look through the peephole as I opened the door.
“For fuck’s sake, Quinn,” Asher grumbled as he pushed his way into my apartment. “You turned off your bloody phone.” He stood in my living room with his arms crossed over his chest looking extremely pissed off.
“Usually when someone turns off their phone it’s because they want to be alone,” I said as I closed my door and moved back to the couch, stepping around the angry man.
I needed to wash my bed to get his scent off my sheets, but I was worried about losing the smell of him as much as I was worried about smelling him. Hence the couch.
“How did you know where I was?”
“I called your office, someone said you went home but they sounded odd and wouldn’t tell me anything more. What the hell are you doing home?” He squinted at me, looking me up and down. His eyes locked on my face, I was sure he could see how terrible I looked, it had been a rough few days.
“I quit my job.”
He stood there, blinking, as I waited for him to say something.
“Why?” he asked gently as he sat down.
“Because he fucking left me. He’s just gone.” My voice cracked and I pushed the tears back. “And he isn’t coming back.”
“So you blew up your life?”
“I blew up nothing. I hated that job. It was well past time for me to leave anyway, this just gave me some clarity.”
“I know, but what are you going to do?”
I managed a smile, Asher was pissed because he was concerned about me, that was something at least.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, I have a little while to figure it out. You know Edward Hale?”
“The man who runs the Maria Knight Memorial Fund? Of course, what does he have—”
“When I met him, we got to talking while Knight was busy. He gave me his card after I shared some ideas. He told me that he wants to work on having a headquarters here to be more accessible for people on this continent. He told me to call him if I ever wanted to change my job and he would find me something.”
I hadn’t told anyone about Edward’s offer. Mostly because while I was extremely excited about working with the foundation at the time, I didn’t want to leave Knight Enterprises in the lurch.
Well, that was no longer a factor and I actually really loved what they did. I could make a difference and the idea of that had me excited.
“Have you called him?”
“No, but Elevate is paying me a good package.” I’d gotten the confirmation email from HR before I’d even gotten home. “I can get by on that for a while until I figure it out.”
The silence fell between us while I rested my head on the back of the couch and looked at the ceiling. I decided this morning that I was going to move, I didn’t want this place anymore. I needed a change.
Maybe Asher was right, maybe I was blowing up my life. But right now I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“I’m sorry, Q,” Asher finally said. I looked up at him to see him shake his head. “He’s a—”
“I don’t want to talk about him and I don’t need your apology. This isn’t your fault.”
“He’s a fucking moron,” he finished anyway.
“Well, moron or not, he’s gone and I need to move on.”
“What are you going to do now?”
I lifted my head to look at him. “I think I might go visit my mom for a bit. I get the cast off at the end of the week so I should be good to fly.” I’d spoken to my mom last night, she said I sounded down and that I should come to Italy, now it seemed like an excellent option.
“When do you leave?” I picked at the sleeve of my sweater.
“What do you mean?” Asher asked, confused.
“When do you head back to London?”
“I’m not leaving,” he stated.
I looked up at him surprised. I assumed with Knight leaving the rest would follow suit. “Who’s going back then?”
“No one is leaving, Quinn, we don’t have to follow him.
Plus, he didn’t want any of us to go back.
” I frowned, these guys had grown this company from the ground up, side by side.
But asking questions would look like I cared about Knight, which I was trying really hard not to do.
So I looked away deciding to drop it, Asher clearly picked up on it.
“You should come out with us on Friday and turn your phone back on. We miss you.” Asher was not a man who spoke softly and yet he just did.
I had to stop myself from looking at him.
“I don’t think I’ll be going to Pulse for a while.” Or ever, but I didn’t tell him that. I could tell he wanted to argue with me so I stood up.
“We aren’t friends with you because of him, Quinn.”
“Ash…”
“We are your friends. You’re supposed to lean on us during a breakup.”
“Asher.” I ran a hand through my hair, the bad nights of sleep were catching up with me. “I just need some time.”
I didn’t want to lose them because on top of Knight, I couldn’t handle that too. But looking at him was a constant reminder of the man I loved who broke my heart and left me with no real explanation, some time would be good.
“Come on, Quinn.” He took a step toward me, but I moved toward the door.
“No. I appreciate that you’re here and I’ll get over it and we can be friends again. But right now, looking at you reminds me that I somehow managed to fall in love with a man who could never love me back. Who up and left in the middle of the night and is probably doing just fine.
“So I need time to adjust to my new reality because I thought I was done. Done dating, done with crappy guys who treat you like shit. I thought he was mine. I just need some time to recover.” I opened the door for him.
“Fine.” He followed me to the door. “I’ll give you some time.” I let out a breath and nodded, still not looking him in the eye. “Will you at least let me know if you go to Italy?”
“That I can do.”
“If you need anything, call me or one of the other guys.”
“You and I both know that I won’t do that.” I gave him a sad smile as he walked out of the apartment.
“At least turn on your bloody phone,” he grumbled as he walked down the hallway without looking back. I locked my door and turned to stare at my empty apartment, not sure what to do next.