Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
E lias had kept his head down and worked behind the scenes at his businesses in the weeks following his trip to Quinley’s. He’d received her texts, read every one of them and then sometimes reread them just to hear her voice in his head and the humor that drew a smile regardless of his mood.
Thanks to a few other things happening socially via the Wilmywood elite and a country music star getting arrested after a public brawl, the media attention had shifted off them, and life had slowly returned to normal. No more reporters hanging out, hoping for a statement, no more calls to every number listed in his name. No more.
He’d heard all about the evening at Quinley’s house when his brothers and family had helped move in the furniture Quinley’s mother had gifted her. Hudson had returned Elias’s truck, singing Quinley’s praises, spiking Elias’s temper because the whelp actually still hoped Quinley might notice him despite their age difference.
Maybe that was why the mention of Quinley being sick had spawned his desire to take her soup. Because he refused to acknowledge what he’d felt as jealousy or the need to claim her. It was annoyance with his kid brother, with Hud’s cockiness. That was all.
And spooning her? Lying there long after she’d fallen asleep just so he would have the memory? The feel of her pressed against him, holding tight to his arm until her body relaxed in sleep, allowing him to pull away.
Quinley wasn’t the type of woman, the type of relationship, he preferred. She was dangerous. Addictive. And no matter how many times he shut the door on any thought of a relationship with her, it creaked open again when he least expected it, flooding his brain with images of her smile, her laugh, the soft silky feel of her hair.
Through one of Cole’s many updates he insisted on sharing, Elias knew Quinley had filed her paperwork to open her new business. Apparently she planned to work out of the home office he’d seen when carrying her to bed.
He wanted to send flowers. To congratulate her on her new venture. But again, he knew better because of what it implied.
Once the gym had closed for the night, Elias emerged from his office and made his way through the mostly darkened interior to work out. He’d moved through his warm-up and the first machine when the back door of the building opened and banged shut with the beep of the alarm system. Whomever it was quickly punched in the code, and the beeping stopped.
Elias waited, knowing it could only be a handful of people. Sure enough, Finn walked into view, not even remotely dressed to exercise, seeing as how he wore a tuxedo.
“Look at Mr. Fancy Pants. Where have you been?”
“Award d-dinner,” Finn said.
“Not exactly your style, is it?” Elias asked, already knowing the answer from his twin’s stutter and the dark glower on Finn’s face.
“Grants f-for the farm,” he said slowly, the stress of the evening lingering in the slow pace of his twin’s words and his battle to calm the stammer that plagued him.
Which is why Elias was surprised Finn had braved attending. The money he’d secured had to have been substantial for the embarrassment it caused Finn, especially when he got so overwhelmed he couldn’t speak at all. His brother’s speech had been an issue since childhood. He’d recovered with therapy, only to have the issue return when their parents died. Ever since then, stress triggered the stutter around unfamiliar people which was why Finn pretty much kept to his farm and safe places and those he knew well, like a hermit.
“What are you d-doing?”
Elias straightened from where he’d readjusted a pin in the weight stack of his second machine. “Working out?”
Finn shook his head at the comment, his frustration visible on his face. “I s-saw your Quin-l-ley. With her ex.”
Elias froze, thankful for the hand he’d placed on the frame of the weight machine when his entire body locked up and threatened to implode.
Of all the things Finn might have said, Elias hadn’t expected that. Not after everything Quinley had said at the cabin about not wanting to marry Lachlan.
And how she wasn’t sorry she’d kissed him.
Then again, maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe now that some time had passed, Quinley had reconsidered. Wasn’t that one of the reasons he’d forced himself to stay away? Keep his distance? To see if she’d go running back to her billionaire boyfriend? “Obviously,” he drawled slowly, “she’s not my anything, especially since she was with him.”
He forced himself to move, take position and made his first lift.
“I s-see you.”
Elias didn’t pause in his counts, feeling the stretch and burn and welcoming both. Something had happened tonight to set Finn off, otherwise his twin wouldn’t have come here like this. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Finn swore softly, the four-letter word turning into seven letters, and paced until he stood directly in front of Elias, glaring down at him.
Elias glared back. “Hey, just because you’re in a mood doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.”
“You keep us at a d-distance. Even m-me. Wh-why? I want to hear you s-say it.”
“Say what ? If you know so much about me, how about you tell me what you think you know,” Elias countered, aware that he sounded like a sullen teenager.
“You th-think if you d-distance yourself from everyone it won’t h-hurt so much. That’s why you’re afraid t-to let Quinley get c-c-close.”
Elias tightened his hold on the grips and kept going.
“Quinl-l-ley is awesome,” Finn said as he continued on his rant. “She looked f-for you to show up when we m-moved her stuff.”
“Sounds like she was actually looking for her ex.” He forced himself to say the words, especially after what Finn had said about them being together.
Finn muttered something that sounded suspiciously like idiot. “You l-like her. Why are y-you throwing away y-your chance to be with her?”
Elias dropped the weights and allowed them to clang against each other, breaking one of the many rules of his own gym. “She was literally about to marry someone else a few weeks ago. Rebounds never work—a fact proven tonight since she was there with him .”
“Maybe she w-would’ve l-liked to have gone with you .”
Elias shot to his feet and stood toe to toe with his twin. “You don’t know anything. Tell me what this is about.”
Finn scraped his fingers through his hair like he wanted to rip it out. “You ch-changed when we lost Mom and Dad. Mom wasn’t there to take c-care of you. I saw how s-scared you were. I felt it. But we didn’t know how to m-make it better. So we didn’t t-t-talk about it. We d-didn’t…d-didn’t want to jinx ourselves.”
His chest tightened, squeezing his lungs so tightly he couldn’t inhale. How many of those conversations had he been left out of?
Apparently plenty. And the fact Finn was in full-blown stutter in his upset talking to him about it when his twin never stuttered around family said even more.
Finn shook his head, eyes briefly squeezing tight with frustration. “When they d-died…you sh-shut down. Like n-now. Don’t screw up with Quinl-l-ley because you’re afraid .”
“I’m not afraid.” The words emerged low but tentative, and even he knew they were a lie.
All the excuses he’d made about Quinley being walking chaos were true, but more than anything, he was afraid of opening himself up to her only to be hurt. For her to leave him like she did Lachlan. Make a fool of him. Break him.
When he’d held her, sick and fevered, he’d felt his skin crawl with unease. With the awareness that even if she didn’t leave him, other things could happen. Her sickness had terrified him. Not that he’d catch it but that she’d get worse. That something would happen to her, and he’d be left without her. That no matter what, he’d be left alone and in more pain. “I can’t compete with a billionaire. It’d never work.”
Finn exhaled a breath loaded with exasperation, staring at Elias for a long time before apparently concluding he wasted his time. His twin shook his head and turned on his heel with a final look of disgust.
“You’re m-m-making a mistake.”
“If you like her so much, why don’t you go after her?”
An expression crossed Finn’s face before he schooled his features. Elias saw it though, and something about the look broke his heart because of the pain and vulnerability Finn had revealed. “Finn, come on. What happened tonight? What’s got you so worked up?”
Finn stared at Elias for several long seconds before he clenched his teeth in a very Finn-like move. A sign that Finn was done trying to communicate because he couldn’t speak properly and so he wasn’t going to try any longer. It was an avoidance tactic, one his childhood therapist had warned all of them to take in stride.
But as Finn’s footsteps carried him out the door and Elias watched him go, he wasn’t sure which of them was more frustrated right now.