Chapter Fifteen
Tayler
“So how was it?” I ask Quinn on the car ride back to Ames. I picked her up at the airport after her week-long trip to London.
“Amazing. Perfect. He told me he loves me.”
Holy shit.
I nearly put the car in the ditch from her pronouncement. “Shut the front door! Did you say it back?”
I’m holding my breath because this is huge. More than huge. My best friend, and the sweetest girl in the world, has been in love, or thought she was, with maybe five guys. Five guys who didn’t know she existed, at least not in the romantic sense. And for that guy, Cooke Thompson, professional rugby sensation and hottest man in the world (not kidding), to tell her he loves her? Well, that’s just… just….
“I did.” She smiles. “I do love him.”
I smirk. “What’s not to love?”
And then the most magnificent thing happens. The thing I’ve wanted for my sweet friend to say forever. “He’s not perfect.”
I feel the car jerk to my left. Shit. I nearly put my car in the ditch. It’s official. I’m going to kill us. To get the car back to rights, I slow it down, then pull off onto the next exit ramp. This conversation needs to happen in a stopped vehicle anyway. But first, I need to hug her.
Quinn laughs. “Did you miss me that much?”
I let her go. I’ve got to say this, “You haven’t put Cooke on a pedestal. You said it yourself, he’s not perfect.”
“He’snotperfect, but he’s perfect for me.”
“But every other guy you’ve ever lusted after wasperfect. Nothing was ever wrong with them. Take Bryant.” I snort because Bryant is a douchebag. “You thought he shit sunshine.”
“Gross. I did not.” Quinn’s laughing. She knows it’s true.
“Yes, you did. But thishot Britishguy… a professional athlete who’s loaded—I assume.Thatguy isn’t perfect?”
“No. He’s sort of a slob, and he’s super cranky in the morning, and—”
“See?” God, I’m excited. “This is fucking awesome.” I breathe a sigh of relief. Something I’ve been holding in forever as it relates to Quinn. She always worried me with her crushes. But this one. This is real.
Putting the car back into Drive, I check the road making sure it’s safe to go.
“You’re crazy.”
I look over at Quinn, “You’recrazy. By the way, Vic has been asking about you every day. It’s getting on my nerves, so you’d better stop in and tell him you’re back.”
“Aw, that’s nice.”
“He loves you for some reason. Hell, he can’t even remember my name.”
“He calls me spitfire.”
“He called you Quinn to me.”
“Maybe I’ll take Mary for a walk or something.”
“You should. Find out the story about her, would you? All Vic said was she was abused. I want to know if the fuckers who abused her were punished.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good.” At least that gives me something else to think about. Something other than Luke and the fact that I haven’t heard a word from him for two nights. I suspect it’s going to be much longer.
