How could I have missed this? How long were they sneaking behind my back? Was I too blissfully unaware and ignorant to catch on?
Quinn sits a respectful distance away from me on the concrete bench, but he places his hand on my back and rubs it in soft, comforting circles. “Well, like I said earlier,” he says quietly as he gazes towards the pond. “I’m here if you want to talk about it. But if you don’t, I’m also completely fine with sitting here and keeping you company until you’re ready to brave the world again.”
I flash him a weak smile. “I just don’t know how to face them knowing they all lied to me. How stupid I must have looked to them this entire time? I’m mortified and angry,” I confess as I wipe the evidence of my breakdown off my face. “But mostly, I hate feeling this weak. I hate them for making me feel this small.”
Quinn closes the space between us and cups my face gently with his hands. His expression surprises me. It’s not the same cocky and arrogant one that he’s shown me until now. He looks…angry? Bothered, even.
“You are not small, Teagan. Don’t give them the power to make you feel like you are. They are beneath you and don’t deserve to breathe the same air as you. You walk with your head held high, as if none of this has affected you. That’s how you go back into that house and face them,” he tells me as his soul-piercing eyes slowly start chipping away at my armor. “You are strong. Strong enough to beat them at their own game. Don’t let them see you fall.”
The way he’s so fiercely adamant makes me wonder who in his life made him feel this way, because you don’t talk like this without having firsthand experience.
“Who made you feel small?” I whisper.
Quinn’s eyebrows knit together, his mouth dropping open in surprise before he pulls his hands away from my face and drops them in his lap. “My family. They aren’t very nice people.” His voice is soft and vulnerable. Something about it tugs at my foolish, overly trusting heartstrings.
I’m about to ask him to elaborate when a frog croaks from somewhere in the garden, making me jump out of my goose pebbled skin. “I guess we should probably go back,” I suggest, getting to my feet while looking into the dark garden. I hear something bigger moving along the path, which makes the hair on my neck stand up. The air seems to have dropped in temperature because I’m suddenly freezing.
Quinn stands and offers me his jacket. Typically, I would say no, but it really is freezing out here, so I slide my arms in and wrap his coat tightly around me. It’s still warm from his body, and it feels heavenly.
“Walk back with me?” He holds his hand out for me. I slip mine into his as we head back to the house. It feels right and wrong all at the same time.
I can do this. I’ll walk in there with my head held high. I won’t let them ruin this trip for me.
“Wait.” Quinn stops. He tugs my hand and pulls me towards a large tree. My back hits the bark as he boxes me in with his hands.
“What?” I ask, my voice trembling slightly as he looks down at my lips. “Quinn?”
He lets out a strangled groan. “I have to do this. Just once,” he proclaims before his lips are on mine.
The kiss almost ruins me. I could drown in the taste of him and the feeling of his body pressed up against mine.
Quinn pulls away just as quickly as it began and paces back and forth in front of me. “I’m sorry,” he gasps out. “I shouldn’t have done that. I promised myself I would stay away from you, Teagan. Especially since I know this won’t end well. But there’s something about you I just can’t shake.”
His admission startles me, and I’m mixed with both confusion and desire. I don’t care if this will end badly. All I care about is this moment, with him.
A loud bell rings from the direction of the house. I feel myself losing him. Our stolen time together is coming to an end with each ring of that bell.
Quinn steps back towards me. “You’ve been saved by the bell. Now let’s head back before I do something stupid like that again and end up getting thrown into the pond.”
Instead of answering him, I grab the collar of his shirt and slam my lips back to his.
Chapter fourteen
My heels echo like rapid gunshots as I search desperately for Teagan. The abstract paintings hung throughout the many hallways of Windermere Castle flash by in a blur of color while I race to find her.
I need to fix this.
I’ve ruined everything, and I have no one to blame except myself. I knew I’d have to tell Teagan about Josh and me one day. I knew that day would hurt her, possibly destroy her. I just didn’t expect that day to be today. I thought I had more time. I thought Josh and I would finally be able to be together in the open and that I’d have his calming strength standing beside me when we finally told her about us.
How the hell did Capri even know?
She’s never said anything to me about Josh. We’ve been so careful to make sure that we kept our affair hidden from everyone.
I reach the end of the hallway. Left or right? Where would Teagan’s mysterious knight in shining armor have taken her?
“Lexi! Wait!”
I spin around and see Capri running towards me. Her heels are in one hand, and her phone is in the other. She must have gone back to her roomto fetch it instead of looking for Teagan like the traitorous two-faced bitch she is.
