Quinn:You didn’t need to leave
I shoved it back in my pocket. I didn’t need to reply. Of course, I had to leave. How could I sit there, looking at her, knowing that she had been giving awaymybaby? My fucking baby. She was going to give it to strangers, and what, never tell me? Anger boiled in my blood as I walked and fought the memories, my older brother’s words once more resonating through my head.
“He is your family, he is your blood, what is she?”
“Everything,” I whispered in reply.
“Then you’ll never be free of her,” was his sad reply.
Yes, I would. I needed to cut all ties to her, every single one of them. We would find the bastards who hurt her, and then I would be free, and I would never look back.
The agency she went to was bogus, a front for something I hoped and prayed she didn’t know about. Stopping in the cool October air, I looked to the darkening sky. There was one other person who knew everything, who knew about the “adoption,” one sick fucker who we had on camera.
With grim resolution, I turned and started toward the dorm house. It was time for that house call.
Chapter 10: Quinn
I listened to Jett and Ash talk about their practice session as my fingers tightened around my cell. He wouldn’t text me back; he hardly ever did, even when we were on good terms. Gray wasn’t big on communication.
You would think that with him being so quiet, text would be his thing — he didn’t need to actually speak to anyone, and he could remain his reclusive self. But no, he just didn’t text people.
Jett slung his arm over my shoulders, and I felt his kiss on the side of my head. He had done it since we were twelve, ever since my mom died. It was his way of giving me comfort.
“I’m sorry I pushed,” he told me as we walked to their dorm.
“I know,” I answered him, and I saw Ash look at us both and look away.
“Gray said you were quiet on the walk home the other night,” Jett told me, and I fought the eye roll. He would never give up. It wasn’t who he was, and suddenly, I needed Gray here more than I realized.
“Lot on my mind.” I shrugged off his shoulder and fixed the strap of my book bag.
“You need to help us,” Ash blurted. I looked at him with wide eyes. He never spoke about it. Not to me. I understood his reluctance, I did. I’d hurt him, and he’d hurt me, which meant the gulf between us was wide, no matter how tentative our truce.
“I told them already, I really don’t.”
He stopped walking and glared down at me. “How the hell can you be so cold?” Ash shook his head as he looked away from us both, his jaw clenched. “I know you, Quinn, I know you push your feelings down, and I know you think it makes you strong, but right now, it’s making you weak.”
My anger flared. “What the hell did you just say to me?”
“You’re hiding.” Ash gave me his full attention. “You’re hiding behind your fear, and it’s pathetic.”
I would have been less shocked if he’d slapped me.Fuck him and fuck this. “Hiding? I’m nothiding, I have nothingtohide. You know everything, and everything you didn’t know, you ignorant bastards went snooping in and tried to find out anyway. Despite me telling you not to. Despite me begging my friends to leave it alone, you had zero consideration for what I felt, what I was going through or what I wanted!”
Ash took a step back at my fury, and I saw him pale. “Queeny—”
“No!” I snapped at him and took a few steps away from them both. “No. You don’t get to do this to me; it wasmyloss. It’smyheartache. It has absolutely nothing to do with you.”
I strode away from them, my anger fueling my steps, and I’d walked halfway home when I realized that I wasn’t alone. Turning my head, I looked at Jett, who gave me his usual smirk, and I fought the sigh.
“I stormed off,” I muttered at him, and I heard his snort of amusement.
“It was very dramatic, had real flair,” he answered easily as he stepped beside me.
“You’re such a dick,” I told him. “You can’t even let me walk away in peace.”
“A random dude bruised you the other night. He knew who you were. I’m not letting you out of any of our sights until we either find him or his friends.”
My steps slowed as I looked around us. It was true that the nights were getting darker, but I had never felt unsafe on campus. “You think it’s them?”
