“Did they hurt you?” Anne asked Quinn directly when I was done.
“No, they never hurt me. I got a call after I met with them to make sure I wasn’t going to change my mind, but I never heard from them again.”
“Who told Tilly?” I asked as I forced myself to look at Onyx.
My brother met my accusatory stare before he looked away in disgust. “I’m a bastard, it’s true, but I’m not a cunt.”
“Onyx!” Mom chastised him. “Language!”
“She’s eight; someone must have said something,” I insisted.
Jett suddenly looked at me. “Does Ash still keep a journal?”
Fuck.
I saw Jett glance at our brother guiltily before he turned to Quinn. “I didn’t even think of it.”
“I forgive you,” Onyx grunted.
“Shut up,” Jett and I snapped at the same time.
“His hand?” Mom asked my dad.
“He isn’t playing for the rest of the year,” Dad said with a sigh.
Quinn turned to look up at me, and I rubbed my nose against hers. “It’s okay.”
“So, this is happening?” George asked us both sternly. “After everything you’ve been through,thisis your idea of a good idea? You two, together.”
“I love her,” I told him simply. “I’ve been apart from her for too long. She is and always has been mine.” It was the truth, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was done hiding my feelings for Quinn.
“And Ash?” my mom asked us both.
“Will learn to accept it,” I told her firmly.
George stood and held his hand out to Anne. “I’m going home. I’m sorry the lunch was ruined. I need . . . time. Quinn, you’re coming home with us.”
“Yes, Dad.” She stood and bent down, dropping a brief kiss on my lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I watched her apologize to my parents for the chaos of this afternoon, and then she surprised me when she turned to Ava. “I could use a friend, you ready for that talk?”
Ava rose swiftly, and with a hug of Jett’s shoulders, she dutifully followed. My mom stood too and sighed.
“I need a long soak in the bath. Will you all behave if I leave?”
She filled a large glass of wine before she left with a kiss on each of our heads. “I love you all, please try to heal from this.”
We waited until we heard the upstairs bedroom close, and then Dad rose and closed the kitchen door to the hallway just as the back patio doors opened and Uncle Kage and Ash walked in.
“Right, now tell us what the fuck you’re all involved in. Don’t bullshit me.” Dad’s hard stare met each of ours. “I will do more than send you for a visit to the ER if I hear one more lie tonight.”
Chapter 23: Quinn
My dad looked at me in the kitchen, and I waited quietly before he gave me a curt nod and went to his study. I wasn’t offended, as dad kept things tight to his chest, a bit like the other man in my life.
“Can I make you anything to eat?” Anne asked me as she stood to the side, and I recognized that I had hurt her too by not telling her. Embracing her, I felt myself relax a little in the tight hold she held me in. “I’m so sorry, Quinn, I’m so sorry you went through this alone.”
And I had gone through it alone, and I had foolishly thought that I had to. I had support, I had a family that loved me, and I had chosen to keep them all out and keep my pain to myself.
