“Yes.” I kissed him. “Yes to everything.”
Quinn circled his arms around my waist. “Now. To Jake’s list. The first order of business is Nick.”
“Nick?”
“Yes, Nick. See, he’s going to be issuing a retraction today. Isn’t that nice of him?”
“How are you going to manage that?”
“I’m going to manage him just how you manage Noah. With bribery.”
* * *
I’d never been to Nick’s place, mainly because I didn’t know where he lived. But thanks to Tucker’s intel, we pulled up in front of his adorable cottage-style house.
“Seriously?” I protested. “Nick lives on a cul-de-sac? I’m going to kill him.”
Quinn unhooked his seat belt. “Maybe you should let me handle this.”
“Please.” I waved off his concern. “I’m fine.”
We got out of the car, and as we strolled up his decorative stone walkway, I couldn’t believe my eyes. “He’s got a succulent garden, Quinn!Andmature olive trees. I bet his grass is even sod. The fucker.”
“Jess… I will buy you a flat of succulents if you keep your mouth shut when he opens the door.”
“Okay, but I’m just letting you know that if Nick has a hummingbird feeder—not the plastic red one but the bougie kind with the mason jar and the cute little yellow flowers—he will have to die.”
“Honestly, Jess. If you just want to fill the cart on Amazon, I can keep you out of prison. Now stay quiet and watch me spin my magic.”
“Yes, this is extremely exciting for me.”
Quinn knocked, and I bit my lip to keep from commenting on the gorgeous stained wood.
A moment later the door swung open— no need to check the peephole in this neighborhood. I nearly toppled over Nick’s dry-stacked stone retaining wall when a highly pregnant woman appeared, looking from Quinn to me, then back to Quinn.
“Um… Nick?” she called over her shoulder. “It’s for you.”
I couldn’t stop staring at her belly, but then that was the point, obviously. The woman was wearing nothing but a sports bra, short shorts, and her belly. I imagined she was a yoga instructor. I mean, why not?
How was it this man had been living the dream while Noah and I were eating off-brand peanut butter?
Quinn seemed to be reading my irritated mind and tapped my outer thigh with his knuckle.Be good.
Nick appeared at the door and immediately did a double take before settling into the reality of his ex-girlfriend and her rock star boyfriend standing on the other side of his farmhouse front door.
“What, uh… my god. How… uh… how are you doing?” Nick stumbled over his words. “That shooting, man, that was…”
I caught Nick’s eye, and mine rounded as I shook my head. Stupid. Stupid pampered Nick. Quinn was in the very earliest stages of drumming his way through life. He didn’t need Nick ripping the sticks out of his hands.
“How’s the band? Are you guys getting back together? I mean without Bran…”
My eyes couldn’t get any wider nor could Nick get any stupider. Good lord, the guy was oh for two in tone-deaf remarks.
“I’m doing okay,” Quinn said, not showing any emotion aside from a subtle tightening of his jaw. “And the band is up in the air at this point.”
“Oh yeah. That’s too bad. You guys were decent.”
Were?Decent?What a douche.
