“Um… can’t say they did. Now, how many, Quinn? I want to hear you say it.”
“You have three hole in ones, Jess. Are you happy now?” Quinn chuckled. “I swear, you’re the worst winner ever.”
“I think it just gets easier when you win all the time,” I continued, not feeling the least bit concerned that I might offend him. Some people you just knew could take it. Quinn was one of them. Dare I say he even enjoyed it? No way was I going to let up now, not when I had his full and undivided attention. “But don’t take it too hard. I mean, Buzz Aldrin was the second man on the moon, and you hear his name, you know,sometimes.”
He laughed, hooking my waist with the club and pulling me toward him. “You’re such a brat. I thought my brothers were bad, but you just might be the cockiest winner I’ve ever come in contact with.”
The clouds rallied in that moment, turning the thirty percent chance of rain into a downpour. As was common with confused Californians caught in the rain, we stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what the proper protocol was. Did we run? Did we play? Did we make a post on social media bragging to the rest of the country about our monster storm?
I grabbed Quinn’s hand and led him off the green and around the back of the giant castle. “Come on. I know where we can go.”
Reaching behind the trellis nailed onto the castle, I came up with a key.
Quinn’s eyes widened. “How’d you know that was there?”
“My boyfriend used to work here. This was our designated make-out spot during break time… and even when it wasn’t break time. Actually, I gotta say, we pretty much macked twenty-four seven in here.”
“Okay, Jess. I got it,” Quinn joked. “You had a jolly good time in here. Stop bragging.”
He pointed to the small sign on the castle door. “It says no trespassing.”
“I know.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“It’s just a cheapy sign, Quinn,” I whispered. “They probably bought it at Walmart.”
“I don’t know about that. It has a city ordinance on it. Let me read it for you. It says, ‘Violators are subject to arrest.’”
I rolled my eyes, letting it be known what I thought of city ordinances. “Oh please, who’s going to arrest you—Lord Farquaad?”
“You are strangely up to date on your animated princes.”
Maybe because Quinn reminded me of royalty. “Anyway, don’t worry so much. The sign is really more ceremonial than anything else.”
“Ceremonial?” His eyebrows shot up.“That will be of little consolation to me when I’m Jim Bob’s jailhouse bitch.”
“Wait, hold up there. Are you telling me you’ve never trespassed before?”
“Well… I… uh…” He paused. “Is that so weird?”
“It’s…,” I began, searching for an appropriate response. “A little weird, yes. Wait—I knew you looked familiar. You were once a Musketeer, weren’t you?”
“You got me, Robert Downey Jr.”
Quinn’s quick-witted nod to Ironman’s breaking and entering days made me want to hug the man. It wasn’t often I connected with people at my level, but Quinn was just a perfect fit.
“You know, Jess. You borderline terrify me,” he said. “I can’t tell if I like it or not.”
I knew how most men worked. Exciting girls almost always trumped the boring ones… until it came time for marriage. That was when us rule-breakers fell to the back of the pack. But this was a day of fun, and I was going to stick to the plan. I might not end up with the guy in the end, but he sure as hell was never going to forget me.
I slid the key into the lock and opened the door.
“Oh, you like it.”
* * *
“Obviously others know about the key,” Quinn said, shaking out his wet hair as we stood inside the castle walls, every square inch of which was littered with colorful graffiti.
