by Sara Summers
Her sweet citrusy smell filled my lungs as she buried her head against my chest, and I realized that she was worth any amount of difficulty she came with.
She was a piece of work, but she was my piece of work, and I didn’t want her any other way.
Quinn
Hallie had to work until 11 AM, so Leah and I took care of the shopping just the two of us. When we brought the paint back to the house, Hallie was waiting in the driveway in a shiny white car I didn’t recognize, and she wasn’t alone.
Emma got out of the car with her, looking a little unsure and a lot defensive. Her arms folded over her chest, and she leaned up against the door of the car.
“Do you want me to talk to her first?” Leah asked. She seemed hesitant and maybe a little worried. I could understand why; her family had just barely started coming back together, so they were in delicate place.
“No, I can handle it.” I shot her a grateful smile and got out of her car.
Cody and Tanner were at work until threeish, and while I had more than enough money to support both of us, I didn’t try to stop him from going. I needed time to figure out what I was going to do about choosing him or my family, and I couldn’t figure it out while I was with him and he was making me feel all whole and perfect.
Emma didn’t say anything as I closed the distance between us, but she didn’t have to. I was the one who needed to talk. While I hadn’t decided what to do about Cody or the sucky situation I was in, I had decided that I was going to at least be friends with his family.
They had treated me better than most people in my life ever had, and they deserved the same courtesy.
“Look, I just want you to know Logan and I never had any kind of a serious relationship. We were together for a little while, but when it was clear that we had no chemistry on anything other than a physical level, we parted ways as friends.”
She didn’t speak right away, and then she sighed.
“That’s what he said.”
“And it’s the truth.” I promised. “I’m not at all interested in your soulmate, and I’m sorry if I made it sound like I was yesterday. I’ve been the biggest hoe the past few days, but that has nothing to do with you guys and everything to do with my nightmare of a life.”
Emma unfolded her arms and nodded. Though she still looked a little guarded, she seemed to have relaxed quite a bit.
As the day went on, we listened to loud piano music and told each other stories and laughed together. We painted a lot, but we had at least two or three more days of painting ahead of us by the time we called it quits.
The more we chatted, the more Emma relaxed around me. She was friendly and chill, like Hallie, but I could definitely tell that she was wolfier than Hallie was. Emma had this sort of intensity to her where Hallie was just calm and quiet.
Up to that point, I’d spent my entire life trying to make my parents love me. I’d become one of the top gymnasts in the country, I’d attempted to go to law school, and I’d even agreed to a political marriage. I’d never bothered to have dreams of my own; my only dream was to be loved and feel like I mattered to them.
Never once had I expected that I would get that kind of unconditional love from three women who turned into wolves.
I had to choose between unconditional love and duty to my family, and that wasn’t a choice I had bothered preparing to make.
Quinn
When my mother called me three days later, I could hear the dissatisfaction in her voice before I even picked up the phone. My heart clenched as I stepped outside of my house and wiped the paint off of my hands before pressing the button to answer it.
“Hello?”
I bit my lip. The piano music was on loud enough that Leah, Hallie, and Emma wouldn’t be able to hear my mom’s words, but they would hear mine easily.
“Have you convinced him to sign the paper yet?” She sounded thoughtful and nice, but it was just a façade. After what I’d pulled with Cody, she was pissed. My mother cared a lot about how she looked, and if her friends were looking at me making out with a shifter, she would be dealing with the negative backlash.
“I’m working on it.” I glanced over at the house, though I could hear the other ladies inside it.
“Well you need to work harder, because things are only getting worse.” My mom snapped, and then paused to gather herself before she spoke again. “I’m sure he has some sort of lumberjack-esque charm to match those bulging muscles, so I understand that it’s a difficult task, but really honey. Have sex with his brother and leak the video and this whole thing will be over and done.”
I closed my eyes and fought back a wave of irritation.
“I’m not a prostitute, mother.”
“Using your womanly wiles to make things happen isn’t prostitution, Quintessa.”
Gosh, I hated my name.
“So you’re telling me the dozens of men you’ve slept with to win cases and progress dad’s career doesn’t feel at all like prostitution to you?”
I knew better than to say it, but I couldn’t help it.
“That’s cruel.” My mom was highly offended, even though it was true. “A little sex never hurt anyone. If you don’t want to bang the brother, Logan Lush is a perfect second option. He won’t be able to resist you after all the time the two of you spent together back in the day.”
My face flushed and I looked at the house again, praying that I was right and the other women couldn’t hear her words.
“I’m not doing that either. I’m not here to be a homewrecker, I’m here to convince Cody to let me go legally and civilly, and if I can do it without breaking anyone’s heart that’s a good thing.”
“You were born to be a heartbreaker, honey. Goodness knows you’ve broken mine and your fathers’ hearts more than enough times, and with a body like that, it’s destiny. Stop fighting who you are and do what needs to be done.” She chided me.
Tears sprang in my eyes and I cursed myself. I’d disappointed my parents so many times.
“Alright, I’ll take care of it. I promise.”
“See that you do.” My mom hung up the same way she had always done, without an “I love you” or “goodbye”.
I took a few moments to gather myself, wiping at my eyes and taking a few shaky but deep breaths in. Just as I started back inside the house, my phone rang again. My heart dropped before I even saw the picture on my lock screen proclaiming who was calling me.
“Dad.” I lifted the phone to my ear and took a steadying breath in.
“Why are you painting your house?” he jumped right to it.
“Because it’s a wreck. You of all people shouldn’t expect me to live in a dump.” Considering the four multi-million dollar homes he and my mother owned across the country, I didn’t know why he was asking.
“Obviously.” His voice was flat and uncaring. “Why are you painting it yourself when you could pay a company to do it in a day?”
Oh. That was what him in a tizzy.
“Cody’s mom and sisters offered to help and I didn’t want to turn them down.” I admitted. “But—”
“You’re wasting all of our time, Quintessa.”
As much as I hated it, every time he or my mother used my full name it made me feel so much guiltier.
“You shouldn’t be bonding with animals anyway. Kick them out and pay someone to finish it by tomorrow, and in the meantime, get to work on making him sign that paper. Travis Childers won’t wait forever.”
I bit back the retort that I didn’t want him to wait at all.
“You do know that your mother’s friends have already started avoiding her, don’t you?”
Something stuck in my throat.
“What?”
He didn’t pause to answer my question.
“Christopher’s wife has threatened to leave him if we don’t erase this blemish from our family name.” I swallowed hard. “Some of our firm’s clients have asked to be represented by people who don’t empathize with shifters.
Your inability to make one man hate you is causing problems for all of the rest of us. I expect you to have a signature on the document I emailed you by the end of the week.”
“What?” I squeaked. “You said I had two months. One week isn’t anywhere near long enough, he’s stubborn and unyielding. I’m making some progress, but it’s going to take some time.”
His only response was silence.
“One week is all I can give you. If that paper isn’t signed one week from now, I will disown you and the world will know what a disappointment of a daughter you are.”
My dad’s words may as well have been a baseball bat to the back of my head.
“I’ll take care of it.” I kept my voice even.
“I should hope so.”
He hung up.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and took a second to gather myself. Looking at the house we’d been working so hard on, I realized that I had two options. I could either abandon my family to spend the rest of my life with Cody in Mount Edge, or I could get Cody to sign the paper and marry Travis Childers.
There was no question which decision would make me happy. I loved being around my soulmate’s family. With Cody, I was happier than I’d ever been. Every day it was becoming clearer why we were soulmates.
But the question wasn’t which decision would make me happy. It was a matter of responsibility. I wanted to be with Cody, but I didn’t have the heart to turn my back on my family. As awful as they were, they were my people. And as much as I sucked at it, I wanted to be a Longhorn. I was proud of my family.
Because I wasn’t willing to walk away from my family, really, there was no choice to make. I was going to have to go back to making Cody hate me.
This time, I was going to do it knowing exactly how incredible the man that I was trying to break was.
When I first met Cody, I’d been flustered. Knowing what I had to him made me feel wrecked. I was choosing duty over love, and that hurt more than I could ever express, but I knew that it was what I had to do.
So I walked back into my house and politely asked Cody’s mom and sisters to leave. I had to force my face to remain neutral as they questioned me and I explained that I had plenty of money to throw into letting a company take care of it, and then I had to hold back tears again when I repeatedly told them that I wasn’t interested in their help.
When they were gone, the tears got even harder to hold back.
My hands were shaking and my eyes were leaking as I pulled up the plan I’d started to make on my phone when I met Cody. After the three days I’d played nice, I was going to have to step it up. I was going to have to be sluttier and nastier and meaner, and it was going to be miserable but it was the only thing I could do.
I called Beth after I put together that plan, and the second I saw her face, I lost control and the tears began to flow.
Cody
When I got home from work that day, I could feel the storm coming. My mom and sisters had sent texts warning me that Quinn had kicked them out of her house, and I knew that if she was done with them, she would try to get rid of me again too.
She was sitting on the bed, and she stood when I entered the room. Her makeup was applied flawlessly and she was wearing her short black pencil skirt with a light pink tank top that revealed a strip of her stomach.
She looked good—the kind of good you would expect from a millionaire who was about to fire you without batting her long, thick eyelashes. The only thing that gave away her emotions was her red-rimmed eyes.
“Are you okay? What happened?” My words were cautious, though I knew a little of why she was there.
“It’s time for you to sign this, Cody.” She pulled a sheet of paper off the dresser and handed it to me. It was pristinely white with solid black lettering and not a single crease or wrinkle. The dark blue ink of her signature practically jumped off the paper, reminding me of the cotie she’d so carelessly covered with tattoo ink.
She didn’t have to tell me what the paper was for.
“If there’s anything the last few days has done it’s made me not want to lose you, Quinn. I’m not signing that.” I took it from her hand and tore it down the middle.
Her face heated, and her scent got stronger.
“And if there’s anything the last few days has done for me, it’s taught me exactly what your weaknesses are. Either you sign that paper or I will make you wish you were dead, James Cody Burgandeau.” She folded her arms.
I didn’t know where she’d heard the first name I didn’t go by, but her use of it irked me.
“You said that before, but I’m happier than ever. We’re building a life here together. You’re friends with my sisters, you know most of my mom’s friends by name, and you built us a house five minutes from my parents’.”
“And I can destroy all of it with just one kiss.” Quinn held up a finger, emphasizing the tiny act it would take to wreck everything. I knew exactly who she was talking about kissing, and even the idea of her with my brother-in-law made me see red.
It was the first time she’d mentioned kissing other men since she’d jumped Sebastian, and this time, it was even worse because I’d thought she was done with that.
“You wouldn’t.” I challenged. She cared too much about me, she had to. I’d seen it in her eyes, felt it in the way she’d touched me. We’d kept things pretty PG since that morning in her house, but the lack of physical contact had only made both of us want each other more.
“If you think that’s true you don’t know a single thing about me, James.” She stepped past me, out of the bedroom and into the hallway. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got somewhere to be.”
She strolled out of the bedroom like she didn’t have a care in the world, leaving me alone in the apartment, more confused than I’d been in my entire life. I’d thought I was getting to know my soulmate, however slowly.
It hit me that I still had no idea who the real Quinn Longhorn was, and I had no idea what it would take for me to find out.
The only people who I thought might have a clue were Beth and Hallie. If Beth was going to talk to me, she would’ve done it sooner, so my only other option was my brother’s soulmate.
Cody
“What do I think is going on in Quinn’s mind? Honestly, I don’t know.” Hallie sighed. She was sitting on one of the barstools in her kitchen, eating from a Tupperware of cookie dough that she kept in her freezer. “She definitely wants to be close with all of us, but she’s got some major family problems.”
“So what am I supposed to do, just follow her around and break the neck of any guy who tries to hit on her?” I asked, frustrated with both my soulmate and the situation. I couldn’t spend my whole life just hoping she’d come around.
Quinn had stolen my truck to go check on her house, so I’d had to walk to Tanner and Hallie’s. It wasn’t far, so I hadn’t minded too much though I was a little concerned she would just take off back to her apartment.
“You’re supposed to be patient.” Hallie corrected. “I think she’ll come around. If you want more details about her family, maybe you should go ask Logan. It might be awkward at first, but he probably still knows her better than any of us do.”
The idea of going to my brother-in-law for help understanding the woman the Creator had made to me was revolting. Her ex shouldn’t know more about her than me, I was her soulmate. I was supposed to know everything about her and be there for her through her struggles.
“That idea sucks.” I growled.
Hallie held out the Tupperware container, and I pushed it back to her.
“What idea sucks?” Emma asked, as she breezed into the apartment wearing her usual jean shorts and flowy white top.
“Hallie wants me to ask Logan what he knows about Quinn and her family issues.” I gestured to my sister-in-law, fully expecting Emma to be on my side. She’d been just as upset with the whole our-soulmates-are-exes thing as I was.
“I’m with Hallie.” Emma agreed,
sliding up onto the counter and taking some cookie dough from the container when Hallie offered it to her too. I shot her a scathing glare, and she lifted her shoulders. “I’m secure in my relationship. They both made it clear that whatever feelings they had are long gone, and I like Quinn.”
“I do too.” Hallie nodded. “She doesn’t beat around the bush, and she’s tons of fun.”
“And she has fantastic style.” Emma pointed out.
I groaned.
“You guys are supposed to be on my side.”
“I think this is about when Quinn would say something along the line of ‘hoes before bros’.” Emma corrected, and then grinned when I rolled my eyes. “But honestly, I get the impression that Quinn needs a few more people rooting for her. If being there for her means we’re on her side, then that’s that.”
I’d had the same impression, so I couldn’t exactly argue with that.
“We wouldn’t tell you to be with her if we didn’t know she could make you happy.” Hallie reminded me. “Just take our word for it, okay? It’s going to take a lot of effort, but I think she’s worth getting to know.”
“I know that, I just wish she would make it easy.” I stood up. There was no point in waiting; I’d go and talk to Logan before Quinn had a chance to plan too many things that would piss me off.
“Love is never easy, Cody.” Emma gave me a quick smile.
“Thanks, I guess.” I left before they could make me feel any guiltier than I already felt for wondering if Quinn was worth the effort.
Of course she was, she was my soulmate. That was worth all the effort in the world.
Besides that, the three days when she wasn’t trying to get rid of me were the best days in my life. I’d felt insanely lucky getting to hold a woman so beautiful and interesting in my arms. I hadn’t gotten her to open up to me, but I was working on it.
Everything about her was intriguing, and I wanted to understand who she was like I wanted nothing else.
And to start that, I was going to have to talk to Logan.
