“Yes, it’s fine. You both have fun tonight.”
Once the front door shuts, I rest against the couch and close my eyes, but my solitude doesn’t last long. I feel a shadow fall over me and crack open an eye to find Trevor standing in front of me, his arms crossed against his chest.
“You’re paler than normal,” he proclaims as his father strolls in with a set of car keys, Frank following him into the room.
Izzy’s mother pats my hand motherly and adds, “You feel better, Quinn. And remember not to be a stranger.”
But I barely hear her words. I’m locked in a battle with Trevor, who looks like he’s gearing for war by the expression on his face.
“It’s wonderful to see you, Sue, as always. Thank you for dinner.” I wobble as I stand from the couch, Trevor reaching out to steady me.
“Come on, let’s get you home.”
“Good night,” I say once more to Sue and then allow Trevor to guide me blindly to his vehicle, my eyes clamped tightly to shut out the light.
“You shouldn’t have let it get this bad. Do you get migraines often?”
I don’t answer until he situates me in the passenger seat and I hear him enter the driver side.
“This is only the third one I’ve had,” I whisper. “They aren’t a common occurrence.”
I feel a softness press against my face as the subtle light behind my lids grows dark.
“Here, this should help. Mom always said darkness tends to keep them from getting worse. What do you think caused it?” he asks gently as the car begins to move in reverse.
I’m afraid to tell him that it came on due to the spark of anxiety at seeing Izzy’s reaction to Trevor’s announcement.
“I’m not sure. It was probably the wine.”
“Liar. I saw the way Izzy reacted when she thought I had something else to say, and I saw the way you shrank into yourself the remainder of dinner.”
With the pounding in my head, I don’t acknowledge his correctness; instead, I grunt and adjust the shirt that rests on my face, deeply inhaling Trevor’s masculine scent from the material.
“Quinn, there’s nothing to worry about.”
The jerking of the car as it settles into Park wakes me and causes the T-shirt to fall from my face. I realize Trevor has parked in front of his house, but he exits the car before I have a chance to ask him why.
He opens my door, silently unhooks my seat belt, and then plants his arms underneath my body. As he launches me into his chest, the pain from my migraine quadruples and I bury my head in his shoulder.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll have you inside soon. Do you want me to draw you a bath?” he asks as he carries me across the street.
Oh, what the neighbors must think.
“No bath. Just some sleep, please.”
Trevor wordlessly carries me into the house and takes me into the guest room without turning on any lights, using the twilight through the window to guide him.
“Here you go,” he whispers as he gently places me down. Trevor begins removing my shoes and then slowly unwraps my dress as if it contains the most precious gift in the world. His stare is unyielding as he takes in my almost bare form with care.
Draping the sheet and duvet over my body he strokes his hand across my hair as I settle. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
He doesn’t wait for a response, simply walks quickly from the room. I hear clicking and clanging, causing my body to jerk with each noise. Trevor reenters the room with one clenched fist and another holding a glass filled with water.
“I brought you some medicine. Can you sit up just a tad for me?” he requests as he sits on the edge of the bed beside me. I’m able to prop myself up with my elbow and open my mouth. Without a care, he places the two white tablets on my tongue and brings the glass to my lips. Tilting my head back, he follows the movement with the glass and even rests his hand under my chin to catch any stray droplets.
“There you go. Now lie back and get some rest. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“Hey, Trevor,” I say with tightly sealed eyes. “Thank you for taking care of me, again.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
He brushes a kiss to my forehead, and a longing passes over me that’s so overwhelming I almost gasp.
“Trevor, would you lie with me, please?”
I hear a rustling and then the bed dips beside me as he rests on top of the duvet.
“I don’t want you to get any ideas. I’m in a delicate state and all,” he jokes, trying to ease the sullenness in the room.
“The only thing delicate in this room is your huge ego,” I murmur into his large chest as I snuggle closer to him. I listen to him chuckle, the light shake of his chest irritating my head but also rocking me gently to sleep.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” an irritated whisper sounds from the bedroom door after I had finally found myself in a wonderful dream, Trevor and me on a beach, relaxing in the warm Carribean water naked. “Trevor, man, what are you doing?”
The bed bounces as Trevor jumps from his spot. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I creak open my eyes a bit and see Vic shaking his head.
“Man, your sister is upstairs getting ready for bed and asked me to come check on Quinn. And what do I find? I find you in bed with her. I should’ve known at the station the other day, the way you were giddy as fuck all afternoon.”
“Vic, you can’t say anything. It would fucking kill Izzy.”
Vic peeks over Trevor’s shoulder and looks at me, hopefully noticing that the top cover is pressed against the bed in Trevor’s form. He sighs heavily and shakes his head.
“You’re asking me to keep this from her, and if this blows up in my face, I’m going to kill you, man. I’ll keep your secret, but I will not cover for you. Get your ass back home. I’ll make sure your sister doesn’t come down.”
I feel terrible as Vic turns and walks away, his shoulders hunched and filled with the weight of the lie Trevor and I have brewing out of control.
We should’ve never stayed at each other’s house.
We should’ve tried harder to keep things hidden.
We should’ve never started this.
But as Trevor turns around with a spark of hope still in his eyes, I know that no matter how many times I tell myself differently, I wouldn’t have changed any of my time with him.
Chapter Twenty
Trevor
MY GUN SITS HEAVY at my waist as I strap my badge onto my chest. The sun hasn’t risen yet, but the horizon has started to lighten into stunning shades of pink and light blue.
Tonight Izzy, Vic, Quinn, and I are supposed to head to the clearing as a last hoorah for Quinn before she returns to LA, most likely for good. Izzy is in denial about it but I’m not. There isn’t anything to keep Quinn here. And even if I felt that I should tell her how I’ve been feeling, that I think I’m falling for her, it wouldn’t make a difference. We agreed no feelings were going to be involved, that we wouldn’t complicate things. Her friendship with my sister is far too important to her and to me. I’d give my sister the world if she asked.
Unfortunately, last night was probably my last night to spend with Quinn, and she had to get that nasty migraine. Not that I blame her, just bad timing. I had hoped to ask Vic to take my sister out tonight so I could have some alone time with Quinn, but I have a sneaking suspicion that requests such as that would be met with a dark glare and some cracked knuckles.
Jogging down my steps, I barely miss the faint knock on my front door as I turn the corner.
To say I’m shocked and surprised to find Quinn on the other side is an understatement. Without a thought, I pull her into the house and press her against the closing door, praying the migraine has disappeared.
Cradling her face in my hands, I search her eyes to make sure she’s okay and then ask, “What are you doing here?”
“I… I don’t know. To thank you, and… well I missed you. I’m sorry I
ruined our last night together.”
Unable to hold back, I kiss her lips once, twice, a third time, and then pull back just enough that my lips brush against hers. “You didn’t ruin anything. But I’m fucking thrilled to see you right now.”
Quinn leans forward and nips at my bottom lip, unleashing the beast inside me. I press her even more firmly against the door with my hips and consume her mouth. Her tongue curls against mine with every pass, our hunger barely sated by the kiss.
An alarm sounds from my pocket, but I scarcely notice until Quinn jerks back against the door, panting.
“Shit, I have to go,” I murmur. “I’m already late.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” I counter as I kiss her again. “Will I see you tonight?”
“You can count on it.” She smiles as she turns the knob and sneaks out through.
I watch her cross the street, the blackness of the early morning covering her escape. Even after she successfully finds her way back into the house, I stare into the darkness wondering what I’ll do once she’s gone from my life in two days.
*
AT MY DESK, I spend my Saturday going over the paperwork for the new officers and filing all of the documentation for ongoing cases from this past week. I cannot wait until we have enough staff to deal with this, because it’s my least favorite part of the job.
My phone chimes in my pocket, but I ignore it as another officer strolls into the station ready to cover the afternoon shift. As I greet him, my work phone rings and I notice Vic’s number on the screen, Realizing he must’ve been the one to call a moment ago, I answer.
“Hey, Vic, what’s up?”
“I’m just hanging with my grandmother and she was asking about you… and Quinn.”
“Oh, anything in particular?” I ask as I shut down my computer.
“She wants to know if she can get Quinn’s autograph.”
“Oh, that should be—”
“And an invite to the wedding.”
“Er… you’ll have to explain that one to her.”
“Don’t worry, I tried. She’s convinced that you’ll end up at the altar one day. With each other.”
I remain quiet, imagining Quinn walking down the aisle toward me, but I shake my head to remove that thought.
“Trevor?”
“Sorry, just packing up. And hey, I’m sorry about last night. Nothing happened but me lying with her until she fell asleep, and then, well, I fell asleep.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen before.”
“I’m not going to elaborate on that. Are you still coming tonight?”
“Ha, like Izzy would let me miss it. I’ll see you then.”
“See ya.”
*
THE WALK THROUGH THE field that night seems different than my time here before with Quinn. Not only because she and I made love in the clearing a few nights prior, which was awkward as hell when I returned the washed sheets and quilt to the owners the next evening, but because this is the first time the three of us—Izzy, Quinn, and me—have stepped foot in this space together.
Maybe that’s what brought Quinn and me together in the first place. Our love for Izzy is always the weld that bonded us. She’s always the beacon of light in our life. Heck, if it weren’t for Izzy, Quinn would’ve never stepped her pink-painted toes back in Dale City.
I’m the first one to arrive, and it seems so strange to find it barren once again, so desolate.
I remove my bag from my back and take out a blanket, the same one Quinn, Izzy, and I had lain upon staring at the stars so many years ago. Beneath that is a flask of whiskey and a bottle of Boone’s Farm, per request of Izzy.
Just as I flick on one of my camping lanterns, setting it to a low ambient light, I notice the beam from a flashlight glowing from the path in the field. Izzy appears first, quickly followed by Vic, and then Quinn on their heels.
I greet them all and help Vic unpack his bag stuffed with another blanket and a second bottle of Boone’s Farm. Izzy uncaps the bottle quickly and takes a swig. Quinn’s standing off to the side, looking up at the sky. I dive into my bag and remove the clear bottle with the red liquid before I walk over to her.
“Here, this is for you,” I offer.
She turns her attention to me and smiles, then reaches for the bottle, quickly uncapping it. “Thanks.” She takes a sip and then another before holding the bottle down at her hips. “I forgot how sweet this stuff tastes.”
“I’m sure it’s been a while, now that you can get your hands on the really expensive stuff.”
A beat passes as she lets my words linger in the air, a conversation between Izzy and Vic going on in the distance. “It seems so different here tonight. It doesn’t have that same magic it did then, you know?”
I’m not sure if she’s referring to when we were here in school, that mystery of sneaking out always amplifying that adrenaline rush, or the night we spent here not too long ago.
“Yeah, I know. Quinn, I—”
“Hey, guys,” Izzy shouts from across the way. “Come sit down with us.”
Quinn smiles knowing I had planned to say more, and maybe even knowing what I had wanted to say. She wraps her hand around my forearm, lugging me behind her toward the blankets.
Izzy bounces in her spot. “Isn’t this nice? I’ve dreamed of doing this for years, ya know? Getting us all back together. And now Vic can be a part of it too.”
“It is really nice,” Quinn agrees. “Thank you for setting this up, Izzy. Not just tonight but the entire month. I needed this.”
I almost jump when I feel something roll across my hand, but the warmth of Quinn’s touch finally settles and I turn my hand upward toward her, allowing our fingers to lace just as they did so many years ago. Luckily Izzy’s on Quinn’s other side so she’s oblivious to the gesture.
The girls begin chatting about high school and silly things we used to talk about during the nights like this, when the sky was blacker than anything we’d ever seen and the stars blinked like tiny flares leading us onward.
Izzy’s phone goes off first, and she apologizes before standing from the blanket. Then mine quickly follows with messages from local friends offering me congratulations.
Congratulations?
“What’s going on?” Quinn asks at the same time Izzy shouts, “How could you?”
As the blood drains from my face, I know with every fiber of my being that Quinn and I have been discovered.
Quinn stands and tries to calm Izzy down, but she wants none of it. Instead, my sister walks toward me, and just as I start to stand, she slaps me across the face.
And fuck, if that doesn’t sting.
“How could you do this to me? That’s my best friend!”
I can tell Izzy’s working herself up, so I grasp her arm and drag her away from the blankets.
Quinn rushes beside us, reaching out to Izzy. “Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think.”
“You swore to me, Quinn! You promised me when we were sixteen!”
“I know. It’s just—” Quinn begins, but then Izzy turns on me.
“Why, Trevor? Why did it have to be her?”
“Izzy, look—”
“No, you look!” She shoves her phone at me.
At first I see the pictures of me and Quinn holding hands walking down the sidewalk. Innocent enough, and then it’s the captured photos of a kiss taken from a video that follows. A video of me walking with my arm slung over Quinn’s shoulder and her arm around my waist. I know it’s not that part that sets Izzy off though. It’s the kiss as we walked away, thinking we were hidden from view as we skirted around a bush, that has my sister riled up. A moment I barely remember compared to the others but may very well be my undoing.
“Iz….”
“Don’t ‘Iz’ me. Tell me why.”
“Because she’s here,” I shout, instantly regretting my words knowing Quinn is listening, but pressing on re
gardless. “Don’t look too much into it, Iz. She leaves tomorrow. Don’t let this come between your friendship.”
“What friendship? This is… this is… betrayal!”
“Izzy….”
“So, it was just sex to you? That’s all it was?” Izzy asks in an eerie calm, one that frightens me.
“Yes. You mean too much to her for it to be anything more. We had an itch and scratched it. There was nothing else involved.”
“I hate you, Trevor. You’ve ruined everything now!”
“Look, just calm down and we can work this out.”
“Guys,” Vic states as he approaches, hands in the air.
“What?” we both shout as we continue to stare daggers at each other.
“Um, I’m not sure how to say this, but Quinn left.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Trevor
MY HEART DROPS AND I ask him to explain, but all he can do is shake his head.
“She started pacing when you and Izzy walked away, and when you questioned the friendship and said it was just sex, I turned to look at you all for a moment. When I turned back, she was gone. I’m sorry, man.”
“Shit, I need to go find her,” I say as I pick up the blanket and barely touched Boone’s Farm and frantically shove it back in my bag.
“Hey,” Vic says as he crouches beside me, “go find her. I’ve got this.”
At his insistence, I stand and run my fingers through my hair as I look over to my sister, whose expression flips back and forth between worry and anger—her own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
My own anger is getting the best of me now. I can barely see past the red glazing over my eyes.
Spinning on my heels, I turn to run at full speed through the breakage in the field, hoping with all I have that I’m able to catch up to her. Because when Quinn leaves Dale City, she needs to know that she was never just sex to me. She was always so much more.
I make it to my parents’ house where we parked our cars and see only mine and Vic’s along the road, though I’m not sure if Quinn rode with them or drove herself. Taking a chance, I knock on the front door of the house, and thankfully Frank answers quickly.
Between the Lines Page 17
