by Mae Doyle
Shaking his head, he reaches out for her. “Madeline, let’s work this out. I just don’t want Abigail to get hurt, okay?”
She yanks her arm back from out of his reach. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who broke her wrist! You’re the one who valued his internship so much that he was willing to throw her completely under the bus. And now what? You’ve changed?”
He nods, dropping his hand back down to his side. “I can’t let you hurt her. I fucked up, yeah, but things change, Madeline. We don’t have to be like this any longer.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Of course, we have to be like this. It’s what we were born to do, Quinn, and you’re just going to back out now? What the fuck is wrong with you?” She’s spitting mad, her eyes flashing as she faces off against her brother. “You really think that she’s worth throwing all of this away? Newsflash, brother, she’s not. She’s just some pussy, and I promise you, you’ll get more than enough when you land the internship.”
“She’s not just some pussy, Madeline. You know it, too. You were friends with her! You can’t tell me that you didn’t feel something for her when you two hung out.” Quinn sounds confident, but I can hear that he’s begging her, just a little, to hear him.
I’m praying that she hears him. That she agrees with him. That this is all just a terrible dream.
“Yeah, right. Nothing’s worth me missing out on my dreams, Quinn. Not even her.”
Was that kindness in her voice? If it was, it sure didn’t last for long.
“I think she is.” Quinn sounds so sure of himself, even as he’s facing off against his sister. I can’t believe that he’d be the one to stand up for me, not when he was the one who led everyone against me to bully me. “I hated this, Madeline. I know that you love things like this, but I didn’t. Abigail is worth more, and that’s why I can’t let you do this. I have to stop you, I’m sorry.”
I gasp, even though I don’t mean to. Even if Madeline didn’t know that I was here before, she hears me now, and her head jerks up. Her eyes narrow as she stares at me, and I take an involuntary step back.
Even with Quinn standing between the two of us, I’m afraid to let her get too close. She’s like a caged viper, and I’m not sure what she would do if given the chance.
She stares at me for a moment, but she doesn’t move. Taking a deep breath, she switches her attention to her brother. “We can both walk away from this with our internships, Quinn. All you have to do is help me get rid of her, and I promise, nobody is going to care. Daddy will make it all go away, okay?” She’s desperate. I can hear it in her voice. Slowly, she starts to inch forward, looking for a way to get past Quinn and reach me.
I’m not sure that she can get around Quinn, but I’m not really interested in finding out.
I know that I have to run away from here. My wrist aches and my chin still hurts, but I want to get as much distance between me and Madelina as possible. I never thought that my best friend would turn on me, but now’s not the time to think about that.
I start to turn, but what I hear next pins me in place. Even if I could run and make it up the steep path without any problems, I don’t know that I could make my feet move.
“No! I won’t let you hurt her!” It’s Quinn’s voice, and I look up, shocked to see him throw out his arm to stop Madeline. She’s trying to run but her ankle clearly still hurts. Instead of being able to dart out of his way, she stumbles, and his arm hits her right in the middle of her chest.
“Quinn! Let me go, you asshole! Let me end this for both of us!” Her voice is a screech that echoes around the water. When the sound makes its way back to me, it’s twisted and distorted. Without thinking, I cover my ears and drop down to my knees. My skin crawls and my entire body feels like it’s on fire.
I know that this is just adrenaline, but it feels awful.
My vision starts to go dark around the edges.
“No, no, no,” I murmur to myself, trying to hold onto reality. This is, quite possibly, the worst time and place for me to pass out. Ever. Even though I try to fight it, I feel lightheaded. Planting my left hand in the dirt, I try to keep the dizziness from passing, but it’s threatening to overwhelm me.
I can hear Madeline and Quinn arguing. There’s a scuffling sound, but I can’t look up. I can’t see anything. Everything has gone dark. Slowly, I bend down, putting my forehead on the dirt. Taking deep breaths, I try to calm down, but my body is turning against me.
The pain from my wrist, the pain from my chin…the knowledge that my best friend wants to kill me and the only person standing in her way is the god of Trinity Prep? It’s too damn much.
Quinn shouts, a loud enough sound that I can’t help but look up. Jerking my head up from the ground, my eyes focus on his back.
But that’s all I see before everything goes dark again. This time, when I fall down to the ground, I can’t brace myself. My right wrist shoots pain up through my elbow, to my shoulder, and my core. By the time the pain is too overwhelming, all I can see is black.
And then nothing.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Abigail?” It’s Quinn’s voice calling me out of the darkness, and although I’m afraid to open my eyes and look, I have to know what’s going on. I need to know that everything is okay and that I’m safe and that Madeline is nowhere near me.
I peek at him through my lashes, trying to prevent him from knowing that I’m awake, but he sighs a sigh of relief and brushes my hair out of my face. I shiver under his touch. Every single time I feel his skin on mine, I long to snuggle into his arms and have him kiss me.
There’s no way for me to figure out when exactly I fell in love with Quinn, but I can’t hide the way I feel about him. I open my eyes, needing to make sure that this is real.
Also, I want to know where I am, because I’m not in the woods any longer. There aren’t any sticks or rocks digging into my back. I’m on a ridiculously comfortable bed and there’s a warm blanket pulled up to my chin. My right arm is out of the blanket, a splint back on my wrist, but nothing hurts. I’ve obviously been given some medication, but the right dose, it seems.
“Where am I? What happened?” There are so many things that I want to ask Quinn, but I’m happy to start small. I just hope that he’ll be honest with me.
Quinn sighs and settles down next to me, his weight causing me to roll a little towards him. Normally, I’d want to get away from him, but this time, I don’t mind. I think I actually like being a bit closer.
“I got you out of there, Abigail. You’re safe, okay? And you don’t have to worry about Madeline coming for you again, I promise. You’re safe.” He sounds almost like he’s trying to convince himself as much as he’s trying to convince me.
“Where’s Madeline?” Struggling a little, I push myself up on my elbows. “Is she…” The thought of her being dead, even though she was completely willing to kill me at the end, is enough to make me sick, and I can’t finish my question.
He shakes his head. “She’s not dead, Abigail, but she’s gone. Our mother came and took her after I went to her dad.”
“Mr. Britton.” The headmaster. I’d just found out that the two of them were related, but in hindsight, it made a lot of sense.
Quinn nods. “Yeah. He wasn’t pleased with the shit she was pulling, especially because it could have gotten her killed, so she’s gone. I promise you, you’ll never have to deal with her again.”
“Thank you.” For a moment, that’s all that I can think of to say, but then something else comes to mind. “But why? Why did you save me? The whole thing with the internship and the bet…” I don’t want to think about the bet, so I stop talking. I can’t think about what it was like to be with Quinn, and the fact that it was likely just a game to him…
I motion for water and he hands me a cup, waiting until I finish before he starts talking.
“There’s a lot for me to explain, so just sit back, okay?” I nod, and relax into the bed. The pillows are
so soft that I could easily fall asleep, but I need to hear this.
He links his fingers through my left hand and gives it a little squeeze. It feels amazing. The connection that I have with him is growing stronger by the second, even though we’ve had to go through hell to make it this far.
“So you know that Madeline and I are step-siblings.” When I nod, he continues. “Her dad is the headmaster here, and our mom is the one that’s so obsessed with us becoming artists. In fact, it was her that hired Mr. Stanfield and the sculpting instructor when we were young. They molded us. Made us who we are and poured all of their time and attention into making sure that we were as great as we could be.”
When he pauses, I realize just how hard this must be for him, and I lift his hand, kissing the tips of his fingers. He smiles at me and then continues.
“They both got these super cushy jobs at Trinity Prep and huge bonuses to keep them quiet. The idea was that we would both be given internships right out of school, which would allow us to really study art and would propel us into being the best in the world.”
“That explains the argument that you had with Mr. Stanfield,” I interrupt. “The one I overhead in the art room.”
“Exactly. Smart girl.” He leans over and kisses my forehead, making my pulse race. “My dad didn’t know about any of this, by the way. I don’t think he would have approved. Actually…I know that he wouldn’t. When Mr. Britton told me that I had to drive you out of the school then I started to do it, but then I felt bad. I didn’t want the internship so badly that I was willing to hurt you.”
“Then why do it at all?” This is the part that I’ve been afraid of. I don’t know if I can stomach hearing from Quinn’s mouth why he was willing to hurt me at all.
He sighs and runs his free hand through his hair. “It’s a shit excuse, Abigail, and I know it. I did it because I was afraid of what would happen to me if I didn’t. My dad…he’s great, but mom is the one with the money. She’s the one paying for my tuition and everything else. When I thought that I would lose it all, I panicked. But then I got to know you. You’re worth losing everything.”
“You almost lost me,” I tell him, trying to choke back tears. “You almost lost me and your sister almost killed me.”
He drops his head to his chest and sighs. When he lifts it to look at me again, I’m surprised to see tears on his cheeks. “I know. I know, Abigail, and I also understand if you can’t forgive me. I just…I couldn’t let anything else happen to you. You’re funny and smart, gorgeous, and driven. I fell in love with you, Abigail, and I couldn’t help myself. That’s why I had to stop Madeline. That’s why I brought you here.”
Here.
“And where is here, exactly?” Now that he’s stopped talking, I take a moment to look around the room. The bed I’m in is pushed up next to the wall and a gorgeous ray of sunlight comes through the window. Even though the room feels big thanks to the natural light, it’s much smaller than my dorm at Trinity Prep. There’s an old wooden door leading out into the hall and a handwoven rug on the floor.
It looks like home.
“It’s my dad’s.” Quinn sounds a little embarrassed. “I told you, he’s not the one with the money, so he has a small cottage, but I knew that you would be safe here, so I knew that this was the best place to bring you. Is that okay?”
“It’s wonderful.” Getting out of Trinity Prep was exactly what I needed, even though I hadn’t realized it before. “Is he here?” I have a sudden strong urge to meet his dad, even though I don’t know anything about him.
He shakes his head. “No, he’s out of town right now, but he knows a little of what’s going on and told me to bring you here to keep you safe. So that’s what I did.”
We don’t say anything for a while. Quinn stretches out next to me, resting his arm across my stomach and we both nap. It isn’t until my stomach starts to rumble that we wake up, surprised to see how dark it is out.
“Why don’t you stay here and I’ll find us something to eat?” Before I can respond, Quinn is up and out the door, walking quietly down the hall. I sit for a moment in the bed, then swing my legs out and plant my feet on the floor.
No darkness encroaches on my vision, so I stand, holding onto the bed for stability. After a moment, I follow him.
Even though Quinn claims that he’s not a great cool, the meal he creates is delicious, and I can’t get enough. He raids the fridge and makes omelets with fresh eggs and chives before squeezing us some orange juice. After we finish eating he gently picks me up, resting my head against his chest, and carries me back to his room.
I fall asleep instantly. My head hits the soft pillow and I’m out.
***
I know that we should care about school, but it’s been two days since the incident at the swimming hole with Madeline, and neither of us want to go back. I know that we should, but there’s something else I want to do first.
“Quinn?” He’s reading in the back yard, but he drops his book to his side and smiles at me when I walk up. The weather has been gorgeous since we got here, and his dad has an incredible backyard with a fire pit and hammock, but I’m not thinking about either of those things right now.
“Everything okay?” When I don’t answer right away, he stands up and walks over to me, reaching out to take my good hand. We lace our fingers together. It feels natural now, like we’ve always been doing it.
“There’s something I want to do before we go back.” I pause, biting my lower lip. I have no idea if he’ll be able to guess what it is I want, but I’m almost afraid to ask.
Even after he’s been so good to me, even after he told me last night that he loved me, I’m afraid to ask him for something. It’s silly, really.
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to look up into his eyes. “Quinn Masters. I want you to collect on your debt.”
He sucks in a breath and strokes my cheek with his free hand. “My little Abigail, I honestly thought that you’d never ask.”
Before I can say anything else, he sweeps me up in his arms, turning to the house. When I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for a hug, he leans down, his lips hot and demanding on mine. He wants me as much as I want him, and the thought gives me chills.
By the time he gets to the bed, I’m clawing at his shirt. I need to feel him, I need to know what it’s like to finally be his. I’ve waited this long for the right person, and I never would have thought that it was Quinn, but there’s no denying it now.
“Are you sure?” He pulls back from me as he puts me on the bed and steps back so he can look at me. Even though he’s obviously trying to stay calm, I can see how hard this is on him. How hard he’s trying to keep himself from ripping my clothes off of me, and I nod.
“I want you, Quinn.” Then I say the one thing that I had told him I never would. I honestly never thought that I would ask him to love me or to fuck me. “Please. Please. Collect on your bet.” I push myself up to sit and reach for him, plucking at his shirt as he steps forward. “I need you, Quinn. I want to feel you inside me.”
He sucks in a breath and slips his hand around the back of my neck, tilting my head up to him. He’s already made me come once. He knows my body, but I don’t know his. As he kisses me again, I trail my hands down his waist, hooking my fingers in his pants and slowly unbuttoning them.
When he steps back and strips, my jaw falls open. I knew that he was hot. It was easy to see, even when he was fully dressed, but I had no idea that he was this sexy. He’s completely wrapped in muscles, a perfect V leading from his toned abs down to between his legs.
And his cock.
“Oh, my god,” I whisper, reaching for him and puling him closer. He grins and pushes me back on the bed before climbing on top of me.
“I told you that I was a god,” he says, his words tickling the skin by my ear. When I shiver under him he takes the time to strip my shirt off, sucking and kissing my nipples.
“Ah, oh, god, Quinn,” I manage, befo
re pulling him up to kiss me. His mouth is hard and hot on mine, his tongue sweeping through my mouth and across my tongue like he knows me. When he bites my lower lip and draws blood I lean into the kiss, tasting myself on his lips.
It’s amazing.
The whole time, his hard cock is pressed against me. Now, I reach down and touch him, causing him to suck in a breath. He’s huge, bigger than I could have ever imagined, and so hard that I shiver for a moment, wondering what it will be like to have him in me.
To be fucked by this god.
“Take off your pants,” Quinn demands, climbing off of me. He helps me strip, being careful of my right wrist, and when I’m clad only in my panties, he slides down between my legs, slowing pushing them apart. “You know, Abigail, I’m convinced that you are going to taste like heaven. Let me see.”
“What?” I manage to ask, but the word is barely out of my mouth before he tugs my panties to the side, slowly kissing his way up my inner thighs. I moan, the sound coming from deep in me. There’s no way to describe the feeling of his tongue slowly licking my slit, slowly parting me.
He slips a finger into me, then another, before reaching up and grabbing my nipple. It pebbles beneath his touch and I arch my back, reaching down and wrapping my hand in his hair. He’s incredible, and I grind against him as he laps at me.
I have no idea what he’s doing with his mouth, but I know that I’m not going to be able to last very long if he keeps it up. I can feel my core tightening and I pull his hair.
“Quinn,” I moan, barely able to speak his name. My whole body feels like it’s on fire and I can barely breath. I have to tell him to stop. I have to keep him from finishing, but before I can say anything else, he sucks my clit, his tongue sliding over it, bringing me to the edge.
This time when I call his name, I scream it, arching my back and grinding myself into his face. He gasps, his fingers still working in me, guiding me through my orgasm. When I finally peak and come down, he leans over me, kissing his way up to me.
