Rain: The Quinn Brothers Story Series Book 4 (A Quinn Brothers Story)

by Casey Clipper

  Liam straightened, turning serious. “Don’t you dare. She’ll make sure we never try for a son.”

  Justin could have had a son already. He could be the number one man in Jack’s life, totally spoiling the kid with more dinosaurs that he could be named after. “I need another beer.”

  “You’ve already had five.” Shane followed him to the kitchen.

  “Didn’t know you were my mother,” he mumbled.

  “That’s not funny.” Shane leaned against the kitchen sink, crossing his arms over his chest.

  No, the comment wasn’t funny considering they lost their mother at a young age. A pang of regret over the insensitive comment shot through him.

  He yanked another beer out of Liam’s fridge and popped the cap, taking a long drink, allowing the cool brew to soothe the self-pitying fire that threatened to consume him. He hated what Jenna’s rejection did to him. He hated that he mourned the loss of a woman he barely knew. That he felt the loss of a relationship that hadn’t gotten off the ground. Justin didn’t put himself out there when it came to dating or committing. He didn’t have the time to invest. Hell, he’d never found a woman he’d been interested in making the time to devote, until Jenna stood in his lobby and her tears went straight to his heart.

  “What can I do for you?” Shane asked, his tone sympathetic. It was the right wording to gnaw at Justin. Shane was the fixer of the family. He was the one who came in and righted all that was wrong. He had each of their backs and would do anything for them. Nothing was off limits, including hiding a body. At times he’d overstepped, like with Brayden and Mike, who Shane had insisted wasn’t a good man for their younger brother and almost succeeded in destroying their relationship. But most of the time Shane’s support truly helped.

  But that didn’t mean Justin wanted his brother’s input at the moment. “Nothing.”

  Shane’s keen eyes narrowed. “Nothing? You’re a wet blanket on the entire family right now. Liam has asked each one of us to be Riley’s godfathers and you have yet to respond.”

  His head shot up. “What? You want me to be her godfather?”

  “I want all of you to be her godfathers, jackass. But you’re lost in your own misery right now. What the hell is going on? Is it the garage? We can help you,” Liam said, leaning against the doorframe.

  “No, it’s not the business. That’s doing well.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Shane said. “Is it your health? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Good.” Aaron stood next to Shane, eyeing him suspiciously. “Legal troubles?”

  Justin rolled his eyes.

  “No. Damn it.” He slapped his palms offer the counter top and jammed his hands through his hair. He sneered, “There’s nothing wrong except my stupid ass has fallen in love with a woman who wants nothing to do with me. She kicked me to the curb before giving me a chance. I know it was too soon. I’ve only known her for a couple weeks, but I know she’s the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I’ve never felt this way about any woman. Ever. She’s so smart and driven and has the moral compass of a saint and she’s busting her ass to raise her son and go to school without the support of any friends or family. I just want to be there for her to lean on and count on. God, I wanted that family picture so much with her I could practically taste it. I was a dumbass and thought she’d want the same thing if I showed her she could count on me. I threw myself right into the fire only to get burned. I should have known better.”

  He stalked out of the living room and plopped down on the sofa, facing Riley. His niece wouldn’t break his heart. His niece was the one female in his life he could count on that needed him around. Fuck every other woman, who needed them?

  Brayden sat down next to him on the sofa, his brother’s quiet presence always a calm to the rest of their storms.

  “Wow,” Aaron said, stepping in front of him. “That’s the most I’ve ever heard you go on about a woman. She must really have really gotten to you.”

  He wished.

  “I’m an idiot. I don’t know how I fell so hard and fast. It’s ridiculous.” Justin hated the fact that he had allowed himself to be so stupid. Who fell in love so quickly? Not a sane person, that’s who.

  “You’re not an idiot.” Liam sat down in the chair next to his stirring daughter, plucking her out of the swing and placing her on his huge chest. “You never know who’ll strike a chord. I mean, Candace had me from the moment she walked into my life back in high school.”

  But Liam had been ruled by teenage hormones and that was to be expected. That behavior wasn’t from a man in his early thirties.

  “I fell in love with Mike right away,” Brayden said softly. “I couldn’t help it. He saw me for who I was and loved me in spite of it.”

  “He loved you for it,” Shane corrected sternly. Brayden had severe self-confidence issues. Mike had helped with that flaw immensely, but every now and then his old traits seeped through.

  Brayden nodded. “For it. He’s right. He loved me for it. But it was love at first sight with him. He walked in to take care of the faucet and I didn’t know what had come over me.”

  “Candace pushed me away,” Liam said, rubbing a slow circle on Riley’s back.

  Aaron pegged him. “She had a right to. You were a dumbass.”

  Liam flipped him off.

  “You think you love her?” Shane asked.

  Justin nodded.

  “Then if you love her, you go after her.” Shane said as if it were that simple.

  Justin shook his head. “No. It’s not worth it. If she’s not willing to give me a chance now. She never will. I’m just going to cut my losses and move on.”

  His brothers remained silent. He didn’t want to talk further about Jenna or his lack of love life. He was better off alone. That way he couldn’t get his heart broken. He wouldn’t go through the devastation his father had when their mom died. Or what Liam went through when Candace had left him. Nope, he was better off being single. Now he only needed to convince his heart the words his brain settled on.

  8

  Justin held a bouquet of flowers in hand, standing outside Jenna’s apartment door. He didn’t knock. He stood there, a statue, warring with himself. Two weeks he spent trying to convince himself he didn’t want to pursue her further. That he should let her go and remain single. That the thought of being in a committed relationship was a silly dream. But no matter how late he stayed up, his mind racing with internal monologue, he couldn’t fully convince himself that he was right.

  Which was how he ended up on her doorstep. Like a fool.

  He glanced down at the dozen roses and sighed. The one thing he didn’t want was to be made to feel as awful as he had when she’d rejected him. Which explained the hesitation. A man’s ego could only tolerate so much.

  He ran a hand down his face and placed the flowers on the welcome mat in front of her door and left. It was better that way. Leave well enough alone. The rebuff wasn’t worth the ache. For the first time in weeks, relief washed over him. A weight lifting.

  Maybe he would get over Jenna and move forward with his life plan.

  ***

  Justin turned off the lights to the garage and said goodbye to Nate, who walked out the door exhausted. The relentless rain Pittsburgh had been getting brought in many flooded out vehicles. Good for business, but made for long days with early starts.

  He shut down the office, powering off the computer and flicking off the lights. The bell that hung from the front door chimed just as he finished up in the back. Who the hell would be coming in at nine at night?

  Justin went out front and stopped. Beautiful Jenna stood in the lobby, Jack slung over her shoulder, drowsy. Both soaked from the rain that hadn’t let up in a week.

  “Jenna?”

  “I have nowhere to go, Justin,” she said, her voice shaking.

  He was in front of her in the blink of an eye. “What’s wrong?”

  “There was a fi
re in my apartment building.” Lightning lit up the sky outside. A large crack of thunder rocked the building.

  “Are you okay?” He looked her over, his hands going to her arms, working up and down her limbs to make certain she was all right.

  She gave a tight nod, choking on a sob. “They’ve evacuated the building and won’t allow us back in. Apparently there’s some heavy smoke and water damage. I have no idea if my apartment is okay. I don’t have money for a hotel. The Red Cross hadn’t shown up yet and Jack’s so tired and I want to take him away from the mayhem.”

  “You can stay with me.” He didn’t hesitate, even though it would be a bad idea to have them both sleeping under his roof.

  “Are you sure? I know I upset you the last time we spoke but I have no one. You’re the only person I could think of coming to for help.” A large tear escaped, slowly rolling down her cheek. Her eyes pleaded with him. She always had this pride that she wore as armor. She refused help. She wouldn’t consider asking. Even when she couldn’t pay her car bill, she never asked him to lower the price. So if she was on his doorstep, throwing herself at his mercy, she had to be desperate. And that’s what he was to her, a desperate plea for help. Otherwise she would never have contacted him. He needed to keep reminding himself of that.

  “You’re more than welcome to stay with me. Let’s get you both to my place and into dry clothes.” Justin ushered her out the door, unsuccessfully dodging the massive raindrops.

  ***

  “Jack can stay here.” Justin opened the door to the second spare bedroom. He’d never been so thankful that Candace, his too involved sister-in-law, insisted that he had at least one functional extra room. At the time she’d laid a thick guilt trip, stating if his father wanted to spend the night, he had nowhere comfortable to lay his head. He’d handed over his credit card, mumbling about pushy women with decorating ideas.

  Jenna hadn’t put Jack down, holding him tightly against her small frame. Even with her raven hair damp and flattened, her little amount of eyeliner running, and her face pale, she was lovely.

  “You can sleep in my room.” He opened the door, thankful the cleaning woman had come that morning.

  “I’d prefer to keep Jack with me because of waking up in a strange place. We’ll be fine in the spare bedroom. The bed is certainly large enough and I don’t want to throw you out of your room,” she said somberly.

  “Take my room. It’s not right for me to sleep in a large bed with you in the other room, having to share a smaller mattress with your son. It’s not even truly a guest room,” he said, ashamed. He would have bought fluffy sheets and blankets for them if he had known they’d be his guests.

  Jenna gave him a wane smile, the wariness of the day finally taking hold.

  He held out his hands. “Here, I’ll take him and get him into a dry T-shirt. Why don’t you dry off in the bathroom?”

  “I don’t have any clothes.”

  He jerked his head. “Follow me.”

  He went to his bedroom and pulled out a couple of old T-shirts and a pair of sweats that didn’t fit him any longer.

  “I need to get him overnight pull ups.” She began to panic, wringing the wet Pittsburgh Steelers shirt she wore. “He sometimes has accidents at night. And I don’t have his stuffed dinosaur.”

  “Jenna,” he said calmly. “Let me take care of this. Go get dried off. You’re more than welcome to take a hot shower to relax. I’ll handle this. What else does he need?”

  She shook her head, her mouth opening, nothing but a squeak escaping. He pulled her into a one arm hug, holding her while she broke down into his chest. She smelled like rain and flowers.

  After what didn’t seem like long enough, she pulled away, wiping at her face. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. You’re tired and have been through a shock. Let’s get you settled in for tonight and in the morning we can sort everything out.” He went to the bathroom and snatched a towel out of the linen closet for Jack.

  Jenna closed the door behind him. His heart broke when he heard her continue to sob behind the closed door.

  9

  Jack ran around the kitchenette table to shove his new dinosaur into Liam’s face. Justin was a little jealous that suddenly a new dinosaur species called liamsaurus had been named. His cocky brother’s head couldn’t have gotten any bigger.

  “Buddy, you need to eat your pancakes Justin made for you,” Liam said, pointing at the plate. “Or else I’m going to eat them. They look really good. I think he put chocolate chips in them.”

  Jack jumped onto his chair, defending his plate of untouched food.

  Shane handed Justin a cup of coffee. “How are you holding up?”

  Justin raised a brow. “I’m fine. It’s Jenna that’s been through the ringer.”

  “I called a couple friends of mine. They said that half the building is a total loss and the other half will be condemned. She’s lucky to have gotten out, Justin. Too many times I’ve gone to calls where someone is trapped inside an apartment building fire,” Liam said, the grim line of his mouth hinting at the tragedies that he’d witnessed. “I’m just glad she got out with her son. The rest we’ll help her with.”

  Justin’s head snapped up. “You will?”

  Shane sat down across from Jack, who was hoarding food in his cheeks like a chipmunk. “Of course we will. You’ve never brought any woman home like this. She’s got to be someone special. And if I’m correct, which I always am, she’s the one who’s had you a wreck for well over a week.”

  “You weren’t so kind to Brayden,” Justin reminded.

  “Lesson harshly learned,” Shane replied.

  The apartment door burst open and Candace and Leila stormed the room, bags in hand. “We did the best we could on what information we had. We have toiletries for Jenna, overnight diapers and clothes for Jack, and some groceries that will feed a four-year-old, not a single man in his thirties.”

  Candace gave him a pointed look.

  Liam rummaged through the bags and whipped out a stuffed dinosaur. “Look what I got you, buddy, another dinosaur!”

  Candace and Leila’s mouths gaped.

  Justin laughed. His brother was beyond competitive and getting another dinosaur named after him would be a feather in his cap.

  Jack jumped up and down, his short arms just out of reach of the toy.

  “Liam Quinn, give that baby his stuffed animal. And where is our daughter?” Candace scolded.

  “Brayden’s got her,” Liam smarted off as if his wife should have known.

  “Jack?” Jenna’s panicked voice preceded her rushing into the room. She stopped, her eyes going wide at the number of people in his apartment.

  Jack snatched the stuff dinosaur out of Liam’s hand and rushed to his mom, bouncing at her feet. “Look, mommy! A honkasaurus!”

  Shane’s ceramic coffee cup hit the table. “A what?”

  “That’s nice. Did you thank whoever got it for you?” Jenna scanned the room, shifting on her feet.

  Jack rushed back to Liam, thanking him.

  Justin stood. “Would you like some coffee or breakfast? It’s pancakes but the girls bought food. I can make you eggs, bacon?”

  She shook her head, not moving past the hallway entrance. “I’m not a breakfast eater.”

  Shane scoffed. “You should eat something. Breakfast gives you energy for rest of the day. Leila has made it her mission in life to make certain I don’t miss the meal.”

  His sister-in-law and Leila stepped up to Jenna, nudging him out of the way.

  “I’m Candace, Liam’s wife.” She waved to Liam who was now trying to wrestle the dinosaur from Jack.

  “I’m Leila, Shane’s fiancée.” She waved to his brother, who sat at the table, his sharp eyes watching the scene.

  “We brought you some of our clothes. Hopefully they fit. You look to be about the same size.” Candace picked up a duffle bag from the sofa and handed it to her. “We weren’t sure what you needed, es
pecially for work, but we grabbed casual outfits and some things you can wear to school. Justin told us you’re enrolled.”

  Jenna’s eyes became glassy as she tried to blink away the threatening tears. “Surely I can go back to my apartment and grab some items.”

  Liam perked up, giving Jack back his toy. He approached the girls, wrapping his arm around his wife. “Jenna, I’m so sorry, but I contacted some of my friends at the station houses that were called to respond to the fire. You’re not going to be able to go into the building. It has to be condemned. It’s not safe for anyone to go inside.”

  “But everything I own is in my apartment. Everything.” Her voice shook. “All of Jack’s clothes and toys. All of my stuff. My books. Jack’s birth certificate and our social security cards. Everything.”

  “I know,” Liam said sympathetically. “They could change their mind after some investigating of the structure damage, but right now they can’t allow anyone inside. Half of the building was destroyed by fire.”

  Jenna stared at his brother in horror for a long moment, then turned and walked back to the bedroom, the door closing behind her.

  “Justin,” Candace said softly. “Go to her. She needs you.”

  He followed her orders and knocked the door. “Jenna?”

  She didn’t answer.

  He turned the knob and slowly opened the door. Jenna sat on the edge of his bed, her head in her hands. Her body shook with silent sobs.

  Justin closed the door behind him and went to her, wrapping her up in his arms. She went without issue, burying her head into his chest. She grasped his shirt, holding on as if she needed to brace herself for more hits to come. He hated this for her. He hated that she was going through such hardship. He hated that her life had been nothing but one battle after another. He hated that she had to pick herself up and dust herself off time and again, alone.