Break in the Storm (WeHo Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “I guess I just don’t know what to do,” Erin said.

  “What do you want to do?”

  Erin shrugged. “Sometimes I just want to run away and be able to be myself where no one knows me. Other times…”

  Quinn narrowed her eyes slightly, afraid she already knew the answer. “Other times wot, Erin?”

  Erin shrugged, picking at the thread bared knees of her jeans, her eyes cast downward.

  Stubbing out her cigarette Quinn stood up, walking over to the girl. When Erin still didn’t look at her, Quinn knelt down, looking up into the girls face.

  “Other times wot?” Quinn asked again.

  Erin stared really hard at her knees, but Quinn could see tears welling up in her eyes. Quinn put her hand on Erin’s leg, and that’s when the water works really started. Quinn moved to stand, leaning over to hug the girl as she cried.

  “Your cousin will tell you that I suck with crying women,” Quinn said.

  Erin laughed, her face still buried against Quinn’s shirt. After a couple of minutes, Erin seemed to calm down a bit. Quinn pulled her chair closer to where Erin sat and sat down.

  “You never have to get to that place,” Quinn told her, “you have options.”

  Erin shook her head sadly. “Not really.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because if my mom finds out she’ll kick me out.”

  “Then you’ll come live in LA with us,” Quinn answered.

  Erin’s head snapped up, and the amount of hope in her eyes was almost painful to Quinn.

  “You’d let me do that?” she asked

  Quinn nodded. “Obviously it wouldn’t be the best option, it would be better if you told your mom and the two of you could work things out.”

  “I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” Erin said.

  “Well, we’ll just have to see.”

  “We?”

  Quinn nodded. “We.”

  By the time Xandy and the group got back to the hotel room, Quinn and Erin were watching Women’s Soccer on the living room TV. As the group walked in, both Quinn and Erin yelled in triumph at a goal that was just made.

  “I see you got a lot of rest,” Xandy said, grinning at Quinn as she moved to kiss her.

  “Well, there was soccer…” Quinn said, grinning.

  “Uh-huh…” Xandy said nodding and winking at Erin.

  Elly and Bobby ran over to Quinn throwing themselves at her, hugging her.

  “Did you two have a good time?” Quinn asked.

  “Yeah!” they both said joyously.

  Quinn dropped her head to the back of the couch, looking back at Mackie. “Everything go okay?”

  “Ten-four,” Mackie said, grinning. “I’ll be back at five to pick you guys up. You gonna be up for the show?”

  “I am,” Quinn said, nodding. Moving to stand she walked around the couch and extended her hand to Mackie. “Thanks man.”

  “You got it,” Mackie said, shaking her hand and nodding to Xandy as he left the room.

  Quinn walked over to Xandy putting her hand out to her. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Xandy looked surprised, but nodded as she took Quinn’s hand letting her pull her into the bedroom. Quinn kicked the door closed, seeing Erin looking concerned as she did.

  “What’s wrong?” Xandy asked.

  “Nothing,” Quinn said, pulling her close and kissing her, “but, I need to tell you something.”

  “What?” Xandy asked.

  Quinn hesitated for a minute, and then said, “Erin’s gay.”

  Xandy looked back at her for a long moment, her eyes wide. “Okay…”

  “She wanted to talk to me about it,” Quinn said. “Xan she’s thought about suicide over it.”

  “Oh my God…” Xandy said, shaking her head. “Apparently depression isn’t limited to me in this family, huh?”

  Quinn gave her an odd look, which had her asking, “What?”

  “Sounds like your aunt might have a bit of it herself,” she said.

  Xandy thought about it, and nodded, it made sense.

  “What can we do to help Erin? And my aunt?”

  “Well, I can tell you that Erin’s concern is that if Sarah finds out, she’ll kick her out,” she said, leaning back against the door to the room. “I told her if that happened, then she could come live with us in LA.”

  Xandy looked surprised by that, but then realized she shouldn’t be. Quinn would do whatever it took to protect her family, it was apparent that now Quinn considered Xandy’s family as her own.

  “Speaking of which…” Xandy said, taking Quinn’s hand and leading her over to the bed, pulling her down to sit with her. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay,” Quinn said.

  “I want to invite my aunt to come stay with us in LA while we figure things out here.”

  Quinn nodded, expecting more. Xandy looked at her waiting for an answer.

  Quinn gave her a quizzical look. “Are you asking me if you can do that?”

  “Yes,” Xandy said.

  “Xan, it’s your house,” Quinn told her.

  “Well, yeah, but you live there with me now and I don’t want to put you in a position where you’re stuck with my family and wishing to God you’d kept your apartment.”

  Quinn chuckled at that, but then gave Xandy a serious look. “Babe, they’re your family, of course you need to offer them help, and you offer them whatever you want.”

  Xandy looked back at her and smiled. “Have I told you how much I love you yet today?”

  “I don’t think you have…” Quinn said, grinning.

  “How about I show you instead?” Xandy said, suggestively moving toward the door and locking it.

  Walking back over to Quinn, Xandy moved to straddle Quinn’s lap and leaned down to kiss her deeply. Quinn’s hands slid around Xandy’s waist, pulling her closer and sliding up under her shirt. Things got heated pretty quickly since it had been days since they’d made love. Xandy had just pushed Quinn back on the bed, having pulled off her jersey, when there was a knock on the door; a knock that sounded like that of a tiny little fist. Quinn and Xandy looked toward the door, pausing what they were doing. They heard Erin call to Elly to come back and watch cartoons. Quinn and Xandy exchanged a grin, pretty sure that Erin was aware of what was going on.

  They made love, but had to make sure they stayed quiet so as not to give away their secret. They laughed about it afterwards.

  “So that’s what it’s like to be a parent,” Quinn said, grinning as they both pulled their clothes back on.

  “I guess so,” Xandy said, giggling.

  At five that evening, Mackie arrived to take them to the show. Quinn wore black leather pants with two inch heeled Harley Davidson boots and a rich emerald-green button down shirt. Over that she wore a black leather Harley Davidson jacket that was cut to fit perfectly. The jacket had Harley Davidson stitched across the chest in silver and emerald, and the back featured a black and emerald set of angel wings. Xandy was stunned by her girlfriend’s appearance, falling in lust with her all over again.

  “Oh my…” Xandy said, running her hand over the stitching on the jacket, her eyes showing very obvious appreciation for Quinn’s ensemble.

  Quinn grinned, she didn’t dress up very often, and she hadn’t really done so for Xandy yet. She did, however, thoroughly enjoy Xandy’s reaction.

  Xandy wore a well cut lace and silk dress that was the same color as her eyes. It emphasized her tiny waist and perfect tiny shape, and with heels she was a little closer to Quinn’s height.

  “I have to say you look pretty damned good too, babe,” Quinn grinned.

  Xandy smiled brightly. “Thanks!”

  When they walked out of the bedroom together, Sarah and Erin were stunned and made noises to reflect that. Bobby and Elly were awestruck as well.

  The group proceeded the mere two blocks to the arena, arriving through the back. Both Mackie and Quinn w
ere acting as Xandy’s security as they entered. Back stage they met up with Jordan, the members of Fast Lane, as well as Devlin McGregor and Tabitha.

  “Beege is running late, as usual,” Devlin said, grinning.

  “Such a princess…” said one of the members of Fast Lane.

  “Did you learn nothing from that last tour?” Jordan said, grinning.

  The man leaned forward extending his hand to Quinn. “I’m Tommy. I’ve heard about you,” he said winking.

  Quinn shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment. “It’s just never going to stop, is it?”

  Tommy laughed, as did the rest of the group.

  “Unintentional star,” Tommy said, “sucks, huh?”

  “And I can’t sing worth a damn,” Quinn said, grinning.

  Later during the concert, BJ Sparks made a speech about why they were there. When he introduced Xandy people cheered wildly. Xandy walked out on stage, smiling and waving to the audience.

  “As many of you know, I’m from around here,” Xandy said, smiling, “and some of you may know that a couple of nights ago, my family was once again affected by the plague of Kansas. Fortunately, everyone made it out okay. That was with the help of someone very special to me…” she said, turning to look side stage to wink at Quinn who was standing off to her left.

  “Quinn!” someone yelled, and others repeated the name. Suddenly everyone was chanting Quinn’s name.

  Backstage Quinn shook her head, rolling her eyes. For her, this was a nightmare; she never wanted to be in the spotlight.

  BJ walked over to her. “You know they’re not going to shut up until you go out there, right?”

  “Are you fecking kidding me?” Quinn said. Unfortunately she didn’t realize that BJ had a mike in his hand which had picked up what she said. The crowd just laughed.

  Someone backstage yelled, “Mike’s on!”

  BJ laughed, looking at Quinn. She knew in an instant he’d done it on purpose.

  “I’m gonna kill ya, you maggot bastard!” Quinn said, shaking her head, even as she couldn’t help but smile.

  BJ laughed out loud. “Yeah, I know. Now go,” he said, nodding his head toward the stage.

  Finally Quinn strode out on stage, shaking her head. She strode right up to Xandy, and as she reached her, she slid her hand around Xandy’s neck, and pulled Xandy to her, leaning down and taking possession of her lips in a hungry kiss; her other hand reaching up to cup Xandy’s face gently. The crowd went wild, especially when Xandy melted into Quinn’s arms, and slid her arms up Quinn’s chest, grabbing two handfuls of the leather jacket. The cameras caught every second and projected the moment on the wide-screens in the arena.

  They kissed for what seemed like forever, and the crowd continued to scream and cheer. When Quinn finally broke the kiss, Xandy stared up at her dazed, but her eyes sparkling as she started to smile. Quinn continued to look down into her eyes, ignoring the crowd, her hand was still at Xandy’s cheek, her thumb brushed upward over her cheekbone.

  She leaned in once again, kissing Xandy on the temple and whispering, “I love you.”

  With that, she stepped back and without ever even glancing at the crowd turned and strode back off stage. Xandy stood where she was, watching Quinn’s retreat like the dazed lover that she was.

  Finally she turned back to the crowd. “Yeah, that was Quinn,” she said, her proud smile a mile wide.

  Backstage, Quinn continued to walk, intent on going out to smoke. Tommy and Devlin both held their hands up for a high five as she walked by them. She laughed, high fiving both men as she walked past.

  “Very classy,” Jordan said, nodding appreciatively.

  “Very hot,” Cassie Roads said, smiling widely.

  Quinn got outside of the doors to the arena, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. She was still smoking five minutes later when BJ emerged.

  “Nicely done,” he said, “it’s taken her this long to calm them down. I finally had to send Devlin out there to do a riff to shut them up.”

  Quinn chuckled, shaking her head.

  “You better know that action probably just sold her millions of albums worldwide.”

  Quinn shook her head again. “Didn’t do it for effect.”

  “That’s what I love about you,” BJ said. “You are all action all the time.”

  “What the hell was that?” Mackie asked as he walked through the door.

  Quinn laughed out loud, taking a long drag on her cigarette.

  “That,” Quinn said, pointing back toward the stage with her cigarette, “was me not letting my girl down.”

  “I don’t think there was a dry seat in the house,” Mackie said, with a salacious grin.

  BJ slapped his leg. “And that’s the makings of a star,” he said, winking at Quinn.

  “Forget it,” Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Can’t sing for shit.”

  BJ snickered. “I can make anyone into a singer, what I can’t create is stage presence and you got that in spades.”

  “Fuck you BJ, no,” Quinn said simply.

  BJ and Mackie exchanged a look, each grinning. They both liked Quinn Kavanaugh a great deal.

  A few minutes later, the three went back into the arena and the show truly began. Quinn watched in awe of Xandy as she sang and danced. Her voice hit notes that Quinn didn’t know existed, and she found herself immensely proud to be dating this beautiful girl with so much talent.

  The second show, the next night, had sold out just as quickly as the first. The numerous phone videos and the feed from the first concert showing Xandy and Quinn had already gone viral. So by the time BJ called Xandy out on stage, the crowd was already clamoring for Quinn to appear. This time Quinn leaned against a wall backstage, crossing her arms and her legs at the ankle, refusing to budge. At the prompting of everyone in the two bands, and Jordan Tate, she was pushed to the edge of the stage in the wings. Still, she absolutely refused to step onto stage. On this night she was dressed in jeans and a black leather vest that laced up in the front with her motorcycle boots with lower heels. Her tattoos were on full display, not that she’d ever had any intention of being on camera again that night.

  Quinn stood her feet braced wide apart, her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking out at the stage where Xandy stood. The cameras in the stadium were trained on both Quinn and Xandy. Quinn was chewing gum, in an effort to curb the urge for a cigarette inside the arena. She narrowed her eyes at BJ as he called her name and then shook her head slowly.

  Xandy smiled and shook her head at Quinn, knowing that Quinn had no intention of walking onto that stage. As she stood looking at this woman who she loved so much, she found that she suddenly didn’t care about the crowd either. Instead, she became enthralled with this beautiful wild woman, her lips parted and she handed BJ her mike.

  Taking a couple of steps toward Quinn, she saw Quinn drop her arms, giving her a curious look. Xandy bit her lip, having no idea how her brilliant blue eyes shone in that moment. Quinn felt her insides turn over and Xandy gave her a very slow, very seductive smile. As everyone in the arena quieted down to watch what was happening, Xandy lifted her hand, and crooked her index finger, beckoning Quinn to her.

  Quinn’s chin came up, doing her best to resist the sudden seductress she was dating. Then Xandy licked her lips and Quinn knew she was done. She took a couple of steps onto the stage then stopped, not wanting to end up in another scene. Their eyes connected and Xandy walked the extra steps to get to Quinn. Sliding her arms up around Quinn’s neck, she pulled her down, her lips seeking Quinn’s. They kissed and the crowd predictably went wild. The crowd went wilder still when Quinn reached down, picked Xandy up in her arms and carried her off stage as they continued to kiss.

  Onstage BJ shook his head and chuckled, motioning to Jordan to get out on stage with him. Off stage, Quinn finally set Xandy down.

  “I’m sorry,” Xandy said, smiling up at Quinn, “I just got… caught up…”

  Quinn chuckled.
“S’okay babe, I knew I couldn’t leave you hanging… but where the hell did that other woman come from?” she asked, smiling widely.

  “What woman?” Xandy asked, perplexed.

  “The one that seduced me in front of god only knows how many fecking people!” Quinn said, shaking her head.

  “Oh!” Xandy said, laughing. “You like her, do you?”

  “She’s pretty damned hot,” Quinn said, winking at her.

  “Hmmm…” Xandy murmured as Devlin walked up.

  “Never seen anyone upstage BJ like that before,” Devlin said, grinning widely. “That was just awesome,” he said, nodding his head, “and I’m betting completely unplanned…”

  “I wasn’t goin’ out there again…” Quinn said, curling her lips in disgust at her lack of control.

  “You should probably try staying on the other side of the country from her then,” Tabitha put in, winking at Xandy.

  It was another great night. After the show there was an after party that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. BJ did his best to try and talk Quinn into a life on-stage. Quinn absolutely refused, walking away from him a number of times. Xandy was doing her best to hold BJ off, but he was determined. They were still laughing about it as they returned to the hotel room that morning. Sarah and the kids had long since retired to the room. Xandy and Quinn did their best to be quiet. Erin, naturally, caught them sneaking in.

  “Late night, huh?” she asked, grinning at the two.

  “BJ wants to make Quinn famous,” Xandy said, smiling.

  “Wow…” Erin said, looking at Quinn. “You want to be famous?”

  “Nope,” Quinn said, shaking her head.

  With that she led Xandy into the bedroom where they showered, made love and fell asleep.

  They slept until the next afternoon. Xandy and Quinn got up and showered, and Xandy finally did the one thing she hadn’t done the entire trip: visit her family’s graves. It was an emotional experience for Xandy; she cleared away leaves and weeds that had grown around the headstones. Quinn handed her the flowers they’d brought to lay on the graves.

  Xandy noticed the huge difference in how she felt this time, versus when they’d laid her family to rest. This time, even though she felt very sad at the loss, she didn’t get the overwhelming feeling that she should be resting there as well. Now she had a purpose and she also had Quinn with her, and she could feel Quinn’s presence giving her strength.