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“Are you going to let me pass?”
“I don’t care how hot you are, del Toro. You fucked up.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I spat. “That’s why I’m here right now, begging you to let me by. She’s got it all wrong, Quin.”
“Oh, I know she does and so does she. But right now, the only thing she can see through her tears is heartache.”
“Fuck.”
“Look,” she sighed. “Go home, get some rest, and come back tomorrow. River and I will talk some sense into her or, better yet, pour Fireball down her throat until she’s too drunk to argue.”
“I don’t have a home without her.”
She tilted her head to the side, a strange look on her face.
“Well, fuck my life,” she breathed. “You love her, don’t you?”
I didn’t say anything because, quite frankly, those words weren’t hers to have.
“Goddammit. Okay, but you need to give me a few hours at least.”
“You’ve got two,” I replied.
“Why do all you del Toros think you can make demands and the rest of the world simply has to comply?”
It would seem Kolt was right in his assumptions about Quin and Alec. Rather than piss off the little firecracker standing between me and my girl, I chose to be accommodating.
“Quin. Would two hours work for you?”
“Yes. That’d be perfect. Thank you.”
She spun and stomped back up the steps, leaving me standing on the sidewalk. With nothing left to do but wait, I went back to my car and drove the short distance to my own apartment. I’d neglected to shower before I rushed out of New York City. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I put on deodorant. In my defense, I hadn’t been thinking clearly.
The clock on the wall continued to tick the minutes away slowly, no matter how long I stared at it. Alec texted and rather than responding, I called.
“When you screw up, you do it fantastically,” he said.
“Don’t remind me.”
“Since you’re calling and not balls deep in your girl, I presume things didn’t go well?”
“First, don’t ever say that again.” I sat back on the couch. “Second, I couldn’t get near her.”
“You home?”
“Yeah.”
“Be there in five.”
When Alec, Rico, and I moved to town, we rented apartments in the same small building, so if he said five minutes, it was more likely two. I headed to the refrigerator for a beer when the front door opened.
“You could knock, you know?” I grumbled, snagging a second brew for my brother.
“I said I’d be here.”
He took the bottle from my outstretched hand, then helped himself to the spot I’d vacated on the couch. I slumped down on the love seat across from him.
“So tell big brother what happened,” he teased, taking a long pull from his beer.
