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“Xander meant what he said, and I don’t really want broken bones on top of my other problems right now Madi—Madness. Just let me get out of here. That’ll help them cool down.”
“Where are you going to go? You don’t have a car.”
“I can walk to town and get a ride from there. I got a ride on the way here. I can do it on the way out.”
“Please don’t leave. If you have to go for a minute, okay. But please don’t leave town. I want to talk with you. We didn’t talk last night. We said we’d talk today. Please don’t leave without that.” She’s pulling out all the stops because the fact that I want to run as fast as I can from all of this probably shows on my face.
I can’t take it. I want to cry myself, and it’s the last thing I need to do in front of her. She’s trusted me this entire time to be the experienced one. The guy who knows what he’s doing. The guy who won’t let her down. The one who’s good for her. And I don’t want to fail her now by losing my shit.
“Quentin.” Her fingers slip under my jaw, and she stands. I straighten with her, biting the insides of my cheek as I look at her, willing myself not to cry.
“Yeah, Madness?” I force a smile.
“Don’t leave without talking with me, okay? You promised me that you’d give me whatever I needed. I need this.”
I nod. “Okay.”
I don’t know how I’ll keep that promise.IfI can keep the promise. I’m fairly certain her father is going to throw her into the back of an unmarked car and ship her off to a convent after this. Might be a nice one in Europe, but I’m sure he’ll keep her far away from me. And Tobias will be the one to drive it.
She leans forward and kisses my cheek. “Thank you. I’ll fix this. I promise. It’s my fault, and I’ll fix it.”
“It’s not your fault. I should have been more careful with you. With this… I’m sorry I caused this.” I lean back down and zip the bag. “Don’t fight with your family over me. Okay? They’re just trying to protect you. Especially Tobias.”
“Quentin…” Her fingers slip over my forearm as I head out the door.
I force another smile. “I’m fine. Truly. Don’t worry about me. Just take care of you.”
“And you’ll wait to talk with me?”
“I’ll wait.” I nod, and then I take off down the hall. I don’t look up the whole way out. I’m too ashamed of myself. Of how greedily I acted. Of how much I tried to take what I didn’t deserve. I can feel Tobias’s and Xander’s eyes on me as I leave, and I feel my gut churn. This was supposed to be all of us having one last weekend together now that they‘re going off to the pros and now it’s just one more reason for them to be disappointed in me.
I knew saying goodbye would be hard—but going out like this makes it feel like goodbye forever.
13
Madison
I’ve never been moreembarrassed in my life than I am right now. Between having my father walk in on me half naked in Quentin’s bed and having him act like Quentin is the scum of the earth, screaming at me even more after he leaves, I just want to crawl under the covers and never come back out again. But first I want to find Quentin. I want to apologize for the absolute shitshow of a family circus he had to endure, and I want him to know it doesn’t change anything for me. Even if it might for him.
I call his phone for the tenth time, and it goes straight to voicemail. He can’t have gone far. There’s no easy way out of here and he’d need to find a ride before he could. So he has to have walked somewhere in town to find it, and I’m determined to go to every business I can until I find him.
It doesn’t take long. My guess is that he might have ended up at a bar to drown out the memories of this morning and bury any good thoughts he might have had about me. I’m sure he regrets agreeing to help me. Regrets last night. He probably even regrets coming up to the house to see his friends all over again. My cheeks go red at the thought of my dad yelling at him next to me in bed. I’m sure being walked in on by a girl’s father is a brand-new experience he hasn’t had before. At least I could give him one of his firsts.
I spot him alone at the bar, drinking a beer and staring up at the TV. I say a little prayer to the gods of awkwardness that I get through this without too much of it. Because holy hell have I had enough of it today, and then I make my way across the bar, gently touching his forearm when I get to him.
“Hey,” I say softly, starting this all out really strong.
His eyes light with the recognition, and he looks behind me immediately, like he’s worried I’ll have the same entourage of men behind me I did earlier today.
“It’s just me,” I reassure him and his face relaxes a bit with the information.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I needed to talk with you.”
“How’d you get here?”
“Walked.”
