She nods. “I lost my Dad when I was fifteen. After a while I stopped mentioning him because it makes people sad, but I never stopped thinking about him.”
Mom is standing by the door. Her mouth is set in an unhappy line and she taps her wrist impatiently.
“I should probably get going.”
“Right, but… are you feeling okay? Last night was scary. Nobody else reported anything, but they’re going to check the security footage from the party.”
“Yeah. I’m a little tired, but it could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Good.” She hesitates. “Quinn, we’re friends, right?”
“What? Of course,” I say, more out of reflex than anything. Are we? Priest seemed to think so, and I want to be, but letting people in is tricky.
“I want you to know you can talk to me. If everything goes well, we might be stuck with each other for a couple more seasons and I don’t want to be the kind of friends that only talk when we work together.” Her grin is infectious.
“I’ve gotta go, but I’ll see you for the photos!” I give Erika a tentative hug, hoping she understands that I want that, too.
I jog over to Mom. Her hand wraps around my wrist and only practice keeps me from wincing.
5
Chapter 5 - Quinn
The walkto the car is tense, but it isn’t until the doors are closed that she rips into me.
“You ungrateful little idiot,” she snaps. At the press of a button, the fancy sports car she’s borrowing from a “friend” roars to life.
I’m pretty sure she’s seeing someone, but it can’t be that serious if I haven’t met him. Knowing her it’s because he’s married or just stringing her along. “I thanked you and Roger first. What’s wrong with mentioning Axel? He was my brother, and it was true.”
“Half-brother. He was a fucked up, two-bit criminal, just like your father. If I’d known what kind of trouble that man was, I’d?—”
My snort cuts her off.
“Do you have something to say?” The car stops at a red light and she turns, fixing me with a furious glare.
I turn away, staring out the window. “Nope.”
Nobody forced her to have an affair with a married man, and getting pregnant with me wasn’t an accident. Mom’s just always been bitter that we weren’t enough for him to leave his wife. He didn’t come live with us until his now-ex found out and kicked him to the curb. Not that Axel’s mom was a prize. She cut her losses and took off when he was still in middle school. Maybe that makes her the smartest one out of all of us. At any rate, it only took a few more turbulent years before Dad did the same, leaving Axel in the tender care of a woman who hated his guts. My mother.
Her nails tap the steering wheel as she thinks. “Maybe it’s fine. A dead brother makes you sympathetic, and a little tragedy always makes for a more interesting backstory, but it’s critical that you keep yourself marketable right now. This is the sort of opportunity that could make your career if we keep you in the public eye.”
“Right,marketable.” My phone buzzes, notifications coming in of people messaging and tagging me in things after the stream. Absent-mindedly, I fire off an, “I’m so glad you’re enjoying the show!” followed by a mess of hearts and smiling devil emojis.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m listening, but you know I’m supposed to interact with fans for at least an hour after the official account posts anything. That’s why you were so mad last night, remember?”
This is one of the parts I like. Mostly. Priest wasn’t totally wrong this morning. There’s a lot of weird stuff that comes in alongside the cute messages. Admitting I’m single seems to have been abig mistake. It’s mostly harmless, but after last night everything feels a little more sinister.
Dickpic.Delete.
Foot request.Delete.
Foot photo.Delete.
Long scrolling DM about how I’m playing into Satan’s clutches by pretending to be one of his minions, along with three different suggestions for churches closest to my actual address.Forward.
“Stop frowning, you’ll give yourself wrinkles. What is it? Anything related to the party?” Mom asks, still sounding annoyed.
