Page 131 of Open To Negotiation

“I’ll stay for now.” I watched him let out a relieved sigh and nodded as I started to climb into my car. But I paused and looked back at him. “But I don’t know if we can fix this.”

I shut the door and he paused for a moment before he got in his own car to let me out. I saw him watching me drive away in my rearview mirror.

39

Theo

Ifucking hated the ceiling in my room.

Trying to sleep was fruitless, but here I was lying in my bed trying to will my eyes closed but it wasn’t working. So instead I was staring at the ceiling at two in the morning.

I’d stood outside earlier today until I couldn’t see Quinn’s car anymore. She’d driven away with my heart and I didn’t want it back.

Everything I was, everything I had was hers, whether she wanted it or not.

I had picked up my phone way too often tonight trying to decide if I should text her to check in. That was the opposite of space, but I was losing my mind a little bit. She’d found out a lot about her dad today and I had to imagine she wasn’t okay. Her whole demeanor was broken down and I hated seeing her that way.

It was worse knowing that I had a part in that.

I knew she was staying at Asher’s, and I was currently trying to see if I could evict the tenants who’d taken over my space. If I couldn’t be with her in this house, at least I would be in the same building.

Besides, this home wasn’t home without her in it anymore.

Texting each of the guys individually had resulted in the same response every time. I asked them to add me back to the group chat and they all told me I wasn’t allowed until Quinn approved it and refused to tell me anything about her. I was strangely missing the constant ping of the group, even though it pissed me off most days.

My phone rang from where it lay next to me on the bed. I snatched it quickly since it was a bad time of night to be getting a call.

For a moment I thought I was dreaming, because Quinn’s smiling face was on my phone with her incoming call. I didn’t stare at it longer than a moment before I answered, my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest with worry.

“Quinn? What’s wrong?” Because that was the only reason I could think of for her to be calling me. The other side was quiet but I heard her sniff.

“I don’t know why I called,” she answered in a small voice. I moved to sit on the edge of my bed, muscles tight.

Should I go to her?

“Are you okay?” I could hear in her voice that she wasn’t.

“I…” I heard her sniff again and my heart felt like it was cracking in my chest. I grabbed my sheets trying to hold myself back. “No.” Her voice cracked. My instinct was to ask her how to fix it but I fucked us up. I needed to fix it on my own.

“What do you need?” I asked, standing up so I could pace. There was a reason she called me and I would do whatever she asked of me.

“I just…” She let out a sigh. I could picture her sitting in the spare room at Asher’s place closing her eyes and biting her lip. “Can you come over, please?” The break in the word please had my chest bleeding for her. I was already pulling on my grey sweats and a hoodie over my head.

“I’ll be there in under fifteen minutes, baby,” I said as I sprinted down the stairs. I heard the beep, she’d hung up on me.

Which was fine, I could drive faster if I wasn’t listening to her whimper or cry over the phone.

I flew into the parking garage and parked in one of the penthouse spots, I didn’t give a shit if my truck was towed. The elevator felt like it took forever, I was slipping out before the doors were fully open. I normally walked right into Asher’s place since I knew the code, but all of this was in Quinn’s hands. So I knocked, not giving a fuck if I woke Ash up.

The door was pulled open and Quinn was standing in front of me. She was in a large T-shirt that looked a hell of a lot like mine and nothing else. Her hair was piled messily on her head, pieces of it were falling in her face. But the thing that I hated was her red eyes. She must have been crying for a while before she called me. Which meant that I was her last resort.

That was better than nothing.

I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she slammed into my chest, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and pressing her face into me as she started crying. I wrapped my hands around her holding her to me, but I didn’t want to stand in the doorway.

So instead, I lifted her up, her legs wrapping around my waist.

I kicked the door closed and walked to her bedroom. She didn’t let me go as I toed off my boots and sat on the bed, resting against the headboard. She unwrapped herself, moved her arms down so she could bury herself in my chest. I kept my arms around her as she continued to cry. I made shushing noises, telling her it was okay as I brushed my hand down the back of her head, my heart breaking with every noise she made.