Page 46 of Open To Negotiation

“After you stopped responding to my texts and didn’t say you were coming tonight, I decided to drive myself here. Honestly, I was about ten minutes away from driving to your apartment and demanding you talk to me.” I saw her eyes widen a little at my confession. “I hated not hearing from you,” I admitted to the silence as I drove through the now familiar city streets that lead us out of downtown.

“Sorry.” She bit her lip, mulling over what she wanted to say next. I waited patiently as she collected her thoughts. I saw her mouth open and close a few times before she cleared her throat. “I was overthinking things and got a little in my head, so I retreated. I just needed some space.”

“The next time you get in your head, can you talk to me first?”

“We don’t know each other that well, Theo.”

“I want to work on that, but we can’t do that if you shut me out. Don’t do it again,” I demanded. I was used to telling people to do things, not asking. Which I could tell she found funny since I got a little smirk and a quirk of her eyebrow. Her phone buzzing in her lap pulled her attention away from me. She looked down and chuckled.

“Noah texted. He said thanks to Asher we now have Quinn in the group chat,” she read from her phone. “He instructed everyone to reply with their names so I know who is who.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe they created a group chat for me to be in.”

“They didn’t create one.” I rested my elbow on the glove box between us as we pulled up to another red light. “They added you to the only group chat we have.”

“I can leave if you’re uncomfortable with me being—”

I cut her off by reaching out and grabbing her hand, threading my fingers through hers. “I wanted you to be a part of it. I just don’t want them to scare you away. They can be a lot, it’s why I didn’t add you myself after the vote.”

She smiled over at me like I was being silly, but I wasn’t kidding. There had been an actual vote, everyone was in favor.

“I don’t scare easily,” she said as her phone pinged again. “Noah is complaining that he wasn’t the one to convince me to join because Asher won rock, paper, scissors.” I saw her look up at me. “Is he serious?”

I nodded. “Noah has a knack for making life more fun for all of us, so once in a while he will do something dumb like making grown men play rock, paper, scissors because it gets Asher to crack a slight smirk.”

“That’s really sweet.” I shot her a look for complimenting Noah, but she smiled and looked down at her phone. “Will is telling Noah he isn’t as charming as he thinks he is.”

“Another thing about Noah, he will find any reason to argue or bicker. He loves being right more than anything else in the world.” Her phone kept buzzing with new messages. “I have to silence that thing when I want peace.”

“I like that they included me,” she said softly with a vulnerable smile.

I gave her hand a squeeze, happy she hadn’t pulled away. I was thrilled she not only liked being included but wanted to be with my crazy group. I wasn’t born with a big family but I had found one, and the idea of her folding herself in with them didn’t bother me like I thought it would. When I took the next turn, she sat up.

“This isn’t the way to my place.” She turned to look at me.

“I know. We’re going to my house.”

We turned into the community. Everyone had green manicured lawns, front porch lights were on everywhere. It felt homey and inviting and for the first time, I didn’t feel dread growing in my stomach. I wanted her to see it, to be with me in the space.

“Wow,” she muttered as we pulled up the driveway on the left side of the house. The renovations had restored the house to be just like my mum dreamed of.

She got out before I even turned the car off.

“You’re supposed to let me open the damn door,” I grumbled as she walked to the middle of the front lawn, evaluating the house.

The white siding contrasted with the black thin window frames. There was a natural wood door centered on the house, flanked by large floor-to-ceiling window packages, with three matching window packages on the second-floor. There was a covered front porch with the swing my mum loved on the right side mounted to the covering with chains. The front had been landscaped and garden beds framed either side of the three-step raised porch.

“Theo…” She looked over at me and placed a hand on my arm as she smiled up at me. “This is beautiful. I’m sure your mom would have loved it.” Her words settled something in my chest.

“Let’s go inside.” I took her hand and led her up the steps to the door.

The top of the line security system that Jaxon installed blared as I unlocked the door and I quickly disarmed it. I flicked on the lights and turned to look back at Quinn who had stopped a few steps into the house.

Wide plank oak floors ran throughout the space. To our left there were stairs to the second floor and the basement. To our right was a coat closet and the sliding dark wood barn doors that lead to the office.

“This is incredible.” She looked around and then up at the chandelier above us.

“I didn’t pick that.” I pointed up at it, causing her to smile before she moved further into the space.

The tall ceilings were accented with thick dark wood beams, the open space was bright and inviting with the large windows at the back of the house. On our left was a seating area with a long couch and two armchairs surrounding a wood burning fireplace and built-in-shelves on either side. The middle of the room hosted a ten-person wood dining table set in front of floor to ceiling doors. They slide open to lead out to the deck and two steps down from there was the large yard that had a fire pit, and backed onto a nature reserve that could never be developed on.