Page 13 of Turning Back

He holds his hands up, palms facing me. “Back up, sister. I’m not here for the kid. Come on. Get real. I just…” He sighs. Walks over to a chair and sits. Leans back and closes his eyes as he massages his temples. “You have no idea what your little stunt did to Quin.” He opens his eyes. “No idea.”

I shrug. “It hurt me too. When you said abortion—”

“I never told you to get a fucking abortion.” He looks at Adley and lowers his voice. “I never said that, Rochelle. I just said you had a few options.”

I shrug again. “I heard what you weren’t saying. I know you better than you think. I know what goes on inside that head of yours. I’ve seen it, Bric. Experienced it first-hand. And I already knew Quin wasn’t into me like that. So I did what I had to do.”

“You left Chella in your bed? That’s what you had to do?” he says, voice rising again.

“Oh, so it worked, huh?” I smile at that. “How’d that go?”

Bric sighs. “She’s practically engaged to Smith now.”

“What?” I laugh. “What the hell?”

“I know, right?” I get a small familiar smile from Elias Bricman. The friendly one. The real one. One I hardly ever saw when we were together. He only brings it out for special occasions and I was never special enough. “They hit it off. In fact, we all liked her. She played well. But it didn’t last. She quit and went with Smith.”

“Well, damn. I never saw that coming.”

“But Quin—”

“Bric. I can’t. It was hard for me too. It hurt so bad when I left. But I did leave. And I had a good reason.”

“What was your reason? Because he’d be into the whole baby thing if he knew.”

“He doesn’t know?” I’m shocked. But he put money in my account every month.

Bric shakes his head. “I never told him. He thinks you had the abortion. I never told him you called me last summer.”

“Sorry about that,” I say, looking away. I walk over to the couch next to the chair and take a seat. “I had just given birth and my hormones were all out of whack. Plus I felt like a total failure because I couldn’t get the hang of the breastfeeding thing. I was really looking forward to that. But I shouldn’t have called.”

“We would’ve been there for you, ya know. Even me, Rochelle. Even Smith. He’s the one who went looking for you first. He couldn’t stand to see Quin so unhappy and confused.”

“Hmm. I never saw that coming either. The Smith looking for me part. Not Quin. I knew Quin would be hurt but… he hurt me too, Bric. You have no idea how bad.” We sit there in silence for a minute. Adley is playing with my hair as she drinks her bottle, wrapping long strands of it around and around in her tiny fist. “If Quin didn’t know… then why was he sending me money all year?”

Bric shrugs. “He loves you. He probably wanted to make sure you had what you needed.”

“He doesn’t love me.” I roll my eyes.

“Shit, Rochelle. He’s a fucking mess. He won’t even talk to me these days. He’s so mad about how it ended.”

“You’re… not playing the game anymore?” I almost can’t believe it. Elias Bricman is nothing but a game. I can’t even imagine this man living a normal life. Not just the sexual stuff he’s into. But everything. His whole life is wrapped up in controlling people.

“Not with him,” Bric says. “Not with Smith either.”

“Then who?”

“That new guy. Jordan Wells? Did you ever meet him?”

I shake my head. “But just one guy?” That’s not like him either. He likes to keep things off balance. Anything less than plural is just not dynamic enough to satiate his dark appetite.

“I’m not really here to talk about that game, Rochelle. I’m here to beg you for a favor.”

“I’m not going back. I told you that. In fact, you’re lucky you came today. I’m about to move again.”

“Where?”

I shrug. “Dunno yet.”