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“Whatever. I’m not interested, and even if I was, this,” I motion between the two of us, “is never going to happen. It was one night, and I was plastered. Build a bridge, Blondie.”
“Why would I build a bridge?”
Is she serious? I give her a blank stare.
“To get the feck over it.” Isn’t that an American saying?
“Carter, let me make you feel good again,” she breathes as she runs her blood red nails up my thigh. And that’s it. I’m out. I stand up, already mad at the world, but now annoyed on top of it that Mandy can’t take a bloody hint, and start to tell her off when Jade comes barreling—well, more like waddling—into Hot N’ Bothered. At first, she looks panicked, but when she sees who I’m talking to, she looks livid.
“Who the fuck is she?” Always so poised and well spoken, this one.
“Irrelevant is what she is. What are you doing here? Cole’s not around, and he’ll—”
“You need to go to the hospital, like now. Quinn needs you.”
I grab my jacket off the back of the barstool, and I’m already moving toward the door.
“What the feck happened?! Where were her guards?! I’ll kill them all.”
“She’s okay, C. Or she will be. She needs you calm right now. Trust me, okay?” Her voice is soft, soothing, but I can’t calm down if Quinn is hurt.
“Quinn?! That’s what this is about?” Mandy just will not give it up. Why is she still here?
“You’re turning me down for the slut who tends bar? Is this a joke?”
I stop in my tracks. I don’t have time to deal with this. If I weren’t a man, I’d knock her ass out. But Jade’s not a man…
I send Jade a look, and she’s already got her fist cocked back, sending it right into Mandy’s plastic nose. Mandy flies backwards, screeching in outrage and gaining the attention of everyone in the club. I grab Jade by the arm and beeline toward the door.
“Get her arse out! She’s not welcome here anymore!” I yell over the crowd and the noise to one of the other bouncers. He nods his affirmation, and we’re gone.
Jade refused to tell me what happened on the way to the hospital, just that Quinn was okay and she needed me. Stiles was the guard on duty, and apparently drove her to the hospital, and then drove Jade to me. I wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp when he drove us back to the hospital because I need someone to blame, but Jade kept insisting that he helped them and had nothing to do with it. It took everything I had in me not to interrogate him the only way I know how.
Jade told me Quinn’s room number and said she’d wait in the waiting room. I’ve been frantic and desperate to get to her, but now that I’m standing right inside her door, looking at her tiny, frail body, I don’t think I can move. She’s asleep on her side, her hand clutching her stomach. Her nose is red and her lips swollen, like she’s been crying. Her long eyelashes lie on her cheeks, stuck together from tears, but she looks unharmed, if not a little pale.
I did this. Whatever happened, it was my fault. Twice now, she’s needed me and I’ve failed her. The door opens behind me, and the doctor enters. An older woman, with sleek, silver, shoulder-length hair and a nametag that reads “Victoria Crawford”. She looks at Quinn and then me. Instead of regarding me with suspicion—I am lurking in the doorway, staring at her sleeping patient, after all—she looks almost sympathetic. Now, I’m even more afraid.
“I’m Doctor Crawford. You can call me Victoria,” she states and extends her hand.
“What’s going on?” I demand, skipping the pleasantries. Her hand drops to her side.
“Does she know you’re here?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll give you two a minute. But, I do need to speak with her, so don’t take too long.”
I nod in agreement, and she leaves.
I walk over to Quinn’s bed. Even in a hospital gown, she looks gorgeous. Her scarlet hair a stark contrast from the hospital-white pillow. I reach out and graze my knuckle across her rosy cheek. She startles at my touch, and her eyes shoot open.
“Carter?” Her voice is thick with sleep or emotion, or maybe both.
“Aye, I’m here, sweetheart. I’m so sorry.”
Quinn’s lip starts to wobble, and her eyes fill with tears. She shakes her head.
“No, I’m sorry, Carter. You’re going to hate me. I’m so stupid.” She buries her face in her pillow.
