Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Not if I couldn’t forgive myself, first.
The song ended, and when I didn’t even try to sing, he caught my hair and lifted it off my shoulder. “You need to try.”
I drew in a deep breath, and my lungs wheezed.
He kept going, making me fist my hands.
“You need to talk to someone,” he informed me.
I whirled, trying to advance on him, but he was already there, anticipating the move on my end. He caught me by the shoulders and gently pulled me into him. “Talking to someone will help.”
I closed my eyes as those damn, traitorous tears started to slip free. “It won’t.”
A ring of the doorbell had me stiffening.
If that was more fucking flowers…
“Um, Quinn?” I heard called.
Ande.
Quinn pulled away from me, but he didn’t let go of my hand as he tugged me in his wake to the living room. Once there, he deposited me in his recliner, and I tried not to look around at the room full of Carters who were paying just as much attention to me now as they were whoever was at the door.
“What’s that?” I heard Garnett whisper.
Quinn yanked open the door, and my heart sank.
It was a man in uniform.
Though, not a uniform I’d seen in the area.
“Who are you?” Quinn asked,
“Name’s Ambrose Dunn. I’m with the DEA.” He pulled out a badge and showed it to Quinn, then cast his gaze to me. “I need to ask Ms. Rodriguez some questions.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“What about?” Quinn stepped in the way, blocking the agent’s view of me.
“About what I talked to your boss at the station about, which I’m assuming he relayed to you yesterday,” Agent Dunn replied.
My heart started beating faster, and a sense of betrayal started to tear through me.
I’d been turned into the DEA? And Quinn had known?
What the fuck?
I mean, Quinn had said that there could be issues, but he’d worked them out.
Or, so I’d thought.
I stood up, feeling the urge to run.
But, before I could take a step toward the bedroom again, Ande was there, holding my hand.
Holding me in place, more likely.
“Can you give me a minute?” Quinn requested. “I need to help her get dressed.”
I scoffed, causing Ande to squeeze my hand.
I clenched my jaw shut.
“Sure,” Agent Dunn said, sounding amused. “I’ll just wait out here with nowhere to sit.”
Quinn didn’t reply as he closed the door in the agent’s face.
“Quinn,” Garnett hissed. “That was rude.”
“What’s rude is he’s showing up here now when we talked about me getting her to the station tomorrow,” he snapped as he turned around and caught sight of me standing there.
His mouth clenched shut, and he walked toward me, holding out his hand.
I didn’t take it, instead crossing my arms over my chest in a defensive posture.
“I was going to talk to you about it today,” he said. “I just had to get you up and out of your head first.”
I didn’t say anything to that ludicrous statement.
“You know you’re struggling,” he said. “I didn’t want to worry you until I had to.”
I looked away.
He was right, I was struggling.
But he didn’t need to share that.
What he needed to do was stop treating me with kid gloves.
I knew he was following me when he stomped along behind me as I made my way to his room.
I walked over to the closet where Garnett and Ande had practically moved me in.
Walking to a sundress, I yanked it down and started to pull off my clothes in hasty movements.
“Baby,” Quinn murmured, catching my hips and stilling my jerky movements. “Let me help.”
I went still, ready to scream.
Then, because I was angry enough to murder him, I whirled around and leveled a finger in his face.
“I am not a fucking lightweight, Quinn Carter. I can handle anything,” I snapped.
He held up his hands. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” I snapped.
He helped me with the sundress, then tied the tie at my back before hooking his fingers in the waistband of my sweats and yanking them down.
I bit my lip as I tried, and failed, not to think about why I loved that he was taking care of me. And that he always could do the simplest of things and make certain places inside me pulse.
“What I meant was that I didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily until I knew there was something to worry about. You have enough to deal with right now with the injuries, and the baby…” he started, but I held my hand up, not wanting to think about that particular topic.
I was pretending I hadn’t ever been pregnant. It was easier than being devastated that I’d lost a piece of Quinn that I’d never have again.
I’d already lost so much of him, that losing another piece was devastating to me.
Yeah, best to not think about that right now…