Chapter 20: CASH

Twenty

CASH

S he acts like nothing happened between us.

What the hell is wrong with Quin? She has to be pretending. Playing a game with me… But she just looks so damn earnest. I don't understand.

I have never fucked a woman in my life who hasn't become immediately and permanently attached to me. Instead, Quin has me sitting here holding this baby and watching her cook like she didn't have my dick coating every inch of her inner walls with my baby juices.

This is wrong. Completely fucking wrong.

"Avery and I are going for our walk at the usual time today," she says after a painfully long silence. Well, I assume it was painful for Quin because I was trying to make it that way. I need her to talk to me. To give me some acknowledgement that last night happened between us.

That she felt how fucking good it was to finally relieve the obvious tension between us. The tension she's currently pretending doesn't exist. This is so much worse than having a teenage crush. I used to just get one of my sisters to manipulate the truth out of my teenage crushes. With Quin, I have to stare at her beautiful, blank, emotionless face and guess how she feels.

Every second of guessing kills me.

"I'll come with you," I offer desperately. Quin immediately frowns.

"Why?"

I have to come up with an answer that a woman will want to hear that serves the second function of keeping my concerns private.

"I am taking your criticisms seriously. I need to be there for Avery."

Quin's scowl deepens.

"You don't have to come on a walk with us."

"I could take Avery and leave you here," I offer. She turns around and keeps cooking angrily.

I didn't know a woman could cook angrily until Quin, but I'm almost certain she's going to chop my balls off next the way she's slamming that knife into the cutting board.

"I didn't know babies ate onions."

"That's for my breakfast," she says snappily.

What the hell did I do wrong?

I don't fucking understand this woman at all, honestly. We share a beautiful and incredibly hot night together and she acts like I'm fucking nothing to her.

"It looks good."

She doesn't answer that. Once she feeds Avery, she flips her omelet and I offer to take Avery again. This time, the baby is fussy when she gets in my arms and I know her hesitation is due to her following Quin's cues. What the hell is wrong with her?

"Is everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" She says in a low, steady voice. Nothing suspicious there. Maybe that's the problem. She's too damn good at hiding and I don't like it.

"Just wondering if you slept okay."

"I slept fine," she says sharply, giving me an unmistakable glare. What the hell? I pretend I don't notice it and mumble something about getting Avery a bath before the walk.

Quin says that it's a good idea and then I disappear to turn over in my head again and again what the hell is going on.

At first I was concerned, but now I'm just pissed off. I made her cum. I kissed her neck. We connected. I don't understand…

Getting Avery dressed is harder than I expected it would be because she doesn't like that I'm not Quin. I try to be gentle with her and almost find myself bonding with her as I get her clothes on…

I can't let myself latch onto those little traits that I think makes her a Hollingsworth. She's not mine. She can't be… and when she has to leave this place, I'll get hurt if I get attached. It's smart to stay distant. It's what dad would have recommended and Aunt Deb knows it, which is why she doesn't put up too much of a fight when I make my point.

Once I leave Avery's room and return to the living room, Quin's body folds in on itself again. She considers me warily as I bounce Avery a little, but her looking at me like that just frustrates the hell out of me after a morning of trying to get close to her and meeting a stoic brick wall.

I knew Quin wasn't like other women when I met her, but this is something I've never experienced before. I took her virginity and she doesn't seem to care if I live or die. She doesn't seem to care that I'm taking her feelings into consideration and looking after Avery the way she wants me to.

"You go alone," she says with a tight voice. "It's nice that you're spending more time with Avery."

This isn't what I wanted, but she barely looks at me as I get the rest of Avery's clothes on. I give her another chance to join us and she turns me down definitively.

What the hell did I do wrong?

When I get back, Quin is nowhere to be seen until I summon her. She has a big ass lunch spread made for me. I wonder if she's trying to appease me or something but again, there are absolutely no emotions on this woman's face. I find it fascinating.

She could get away with murder if she wanted to…

The only time I truly made her lose control is when I had her pressed beneath me in bed. A desire that grows the longer she turns her nose up at me and ignores me. She can't ignore me when I have my dick buried to the hilt in her pussy.

I'm about to confront Quin about her attitude when I get a phone call that I wasn't expecting.

Not a good sign considering my situation, but at least it's not Southpaw calling.

"Aunt Deb? Good news for me?"

"I knew that baby was family."

My heart drops into my ass.

"So…"

"Not yours," she says, exhaling with deep, deep sadness. "That baby is your father's. She's your sister Tanner."

"That's not possible."

"Your father knocked up a 16-year-old the night the clubhouse blew up."

That sounds like dad. Our mutual silence tells me Aunt Deb is thinking the same thing.

"My mom can't find out," I say. Maybe it's fucked up but my first thought is protecting her. She had enough misery with my dad's running around when he was alive. The last thing she needs is this baby.

"That's not the worst part."

"What's the worst part?"

"Tamiya tells me this took so long because they were tracking down the child's mother. She's the daughter of some Neo-nazi. Not someone high level but a member of some group called the Midnight SS. Have you heard of them?"

The Shaws tend to keep their women informed on club business. I think that's why Aunt Deb fled our grandfather's iron fist into the arms of Harlan Shaw the second she got a chance. She fits in well with the Shaws. Unlike a lot of women involved in our lifestyle, Aunt Deb can handle the hard shit. And unlike the Blackwood women, she handles it without getting her ass stuck in prison on a bullshit charge.

"Can't say I've heard of them."

It's a lie, obviously. But I prefer to keep certain things private.

"What about Wyatt?"

"I haven't told him about this."

"I know," she says. I understand her implications. I've kept this secret for too long and she thinks it's time I tell the club. I suppose the idea doesn't seem so terrible now that I know the baby isn't mine. But this can't get back to my mother.

"What the fuck do I tell him? He'll know you kept the secret from him."

"He understands how the club works," she says calmly. Aunt Deb talks like she's been in control of this situation the entire time. I can't help but give in to her desire to pull some strings around here. When it comes to babies and family… I'm lost. Most of us are lost.

None of us expected our dads to leave this earth so soon. I don't know if the club can handle more loss without everyone losing their shit. Especially not any of the crazy ass Blackwoods.

"I'll call him tonight."

"Good," she says. "And how is that girl you've been hiding from me?"

"What girl?"

"I raised three sons, Tanner. I know you've been sneaking some girl past me and you haven't needed me to watch Avery as much for the past couple months. Is it serious?"

"It's just the nanny, Aunt Deb. I'll call Wyatt and then get back to you."

She spills out more affection than I can handle, so I have to hurry and get off the phone before the sentiment causes me to sink into the ground. I don't look forward to telling Wyatt about this. He can keep a secret, but it's the nature of the secret that I don't enjoy.

And who the hell is supposed to look after Avery in the long term now that we know my dad had a cheap night with an underage girl and now… this baby is all alone if I don't take full custody of her.

I don't know why the thought makes me feel so damn cold. I never planned on keeping this child. I planned on discovering her true father and sending Avery off to him – the irresponsible motherfucker who knocked up some biker trash. I can't abandon Avery. The thought sends me immediately into deep, bitter brooding. At everyone. At everything. At myself.

A knock at my office door startles me, but it can only be one person, so I gruffly invite her in, despite my increasingly sour mood.

She lost some of that fire she had earlier, which I certainly appreciate because I was finding that fire quite damn frustrating. I like seeing her on her toes like this. Not only is it sexy as hell watching her approach me with her head bowed in some mixture of defeat and submission, it makes me feel like she actually needs me. I like that feeling.

Considering her continuing this pretense that our night together meant nothing, I don't mind this dominated behavior.

"I have to ask you something," she says, her voice heavy and dark. I meet her gaze, waiting for her to confess that she remembers everything and that our night together was the most special she's ever experienced. My gaze doesn't leave hers as I wait for her to fulfill my expectations.

"Anything you want, Quin."

It's hard to stop myself from running my tongue over my lips, imagining how delicious her cunt might be right now.

"I need to get Plan B."

My hand clenches into a fist almost unconsciously. I have to stop myself from slamming my hand into the desk like a caveman. If we're going to play this game. Fine. Let's play.

"Why would you need Plan B?"

I'm sure I can barely contain the anger in my voice. I've never been good at hiding my feelings. It's the red hair and damn near translucent skin constantly betraying everything in my head and heart.

"I-I met someone and I've been seeing him secretly on Avery's walks. That's why I was so uncomfortable earlier but... I'm sorry, okay? I just really need this."

Her wide brown eyes are so earnest when she looks at me that it's hard for me to believe that this little brat is lying through her teeth.

"Met someone?"

"Yes," she says confidently. "It was quick and passionate but... I'm committed to taking care of Avery. I don't want to have another baby."

I must do a terrible job of hiding my anger because she begins blustering through an apology.

"I know I put Avery in danger but I promise it won't happen again."

She promises, does she?

Quin shuts up when I give her a furious glare.

"That's enough. The answer is no."

"What?"

There's her fire again. Not like it makes any difference. The audacity of this woman to demand that I give her birth control after our night together is beyond insane. What game is she playing with that lie? Passionate love affair?

If I hadn't taken her virginity myself, this lie would have utterly devastated me and sent me on a wild goose chase to murder this alleged lover.

"I said no," I repeat calmly, and then to fuck with her. "And when I find out whoever put his hands on you, I'll kill him myself."

Quin shocks me by meeting my gaze with absolute fire and fury. "I'd like that, honestly."

"I see."

Our argument has a downright fucked up effect on me. I'm rock hard and fucking grateful that Quin can't see it. Everything about her attitude right now is completely messing with my head. It's not just that she doesn't give a fuck, she's actively coming to me with this Plan B bullshit like I'm going to allow her to stop me from knocking her up.

My cock loses its stiffness when Quin's cheeks tighten and tears well up in her eyes.

"Please, Mr. Hollingsworth. I know I made a mistake. I know I did but... I can't have a baby..."

"Why not?"

She buries her face in her hands and her sobbing gets so intense that I can't stop myself from rising and wrapping my arms around her. Quin doesn't stop me from holding onto her, but she doesn't hug me back either. It's hard to stop myself from getting hard now that I have her in my arms.

"Listen," I say sternly. "I know you made a mistake but the chances of you ending up pregnant are very slim."

"How can you even say that?"

I'm lying, that's how.

"Because. I'm older. I know things."

"Like how to defy biology without Plan B?"

Defying common sense, I touch the top of Quin's head.

"Like you said, you made a mistake. You have more than enough money to deal with the consequences."

I pull away from her, my protective instinct passing once her sobbing subsides. I still don't understand this woman's game here. Once I let go of her, Quin considers me with a new expression on her face. Once I definitely don't understand.

"What about Avery?"

What is that face hiding?

"What about her?" I say sternly. "She still has you now. There's nothing to worry about."

My words clearly do nothing to comfort her. I don't need her comforted as much as I need to rid her of this foolish "Plan B" idea.

I'll have to handle that later.

Touching her gently on the shoulder, I give my sweet, confused nanny a stern command. "Return to your room, Quin. I have to make a business call."