Chapter 9

Quinn

I grinas I look at Alex"s message from last night.

My Alex: I miss you. Please come now, my bed will feel too cold without you…. xxx

I shake my head and put my phone back in my pocket. I grab the laundry basket full of clean clothes off the communal washing machine and head back upstairs to my apartment, wondering how in the hell I fell in love when I swore never to commit to anyone after watching what my dad did.

I don"t know how, but the man has dug deep into my heart. He"s all I can think about, and if I"m not with him, then I feel like I"m missing a part of me. I tried my hardest to keep him at a distance, but for four months, he"s determined I know I"m all he sees. He"s so different from others I"ve dated, and honestly, at first, I was closed off, and I didn"t want to let him in.

If my father has taught me anything growing up, it is that men cheat, they lie, and they emotionally use you to get what you want. He did it with Momma when she lost Grams.

Alex seems different, and for once in my life, I"m actually willing to try. He has with me, and it"s only fair that I try, too.

I smile as I open my door, noticing some blue paint I couldn"t get from between the cracks on the floorboards, and Alex comes to mind, as always.

"Do you give up?" he asks, and I snort, looking round the corner into my living area.

"You know you"re cleaning this mess up, right?"

This time, he snorts as a balloon flies past my head, making me gasp and move back quickly as it bursts against my wall, pink splashing everywhere.

Crap, that one wasn"t a water one.

"How did you even get in here, Alex? I don"t remember giving you a key," I say loudly, causing him to laugh as if I should have seen this coming.

Seriously, who gets home from work to find their boyfriend hiding out with water and paint balloons?

"Admit it, Goldie, you loved this surprise." I laugh at his words as I look around the corner and grin, seeing him hiding behind my chair with no balloon in sight, while I have one left. Very slowly, I crawl his way as he continues to speak.

"You were pulling back again, Quinn. I wasn"t having it, so I had to do something."

My heart flutters at his words, causing me to pause momentarily. He"s right; I was pulling back. We"ve been official for about a month, but the other day, I bumped into the nurse my father couldn"t say no to. Instead of apologizing for nearly destroying my mother, she blamed me for why no hospital would hire her. Apparently, it"s my fault that she never got her claws into my father more than once.The silly woman blurted that she'd poked holes in his condoms, hoping to fall pregnant, but I interrupted them before he could finish inside her. Safe to say, I punched her before walking off. I"m still waiting for the knock on the door.

"I had to do something, baby," he says with a sigh.

I shake my head, hating my actions, before I rasp, "I"m sorry," near his ear, causing him to turn his head my way. His eyes look at me with such softness that my heart pounds.

His lips find mine, and I smile against them before I lift my right hand, smash the balloon on top of his head, and quickly pull back before bursting out in laughter.

"I-I guess that was a paint one?" I stutter out laughing, falling on my back at his shocked look.

Alex growls, jumping on me, making me squeal and giggle. He grins as purple paint drips down his head, landing on me and kissing me, and I hum in contentment. Letting someone in isn"t easy, but when you have a man like this one, a man not willing to let you to close yourself off, it helps. He"s showing me he does want me despite my issues.

I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck as our kiss heats up. I moan, loving the feel of his tongue against mine as his hands move my top up, his fingers gently gliding against my skin.

I remove my arms from around his neck as he lifts my top off, grinning at the different colors of paint on my skin before his lips go to my nipple over my bra, making me gasp as his fingers lift my skirt, hooking my pantie, before tearing them from my body.

He groans when he feels how wet I am for him, and I growl, "They were my favorite pair, Alex!"

He laughs, moving his head up as he scrambles to undo his jeans. "I"ll buy you some more or, you know, you could just go commando to save us the hassle."

I laugh. "Yeah, sure, that"ll be easy to explain if my skirt blows up at school."

He freezes for a moment, the head of his cock at my entrance, before he nods and states, "Yeah, I"ll buy you some more," then thrusts forward.

I gasp out a laugh before he kisses me, turning my laugh to a moan at how full I feel.

He unlinks my arms from around his neck, gliding his hands up my arms before linking our fingers. We place our entwined hands near my head as we make love on the floor behind my chair. At the same time, my heart holds on tighter to him, hoping he never hurts me.

I sigh as I put my clothes away, missing Alex, but furrow my brows in confusion at the mostly empty drawers.

Is it just me, or is half my stuff gone?

I shake my head, going to my closet to hang my stuff up, which, again, is also half empty. Maybe I left them at Alex"s. I"ll have to remember to grab everything because I"m down to my last three pairs of panties here.

The Nurse, Zoe, tried to press charges, but my father got involved when the Sheriff called him, though I wasn't worried, because the punch was worth it. They both showed up at my door. The Sheriff stated she wouldn"t press charges after my father pulled information on her. Apparently, she had been stealing from the hospital, and he had stashed that info away for insurance, making her leave town, but clearly, she decided to come back. So now my father has decided to give the information to the Sheriff"s office. The woman has got bigger things to deal with and dropped the charges.

My father wanted to speak to me, but I just couldn"t. I understand he was helping me, but that man ruined my outlook on men, destroyed my ideal of him, and ruined my childhood.

He must have seen the look in my eyes because instead of trying to fight when I said I had to meet up with Alex, he nodded and kissed my head, mumbling that he missed me.

I"m not going to lie; my heart broke a little bit at that point.

I miss my dad, I do, but how can I forgive what he caused out of selfishness?

I shake my head and check the time, smiling when I see it"s past nine, which means Alex should be up.

One of the brothers got patched in last night, and he wanted me to attend, but unfortunately, I just can"t concentrate when he"s around. The last time I tried to sort my lesson plan for the week at his, I only managed two days before I was on his kitchen counter, and his head was between my legs.

With a grin, I quickly grab my shoes and keys and head out, ready to see my man.

That still feels weird saying—my man—even after four months together, three months official.

My man.

Twenty minutes later, I pull into the club"s gates and feel a little jittery, as always when I come here. I"m quite nervous around the brothers. I smile at David before parking and heading inside where I"m instantly bombarded.

"Well, if it isn"t my favorite daughter-in-law…."

I chuckle at Shelly"s words. The woman is relentless. After Alex tricked me into breakfast with his Momma and his stepdad three months ago, she"s been calling me her daughter-in-law, making Alex one happy man.

I"ve already put my foot down. It"s been four months, and that kind of talk makes me want to run. I honestly don"t even think I believe in marriage anymore.

"You won"t give up, will you?" I ask as she hugs me before pulling back and gripping my cheeks. Her blue eyes shine with happiness.

"Of course, not. I want you as my daughter," she replies, and I grin, shaking my head.

I kiss her cheek, making her smile wider as I ask, "I take it he"s still in bed?"

She nods and kisses my cheek, and I head that way, passing two women wearing barely anything who smirk at me, and not in a nice way, either. A funny feeling hits me, the same feeling I got when I was seven and I walked toward my father"s office.

My heart stutters…. Please, no, I can"t handle it if he has someone in there with him. I let him in, I gave him my heart when I know what could happen if he hurts me.

I take a deep breath to control my irrational thoughts and raise a brow at the women, causing them to clear their throats and pretend to look busy.

There"s no way Alex would hurt me, not after four months of him steadily proving he wants to be with me.

Shaking my head, I walk down the corridor to his room and knock on the door, opening it. I open my mouth to say something witty, only to freeze, my feeling mere minutes before yet again true.

My man, the man I unwillingly gave my heart to, looks at me in shock while the woman who is lying across him, Noah"s flipping birth mother, grins at me—oh, and the fucker still has a condom on—nice.

At least I know he was careful, though I"ll still get checked.

My tears fall as Alex goes to speak, but I quickly rush out of the doorway and run down the corridor.

"Quinn!" Alex shouts, causing everyone in the room to look my way with concern at the panic in Alex"s voice. Shelly stands, seeing my state but I ignore them all and rush out of the clubhouse.

"Squirt?" I hear from my left as I get to my car and make eye contact with my brother, whose eyes harden seeing my tears.

He puts the stand down on the bike he"s taken off the trailer and walks over to me. I shake my head and open my door, but he stops me, gently grabbing my arm.

He growls, "Look, I know we have our issues, I know I don"t understand exactly what went on growing up, only what Dad did, and you"ve now distanced yourself from us, but you can"t expect me to walk away when I see my sister leaving the clubhouse in tears!" He furrows his brows as I let out a sob, covering my mouth with the back of my hand.

He takes me in his arms, rasping, "Fuck, Quinny…."

"Uh Jack, I don"t think Breaker will be too happy with you hugging his woman…."Someone who sounds like David shouts while Jack snorts and says loudly, "Considering she"s my sister, I don"t think he"d care."

He pulls back, cupping my cheeks as he wipes away the tears, and asks, "Should I go get Breaker?"

I let out another sob, then I rasp, "Why? All you're going to do is interrupt him and Noah"s mother." He looks at me confused before anger takes over. "They"re currently naked in bed together."

I look at the door as it opens and see Shelly standing there, looking confused. I look back at Jack and say, " Turns out I was right about men all along, huh, big brother? They lie, they cheat, and they use you just like Daddy did with Momma."

He flinches, and I shake my head before getting in my car. I quickly start it and spin out of the parking lot, vowing never to return.