Chapter 28

chapter twenty-eight

Gavin

Practice ran long today and by the time I got off the field and into my driveway, it was after eleven. That's why I'm surprised when I see Quinn sitting on my front steps.

Her head is hung low and when she looks up, her eyes are tear stained. I quickly take her in my arms and she sobs.

"What's wrong, what happened?"

After a few minutes of rambling and hyperventilating, she finally tells me everything about the night her mom died.

"Raelynn told the police everything. Liv called me earlier. She got arrested."

I push her bangs out of her face, wet with tears. "How did you find all of this out?"

"Grayson came to my dorm. Rae is facing a lot of charges."

I can't help but feel a ping of jealousy that he's still dropping by her dorm unannounced. I push those feelings aside and be as supportive as I can.

"That explains why he skipped out of practice early. Is there anything I can do?"

She shakes her head, "No. I just didn't know who to talk to about all this. It wasn't realistic for me to drive home. Liv told me I could if I wanted to but it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. Ava had a meeting with her advisor this evening and I haven't heard from her since. I know you have a big game this weekend. I'm sorry to just show up and dump this all on you."

"I'm glad you chose to come here." I wipe a tear from her cheek bone. "Fuck the game. Do you wanna talk about it?"

She takes a deep breath and nods.

"Come on," I say. "Let's go inside, your arms are freezing."

She follows me through the door, and I'm shocked to see a girl on the couch with Levi. He didn't mention anyone was coming over and there's no car in the driveway. When I get closer I realize who it is, her hair is darker than I remember.

"Allie?"

She smiles, "Hey, Gav."

"Hey," I say, pulling Quinn closer by her hand. "This is Quinn."

"Hi, I'm Alabama, but everyone calls me Allie." She says softly, but if I didn't know better I'd think Allie had been crying too. I know for a fact Levi hasn't seen Allie in a year so what exactly is she doing here?

What a weird night.

Quinn and I head upstairs and lay in my bed with her head on my chest for what feels like hours, and eventually her breathing evens out. I don't dare wake her up, but I do slip my arm out since it's starting to go numb, and pull the blanket up over her.

Her phone buzzes between us on the bed, and I see a picture of her and Collins fill the screen. It's an old picture but they look happy. It makes me wonder why she hasn't deleted it. I allow the call to go to voicemail, and he sends a text almost immediately after.

Grayson

You know he fucked that girl all summer, right? What makes you think you are any different? He'll play you just like he did her.

I feel rage bubbling up inside me like goddamn lava. Who the fuck does he think he is? I contemplate trying to open her phone, and calling that asshole back but I don't want to invade her privacy. At least no more than what I've already invaded unintentionally.

A couple seconds later it rings again, and Quinn groans next to me.

"Who is that?"

I pass her the phone and she stares at it then looks at me, like she is silently asking for permission to answer it. Well not permission, but she wants to know if I'm okay with it.

"Get it if you want to."

She groans, "I don't want to, but he won't stop until I do."

That pisses me off even more. The fact that she can't get away from him, even if she wants to, infuriates me.

She answers the phone but never puts it up to her ear, opting for speakerphone.

"What is it, Grayson? I'm busy."

He scoffs, "Doing what? It's 12:30."

"I'm sleeping," She sighs. "What do you want?"

"Did you get my text?"

I feel a burning desire to yank this mother fucker through the phone and punch him right in his jaw, but I don't speak. Even though I know what text he's referring to.

"No," She says. "I told you I'm sleeping."

"Where are you then?" He demands, "Your car isn't at the dorms."

What the fuck. This is ridiculous. Has he always treated her this way?

"It's none of your business, Grayson."

"You're with him aren't you?" He booms. "What the fuck is going on, Quinn?"

I don't like his tone and against my better judgment I speak up. "She said it's none of your business."

Her eyes are wide, and I tell her I'm sorry with mine. He laughs manically into the receiver. "Babe, this is enough. We both know exactly where you belong. It's not with some low life idiot from North Carolina relying on scholarship money."

Quinn's expression turns to anger. "Yeah because a cheater from Florida with a trust fund worked real well for me last time, huh?"

"For the last time I didn't cheat on you!" He yells into the phone.

She doesn't skip a beat, just keeps going, "You are lying to me, Gray. You lied to me about what happened to my mom. You protected Rae and chose to lie to me. You weren't as good at hiding it as you think you were. I saw the messages."

"You are delusional! The messages you saw on my phone that night didn't prove anything other than the fact I was at Rae's house."

She smirks, and let me tell you right now, it's fucking adorable. "I'm not talking about the messages on your phone."

The line goes eerily silent, and finally Collins speaks. "What are you talking about?"

She sighs. "I know you slept with her. I know it for a fact, and you know what's even worse? Six months ago, I wanted to forgive you for it! I loved you, Grayson. I loved you more than I should have. You chose her and I can't help she didn't choose you back. You were my first love but I was never your first choice."

He doesn't immediately speak, and now I'm even wondering what messages she saw and whose phone she saw them on. She's known this entire time while he has lied to her over and over again.

"What messages did you see?"

"I saw the messages on Raelynn's phone. She had your number stored as a different name, but I knew it was you. You wanna know how?" He doesn't speak so she continues, "You told her the exact same things you'd tell me."

She's annoyed by his silence, and I can tell she's ready to hang up. "What's wrong? Fresh out of lies?"

"It didn't mean anything," he sighs.

I can see the tears beginning to well in her eyes, but she doesn't back down. "Is that supposed to excuse it? You say it didn't mean anything and that means it didn't count?"

"That's not…" He begins to argue but she cuts him off by hitting the button that ends the call. I watch as she blocks his number.

She lets the phone tumble to the comforter, and flops back on the pillow.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

She turns over to face me, "Yes. I'm so sorry about that."

"Why are you sorry? He's an asshole."

She winces, "I'm sorry about what he said about you."

I take my hand and rub it against her bare arm, "Stop apologizing for him."

"Habit," she whispers. "I still can't believe he said that. For what it's worth… I don't think you're a low life idiot."

"What exactly do you think?" I ask.

The corners of her mouth tilt upward, "I think there's been some kind of malfunction."

"Malfunction?"

"Yeah," she says. "I knew you were different the first time I saw you. I've never met a guy with a heart like yours."

"A heart like mine, huh?"

She takes her index finger and lightly brushes the spot on my chest where my heart is, "Yeah. Golden."

I know for sure I have the stupidest grin on my face, because all I can think about is the fact that we thought Levi was the only one with a heart condition.