17. Quinn

17

QUINN

I crept down the stairs and along a long, dark passageway illuminated by low lighting. Up ahead of me, there was a soft creak, and I caught sight of a door closing at the end of the passageway. There . I moved faster, my heart pounding, a shiver going through my body. It was so oppressive down here, buried beneath layers of earth. How Elena and Knox actually enjoyed being down here, I had no idea. I would much rather be out in the open, close to the water, feeling the breeze on my face.

But this was where Roman had gone, and so I had to follow. Why I had to follow, I couldn't even explain to myself.

I reached the wooden door, curled my fingers around the handle, and pushed it open.

It took a moment for me to adjust to the dim lighting in the room. The only illumination came from a few sconces set into the walls, throwing the rest of the room into shadow, and a heavy iron pendulum hanging from the crumbling stone ceiling in the centre, casting a soft glow over a large iron bed, with a cracked black leather sofa in front of it. Roman was on the sofa, his legs spread in a lazy sprawl, his arms outstretched and draped along the backrest.

My hands were shaking as I stepped closer, Roman silently watching me with a dark look in his eyes. When the tips of my Converse touched his Nikes, his mouth curled into a sneer, but still, he remained silent.

I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. What the fuck was I supposed to do?

He took the decision away from me, rising to his feet, causing me to take a quick step backwards to avoid our bodies colliding. Even so, I still ended up so close to him that when I inhaled, my breasts were brushing against the fabric of his black T-shirt.

His arms came out, and he spun me, yanking me back against him in an aggressive imitation of the movement Lincoln had used earlier. Unlike Lincoln, he held me tightly in place with one arm securely banded around my waist and his other hand gripping my throat. He lowered his head to my ear.

"Seems familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, I was watching you. All fucking night," he rasped. His lips skimmed across my lobe as he continued. "I was watching you with him ."

I swallowed around his grip. "I thought you were too busy with Freya to notice anything else."

He laughed darkly. "Guess what, baby. I've tried everything tonight, and nothing has been able to erase the taste of you from my tongue."

"You kissed her?"

There was silence, and I wondered if he was going to ignore the question. "Just her neck," he said eventually. "You fucked me up too much. Felt like fucking cheating, even though there's nothing between you and me."

"I hated seeing you with her." My words came out in a whisper, the truth dragged from me, even though I didn't want to give him any ammunition.

"Yeah? I fucking hated seeing you with him. Look what you made me do. Link's my friend, my fucking teammate, and I saw red when I saw he was going to kiss you."

My hand came up, sliding into his soft hair and tugging. "I didn't do that to you. You don't get to blame that on me."

"I know. But you need to understand. You can't have anyone else. You've got my mark branded on your fucking skin. You're mine ."

I didn't bother to mention I'd showered since the boat shed, because it was true. He had branded me. Once upon a time, I'd fallen for a boy who hid his true self from the world, and I'd been his ever since. As much as we both hated it.

He slid his nose down the side of my face, nipping at my jaw right above the place his fingers were curled around my throat. His hard cock pressed into my back. "You're fucking mine, Quinn Farrow."

"We can't. I thought we agreed?—"

"I don't give a fuck what we agreed and what you think we can and can't do. It's clear that it isn't working. How long did it take? A few hours before we both cracked? The fact you followed me down here speaks volumes, baby. What are you gonna be like the next time you see me with another girl? Do you want to be jealous of every fucking person who comes near me? Because I can tell you now, if another guy attempts what Link did tonight, I'll make them regret it. And I don't give a fuck that it could get me expelled."

I exhaled shakily, tilting my head a little. He lowered his hand enough that he could get his mouth on my throat, sucking a mark into my skin, branding me where everyone would be able to see.

"I want you, Quinn, and I've decided I'm going to have you. So you'd better speak up now and tell me exactly what happened when you left and why you think you have to avoid me now. No more secrets."

"Where do I start?" My voice cracked, and I hated it. "The lake. Th-the boat. I?—"

"Speak to Tris and Knox. They both believe that my drink was spiked—something you didn't even let me fucking explain before."

I twisted in his grip, and he let me. Our eyes met, his still so dark, stormy seas raging in them. "Can you blame me?" I hissed. "Can you tell me you?—"

His mouth came down on mine in a hard, furious kiss, stealing the breath from my lungs.

He held me in place as he kissed me over and over again. I melted into him, moaning into his mouth, and he responded by kissing me harder, collapsing back onto the sofa and pulling me down with him so I was straddling his thighs, never moving his mouth from mine.

I lost myself in him. I couldn't get enough.

His cock was hard beneath me, and I ground down on him, needing the friction, but he stopped my movements, tearing his mouth from mine.

"Wait," he panted. "Need." He kissed me again. "To talk."

I nodded, too breathless to speak, and the corner of his lips curved up. He stroked a hand through the length of my hair over and over while we regained our breaths, and then he drew back a little so we could look into each other's eyes. Being this close to him and holding eye contact when we were about to have a difficult conversation was intimidating, to say the least, but it was now clear to me that we needed to get it all out there. Or I did, at least. I owed him his answers, and then maybe he'd understand why I'd acted the way I had.

Exhaling an unsteady breath, I held his gaze. "Okay. Where do I start?"

"How about starting from the point where you left me? When you ghosted me?"

I could hear the hurt in his voice, even though he was trying to hide it.

"My parents…when we were…friends before, remember how I said they could be a little controlling, and they had connections with some of the staff? They found out about my rebellious phase, as they called it, and the fact I'd been hanging around with you. I guess they were concerned, in their own way, but they completely overreacted. My dad had been offered a secondment to his Swiss office and just…told me I was coming, too, and that was that. They said it would be a clean break, and they cut me off from everything . I wasn't even allowed to stay in touch with people they'd previously approved of, like Penelope. After…when I was away, I gradually got my privileges back, but I thought there was no point in trying to contact anyone after so much time had passed. I thought…I thought you'd have forgotten about me, in all honesty." I bit down on my lip, and Roman sighed, shaking his head.

"Baby, I could never forget about you. Believe me, I tried. Didn't work."

I attempted a smile, but against my will, my lips turned down. "I wish… There are so many things I wish had happened differently. But I can't change them. Anyway, I became more and more unhappy, isolated from everything and everyone I knew, far away from home. My parents eventually realised that it was best for me to come back here, so I came back."

Roman cupped my cheek, catching a tear with the pad of his thumb. I hadn't even realised I was crying until then. Despite his gentle movement, his eyes were dark, and I could see the muscle ticking in his jaw.

"No one gets to make you cry," he ground out. "Not even me. Not anymore."

I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in the crook of his neck, and he held me, a strong, solid presence I could cling to. When I raised my head, I met his gaze again, swallowing hard before I continued.

"There were conditions they placed on me. Conditions I had to meet in order to be allowed back. You were one of those conditions. I wasn't allowed to interact with you. They…they knew you were on your last warning, Ro. They threatened to make sure you were expelled if I—if I—" I broke off with a deep, shuddering breath, and he swore loudly.

I could see the moment he understood what I was telling him. His entire expression softened, the visible concern and care in his eyes chasing all the darkness away. "Fucking hell. I get it now. They held that over you so you'd toe the line. Because I'm not good enough for you."

My lip trembled. "You are. You're so good. Too good for me. It killed me to say those things to you. I didn't know how else to protect you. How to make you stay away."

"Baby. Come here." He kissed me so softly, softer than he ever had before. "I understand why you did it. I don't fucking like your methods, and I wish you'd told me why, but I get it. Now, I need you to listen to me and listen carefully. I'm not gonna make your life more difficult with your parents, but I want you to understand that despite whatever power they have or think they have, I have more. Yeah, there is a genuine threat of me getting expelled, but if it came down to it, I'd have Knox's and Tristan's families on my side, as well as my uncle. And believe me, they're way more influential than your parents could ever hope to be. It's not just about the money. We all have plenty of that here. It's about the power. Who you know. There is zero fucking chance of them getting rid of me, not if it was for something I didn't do." He spoke confidently, but I could hear the underlying hesitance in his tone that he was trying to hide, and I knew it wasn't as simple as he was making it out to be.

I shook my head. "I still don't want to risk it. They could…I don't know, frame you or something. I'd like to think they wouldn't go that far, that they actually have some morals, but after they did what they did to me, pulling me out of school…" My fingers stroked through the short hairs on the back of his head. "I just don't know how far they'd go, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."

He stared at me, his eyes wide, before huffing out a disbelieving laugh. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Yes. I know I hurt you, Roman. But I couldn't live with myself if your life was ruined because of something I did, when I know that by staying away from you, I can keep you safe."

"Fuck, Quinn." Pulling me into him, he kissed the side of my head before drawing back a little to meet my gaze. "I want you to answer one question before we move on to the topic of the boat. Do you want to be with me? Imagine none of this other shit existed. Would you want us to be together?"

"Yes." I didn't have to think about my answer, not even for a second. "That's all I wanted back then, and it's all I want now."

"Okay," he said, a wide grin spreading across his face, happier than I'd ever seen him before. "Okay. Then we'll make it happen."