by Doyle, Dawn
Contents
Title
Disclaimer
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Quinn
By
D. Doyle
Disclaimer
Copyright © 2019 Dawn Doyle
All rights reserved, worldwide, and on any multiverse that is known or unknown. No part of this publication may be reproduced in, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, including electronically or mechanical, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Published by Dawn Doyle
Edited by Dawn Doyle
Book cover design by Dawn Doyle
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold, given away to other people, or stripped of DRM and uploaded to the internet for others to download. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it from Amazon (sole distributor) or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedication
For Sarah ‘Loopy’ Green.
Prologue
Kinsley
“This needs to be kept to ourselves, Kinsley,” The dean said, nodding his head. His stiffly styled hair didn’t move. The obvious dye job looked ridiculous against his pallid skin. “I’m sure you can appreciate, our school is one of the best in the country, held to the highest standards, and matters such as this can be detrimental to our impeccable record.”
“What are you saying, sir?” I asked, my eyes flitting between his and a couple of the attending board members sitting around the long, dark desk. “That this isn’t even up for discussion?”
A woman in her late fifties lifted her chin, gaining the attention of the room. “Miss. Jensen, I understand that this is a delicate subject and shouldn’t be taken lightly, but you have to see this from our perspective. We cannot, and we will not, see our school tarnished because of one mild incident.”
My mouth fell open, my eyes bugged, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “Please tell me you’re not serious,” I said, then held my hands out, gesturing to the adults in the room. “You think this is mild? What Owen did doesn’t matter?” I glared at the woman whose looks resembled the guy who’d caused this shit. Her hard stare was difficult to hold contact with, but I had to for my own sake. “Do you even hear yourselves?”
The dean opened his mouth again, but the woman cut in before he could speak. “We hear ourselves well, young lady,” she snapped, her venomous tone cutting right through me. “This will be buried right here and now, or we’ll have no choice but to take action against you.”
I flinched back in disbelief. “Against me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “I did nothing but defend myself.”
Her dark eyes bore into me with such hatred I could feel the depths of her malice deep into my bones. It was as though I were shrinking in my seat, and no matter how much I tried to straighten, she wouldn’t let me.
Her lip curled up into a snarl. “You are no longer welcome at Crosshall Brow, Miss. Jensen. Your false report has been wiped from the school records, and your semester is being refunded as we speak.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” she spat out. “Get your belongings and leave the premises immediately. Otherwise, I’ll call for security to escort you. I’m sure you’d rather that didn’t happen.”
I stood slowly, my legs shaking and my hands trembling. “Y-you can’t do this. I didn’t make anything up, and you know that.”
The bitter woman blinked slowly. “That’s your word against Owen’s,” she said, her voice level now. “But believe me when I say, that boy’s name is free and clear, and nothing you say will ever change that. Now”—she pointed to the door—“get out.”
I grabbed my bag as tears began streaming down my face. I rushed to the door, opened it, and came face to face with my mom, a letter in her hand, and her eyes mirroring my own.
“Kins?” she whispered “What’s going on?”
“Mom,” I sobbed, running into her arms. “They’ve kicked me out. It wasn’t my fault, but they’ve kicked me out anyway.”
She rubbed the back of my head and held me close. “Shh, honey, we’ll figure this out together, okay? This isn’t the end.”
I lifted my head, her face out of focus through my hot streaming tears. “It already is.” I held her hand up that still held the letter-headed paper, bearing the college’s crest and name. “What’s this?” My mom’s lips tightened, and her sympathetic eyes told me everything I needed to know. “They’d already made their decision, hadn’t they?” I looked over my shoulder at the now-closed door. “They just wanted to tell me to my face that they’d won—that their precious school wouldn’t let someone like me speak up.”
My mom’s hands cupped my face, and she leaned in to kiss my forehead like she always did when I was upset, ever since I was little. “If this is how they handle things like this here, then we’re not going to be a part of it.” Her eyes bounced between mine. “We’ve just got to work hard to get you enrolled elsewhere.”
“This is so messed up, Mom.”
She held me close again. “I know, baby. I know.”
As we made our way out of the building, all eyes were on us, and hushed voices whispered lies and derogatory names when we passed them.
“Rosy,” I hiccuped, stopping by one of the people I’d called a friend. “They’ve kicked me out.”
Her blue eyes darted around, her head jerking back and forth, making her blonde waves swish about her shoulders. She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder, her dark-yellow blazer creasing under the thin strap. “Um, sorry, Kinsley, but I can’t talk to you,” she whispered, her tone clipped. Her cautious gaze wandered around again, then she dipped her head as though pretending to check the floor. “You know how things are. I’ll be cast out of the Omega club and lose my extra points for the Zeta Kappa awards at the end of the semester.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shrieked, then lowered my voice when heads snapped to attention at me.
“I could be kicked out of the sorority if I talk to you. You understand, right?”
I felt like I’d been sucker-punched in the gut. My chest burned, and the growing knot in my stomach wound tighter and tighter.
“I’ve just been kicked out of the entire fucking college, and you’re worried about a fucking sorority that you never gave a shit about in the first place?” And she hadn’t. I’d listened to endless rants of how bitchy the other sisters were with their judgmental glances and snide comments.
Rosy’s eyes bulged, and she shook her head quickly. “Please, Kinsley, I need this.” She took a step back. “I’m sorry it came to this, and how things worked out for you, but I’ve got to think about myself right now.”
Her words were like a knife in my back. A big, fat cleaver still vibrating from the thrust. “I thought you were
my friend,” I said, new tears rolling down my cheeks. “I thought what I did for you would count, but I guess I was wrong.”
“Kins,”
“Don’t you dare ‘Kins’ me. Ever again. Go fuck yourself, Rosy.” I lifted my gaze to the rest of the growing number of people crowding around to witness the scene, then back to her. “Go back to your pen. The rest of the sheep are waiting.”
Chapter 1
Quinn
“Fucking groupies,” I growled under my breath. “They need to leave me the fuck alone.” I’d managed to break through the crowd of young women waiting for me to leave. They were mostly the ones I’d already rejected from coming in, but a few had the cash for entry, and they were the worst.
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re sort of a big deal. Ya know, a fighter and all,” Josh said with his usual sarcasm. This shit had been happening for a long time, but it didn’t mean I had to like it. I wasn’t exactly a ‘people’ person.
Josh and I had met in middle school, and he’d stuck around, even into college. One of the good guys. He didn’t try to talk me out of doing this shit, not once. He knew I needed it, and he stood by and supported me every step of the way.
I’d learned to take a hit. Yeah, I was ‘that’ guy. I was the walking, talking cliché—dead mom, abusive alcoholic dad who’d laid into me any chance he got.
I was the kid the chicks thought they could change, heal, the kind people wrote about in books, getting their happily ever after and all that other bullshit.
Well, fuck them—all of them.
Nobody could heal me; I didn’t want to, and I wasn’t looking for any kind of HEA. Picket fences were not in my future.
The only thing for me to do was to make enough money for school, rent, and food. To get that, I had to draw blood, even if it were my own. It also helped that I could pound my fists into guys like the one I had tonight, and enjoy taking the mother fucker down.
“Quinn!” a girl’s voice screeched behind us. I tried to ignore it, but the annoyance just wouldn’t go away. “Quinn, wait!”
“Incoming,” Josh said. “It’s Jojo, one of Phoebe’s friends.”
“A little fucking, late, man,” I shot back, shaking my head, but he just shrugged with a pleased as fuck grin on his face.
A hand snaked thought my arm as my hands were clutching my T-shirt.
“Your fight was amazing,” Jojo gushed, batting her eyes and smiling with what I could only describe as a lousy attempt at seduction. “Your knockout was, oh my God, it was something else.”
“I’m busy.” I walked faster, hoping that if she had to run in those heels, she’d take the hint and fuck off. I wiped my face with my dirty T-shirt, finding blood on the white cotton when I pulled it away. The asshole had gotten in a few swipes. It was unfair if I didn’t let him at least think he had a chance, and he’d split my goddamn lip.
Jojo stumbled along, her arm slowly slipping from mine. “Wait, Quinn, you’re going too fast for me to keep up.”
I glared at Josh when he laughed. “I thought you’d take the hint,” I said to Jojo, my tone flat.
“What hint?” Jojo continued to fumble along, trying not to trip over as I increased my pace.
“Don’t you think that if I wanted you to keep up, then you’d be able to?” I paused, making her almost topple over. I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her awkward movements because of her choice of clothing. Tight skirts looked about as practical as a straight jacket, and her short, black scrap was no exception. Not to mention the tiny red top she wore was barely containing her tits.
Her enlarged eyes bore into me, anger flaring. “You did that on purpose?” she screeched, her voice raising an octave at the end.
I smiled slyly. “Oh, she gets it now,” I mocked.
Jojo yanked her bare arm back. “I should’ve listened to them. You really are an asshole, Quinn.”
I chuckled, then continued getting the hell out of there. I had places to be and shit to deal with. “I’m fully aware of that, and it’s not going to change any time soon. So…” I looked back and lifted my chin in the direction she’d come from. “Tell your friends that if any of you want a piece of me,” I gestured down my naked torso. “Crowding my ass isn’t going to work.”
I could hear her mumbled whining, something about not knowing a good thing when I see it and some other self-entitled bullshit, but I gave no fucks whatsoever.
“God, people these days,” Josh said, imitating Jojo’s grating tone while easily keeping the quick pace with me.
I nodded. “They think they can have anything they want, and piss and moan if they don’t get it handed right to them.”
Josh held his hands out, his chin ducking slightly. “Dude, it’s been like that for… Well, always, and it’s not like it hurts to be wanted so bad.”
“You’d think they’d get a damn hobby,” I grumbled.
“You are their hobby,” Josh fired back, laughing his fucking ass off.
I stopped and turned to him, throwing my arms out to the sides. “Yeah? Well, they need to get a new one. They act all fucking offended when they get turned down like I have no right to refuse just because they showed up here.” I shook my head, then continued storming toward Josh’s car. “Like I fucking owe them something because they bought their way in.”
Josh’s shoulders slumped before he took off after me. “Come on, Quinn, what the fuck’s gotten into you? You need to chill the fuck out, man. You’ve kicked ass, gotten paid, and now you need to relax. These girls obviously want a good time—you both get something.”
“You know as well as I do that it’s not that simple.” My patience had been wearing thin for a while, and now it had reached its breaking point.
“Yeah, it kinda is.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the doors to his SUV. When we got in, he continued. “Give them a break, Quinn. They find this shit hot. Fuck, a lot of guys do, too.”
I turned my head to glare at him, and the asshole laughed in my face. “Just don’t, Josh.”
He held his hands up. “Okay, okay, I know that you don’t want the clingers and the headache that comes with trying to scrape them off, but you know how it is. Hotshot fighter”— he pointed at me—“a guy that’ll bring them more attention and bragging rights.”
I snorted. “Fucking shallow, that’s all it is. I’m sick of people wanting a piece of me for their own gains.” I quickly put on my T-shirt and jabbed a finger to my chest. “I’m a fucking person, not a damn popularity boost.”
Josh sat back, a smile tugging at his mouth. He cupped a hand to his ear. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you over the sound of your emotional breakdown.” He reached over and lightly touched my forearm, which I snatched away. “Are you okay? Do you need a shoulder to cry on? A tissue? A tampon?”
My eyes narrowed, my still raging temper soaring right back up. “What the fuck did you just say?” I seethed.
Josh raised his hands, waving them up and down to calm me. “All I’m saying is that you’ve just taught a scum bag a lesson he’ll never forget, and hormones are bound to be high. Aren’t you at least a little eager to get someone naked? Work off a little of that residual aggression?” When I said nothing, he spoke again. “Who gives a fuck, right? Girls, and I’m talking hot as fuck girls, are throwing themselves at you, and you don’t want to take them up on the offer? If you’re not careful, your virginity’s gonna grow back.”
I flipped him the bird. “Fuck you.” It wasn’t that I didn’t get the urge, I fucking did, but I hated the messy aftermath I’d seen the others deal with, and I’m not talking used condoms and bodily fluids on the sheets. It wasn’t something laundry day could fix. I didn’t need or want that shit in my life, especially when my sole focus was the circle.
Josh shook his head. “No thanks, I’m good.” He grinned.
“You’re a dick.”
“A dick that takes advantage of what is presented to me.”
“I have standard
s, Josh, and I think you should have, too.”
“Hey, my standards are just fucking fine,” he said, lifting his hands and waving them into a curvy figure of a woman. “M-m, damn fine. And if they try to cling on, I show them it’s not happening by moving on to the next. Like I’ve said before, Quinn… No numbers or addresses exchanged means no contact afterward. Just two horny people getting what they need.”
If he only knew. Phoebe knew, and she’d gladly pass my details on to anyone who I’d hooked up with just to fucking spite me. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing anybody at my house with me. She’d been the only one to go there, and that was a mistake I’d never make again. I should never have let her in that night. She took something that didn’t belong to her, and I’d hated myself since. I should’ve told her to fuck off; I should’ve ignored her knocking.
I was so over this bullshit. I never asked for the attention—I never fucking wanted it. I just wanted to be left the hell alone and for everyone else to mind their own goddamn business. I needed to come up with something—anything—that made that happen. Quitting fighting wasn’t an option.
“I just wanna go home,” I said, leaning my head back on the seat rest. “I need to ice my hands.” I also needed to sleep for a fucking week.
Kinsley
I fucking hated this place already.
I crunched the paper in my hand and walked out of the admin’s office of the fucking community college I’d transferred to. The only place that wasn’t concerned about the shit that had happened where I was before.
I had no place being here; it wasn’t supposed to be this way. I belonged somewhere else, not here; back home. I wasn’t supposed to be the one that was sent away, but the fucked up system decided it was better if I was the one that was kicked out.
“Where the fuck am I supposed to go?” I asked out loud, though there was nobody there, just how I liked it—lately, anyway.