Quinn Family Romance Collection

by Checketts, Cami

  Mack smiled. He bent low and kissed her. “I love you,” he murmured, then he kissed her again. The kisses quickly grew in intensity and Sariah didn’t even flinch when his palms framed her face and his fingers grazed her scars.

  Mack drew back first. “Like I said, we’d better get to a public place quick.”

  “Don’t want a repeat of last night?” she teased, feeling light and happy and so in love. Soon she’d tell him about the other nightmare associated with her scars, but she didn’t want to tarnish this moment, or how she felt with Mack looking at her with such devotion and desire.

  “No, ma’am. Especially not with you in a swimming suit. Whoo.” He blew out a breath. “And those girls today claimed I was hot.”

  She laughed and let him escort her out of the suite and toward the elevator. Mack thought she was hot, even with her scars. She had officially found the perfect man for her. She loved him so much.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mack woke up at six the next morning, feeling like he could conquer the world. His legs actually were a little stiff from the biking and hiking but he needed a really intense weight workout today. He left a note for Sariah and texted her phone but she didn’t respond, she must be still asleep, then he headed for the hotel gym. It was decent, as far as hotel gyms went. He worked out for a couple of hours before hurrying back to their suite. He couldn’t wait to be with Sariah again. Today they were going to bike on the trails around town, buy some bear spray, do a hike to Meridian, or Long Lake, as the locals called it, and maybe paddleboard the river. It wasn’t warm enough to want to get wet, but Sariah had proven how brave she was.

  He smiled as he swung the suite door open and rushed for his bedroom. Sariah’s door was still closed, but it was only eight-thirty. He hurried to get into the shower. Even though they would get sweaty again hiking, he didn’t want to stink like a gym rat. Last night they’d gone to their separate rooms after hot tubbing. He wanted to be careful not to put them in a compromising situation, but this time with Sariah was ideal. There was only one worry. He still hadn’t told her that Griff had sent him those pictures and he’d already known about her scars. Would she be upset? His stomach churned at the thought. He didn’t want to keep anything from her, but last night she’d needed his love and acceptance, not more questions about how the scars had caused her torture and trauma.

  As he got out of the shower, he heard Sariah’s door open and close. Then he heard his bedroom door open. He hurried to slide into his pants and opened his bathroom door, steam following him out. Sariah was waiting just inside the bedroom door. He noticed her hair was covering her right side again. Had they regressed from last night? Had he not responded correctly, shown her exactly how beautiful she was to him?

  “Hey.” He smiled but she didn’t return it. “What’s wrong?” Mack hurried across the small bedroom to her.

  She held aloft her phone. Anger flashed in her eyes, but she also looked very vulnerable and beautiful right now. “This is wrong, Mack. I knew I shouldn’t fall for somebody famous.”

  “What’s going on?”

  She shoved the phone against his chest. Mack took it and scrolled through the article, some online celebrity magazine. “Has another impoverished Udy girl captured a famous Patriots’ player’s heart?” was the first line. He scanned the article. It made Sariah and Lily look like gold diggers who had pulled the wool over Mack and Hyde’s eyes. He remembered hearing about stuff like this last spring when Hyde and Lily started dating.

  “It’s just some stupid ragtag,” Mack said. “You can’t let stuff like this bug you.”

  “Oh, I can’t? Maybe it would bug you if you were the one being made out to be a whore.”

  “What?”

  “Did you not see the pictures?”

  Mack shook his head.

  “Scroll down.”

  He obeyed and the pictures started popping up. Somebody had been following them the past couple of days. Crested Butte was a great vacation spot, there were probably other famous people here and these scummy paparazzi had followed them and found Mack and Sariah. Mack didn’t think he was notorious enough to have someone tailing him, but his family was. Had he brought this on Sariah? His stomach filled with dread.

  There were pictures of them at dinner, walking hand in hand along the quaint main street of town, and several pictures of them walking into their room, one with Sariah tugging on his arm, grinning up at him, with a caption, “Sariah Udy obviously can’t wait to sleep her way out of poverty.” Then there were the pics of them in the hot tub. Mack’s arm was around her shoulder, but her neck and right ear were clearly visible. Below the picture was a caption, “Maybe Mack Quinn doesn’t mind a deformed girlfriend, as long as she puts out.” He winced. Why were these magazines so harsh and crude? Probably to bring attention and sell ads.

  He handed the phone back to Sariah. “I’m sorry that happened. I’ll have my agent contact the magazine and take the article down. It’s obvious slander.”

  She glowered at him. “It’s all over the internet, Mack. Are you going to fight them all for me? Are you going to protect me from other pictures being taken?”

  “Of course, I will.” He caught her hand. “Sariah, I’m serious about how much I love you. These lying articles don’t matter to me.”

  “Well, they matter to me.” She pulled her hand back. “And I want the truth from you right now.”

  “Okay.” What truth?

  “I couldn’t get over it last night, how great you reacted to seeing my deformity. How kind you were. Then it hit me.”

  His stomach sank as she stared pointedly at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “You already knew.”

  He clenched his fists. Dang Griff and Navy. The only option now was through. “I was going to tell you, but I wanted you to trust me, to share with me.”

  “You know how important trust is to me.” She seemed to shrivel before him as she tucked her hair around her neck. She backed up a step. “And I definitely don’t trust you now.”

  “Sariah, please.” He held up a hand. “I didn’t go looking for it. My brother sent me some pictures.”

  Her eyes widened. “The pictures?” her voice squeaked.

  He nodded. “The ones where somebody is holding you.”

  Her face blanched and she backed up again.

  “Please, Sariah,” he said again. There were so many arguments and explanations he wanted to make, but she had to trust him, she just did.

  “How long ago did you see them?”

  “A week,” he admitted.

  Her eyes were full of accusations. “And you didn’t say anything to me?”

  “What did you want me to say?” He tried to not be frustrated, but he was scared this wouldn’t end well and he didn’t know how to make it better. All he knew was he couldn’t lose her. He’d tried his very best to get her to trust him and now he’d muddled it up. “From the first day at your school I knew something was wrong, how could I not? I’ve been waiting the past couple of months for you to trust me and show me. I didn’t want to just force it out of you.”

  She shook her head, obviously not listening. “You should’ve told me you saw those pictures. And now this.” She held up her phone. “I thought I could trust you.”

  “Trust goes both ways, Sariah,” he tried to say it gently but he needed to say it. “You’ve never trusted me with your secrets, so how could I gain your trust without you granting it?”

  “I tried to grant it last night,” she yelled at him. “And now I’ve been exposed again. I thought you loved me, but you’re just going to hurt me like Tyler and Denise did.” Whirling from him, she ran through the hotel room, grabbed her purse, and slammed out the door.

  Mack followed her. She rushed for the staircase and banged through that door, racing down the stairs.

  “Sariah, wait.” He didn’t have a shirt or socks or shoes on and he didn’t have a wallet, but he had to catch her. The grips on the stairs dug into his feet but he ignor
ed it and pumped down the stairs after her.

  Sariah was still ahead of him when she burst out at the main level and then ran through the hallway to the main lobby. He’d almost caught her when a little boy darted in front of him in the main lobby. Mack dodged to the side and lost precious seconds avoiding the child. Sariah flew out the front entrance and onto the sidewalk. A man on a motorcycle pulled up and Sariah climbed on the back of his motorcycle.

  “Go!” she yelled.

  The man looked back at her in surprise.

  Mack was almost upon them. “Wait,” he hollered.

  The man glanced his way and the surprise turned to fear.

  “Go!” Sariah pounded at the guy’s back.

  The guy obeyed, gunning the motorcycle out of the circle drive. Mack ran after them but he had no hope of keeping up as the motorcycle raced down the road. Sariah glanced back at him once. The sadness on her face made him keep running, but they disappeared from sight and he finally accepted defeat. Pebbles were imbedded in his feet. He turned and hobbled quickly back toward the hotel. He prayed the man on that motorcycle would treat her with respect and that Sariah would come back to him. Somehow, someway he was going to find her, and explain better than he just had.

  Chapter Twenty

  The motorcycle guy was surprisingly nice. He wanted to report Mack as an abusive boyfriend and Sariah had to explain they’d had a disagreement, that Mack was not abusive. He’d hurt her, but she knew he hadn’t intended to. Everything hurt though and all she wanted was distance from the pain, the humiliation, and Mack. He’d known, he’d seen those horrific pictures Denise had taken and shared everywhere she could. She tried to force it all from her mind, but couldn’t.

  The motorcycle guy took her to the Greyhound in Gunnison, and luckily, the bus was only twelve minutes out. As she finally boarded it and rode toward Denver, she wilted into the upholstered seat. It smelled like moldy bread. At least Mack hadn’t found her. She felt bad for leaving him and being so dramatic about it, but she needed some distance from the pain right now and sadly he was entwined in that. She couldn’t believe how her dating Mack had exploded online. They’d been dating for months, why now? How did someone get a picture of her face and neck in the hot tub, the first time she pulled her hair back in who knew how long? There were so many questions firing in her head. She loved Mack and would expect that his family were good and honorable like him, but would his sister or brother have tipped off the media? How else would they find them and exploit them with the most horrific timing? She hated thinking ill of Mack’s family, but she couldn’t find another explanation. Unless Denise was coming after her again.

  She pulled out her phone and typed in her name, Tyler’s name, and Denise’s name. The images of Sariah after Denise and her brothers tried to drown her were still there and all the sickening memories returned with them.

  Tyler was four years older than her and she’d thought he was so mature, charming, and handsome. She had no idea he had a serious girlfriend in Boulder and had been two-timing both of them the summer after Sariah graduated high school. When Denise found out about Sariah, she’d attacked Tyler and his political aspirations, through attacking Sariah. She’d had her brothers almost drown Sariah in the lake by her house then rip her shirt off. When they discovered her scars, they’d laughed and taken all kinds of pictures of her. The pictures had been posted everywhere on the internet, with Denise claiming Tyler had burned Sariah every time she cheated on him. Sariah hadn’t even known about the other girl until she was attacked coming home from work late one night. Denise had served time for it, but Tyler had gotten through the lies, gone on his merry way to becoming a lawyer and was working into politics. Sariah hadn’t heard from him in almost four years. Sariah had been the one who’d had to carry the shame of it all. Over the years it seemed people had forgotten, but apparently it was still out there.

  How could Mack have seen those pictures and pretended he didn’t know? Sariah hated that part of her life. She hated her scars. She hated feeling deformed. She really hated how dirty and disgraceful Denise’s attack and Tyler’s desertion had left her.

  She stared out the window at the mountains and trees. Her phone kept buzzing in her pocket. She finally pulled it out and read the numerous texts from Mack—apologizing, begging her to talk to him, wanting to make sure she was safe. Leaning her head against the seat, tears squeezed down her face. Yesterday had been one of the best days of her life, because of Mack, and now she was second-guessing seeing him again. She finally texted back that she was safe, riding the bus home, and she just needed some space for a little while. It was the best she could do right now.

  She should’ve texted Aunt Allie to pick her up from the bus station but she figured she’d get an Uber. She really didn’t want to talk to anybody right now.

  She watched the mountains slide by on I-70, alternating between cussing herself for treating Mack so horribly and questioning Mack and his family and everything she believed about their relationship and the trust she’d placed in him. Yet had she really? Trust goes both ways. Why hadn’t she trusted him with her secret sooner? It probably had just been a matter of time before he found out from someone. There were pictures of her and Mack from Lily and Hyde’s wedding. It was inevitable someone would show him the pictures of her scars. At least he hadn’t gone looking for them. Maybe if she would’ve trusted him sooner, they could be dealing with the negative publicity together, the way Hyde and Lily would.

  The bus finally pulled into the first station in Denver. She unloaded, clutching her purse. Walking through the terminal, she exited and stopped on the front sidewalk, pulling out her phone to get an Uber coming. The Uber driver confirmed quickly and she got a message to meet him in the south parking lot.

  Walking over there, she glanced around and saw no one but empty cars. She felt so alone and she missed Mack. Why had she left him?

  She heard from behind her, “Sariah.”

  She spun and her legs barely supported her. “Tyler?”

  He looked polished and handsome as ever in a black suit with his dark hair slicked back from his face. He had a very handsome face, but he was a snake underneath. Two-timing her and Denise, and deserting Sariah to the negative publicity after everything went south. Not that she would’ve wanted him once she found out about him cheating on both of them, but he’d turned tail and run before she could tell him where to go. He’d be perfect for the political career he was hoping to achieve.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, leaning against a nearby bench.

  He approached her slowly, staring at her. “I saw the media, about you and Mack Quinn.”

  “So now that I’m good enough for an NFL player I’m good enough for the future politician?”

  His dark eyes flashed at her. “Mack Quinn isn’t the right one for you, I am.”

  “Mack Quinn is one of the best men I know.” She jutted her chin out, knowing that was true. She wished she was back in that hotel room with Mack. She’d gone over the edge this morning when those pictures came out and let her fears and trust issues mess up her thought process, but it was so clear now. Maybe she’d have to deal with some media exposure with Mack, but being loved by him was worth it. “And he doesn’t have a crazy girlfriend whose brothers tortured me and lied to the world about me.”

  Tyler came into her space. Sariah stood her ground, not willing to back down to him at all.

  “Are you ever going to forgive me for something I didn’t do?”

  “Two-timing Denise and I is something you did, Tyler.”

  “You have to forgive me. You know how crazy Denise was, the lies she spun. I was terrified of her so I lied to her that I loved her, but it was you I loved. Only you. You can’t hold her lies and psycho twisting of life against me.”

  “I can hold a lot against you.” Sariah blinked up at him. “Why do you even care? It’s been years and you’ve never so much as texted me.” She hated the way that had come out, as if she wanted him to t
ext her.

  “I’ve always cared. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

  “Please.” Sariah laughed harshly then she pulled the hair away from the right side of her neck and tossed her long hair behind her back, exposing her neck and deformed ear. It felt liberating after so many years of her heavy hair covering her right side.

  Tyler visibly cringed but he didn’t back away. “You have to love all of a person, Tyler, and even without the Denise nightmare and your lies, you were always incapable of loving all of me.” Mack wasn’t. Mack had embraced her scars and would never ask her to cover them up. She wished he would’ve told her immediately he’d seen the pictures, but she understood why he was reluctant to, and he was right that she should’ve trusted him if she wanted to prove him trustworthy. He truly loved every part of her. Visions of him gently kissing her scars and then the way he’d taken her coverup off made her tremble. He thought she was beautiful and wanted her to share her beauty with the world. The contrast between him and Tyler was so stark she couldn’t believe she’d allowed herself to hurt for so long and shut herself off from healthy relationships because of this snake of a man.

  Tyler studied her. “Give me another chance, Sariah.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Get out of my face.” Walking away from him, she clicked on the Uber app to see how close the driver was. She wanted away from this lonely parking lot, and especially from Tyler.

  Tyler ripped the phone from her hand, dropping it on the cement.

  “Hey,” Sariah yelled, bending to pick it up.

  Tyler grabbed her around the waist and began dragging her around cars.

  “Let go,” Sariah screamed, hitting at his arm and fighting to free herself.

  “Calm down. I just want to talk to you alone.”

  “I’m done talking with you,” she yelled back at him.

  “Let her go.” The voice was soothing and familiar. Sariah felt weak when she saw Mack standing in their path. His blond hair was tousled, his blue eyes determined, and his muscular frame looked bigger and more intimidating than ever. Sariah’s heart leapt. He’d come for her, even after she’d treated him so horribly. Oh, how she loved him.