by C. A. Harms
I hated celebrating my birthday. I would prefer a quiet evening out with just my immediate family. My mother knew this, and she saw Quinn as her in to make this night happen. I thought I was coming over for dinner with my parents, not a house full of friends and family.
Looking around the room, I locked eyes with Kade and Easton. Harper sat at the table next to Callie, both smiling innocently. They were all in on this shit too.
Still, the night turned out to be a good one. We all gathered outside around the pool and had a few drinks. My parents decided to call it an early night, after the first few hours of craziness. People were sharing stories of my younger years, and at times I found Quinn slinking back as if she felt slightly out of place.
“Jett, you have always been a playboy. Hell, dude, you lost your virginity to my sister.” Ryker chuckled before he tipped back his beer. Our eyes locked in a silent standoff, one whose outcome I couldn’t predict. “What, you thought I didn’t know? My sister got around, man. Hell, I knew you had sex with her the next day.”
“Well, times change, man. I was young and immature.” I pulled Quinn onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Life changes when you least expect it to.” She looked down and found my eyes with her gaze, and I smiled up at her. “When you got something good, you hold on to it, and I’m holding on tight.”
Quinn smiled sweetly and bent down to place a soft kiss against my lips. The conversation was getting a little out of hand, going in directions that weren’t necessary. I stood up, taking Quinn with me, and placed her on the ground. She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I said nothing as I led her off to the other side of the pool, music softly played from the speakers around the deck. Spinning her around, I held her against my chest. “That shit isn’t important,” I told her.
“Jett that was a long time ago. Stop worrying. It isn’t like it was last week. We both have pasts.” Her smile looked forced, and I knew how she was feeling. The thought of another man having his hands on her was like a punch to the gut. “Besides, the man I have today, I’m sure, is much better than the inexperienced boy she had then.” Her smile grew, and I couldn’t stop myself from responding with a matching grin.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m thinking we should keep practicing, though. You know what they say.” I paused. “Practice makes perfect.”
***
“Dude, seriously, just because she’s your girl doesn’t make it any less creepy,” Kade stated as he barged in to my office and flopped down on the couch. He had once again thought he caught me watching Quinn. He was so far off at that point.
I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes.
“I’m not watching Quinn, smartass. I’m watching Harper. She’s sitting at the back table with some monkey in a suit. She looks all gooey-eyed, and we both know that ain’t like her. She doesn’t do flirty schoolgirl. She’s bossy and damn straight to the fucking point.”
I looked back out just in time to see that guy reach out and brush a stray hair out of Harper’s eyes. “I don’t like the look of the guy. Looks like some cocky, arrogant bastard. Something about him doesn’t seem right.” I ground my teeth with irritation.
“Okay, um...” Kade slid forward on the cushion. “Is there actually anyone that would be good enough for Harper?”
I didn’t take my eyes away from the two of them. I only shook my head slowly. My sisters deserved the best. Alexis found a good man, and Harper needed the same. This clown was not that man, I could feel it. He looked shady, and something didn’t feel right.
My mood only got worse when my cell phone rang.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Hey, man, it’s Easton. We got a problem.” The tone of his voice told me that shit was about to go south.
“What happened?” I growled.
“Construction crew found significant water damage in the walls and floor. We’re gonna have to break in through the inner walls and floor, go deeper. You should probably make a trip over and see this for yourself.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. “Give me a couple hours. I’ll be there,” I stated before hitting End.
“Trouble at Casa de Jett?” Kade thought he was funny. Right now my mood was shifting and only getting worse with each passing moment.
I stood from the couch and slipped on my jacket. Looking back out into the dining room, I found an empty table where Harper and her friend once were. The thought of her leaving with the cocky SOB just made the heat in my neck rise higher.
I went straight for Callie, and she scrunched up her eyebrows at me. The girl knew how to read my moods. She also knew when to fire back and when to shut the hell up.
“I have to head to Miami. I probably won’t be back tonight. Need you to hold things down here.” She nodded in agreement.
Without waiting any longer, I found Quinn just as she was going toward the kitchen to pick up an order. Her smile faltered when she saw my face.
“I got some unavoidable issues in Miami. I need to go take care of things. I’ll be gone until tomorrow, I’m sure of it,” I explained, trying to control my irritation.
“Okay, drive careful.” She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed me softly. “Call me later if you get a chance.”
Even when I was in the worst of moods, she still had the ability to calm me. “I will, love you.” I kissed her once more and trailed my thumb over her lower lip. “Call in sick tonight. I don’t like the idea of you going in to Spencer’s when I’m out of town.”
I didn’t wait for her to respond. I walked away even though every part of me wanted to say to hell with the issues and take her home for the night. Forgetting about the entire shit-filled day with Quinn in my arms sounded so much better than driving into the mess I was about to. I knew she wouldn’t listen to me, and that irritated me more. I wished she would just quit that damn place. I hated every second of her being there.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Quinn
“Quinn,” my mother’s voice filtered through the darkness. “Please, Quinn, help me.” Deep coughing came, followed by a loud crash. My mother’s cries grew louder.
I jumped from bed, prepared to find her sprawled out on the living room floor. I was beyond the point of compassion. I no longer had it in me to pick her up.
She was hunched over the coffee table, on which a bottle of vodka was tipped sideways, spilling on to the floor. The lamp that had been on the table was now broken in half on the floor.
“God damn it, Mom.” I helped her up and guided her back to the couch. “I can’t keep doing this with you. When are you going to stop acting like some damn brainless fool? When the hell are you going to give me a chance to live my life? Huh? When?” I grabbed the bottle off the table and walked toward the kitchen sink. I tipped it up, dumping the remaining clear liquid down the drain.
I turned back to her, taking in her shocked expression. “I am so tired of picking your drunk ass up. I’m tired of being the parent. I am not your fucking keeper. I am not here to fix your mistakes. It’s time to get some damn help before you wake up one day to find yourself alone. I’m at my breaking point, Mom, I can’t do this anymore.”
I walked back to my room, leaving her stunned and motionless on the couch. I had hit the end of the line. I was no longer sitting back while she drank herself to death. I couldn’t take it.
It had been so long since I had a good cry, but tonight it was a must. I hadn’t heard from Jett, my mother had pushed me over the edge, and I could no longer be strong.
***
When I woke up I smelled bacon. I rolled my eyes at her sorry-ass attempt to smooth things over. I couldn’t do this. I marched out of my room with the intention of once again telling her my true feelings, only to freeze when I rounded the corner.
My father stood at the stove, piling food onto a heaping plate. He turned around, looking back over his shoulder and smiled. “Morning, thought I would surprise you. Never got the
chance to make you breakfast when you were younger, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”
“No one ever made me breakfast when I was younger,” I grumbled as I took a seat at the bar. “Kellogg’s or Quaker Oats are the only chefs I ever had. Most of the time without milk because I had to decide between the two. Mom had her whiskey, though, and that was all that mattered.”
I hung my head in shame when I saw his smile falter. It wasn’t fair to take my frustration out on him, I knew that. “Sorry,” I said. “It smells really great.”
He sat down next to me, and we quietly ate side by side. Silence spread throughout the house. He was trying. I had to give him credit for that. He didn’t have to come and find me. He could have chosen to avoid the daughter he had but never knew. Instead, he sought me out, showing up out of nowhere. He had stuck around, making it known he wanted to know me, which right now, I’d admit, felt nice.
“Listen, Quinn, I know life hasn’t been fair to you. You never asked to have two screwed-up parents. It took days for me to work up the courage to come here that first day. Hell, I followed you looking for the right opportunity, only to cower away time after time.”
I’d been right to feel like I was being followed. It was him, waiting for the chance to introduce himself to his own daughter.
He paused for just a moment, placing his fork down on his plate. “Your mom called me this morning. She’s ready to get help. She said she has already called a place, and they have a spot for her. I’m not sure where the change of heart came from, but she’s in her room packing. She wants help, and I want to give that to her. I owe it to her, I owe it to you.”
I was still dumbfounded by the fact my blowup actually made a difference. I had been trying for years to make her listen to me, but it took me being a full-blown bitch to get through to her.
“She’s going to a facility in Naples. She’s ready, Quinn,” he assured me. He placed his hand on my forearm and gave me a reassuring squeeze.
“I can’t pay for that. I don’t make enough. We barely get by now.” The realization that she wanted help yet I could not give it to her made me feel sick.
“I got it, don’t worry about the cost. Let’s just get her what she needs.” I stared blankly at the man I barely knew, the man who was my father, a fact I was still trying to wrap my head around.
“Thank you,” I whispered, because that was all the strength I had to do. A huge relief washed over me, a calmness that maybe, just maybe, my mother could be whole again.
I stepped into my mother’s room and approached her as she folded clothes and placed them into a suitcase. As I sat down onto the bed beside her, my throat constricted from the urge to cry.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said, my voice vibrating, cracking under the intense pain of my aching heart. “I’m so sorry for the way I talked to you earlier.”
She looked down at me, tears filling her eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Quinny,” she insisted. “Sweetheart, I’m the one that has messed up. More times than I can count. I’ve done you wrong, it’s time for me to get help. Hell, Quinn, I should have gotten help years ago, but I was too damn stubborn. Your entire life, you’ve raised me. You never had the chance to be a kid. I have taken things away from you that I can never give you back.” She reached out and took my face in her hands. “I will get better, baby. I can’t be responsible any longer for the pain behind your eyes. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me for what I have become, for all the pain I’ve caused you. But I hope this is a good start to a long road of healing.”
I stood up, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her close. In time we would heal, she was right. It wouldn’t be easy, and I was sure we would still have a lot of heartache before us, but I knew I wanted to forgive her. I wanted my mother, the one she had robbed me of my entire life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jett
I had barely slept, and my mood from yesterday had nothing on the mood I was in today. Spending over six hours sifting through a shit ton of documents and blueprints was tedious. I’d hired a crew to do this shit so I didn’t have to. I hadn’t counted on finding water damage throughout the entire area I’d designated as my kitchen in Jett’s second location.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the contractor I’d hired flipped his lid. The smug bastard thought he could tell me the way it was gonna be. Looking at me, he got the impression he was dealing with an inexperienced kid he could walk all over. I let his cocky ass run at the mouth for a good twenty minutes before laying it out straight as a fucking board.
Easton snickering at my side didn’t help any, and the man walked out, grumbling something about rich kids and Daddy’s money. If he only knew how hard I worked my ass off for what I had. I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me how to spend even a penny of it.
Now here I was back to square one. I had to find a new contractor, get everything moving, and attempt to get back on track with my deadline.
As I pulled into Palm Beach and Jett’s came into view, I felt the first small amount of calmness in the last twenty-four hours. I hadn’t talked to Quinn since yesterday when I left. I got so busy with all the shit in Miami that by the time I realized it, it was well after midnight. I was beat and passed out the moment my head hit the pillow.
I made a quick stop at my office to check my voice mail before walking toward the dining area. Callie smiled as I entered but immediately noticed the grumpy look I was sure I was still sporting. She turned back to her customers, avoiding my stare. It was a good choice; I wasn’t in the mood.
I scanned the dining area and found a familiar guest waving from the corner table, smiling brightly. I took in a deep breath. I wanted nothing more than to just ignore Mrs. Henderson and go about my business. The problem with that was her husband was one of the men supporting my newest location. I forced a smile and moved in her direction.
She stood from the table and gave me a quick hug. “Well hello, handsome. How are you doing?”
“I’m good, thank you, and you?” I asked in return.
A small flicker of light reflected off her necklace, catching my eye. The second my gaze dropped, my stomach plummeted as well. She was talking, I assume answering the question I had asked, yet I heard nothing.
“That’s a very beautiful necklace, really unique.” I cut her off without a second thought. “Almost like someone had it specially designed.” I did everything I could to tame the anger that was boiling within me.
“Thank you,” she replied, reaching up to wrap her hand around the pendant. “Can you believe I found this at a pawn shop?” She shook her head. “I was waiting for my son who was selling off some of his old junk. I was looking around and inside a small glass case sat this beauty.” She grazed her thumb over the brown diamond in the middle. “I couldn’t believe anyone would part with such a beautiful piece. There was no way I could pass it up.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” I could feel the heat rising in my neck and an overpowering surge of frustration. “I actually bought one for my girlfriend that looked just like that. I was told there was no other like it, each one designed to be unique.” I paused and looked up, and her gaze locked on mine.
“Do you mind if I ask you to look on the back? Tell me if there is an inscription on it,” I asked, the heat boiling inside me now reaching my ears. I watched as Mrs. Henderson turned the pendant over and the engraving I had chosen stared back at me.
J & Q surrounded by a heart.
“Oh honey,” she whispered. She looked at me with such pity. “Here,” she said as she started to remove the necklace.
I instantly raised my hand to stop her. “No, you keep it. At least I know you appreciate its uniqueness.” Without allowing her to answer, I turned my back and walked to my office.
I usually refrained from drinking while I was open for business, but today was an exception to that rule. I poured myself a shot and downed it quickly before pouring a second. Holding the bottle of whiskey in one hand
and my glass in the other, I walked toward the couch.
For the next hour I watched as everyone moved throughout the dining area. Each time Quinn came into view my chest ached. I was hurt and angry. Alcohol probably wasn’t the best solution to that equation, but at this point I no longer cared.
A soft knock came on the door, almost light enough to go unnoticed. “Jett?” a feminine voice filtered in through the darkness. “Are you in here?” I rested my head against the back of the couch and closed my eyes tight.
I heard the door click as it opened, yet I didn’t look up. “Hey, um,” Callie sounded as if she was unsure how to approach me. “Listen, Mrs. Henderson wanted me to give you this. She insisted.” Callie stepped up to the back of the couch, holding out her hand.
Dangling from her finger was the necklace I had given Quinn, the same weekend I had told her I was in love with her. I closed my eyes once again. “I don’t want it, Cal.” The words burned my throat. I was already well on my way to being hammered. At this point I didn’t give a shit if she threw the fucking thing in the garbage.
“Well, I’m gonna hold on to it for you. I have a feeling you’ll change your mind when you sober up,” she said as she turned to walk away.
“You’re one of the very few girls I can trust. Hell, you’re the only girl who knows just how to read me and my moods. Sometimes I think it would be easier if you and I just said hell with it and gave it a shot. What do ya say, Callie, wanna be my girl? Keep my ass in line in and out of the bedroom.” I wagged my eyebrows, smiling up at her shocked expression. Even drunk I enjoyed getting her all flustered.
“Ew, Jett, that’s just wrong. You’re like my brother.” She crinkled her nose up in disgust.
“Don’t look so mortified, Callie, damn. Way to kick a man when he’s already down.” She was right, though, she was like a sister to me. Nothing good could or ever would come of my drunken ramblings.