by Honor James
Now she went in day after day with a positive attitude and worked his muscles, ensuring that he didn’t lose too much muscle mass while laid up in the hospital. She knew that it would still be a long road ahead when he finally woke, but at least it wouldn’t be as hard as it might have been.
When his birth parents showed up she had been utterly and completely shocked. Time seemed to stand still and all she could think was that she was losing the only man that ever listened to her. Granted he was in a coma and couldn’t do anything about it, but still it felt as if there had been some sort of connection. Well, at least in her mind. Maybe she was fantasizing about things that simply weren’t real. As they wheeled him away she felt as if a part of her heart were leaving with him. As sick and twisted as that sounded she felt as if he were taking part of him with her.
However when they approached her to ask her to be his live-in physical therapist she jumped at the chance. Not just because of Quinn, but also another man that she had gotten to know while working with Quinn, Jordan Connor.
She had always been a very shy young woman, she had always been more than willing to fade into the shadows so the call to be personal therapist for Quinn had been a dream came true. While taking care of the man she was able to get to know not only Jordan but Quinn’s family as well, and in an odd way she was able to get to know Quinn through Jordan as well.
She had found a place with the men and women that worked for Quinn’s birth parents, all of them taking to her and all but adopting her as their own. It had made her all kinds of happy, but she lived and breathed for her time with Quinn and Jordan when he was finally back to visit.
That all changed however in a moment of pure terror. Susan had heard the whispers from the maids, had heard the tales that you were never to be alone with Quinn’s uncle Gordon but she hadn’t understood it. No one had said anything about the whole why you shouldn’t be alone with him, just that you shouldn’t.
Susan found out the hard way. She had just finished with Quinn’s therapy, having told him about the roses that his mother had trimmed back and arranged the white bouquet at the side of his table when his uncle came in. Knowing that the family preferred it when she left the room she gave him a small smile as she passed him.
That was when it happened. The man had reached out and grabbed her. He had planted a huge kiss on her before she had even been able to react. When she did she slapped him across his face, right as Quinn’s mother came in. Susan wasn’t allowed to give her side, she was instead summarily dismissed without even being allowed to pack her own things.
Susan had run from Quinn’s father’s study and into Hadley, the butler with a heart of gold, with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She raced out of his hands and outside to the cab that was waiting for her. Her whole world fell apart with the touch of some asshole who seemed to think that because he had more money than brains he could do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted.
Chapter Five
Staring up at the building, Jordan squinted. It had taken him three days to track her down, three days of bullying a lot of people into telling him where Susan had gone. Now he had found her and he was going to bring her back.
Quinn wanted her there despite his mother’s protestations. The woman had even had the audacity to claim that Susan had thrown herself at Quinn’s uncle in a bid to gain favor. Bull-fucking-shit. Susan wasn’t the sort of woman to do that. Ever.
Stuffing the piece of paper with the address on it back into his pocket he headed for the front door. Tugging on it he shook his head. It opened, not good given the neighborhood. After taking a peek at the elevator that was older than him, by a century easily, he took the stairs up to the floor the apartment she was staying in was on.
Reaching the door he wiped his hands down his slacks. He honestly couldn’t believe how nervous he was. But, he was there with a purpose, for his best friend in the whole world. And, if he was being honest, for the girl that made his heart lighter with just a look. Resolved he lifted a hand and knocked firmly on the door.
The door opened and Susan stood there. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt the look of surprise was evident on her features. “Mr. Connor?” Her voice cracked just a bit, wavered a little and her fingers went white as she held the door. “What?” She looked out into the hall and back to him, her glacial blue eyes eating him up, or so he thought at least. “What are you doing here? Is Mr. Brodie okay?”
“He’s fine,” he told her, searching her face. “He’s awake, Susan. He woke the day you left as a matter of fact. And he’s been asking for you ever since. I know I have absolutely no right to ask this of you but I’m going to anyway, mainly because Mrs. McKaughan was wrong, big time. Will you come back and see him? Please?”
Susan’s shock showed on her face, and this time she couldn’t hide it. “I’m sorry, what?” She couldn’t have heard that right. “He’s awake?” she asked again. “How could he ask for me? He doesn’t know me. I was there before he woke.” She was chewing her lower lip, her eyes kept darting up to Jordan’s face and then back away as if she had been caught doing something wrong.
“He knows your voice, even your name. He wants you there and has overridden his birth mother’s wishes. I am here because he needs you there, Susan,” Jordan said. He stepped in closer to her and tipped her chin up with a light finger. “Please?”
“I thought he was in a coma?” She however leaned into that small touch of Jordan’s finger to her cheek. “How could he have heard me?” she knew, in the back of her mind that coma patients could hear the people around them. That’s why she had always talked to Quinn and had advised his family to do the same.
“He was in a coma, he’s not any longer.” He smiled. He moved his hand to cup her cheek, his thumb fluttering lightly over her skin. “He woke up the same day you left and yes, he definitely heard you. Quinn is still weak but he’s regaining his strength quickly. But he is very insistent that you come back to the house and sent me to get you since he couldn’t figure out another way.”
“He wants me there?” She was finally catching up to Jordan and it was clear in her tone. “I can’t believe that he wants me there. It just is surreal to me,” she whispered. “And he sent you to get me? But how did you find me? This is a friend’s place that I’m crashing at until I can pull my life together.” She had given up everything to move in to take care of Quinn, and she didn’t regret it at all, but she still had to pull herself back together all the same.
“Trust me, my dear, it wasn’t easy,” he muttered. Shaking his head, Jordan smiled at her. “But it doesn’t matter, I found you and that, that is all that does matter. So please, will you come back with me? You don’t need to remain but I think you might once Quinn’s done with his spiel. He’s been working on it for three days and it’s actually not half bad. Not great but I have to give him a little leeway, he has been in a coma.”
Susan laughed and shook her head. “That’s priceless. When I would talk to him I would imagine him lying there trying to think of what to say. Trying to decide just exactly how to get me to shut up.” Taking a deep and calming breath Susan finally relented. “Okay. I will come with you and talk to him. If he doesn’t want me there I will leave, but yeah,” she said with a sigh.
The look on Jordan’s face wasn’t something she could easily figure out. “He wants you there, Susan,” he said softly. “Grab whatever you wish or need to bring. You could be there for a time,” he said with a smile. “Quickly. Before the driver who brought me here decides to go for a meal or something and abandons us.”
Susan just grabbed her jacket, she knew she wouldn’t be there long. “I’m ready,” she said after grabbing her purse from the closet. “Will I need to grab a cab back home later?” She wasn’t sure if she would need to grab a cab or if the McKaughans’ car would bring her back. She would figure that out later.
Jordan lifted a brow but said nothing as he took in her jacket and purse alone. Sighing, he nodded. “I will ensure you get ho
me after,” he told her softly. Putting a hand to her back he urged her toward the stairs. “The sooner we get there the sooner he’ll stop bellowing.”
“Thank you,” Susan said and then smiled. “Is it bad that I’m nervous to hear his voice now? I imagined that he had this deep baritone voice, but what if it’s high, pitchy and nasally?” She didn’t want to think about that. She couldn’t believe someone that looked like Quinn would have a high and nasally voice.
Chuckling at that he shook his head. “Definitely not nasally,” he told her. “So you needn’t worry about that. It’s deeper than my own but not by much. Though, I will admit, he can actually sing worth a damn unlike yours truly. I sound like a thousand cats being tortured in a shower stall. But if you ever want to get rid of unwanted company, I can do it in about three bars.”
“He can sing? Truly?” That was a surprise. “I’m honestly stunned.” She had never imagined that Quinn could sing, that was just too much. “I couldn’t carry a tune with a bucket if I had to.”
“He doesn’t like to admit it, but yes, he can sing. And is quite good,” he smiled at her. Pushing open the outer door he held it for her and then took her hand to guide her to the car sitting and waiting at the curb. “Franklyn, we’re ready to be off,” he said to the driver who nodded and opened the back door of the town car.
Settling into the back of the car with Jordan at her side made Susan a little uneasy. Not because she wasn’t comfortable but more because she was far too comfortable. She had always been so completely happy and at ease around Jordan and Quinn, even though Quinn had been sleeping. “This is nice,” she said suddenly. “To have someone around that I can have an actual conversation with. It’s very nice.”
Jordan laughed at that as the car pulled away from the curb and they got underway. “Yes, it is nice isn’t it? Though, I will admit, it was really nice to be able to get in more than a word or two with Quinn for once. But I am damn happy he’s awake again. I hated seeing him that way. He’s always been so full of life and always on the go. To see him so still,” he shook his head, his whole demeanor somber.
“Me, too. I mean I didn’t know him before, but just his presence he is far more than what he was lying there in bed. I always imagined him as one of those men that would go and go and never stop. That he would be one who lived life to the absolute fullest. At least that’s how I saw him.”
“He did at that.” Jordan nodded. “He was a male model, don’t laugh, I’m not kidding,” he said with a chuckle. “Was very good at it too but hated it. It paid for everything and then some. He’s actually not too bad at investing either. He has a very tidy sum tucked away. And, while I’m guessing he’s got even more from his birth parents somewhere, I know for a fact he’s only been living off what he’s earned. Has never taken a dime from anyone and paid for all his own schooling after the mandatory stuff that the government makes us do. I think you’ll quite like him even with the fact he can now speak again.”
“That’s awesome.” Susan was shocked. “I paid for all of my schooling as well. The offer of a position from his birth parents was a godsend because I was able to save money and pay off my debts while working there. “I always saw him as a good being, a wonderful man so I’m more than a little nervous right now.”
“Don’t be. Honestly I think he’s more nervous about meeting you then you should be about meeting him. You at least know a bit about him, he knows nothing more than whatever you’ve told him and what he can recall. Don’t worry, Quinn is one of the nicest people on the planet,” he told her. “The only people that he’s ever truly gotten angry with never did it again. Except for the woman who gave him life. She’s still pushing her boundaries with him especially given the fact this is the first time he’s ever seen her in his entire life.”
“Hopefully he’s far nicer than his uncle is,” she muttered. “That slimy handsy bastard needs to be smacked,” she admitted. “And I want to make this very clear, I did not throw myself at him. I had been using the bed to keep him away from me but someone moved the bed up against the wall so I couldn’t scuttle past him any longer. Blasted man.”
“I know,” he said softly. “Quinn’s father got the truth out of him and banned him from the house. Quinn’s mother, though, still thinks that you had a hand in everything so she’s not being very forgiving. So if you get the cold shoulder from her, ignore her. Apparently she’s picked now to actually be protective of her son.” He rolled his eyes.
“Yeah she’s pretty much given me the cold shoulder since I came in to give Quinn care. I don’t know why. I’ve never done anything to her but she acts as if she hates me or barely tolerates me.” Which was odd because the woman had asked her to remain with them so that her son could have round-the-clock care.
“Yeah, well, expect an Arctic front now,” he said. “She’s upset that he wants nothing to do with her. Not that I blame him, she wasn’t there when he was growing up and now she expects for him to just let her in. At least his father seems to get it and is giving Quinn time to get to know him at Quinn’s pace.”
“I know, I got the whole background on why they put him elsewhere but what I don’t get is why didn’t they at least financially support him and his adoptive family when he grew up? If they hid him for his safety, they could have at least helped his new family so that he would never want for anything.” A low sigh and Susan added quietly. “And yeah, I kinda figured that she was going to be more than a little pissed off at me.”
“They did have a fund set up for him but the woman who cared for him, his nanny, tried not to use it unless absolutely necessary. She brought Quinn up to know the value of a dollar, to not just expect there to always be money around and to earn a good living and save. I’d say he’s better off for having her as the one who raised him than the ones who gave him life. In my personal opinion, not that I’ve said that, I don’t really feel like being banished from the house while my best friend’s trapped there.”
“Ah, gotcha.” Susan could understand that and she said, “Then it sounds as if he was for the better being raised as he was. I didn’t know that and you know, that’s good on her that she did that. This way he’s not a self-entitled brat.”
“Oh, he’s a brat.” Jordan laughed. “But at least he’s not a self-entitled one. He’s a good egg, always going the extra mile, and hates to spend money on himself. His friends though, boy oh boy, he does like to be a little more extravagant with his friends. Not that most of us let him get away with it. Except on birthdays, then we’re all allowed to be a little spoiled.”
She grinned and nodded. “The two of you have been friends for a long time. You have been a very good friend to him. You are the only one from his old life that would come and see him you know. I guess that’s part of why I felt the need to talk all the time, so that he wouldn’t realize that no one was coming to see him.”
“I’ve known him since we were in grade school. He has other friends that wanted to come but his mother felt it would be too overwhelming and disruptive. So I come and tell him all the grand tales and share with him everything that they pass along. Plus many of them are working or have jobs much more restrictive than my own. Since I work for the same group that he did, not as a model though they did try, they have been most lenient about my schedule. They do want him back though I don’t know if that’s what he will want,” he said.
“Ah, well that’s very good. That you are able to come and see him as you wish. I’m sure that he will appreciate that even more now,” she whispered. “To be able to have you coming and going and now that he’s awake his other friends and girlfriends can come see him, too.”
Jordan snorted and shook his head. “Quinn has no girlfriends, well, in the traditional boy meets girl, boy kisses girl and goes out with girl sense I mean. He has girls that are friends, but they are all models so they tend to be very self-centered and full of themselves. While a few are actually not too bad, for the most part he’s only friends with them because that’s the kin
d of guy he is. He hasn’t had a girlfriend since the first year of college. But she was a lying whore who was playing him and he kicked her ass to the curb right off.”
“That poor man. I hate that for him. Sadly, there are far too many people that only want the prestige of dating a sinfully beautiful man.” It was sad but true. “And he is beautiful or handsome, and so are you.”
Jordan shot her a surprised look and then smiled. “Thank you, for that backhanded compliment,” he said. Bumping her shoulder with his, he laughed softly. “Don’t worry, I get it, I’m quite happy that you find me passingly okay. And, you even get a reprieve, as we’re here.”
“You are very welcome,” she said with a grin. “And it’s more than passingly,” she said and then looked up at the big house. “Oh boy,” she whispered. “Well let’s do this then. Let’s go and see Quinn, shall we?”
“Good plan.” He smiled at her. As the car came to a stop he climbed out and held out a hand to her. Hooking his arm through hers he kept her close as Hadley let them in the house. Nodding to the butler, Jordan kept hold of her and just kept them moving. Right up the stairs and toward the bedroom she knew was Quinn’s. At the door he paused and looked at her. “Ready?” he asked softly.
“Sure?” It was definitely more of a question than a statement of fact. “I think that I’m ready.” She looked at the door and licked her lips. “Okay, let’s do this but if his momma tries to throw me out again don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“If the woman that gave him life gets more than three feet from you.” Jordan shook his head. “We may get to see that temper of his I mentioned. Explosive,” he said slowly. Winking, he pushed open the door and ushered her inside.