Page 125 of Delayed Penalty

Then finally, when I’ve dusted all the crumbs away, I sigh.

“Why’d you pack a bag and run away, Quinn?”

“Why’d you invite her into our house, Hayes?” She squeezes her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. It’s not my?—”

“You’re right. Itisyour house too, and I should have said something to you. I thought…I thought we were on the same page.”

“That we were breaking up? Um, no. I mean, can we even break up? We’re not really together.”

“Are we really still feeding each other that bullshit? We’re together. We’vebeentogether. You know, I know, and apparently Flora knows it too.”

Quinn gasps, sitting up and looking over at me for the first time, andfuck. Could I have really missed her hazel eyes so much in such a short amount of time?

Yes.This is Quinn we’re talking about. Of course I did.

“Flora knows?”

“Flora knows. I guess we aren’t as slick as we thought. She slipped out of her room one morning for a pre-breakfast pickle fest and saw me leaving your room. I guess she’s known for a while now and it never made a lick of difference to her.”

“I… Wow.” She rests her back against the wall once more. “She said something to me last week, but Ibrushed it off as nothing. Now it makes me wonder.”

“What’d she say?”

“That youlookat me, whatever that means. To her, it means you’re in love with me. I didn’t really indulge her because I had no idea whattosay. But now…”

“She said the same thing to me, about how we look at each other. She said that’s what tipped her off first before she even saw us kiss. That just sealed the deal.”

Quinn laughs lightly. “All this time we’ve been worried about what she would think and how this would affect her, but she’s been fine.”

We’ve been more stressed about it than she has, or at least I know I have. The last thing I wanted was for Flora to think I wasn’t putting her first. I have been since she came to live with me. The stuff with Quinn…it never should have happened. It was wrong the way we went about it.

But now, sitting next to her, I’m glad it did happen.

“She was right, you know.”

“About what?” Quinn takes a bite of another cookie. I’ve lost count of how many that is now.

“About me loving you.”

She freezes, cookie halfway to her mouth, then she gulps down her bite roughly.

“What?”

“Are you really that surprised?”

She turns to me. “Yes! How could I not be? You… We… This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“No, but it did. I love you. I know it’s not what we agreed on, but I lo?—”

Quinn is kissing me. She’s kissing me and she tastes like butterscotch and sugar and everything good about life. She tastes like mine.

She crawls into my lap, crushing the cookies between us, and I don’t think either of us cares. We’re too busy with our mouths fused together, trying to get as close as possible, even though it’ll never feel like enough.

When we finally break away, we’re both breathing heavily, our chests brushing as Quinn peers down at me with a grin.

“What?” I ask in a whisper.

“Nothing. I…” She sighs. “I love you too.”

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