Page 22 of Home Coming

“I’m not used to it.”

He had to notice the shine of the welling tears in her eyes.

Quinn shook his head. “Jeezus. High school really did a number on you, didn’t it?”

High school and the last two days of her life. The intruder. Axel. The loss of what she thought of as her safe space—her apartment. It was all too much.

“You have no idea,” she managed to get out past the tightness in her throat.

“Come on.” He reached for her hand and her eyes widened as he tugged her toward the back door.

She planted her feet, causing him to stop and glance back at her as she said, “I can’t leave. Josie—” She motioned toward the bar.

“Just for a minute…”

“Okay.” She wasn’t about to say no to that offer, for many reasons.

Outside they found the back deck of the bar blissfully empty.

There, the overly loud music was muted to a more bearable level. There were no cliques of mean girls. Not even any smokers at the moment, probably because it was November and freezing outside. And, choosing fashion over comfort, she hadn’t worn a coat because she’d left the city in such a hurry she hadn’t packed one that would match her outfit.

She was an idiot.

Or maybe not… Quinn took one look at her shivering and took a step closer, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

“Little better?” he asked, his gaze locked on hers.

“Yes. Thank you,” she said in a breathy voice that didn’t sound like her own.

His chest rose and fell as his hands stopped moving. His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips. She watched the Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.

Finally, he took a step back and dropped his hands away. “Ready to go back in and face the crowd again?”

Pulse pounding harder in her ears than the bass line of the song on the jukebox, she nodded. “Sure.”

With Quinn by her side, she could almost believe she was ready for this reunion.

He turned to her as he opened the door and said, “I’m going to finish the beer the guys poured for me then head out. You and Josie will get home okay?”

So much for it being her and Quinn against the world. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Fine.”

With a nod he was gone, back to the cool kids leaving her behind once again.

CHAPTERNINE

Memories of last night were still kind of a whirlwind blur as Bailey stumbled, tired and possibly still a tad bit tipsy, down the hallway the next morning.

As she squinted against the glare of the sun streaming through the home’s windows she realized she could hear the shower running.

Josie had still been asleep so that left only one person it could be. Quinn.

The vision of her high school crush naked and soapy beneath the stream of steamy water managed to cut through one of the worst hangovers she’d had in recent memory.

That was saying something since until recently she’d been dating a shithead rock star who’d built his reputation on being a party boy. After trying to keep up with him and the band who were all party experts for six months, she knew first hand what “partying like a rock star” felt like.

Last night’s alcohol consumption had surpassed that.

Pushing Axel out of her mind, she let the memory of Quinn at the reunion replace it.

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