Page 12 of Quinn
The adrenaline pumping through me makes me feel like I can lift a car over my head without breaking a sweat. Evan stands up from his desk when he sees me approaching.
“What happened?”
“I quit,” I say, grabbing any personal items I have on my desk that I can carry.
“You what?” he asks incredulously. “You can’t.”
I swing my angry gaze at him. “Oh good, another man who thinks they can tell me what I should do and how I should behave.”
Evan shakes his head in confusion. “What? That’s not—”
“Save it. Maybe it’s best that whatever this is between us ends before we get in too deep.”
He holds up his hands to stop me. “Whoa, slow down.”
“Miss?” I turn and see one of the security guards from the front desk. “We need you to come with us.”
“Fine by me. I was leaving anyway.”
I don’t look back as I’m led away. My mind is racing so fast at this moment that my brain isn't fully taking in all that is happening. It doesn’t feel like I take in a full breath until I walk in the door of my apartment.
When the adrenaline finally leaves my system a few hours later, I crash hard. I don’t hear my phone ringing or all the text messages that Evan sends me.
It isn’t until the next day that I wake up feeling regret about my behavior. Surprisingly I don’t feel remorse for quitting the way I did, but the fact that I lumped Evan in with Mason when they are nothing alike.
I spend most of the morning trying to find the right words to say to Evan before I call him. But in the end, it doesn't matter because he shows up at my door around lunchtime.
"Hey," I say when I open the door.
He looks up from staring at the floor, and I see from the bags under his eyes that, unlike me, he had a sleepless night. “Hey.”
“Do you want to come in?”
He shakes his head. “I can’t stay long. I just wanted to check and see if you were okay. You didn’t respond last night.”
“I didn’t get them until this morning.”
I can see him working through trying to figure out what I did last night that I couldn't respond, but he doesn't say anything.
"Well, like I said. I just came to check on you, and now that I know you're okay, I'm going to go." He turns to leave.
"I'm sorry," I blurt out, realizing that sometimes the most straightforward words are the best ones to get the point across. "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. The way I acted towards you. I was caught up in the moment and wasn't thinking clearly."
“I wasn’t trying to tell you—”
“I know.”
"I really care a lot about you." He stops and seems to think better of what he's saying. "No, I don't just care about you. I'm in love with you, and I don't want what we have to end."
I rush towards him and throw my arms around his neck. His hands grip my waist and pull me close.
“I don’t want what we have to end either. I promise. I’m in love with you too.”
Evan cups my face in his hands and studies my face. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to say anything you don’t mean.”
“I mean it. I promise.”
He smiles. “Then say it again.”
