Page 29 of My Heart to Keep
“You’re not drunk?” I knew she wasn’t, but she’d never been this forward sober.
She rolled her eyes, unzipped my jeans, and was about to slip her hands inside when I stopped her.
Confusion filled her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
I circled my fingers around her wrists before bringing them up to my chest. “We need to talk.” I couldn’t let her take advantage of me then tell her I was leaving.
Beast snorted as he came around the corner of the building.
Quinn giggled. “This pig is the bane of my existence.”
Beast pushed his snout into my leg as though he were giving me a warning.Don’t you dare hurt my girl.
A laugh broke out in my head at the absurdity of what I was thinking about a darn pig.
Quinn tapped Beast on the butt. “Come on. You need to eat.”
Beast followed her as she guided him into the pen with the other pigs.
I was right behind them with a smile from ear to ear. It was amazing to see how animals responded to her. I still wasn’t ready to ride a horse, but I didn’t have a problem with pigs.
Once Beast was in, Quinn locked the gate. “Where were we?”
“Talk,” I said.
She pouted, and that plump bottom lip jutted out. “You’re going to Greenridge, aren’t you?”
“Honestly, up until I walked down here, I kept changing my mind. But after talking to Coach Dean…” I tugged her to me. “Please understand.”
Tears pooled in her pretty eyes. “It hurts.”
I caught a tear as it escaped. “I know. I need to do this. You can come up to visit me, and I’ll come home when I can. Plus, I’ll be home for the holidays. And you can throw yourself at me and do whatever you want.”
Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she giggled. “Whatever I want, huh?”
I bobbed my head, my groin responding.
She slumped her shoulders. “Senior year won’t be the same. We can’t sneak into our little hideaway and steal a kiss or cop a feel.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I suspected it was Mom. She wanted me to babysit my younger siblings while she got some work done. She was working on an important case.
But when I took out my phone, Noah’s name lit up my screen.
I raised my finger to Quinn and mouthed, “One minute.” Then I slid the icon on the phone to answer. “Hey, man. Can I call you back in a bit? I’m with my girl.”
“Sure, but make sure you do. I have something I need to talk to you about.” He sounded serious.
“Give me an hour,” I said before hanging up.
“Who was that?”
“A friend from camp.” I’d wanted to introduce her to Noah when she visited me at Greenridge, but Noah had a family emergency he’d needed to deal with.
Quinn rubbed the toe of her shoe in the dirt. “When do you leave?”
“Friday.”
“What? Like in three days? Why so soon?”
