Page 56 of My Heart to Keep
“Sloane didn’t have to put anything in my head. I have my own studying to do, and I am not wasting my time with an asshole.”
He slapped a hand over his heart. “I’m hurt.”
I shook my head, ready to pack up. Anger fired through every nerve ending. Maybe Sloane was right for me to stay away from Trevor.
“Quinn.” His tone was soft and sweet. “I’m sorry.”
I huffed. “Time is precious to me, Trevor. I only have a small window to help you. I barely have time to do my own homework. With my brothers away at college, I’m the only one to help my dad on the farm. Maybe you should go back to Elise for tutoring.”
“Please,” he said, batting his eyelashes. “Give me a chance.”
I held up my finger. “One. And no girls at the table, interrupting us. Got it?”
He saluted me. “Yes, commander.”
I half smiled as we dove into algebra.
The words on the page were fuzzy. I couldn’t read or study anymore. I closed my US government book. Politics wasn’t my thing. But it was either that elective or psychology, and US government seemed like it would be easier.
Knuckles rapped on the door.
“Yeah, it’s open.”
Marcus strutted in, wearing a pair of sweatpants and nothing else. He glanced at Ethan’s bed. “It’s almost curfew.”
I traded my desk chair for my bed. “Says the guy who almost always misses curfew.”
The day Jasper had told Ethan and me that Marcus had gone to Ashford, none of us thought he would make it back before lights out. To our surprise, he had. Since then, he hadn’t seen Sloane or gone back to Ashford, at least not to my knowledge.
“Ethan is working out. He should be back shortly.”
Marcus sat on the edge of Ethan’s bed. “I have something to tell you, and I don’t want you to get upset.”
On that note, my pulse sped up. “You’re running away with Sloane,” I teased. But deep down, I wasn’t. I wanted Marcus to be happy, and if Sloane was the gal to give him a purpose in life, then so be it. I couldn’t talk anyway. Marcus wasn’t enamored with Quinn, but he didn’t ride my ass about her, although I wasn’t drinking and acting out or running back to Ashford.
Marcus regarded me, his blue eyes steady and piercing. He and I were the only two out of the eight of us siblings who had blue eyes. However, he’d come out with brown hair rather than the sandy blond I had.
“Well, are you going to stare at me or tell me what’s on your mind? If it is Sloane, man, I’m cool.”
His lips curled, barely smiling. “You mean you’re okay with us dating again?”
I scooted up so my back was resting against the headboard. “Yeah.”
“We’re not exactly.” He picked at a nail. “We’re trying the whole friends thing.”
I cocked my head. “Why would that make me upset?”
“This is not about Sloane and me.” He took a deep breath. “I told you about Sloane’s stepbrother.”
He had when he’d returned from Ashford that day. Marcus had instantly hated the guy. Apparently, Sloane didn’t like how a stranger had waltzed into her life and her mother’s.
But her stepbrother wasn’t my problem. “He’s a dick. So?”
“Have you talked to Quinn lately?”
I held the air in my lungs, nodding. “Why?”
“Sloane is worried about her.”
