Tyler didn’t believe her. “So she wasn’t the one to knock you around the other night?”
Quinn looked at the sand. “She’s slapped me before, but she’s never left a mark.”
“I know you said Nick didn’t hit you. Who did?”
“Would you just smoke another cigarette or something—”
“Jesus, you’re hardheaded. Answer the question.”
“My brother.”
She felt Tyler draw himself up, and she peeked over at him. The look of fury on his face was almost terrifying, and she was glad she wasn’t the target.
“What happened?” he said.
“It’s nothing—”
“Shut the fuck up about it’s nothing. What happened?”
Her mother had defended Jake for so long that Quinn was shocked to hear someone act like her brother’s actions were not okay. “He’s home from college. He keeps smoking pot in my room. He has his friends there all the time. The other night, he slammed my face into the wall because he thought I stole his money or his stash.” Her voice started to break, and she kept talking fast, as if fractured words would hold off tears. “I can’t even get my clothes out of there to crash somewhere else, because his friends think I’m fresh meat. They keep touching me, and I can’t—I can’t even—”
She stopped short. Tyler was standing, pulling her to her feet, picking up the blanket to shake it free of sand.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m driving you home to get your stuff.”
“You’re—what? Why?”
“Because I can. Because I have an apartment, and you look like you could do with eight hours of sleep. Because—”
“You expect me to stay with you? But—”
“But what? You have a dozen better offers? Get in the truck.”
She got in the truck. They were a mile down the road and he hadn’t said anything else when she finally turned to him. “Because what else?”
He looked at her like she was nuts. “What?”
“You said because, and I cut you off. Why are you doing this?”
His voice dropped. “You don’t have to stay with me. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was kidnapping you.”
“Shut up. You’re not making me do anything.”
He snorted and rubbed his cheek. “No kidding.”
“Shut up! Because what else?”
He looked away from the road long enough to meet her eyes. “Because I like you.”
“No one has ever done anything like that for me,” she said.
Not Becca. Not Nick.
You didn’t tell them, her brain whispered.
But they’d never pushed as hard as Tyler.
“Well,” said Tyler, “maybe it’s time someone should.”
CHAPTER 14
Quinn stopped Tyler in front of her apartment door. Her older brother’s car was in the parking lot—of course—so she slid her key into the deadbolt carefully.
“Worried you’re going to wake someone up?” said Tyler.
“No,” she said, too forcefully. She was worried someone would hear her and make this worse than it needed to be.
She’d never brought anyone home to this apartment. She and Becca had hardly seen each other since the fire, and when they did, it was always at Becca’s place or the Merrick house. When Nick drove her home, she never let him get farther than the apartment landing. She didn’t want anyone to smell the pot or the alcohol. Even now, outside the door, embarrassment sent heat coursing up her neck. What if Tyler saw her mother stumbling around in a nightgown? What if the shrieking started and Quinn couldn’t get her to shut up?
She looked at Tyler and put a hand up. “Just wait here.”
For an instant, she was ready for Tyler to refuse.
But then he shrugged and said, “Okay,” and she realized she’d been hoping he would refuse.
The lock gave and she was through the door. She closed it gently, quietly, leaving it unlocked to spare her one extra second if she needed to get out fast.
This was ridiculous, creeping into her own house. Back before the fire, when she’d lived around the corner from Becca, everything had been on the ground level, and she hadn’t needed to pass anyone to get in and out of her room. The window had worked fine for that. And while their house had never been large, everyone had their own room.
This bullshit with Jake was infuriating.
Even now, the living room was empty and dim. Her mother must have been in the bedroom, or hell, maybe she’d gone out, too. But Quinn could see light beneath her own bedroom door. She could hear them in there—but barely, with the racket her heart was kicking up.
She wanted to turn and run through the door and tell Tyler all her clothes had been stolen.
And then what would she do? Go back to his place with her dance shorts and her worn fleece pullover? Wear that to school?
She hated that her life had devolved to the point where she had to choose the lesser of two evils.
But . . . maybe Tyler wasn’t evil at all. She still couldn’t tell. The kiss, the admission that he’d wanted to ensure she was free before making a move . . . she couldn’t wrap her head around it.
God, she was stalling. Ridiculous. She needed her stuff and she was going to walk in there and get it. She straightened her spine, stalked over to her bedroom door, and threw it open.
The room smelled acrid and foul. She stumbled back. Jake sat on the floor with three of his friends. They all looked up when she entered.
Two guys looked dazed and confused. She’d never seen them before. Heavy-lidded and slack-jawed, they were leaning up against her bed like they had no intention of moving. Ever.
The other guy, sitting next to Jake, looked interested, and not in a good way. In a don’t-touch-me-you-creep way. He also looked filthy, like he hadn’t showered in three days. Lank dark hair clung to his forehead, and he wore a tank top and shorts despite the fact that it was getting below freezing at night. A glass pipe sat in his hands.
Nice.
Jake got to his feet, a little unsteadily. He was tall and lanky and muscled, befitting a star basketball player. But whereas he’d once been quite a looker with blue eyes and that shock of blond hair, now he looked drawn and washed out. His eyes were bloodshot. And paranoid. “Get the fuck out of here, Quinn.”
“I just want my stuff,” she said.
Greasy tank top snorted. “She’s cute, J, where’ve you been hiding her?”
She expected his voice to be lazy and drawling, to match the boys who could barely hold themselves upright, but it wasn’t. His tone was too interested. Too alert. It made her skin crawl.
Quinn wanted to step past them, to grab clothes from her dresser, but she remembered the last time she’d run into one of Jake’s friends, and she kept her distance.
“Get out of here,” said Jake. He took a step toward her and grabbed her arm. “You hear me? Quit messing with me.”
She jerked free. “I’m not messing with you!” she snapped. “I haven’t even been here!”
He came after her. “Look, you—”
She ducked under his arm and slid through the doorway into her room. Jake grunted, and she half expected him to grab her, but judging by the racket he made, he must have stumbled into the doorjamb. She made it past his friends and flung open a dresser drawer. “Just let me get my stuff. Then you can keep smoking pot until your lungs burn out.”
“That’s not pot.”
Tyler’s voice. Quinn spun.
He’d caught Jake’s arm and twisted it behind him, and just now had him pinned up against the wall.