Peyton and I arrive at her parents to retrieve our bags. It would make sense for us to spend one more night here because it’s getting late, but the thought of waking up in our new home is far too appealing. We bought the house completely furnished, which will save us time and a fortune from having to refurbish. The linens have to change, but Peyton and I can do that tomorrow.

  “I think tonight, we sleep out under the stars.”

  “There are four beds in the house, we can’t find a usable one?”

  “Eh,” I say as I shut off the car. “I take that back. Sleep is not in the cards for us tonight. Naps only.”

  “Naps?”

  I want to pull her across the console and show her what I mean, but the yelling coming from her parents’ house is alarming. “Stay here.” I get out, slam the car door and rush toward the condo. The door flings open and Katelyn is barreling toward me.

  “I’ll kill her,” she yells, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.

  “She’s my fucking problem. I’ll take care of it,” Harrison says. We don’t make eye contact as he chases down Katelyn. He reaches for her arm, pulling her to him. “Goddamn it, Katelyn. Stop.”

  “I will not. She’s gone too far.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Katelyn. I don’t fucking trust her. I don’t want her to hurt you.”

  I don’t know what’s going on, but things don’t look good. In the brief moment of silence, I hear the car door slam and before I can intervene, Peyton is rushing around the corner, yelling about Alicia being in town at the Bean Song.

  “I need to go to my son,” Katelyn says. “He needs me. He needs to know that I’m his mom no matter what.”

  “I’ll drive you,” I blurt out, but Peyton shakes her head.

  “No, I’ll go with my mom. Please stay with my dad and make sure he doesn’t do anything irrational.”

  “Stay out of this, Peyton,” Harrison admonishes.

  “Why? You don’t think I know how you feel about her? Or how Quinn feels? Or Mom? You don’t think I haven’t read the book Sam wrote? This is our life, Dad. For as long as I can remember that woman has lingered in the background, making my brother feel like he didn’t deserve to be loved. For years, Quinn lived in fear that she was going to come in the middle of the night and take him away. We may not share blood, but we’re his family and he needs us. He needs Mom, Elle, and me. He needs to know we’re his family and we’ll do anything to protect him.”

  “Alicia…” Harrison sighs. “I’m afraid she’s dangerous. You don’t know her. You don’t know what she’s capable of. I don’t know what the fuck I would do if something were to happen to you, your mom or sister.” He grabs at his beanie and growls. “Fuck. Fuck this shit. I’m going to fucking kill her.”

  “Well, hell hath no fury like a pissed off mother,” Katelyn says angrily. I feel like I need to yell out booyah or give her a nice pat on the back for being a fierce bitch.

  Peyton walks over to me and collapses in my arms. “I got you,” I tell her as she starts to weep. “I’ll come with you.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll call you and let you know what’s going on. I’m sorry.”

  I pull away and cup her cheeks. “You never have to apologize for wanting to protect your family, Peyton. Our house, it’s not going anywhere, and we still have a few weeks until we have to be back in Portland. Go. Go take care of your brother and let him know I’m here when and if he wants to talk.” I kiss her quickly and nudge her toward her mother, who is waiting at the end of the walkway. I go over and stand next to Harrison and watch as they pull out of the driveway.

  “Most of my life is in that car.”

  “Mine too,” I tell him. “Do you need me to call my dad or anything?”

  Harrison shakes his head. “No, I’m going to follow them. I need to speak to Quinn and figure out where Alicia is, and end this once and for all.” Harrison heads toward the garage and within seconds his motorcycle roars to life.

  I’m left standing there, wondering what the hell I should do besides pace. After phoning my parents, pacing is exactly what I end up doing, checking my phone every few minutes for Peyton’s call.

  15

  Peyton

  My mom speeds down the freeway, weaving in and out of traffic. Her hand is glued to the horn, yet no one seems to care. I have one hand on the door handle and the other is clutching my seat. This could be reminiscent of the accident I was in, but Kyle wasn’t being a daredevil and trying to kill us. Not that my mom is either but tell my mother the one thing she doesn’t want to hear, and she becomes a madwoman.

  When the text came in from my sister, I thought it was a joke. The words “Alicia’s back” could’ve meant anything but to our family it means the depths of hell have risen, and to my mom, it means her son’s in trouble. And that’s how I find myself sitting in the passenger seat, while my cool, calm, and normally collected mom curses at every car that gets in her way.

  She finally exits, but the onslaught of dangerous driving continues. I don’t know why I said I would come with her. Maybe because it’s my brother and he needs all of us around, or maybe it’s because I didn’t want my mom to be alone with her thoughts. There will be no eyewitness to give an account of the brutality my mother will enforce on that wretched monster, and I’ll happily help dispose of her body.

  We’re close to Quinn’s when I hear her sob. I look over and see her staring toward my side of the car. My mom pulls over and pushes the button to drop my window down. “Quinn!”

  The man turns. It’s my brother and my heart breaks. I open the door and rush to him, wrapping my arms tight around his waist. “Quinn, I’m sorry.”

  He doesn’t say anything. There doesn’t need to be words to match his sobs. I’m pushed away, replaced by my mother. Anyone else would be jealous, but I’m not. He needs her. He always has. They share a bond like no other.

  “My son,” she says as she holds his face. “Get in the car, honey.”

  He does, crawling into the backseat. I follow, sliding in next to him. Quinn lets me hold his hand. He doesn’t talk and only stares out the window. When we arrive at his apartment, my mom doesn’t shut off the car.

  “Peyton, I need some time alone with Quinn.”

  I nod in understanding and start to slide out of the car. Quinn’s hand grabs ahold of my wrist, halting my exit.

  “She’s going to come to the apartment. She has a bag of clothes on my bed, give them back to her and tell her I don’t want to ever see her again.”

  “Alicia?” I hate saying her name aloud and cringe at the look on my brother’s face.

  He shakes his head. “Nola. I’m through with her. Done. What she did, it’s unforgivable.”

  “What has she done?”

  He doesn’t say anything.

  “Quinn,” I say his name softly. “Maybe you should talk to her.”

  He looks at me. His eyes are bloodshot, and his face is blotchy. I can’t remember the last time I saw him like this, if ever. He may be a somber guy, but never overly emotional. “She played me, P. She brought that woman into my life, blindsided me in a place where I felt safe. I’m done. She lied about who she is and what she’s doing here, all because of who she knows. I can’t have people like that in my life. People associated with—”

  “Okay,” I tell my brother, holding my hands up. “Okay.” I don’t need to hear any more. The girl he brought home to meet us has betrayed him in the worst way. Quinn can take a lot, but not when it comes to the woman who abandoned him.

  My mom drives away with Quinn. I stand there in the parking lot, watching the red taillights of her SUV until they’ve blended in with the other cars on the road. Inside, his apartment is clean, and it smells girly. You can easily tell a woman’s touch has been here.

  I find the bag Quinn told me about and set it by the door. Part of me is hoping she doesn’t show up here, but if this were me, I would. I’d knock and pound on that door, demanding he listen to me. Although, I ran from Noah when things got hairy between us. I shut down and acted like I was fine, but I wasn’t. I was cut deep, bleeding from the stab wounds inflicted by him and Dessie. He’ll never know though because telling him only hurts him and I love him far too much to do that.

  My phone rings and his beautiful face fills my screen. I smile, despite the situation. “Hello, handsome.”

  “Hey, babe,” he says. “My dad just got here. How’s Quinn?”

  “There’s been an issue.”

  “Are you okay?” I’m always his first concern no matter what.

  “I’m fine. I’m at Quinn’s. It seems that…” I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment. “Nola had something to do with Alicia being here.”

  The silence is deafening until Liam lets out a roar of some sort. “Noah?”

  “I’m here, Harrison just called and spoke to my dad.”

  “This is bad,” I say.

  “Very much. Where’s Quinn?”

  I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “I don’t know. My mom took him somewhere to talk.”

  “I’m coming to you, Peyton. Sit tight and try not to worry. I knew I shouldn’t have let you leave with your mom.”

  At Noah’s words, tears slip from my eyes. “It’s hard, Noah. I love my brother so much and I’ve never seen him like this. He’s hurting.”

  “Everything will be okay, I promise. I love you, P. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “I love you, please hurry. I don’t want to be alone.”

  It turns out that I’m not alone. As soon as we hang up, there’s pounding on the door, followed by some yelling. If I hadn’t been expecting Nola to show up, I’d be scared out of my mind right now.

  “Quinn, open up. We need to talk. Please, Quinn.”

  I open the door and stare down Nola, with a tear-streaked face. I want to rage. I want to grab her by the neck and ask her what the hell she was thinking. Instead, I hold onto the doorknob, squeezing it until the pain sets in.

  “Elle—” she says. The need to roll my eyes is great. I refrain. It’s a common mistake but one that is making things worse for Nola at the moment.

  “It’s Peyton.”

  “Oh, the nice one.” I tilt my head to the side as if I’m asking her if she really just said something so rude. She closes her eyes and wipes angrily at her face. “I’m sorry, that was incredibly rude of me.”

  Instead of placating her, I tell her how things are in my family. “Listen, when it comes to my family, I’m as wicked as the next person. My brother, he doesn’t want to see you. In fact…” I reach down and hand her the bag of clothes. “I believe these are yours. He says you don’t have a key, so I don’t need to ask for that back. I suggest you run along back to the Tuckers because you’re not wanted here.”

  “Wait, please?”

  I sigh, and this time I do roll my eyes.

  “Please tell Quinn that I love him. All I lied about was my name and who I was, not because I was hiding anything from him, it was because I was hiding from myself. I can’t explain Sofia and Alicia, other than I went to school with Sofia and we were roommates and I thought best friends. She talked about him all the time.”

  “So, you knew who he was?” I cross my arms over my chest. “You knew who my entire family was and pretended like you didn’t.”

  “Yes and no.”

  “It can’t be both.”

  “Yes, I know, but Sofia—”

  “What is she doing here?”

  Elle stands behind Nola, the murderous rage in her eyes is something I’ve never seen before. Not only did Nola mess with our brother, but she’s screwing around with one of Elle’s musicians, and that group is so important to my sister.

  Nola steps back as Elle stalks toward her until she’s pinned against the wall. I should intervene, but I don’t.

  “I’m only going to tell you once, get the hell out of here. Don’t you ever call my brother again and don’t even think about showing up here. You’ve done so much damage, you have no idea. You have no clue what you’ve done, bringing that wretched woman into his life. I want you gone. I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again. And for the love of all things holy, you better hope you’re not pregnant because I’ll make damn sure my brother takes that baby from you. You’re not any better than the whore that gave him up. Now get out!”

  My eyes drop open as Elle unleashes. She said everything I was thinking but would’ve never been able to put into words. Nola cries out and rushes down the stairs. Elle stands here, waiting until she can no longer see her. When she turns to face me, the angry sister is gone, and tears are now in her eyes.

  We fall into each other’s arms and cry. We’ve always known Alicia would come back again, but as the years went by, we expected it less. When Quinn turned eighteen, we walked around on eggshells for a year, waiting for word that she reached out to him. When he moved to California, I thought my mom was going to have a heart attack. She spent more time traveling back and forth between here and Beaumont. It felt like she lived on the airplane.

  And it hurt Elle and me. Our mom was so focused on Quinn, she missed things, but we understood. Growing up, he questioned everything. Mostly, why his mother couldn’t love him the same way our mom loved him.

  Elle and I are still standing in the doorway when Noah and Ben come rushing up the stairs. We break and go to our respective men, and both sob. The guys manage to get us back into the apartment, where the only thing we can do is wait. I text Quinn to let him know that he left just in time. I don’t want to know or even think about what a confrontation between the two of them would be like right now.

  We’re anxious. The four of us. Ben had food delivered and Noah makes sure our phones stay charged in case someone tries to call. Elle paces while I stand and look out of the window, waiting for Quinn to come home.

  “That bitch is going to fuck up my band,” Elle seethes. Ben is by her side before I can respond. Quinn’s stronger than the drama that surrounds him, at least I hope he is.

  “We’ll make sure Quinn has the support he needs,” Noah says. I smile softly at him, silently thanking him. My brother is going to be Noah’s best man, there isn’t anything Noah won’t do for his best friend.

  “It’s going to take Quinn a long time to recover from this. To trust anyone.”

  “Noah and I will take him out, get him shitty ass drunk and find him a one-night stand to help him get over this.” Elle goes over to Ben and slaps him across his chest. “Ouch,” he says.

  “There will be more of that if you turn my brother into a man-whore. He needs friends and family. He needs to know that not all women are evil. He needs the band and music. It’s his passion, it’s what he loves.” My sister runs her hand through her hair and sighs.

  She’s right, but our brother loves Nola, and the pain she’s caused, coupled with Alicia making her presence known isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

  16

  Noah

  It’s opening day and I’m standing in the middle of the field, watching as fans walk toward their seats with hotdogs, nachos, candy, beer, and of course their favorite noise maker. The thing that always gets me is the foam finger. I never know if the fan is telling me I’m number one or if they’re flipping me off. Last year, it was probably a little bit of both. But this year, the season is going to be different. Not only am I putting in every effort I can muster, but the team wants to win. No more subpar seasons for us. We want to make the playoffs, be a team that challenges every opponent. We want teams to have to earn their victory, and not come into our stadium thinking the game is a wash.

  A few of my teammates are out on the field. Julius is running the snake as his warm-up. Right now, he’s doing high knees, and almost kicking himself in the face. He asked if I wanted to do it with him. I thought he was joking at first, but his expression turned to stone when I laughed and had to politely decline.

  At the fifty-yard line section of the stadium, behind the team bench, I have half of the section reserved. I think every member of my family will be in attendance today. The last time this happened, I was a rookie. I wish I could say I’m the reason they’re here, but it’s not. It’s Peyton. She’s on the sideline, with her headset on and thumbing through a notebook. I’ve seen what’s in there, copiously detailed notes about every Pioneer player. Even the third string guys.

  The best part about today – we’re playing the Rams. I have a strong desire to annihilate this team, not only for me but for Peyton as well – my girl spent hours studying game film on them and has shown us their weaknesses.

  Actually, the best part about football right now is that the guys have really taken to Peyton. They listen to her, ask her questions when things aren’t going their way, and respect her knowledge of the game. A few of the guys have told me that I better “wife her up” before they put the moves on her. I guess having a wedding date isn’t good enough for them. I was never worried about the team accepting her. What scared me was whether or not she’d allow herself to fit in and express herself. She’s never had a problem telling me where my game is weak, but telling others is a different story.

  After training camp started, Peyton and I made a rule – don’t bring work home. At the stadium or practice facility, she’s a part of the coaching staff. At home, I’m the boss. Not really, but it’s fun to say sometimes. We are equals. We’re two people madly in love with each other, who are trying to plan a wedding while working crazy hours.

  I finally get why she was so hesitant to set a date – the planning. Over the summer, everything was easier because we had the time. Once football started, time became almost non-existent. Her days are much longer than mine. She’s spent hours watching game film, creating player profiles to her liking, and meeting with players and coaching staff. On top of this, she has to attend meetings, which she tells me is totally not her thing.

 

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