Chapter 18

Colt

 

An alarm going off woke me from a restless sleep. Groaning, I rolled over and lifted my head, expecting to see Kelli’s phone going off across the room. A scan of the room told me that her phone was still plugged into her charger, but it was silent.

As the noise continued, she shifted beside me, causing the sheet to fall to her waist. I had a nice view of her amazing tits, her flat abdomen, and the unique birthmark just under her navel. She was sound asleep, having had no trouble drifting off after our angry fuck session the night before.

My body started to harden just thinking of the wild hate sex we had burned the sheets up with. I was still pissed at her, but fuck, I couldn’t stop wanting her, no matter what. Jesus Christ, she had let Quinnie start stripping at that damn club she seemed to enjoy working at.

My sweet, innocent, little Quinn who deserved so much more than to have to take her clothes off for a bunch of horny losers just to earn money.

Anger started to burn in my gut all over again, and I jerked into a sitting position then stood up. That damn alarm was still going off, and now that I was wide awake, I could tell it was coming from Quinn’s room.

Grabbing a pair of basketball shorts, I pulled them on as I headed for the other bedroom.

From the way the sun was starting to shine through the blinds, I figured she had turned the alarm on so she could get to work at Aggie’s. That it was still blaring relentlessly wasn’t like my friend. She was normally up as soon as it went off and ready to start her day.

Her door was ajar, but I still tapped on it to let her know I was coming in. “Quinn?”

Not getting an answer, I moved into the room. Her bed was rumpled, like she had left it in a hurry. The noisy phone was still making that shrill-ass noise on her nightstand. Crossing to it, I lifted it and turned the alarm off.

The bathroom door was cracked open, so I headed for the door, figuring she was just in there, getting ready. I was almost to the door when I heard a groan, followed by the distinct sound of vomit hitting a porcelain bowl.

I didn’t even stop to think about what I was doing before I was running into the bathroom to check on her. The thought of Quinn sick or hurt fucked with my head. I needed to take care of her, make sure she was okay.

I had gotten shit from the first day I had claimed her as my best friend, but I couldn’t have cared less. They could call me a pussy, and it wouldn’t have mattered, as long as they left her alone. If they didn’t, then they would bring down the fires of hell on their heads.

I could tell her anything, and I knew she would take it to her grave. She didn’t judge me, didn’t condemn me. She loved me wholeheartedly, and I loved her right back with everything inside of me.

If I could have fallen in love with her, that would have made my life a hell of a lot easier. Probably for both of us. We could have gotten married, had a few kids, and I could have spent the rest of my life giving her the world, as she deserved. But while I felt like she was the other half of my soul, I didn’t feel anything more for her than an intense affection. It was stronger than what I felt for Raven, but not in the least sexual. She brought me peace when the world was at its darkest.

In the bathroom, I found Quinn on her knees in front of the toilet, her hands holding either side as she continued to vomit into the bowl. She was dressed in her old sleep shirt, and her hair was pulled up into a messy knot that I knew she liked to sleep in. My concern only mounted as I watched her start to dry heave.

I crossed to the sink and pulled out a washcloth from one of the drawers. Dampening it with cold water, I crouched beside her and placed the cloth on the back of her neck.

She jerked as if I had stabbed her and snapped her head up. Her face was pale as death, her eyes bloodshot, and sweat poured down her face, mixing with her tears.

Taking the cloth from her neck, I used it to wipe her face, but the tears only fell faster. Her body was shaking with the effort to remain upright, and I wrapped an arm around her waist, taking her slight weight. She sagged against me, her forehead pressing to my bare chest.

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head, but didn’t speak.

For several long minutes, we stayed like that. I stroked the strands that had fallen from her knot away from her face, offering her the only comfort I could.

She shifted, and I thought it was to get up, so I started to help her. Instead, she groaned like she was dying and buried her head in the toilet again. There was nothing left for her to throw up, so I got her a glass of water from the sink. It took her a little while, but she was finally able to take a few sips to rinse out her mouth.

For the next ten minutes, I stayed with her. When it seemed like she was finally done, I carried her back into her bedroom and tucked her under her covers. She curled onto her side, burying her face in one of the pillows.

“Feeling any better?”

She shrugged one shoulder, staying quiet as the tears once again flowed down her cheeks like twin rivers.

“I’m going to call Raven.” I picked up her phone since mine was still in Kelli’s room and started to hit my sister’s number.

“Don’t bother,” Quinn croaked in a voice that was painful from all the vomiting she had done.

“You’re sick, Quinnie. Maybe she can recommend something to help soothe your stomach.”

“I’m not sick,” she whispered, the tears flowing faster.

“Are you mental?” She was still deathly pale, her lips were dry and cracked, colorless. She looked like she was miserable and would need to bolt to the bathroom again at any time. “You have a stomach bug or something, honey. If Raven can’t help, then I’ll call Doc. He can stop by and check you over.”

She shook her head. “No. This isn’t a bug. I’ll be fine in a little while. It usually passes by noon.”

“Usually?” I parroted, my concern for her escalating. “You’ve been sick like this recently?”

Another shrug. “For about a week or so now.”

“For fuck’s sake, Quinnie. You have got to see Doc.” I was already dialing his number with her phone, but before I could hit connect, she reached out and took it from me. “You need medicine. And tests. It’s not normal for someone to be this sick for so long.” Fear for her was starting to choke me.

Christ, I had faced down bullets flying past my head with no fear. Had gone toe-to-toe with men twice my size, twice as mean, yet the thought of something happening to this female terrified me like nothing else. I couldn’t lose her. She was my anchor, the proof that there was actually still some good in the world.

“I’m not sick, Colt,” she snapped, growing agitated. “I know what’s wrong with me. Like I said, it will pass in a little while. Then I have to get ready for work.”

I scrubbed my hands over my face, exasperated with her. “If you aren’t sick, then what the hell is going on? People don’t just puke up their fucking guts like you just did, and then go about their day. That shit just ain’t normal.”

“Morning sickness isn’t a life or death kind of thing,” she muttered so low that I thought I had heard her wrong.

Morning sickness.

She was right; Raven’s morning sickness had been pretty bad. The first three months or so of her pregnancy with Max hadn’t been fun for her …

Morning sickness?

Every muscle in my body tensed. No. No way. She couldn’t have been. It wasn’t possible. She …

She had admitted she wasn’t a virgin any longer the night before. We hadn’t talked about it because I had been too busy dealing with Kelli. And then there had been Raider—

No. Fucking. Way.

“Are you telling me that you’re pregnant, Quinn?”

“Yes.” I saw her lips move, but her voice was so low I couldn’t actually hear her.

Her tears started flowing faster, but she didn’t turn away from me. Instead, she looked up at me with something close to defiance in her baby blues.

The reality of what she was saying hit me in the face like a hundred-pound weight. I sucked in a deep breath, blew it out. I scrubbed my hands over my face, ran my fingers through my hair. Tried to stay calm. I wasn’t going to kill anyone. It was too fucking early for that shit. And … Fuck. And if this was all because of my brother, I really needed to think about how I was going to deal with this.

I couldn’t kill him.

Even if I wanted to.

Fucking hell, I wanted to, though.

First, I had to take care of Quinn. She had just been ill. I wasn’t going to scream at her. I wouldn’t yell.

“Who?” I bit out, trying and succeeding at keeping my voice neutral. I needed her to confirm the suspicion that was starting to eat at my sanity.

Raider had come by the night before. He had wanted to talk to her. Since when did he do that? He avoided her like she had the plague or some shit.

“That doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t want it, anyway.” She grimaced, her lips twisting. “He wouldn’t care; trust me.”

“Who?” I repeated, already imagining myself pounding the motherfucker—my goddamn brother, for fuck’s sake—into a bloody pile of broken flesh and bones at my feet.

“Can we not talk about this right now?” she mumbled, her face turning a sickly shade of green as she fought back another wave of nausea. “I’m trying to concentrate on not throwing up again.”

I wanted to press the issue, wanted to hear it from her own lips that it was, or wasn’t, my brother’s baby growing in her belly right then. She deserved so much better than Raider as her baby’s father. My brother only cared about getting his dick wet in a new piece of strange … or one of his favorite sheep.

“Quinn, I’m going to ask you this once, and then I’ll drop it, okay?” I waited for her to nod, which she did after a slight hesitation. “Is it Raider’s?”

The truth flashed across her face before she could mask it and try to hide her reaction to my simple, yet loaded question.

Everything inside of me went completely cold. I turned off every emotion that tried to rear its head. Love for my brother. Respect for the man who I had grown up beside then rode with in the MC for years. He’d had my back, and I’d had his. We shared the same blood, the same last name. But right then, he was dead to me. He had done the one thing that would make me consider him as good as dead.

Quinn was everything to me, something he had always known, yet he had fucked her behind my back.

“It doesn’t matter,” she tried to say again. “I’m leaving, anyway.”

Leaving? She was leaving …

Goddammit. So that was why she had been dancing. That was why she was so desperate for money. She was going to pack up and leave. Get as far away from my brother as she possibly could.

She was going to leave me.

Somehow, I found the strength to stay calm as I leaned over my best friend, pressing a kiss to the center of her forehead. “I’m sorry.” My voice wasn’t normal to my own ears, but when I saw the fear in her blue orbs, I knew I wasn’t hearing things. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten her more, so I straightened and headed for the door.

“Colt,” she cried after me. “Colt, please don’t do anything stupid.”

I didn’t stop, didn’t make her any promises I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep. She wouldn’t leave if Raider was dead.

“Don’t tell him!” she screamed. Still, I kept walking. “You can’t tell him.” She was sobbing now, making my heart clench with each gut-wrenching sound that left her. “Please, don’t tell him.”