Chapter 20

Quinn

 

My stomach had calmed down by the time I got to work. I was late getting to the diner, though, something that rarely happened. Aggie was waiting for me at the kitchen door, concern written on every one of the wrinkles on her beloved face.

“Girl, I heard what happened last night.”

Of course she had. I was pretty sure everyone in the damn county knew what had happened the night before.

Aggie opened her arms for me when I just stood there, unsure of what to say to her as the first wave of shame at what I had been doing came crashing down on me. I let her enfold me in a hug. My chin began to tremble, but I refused to let the sudden sting of tears fall from my eyes.

In that moment, I missed my mother more than I had ever imagined possible. Aggie had been a welcoming substitute, but she couldn’t fully replace the mother who was now gone. Right then, I would have given almost anything to have had another day with her, just one more hour. I needed her to wrap me close like Aggie was doing and tell me everything was going to be okay.

I didn’t know what I was going to do now. I was pregnant with Raider’s baby, and even though he was acting like he wanted me now, I didn’t trust his newfound affections. I ached to leave, to get as far away as I possibly could, but Colt had begged me not to run away.

While I looked at what Flick had done as brave, Colt and the Hannigans looked at it as abandoning them. As much as I needed a new beginning with the life growing inside of me, I couldn’t do that to Colt.

Now I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but right then, having Aggie hug me made it feel like maybe it would be okay.

Eventually.

I just had to grow up and deal with everything like an adult.

I felt Aggie’s lips touch my cheek, and then she was pulling back enough to look down at me. “What can I do to help you, Quinn?”

I sighed deeply and stepped back. “You can’t, Ag, but thank you. I’ll figure it all out.” Forcing a smile for her, I moved around her so I could put my purse up.

“Honey, if you need money, I can give you a loan. Whatever you need, just say the word.”

The kitchen wasn’t empty. Little John was at the fryer, cooking fries or chicken strips. Waitresses were coming and going, either turning in customers’ orders or taking out the food. A few of the other waitresses stopped when they heard Aggie, and I felt my cheeks fill with the heat of embarrassment and a little shame.

I would have never asked for money from her, or anyone else. Not even when I was down to my last hundred dollars had I asked for a handout, or a loan, or anything else for that matter. I wouldn’t have asked for help with money if I only had two dollars to my name.

Maybe I did act a little naive for my age. Maybe I was a little sheltered. But I wasn’t the type of person who took something I didn’t earn.

I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t even if I had wanted to. My voice was locked in my throat.

I went into the back room to put away my things, but mostly to hide from the prying eyes of my co-workers until I could pull myself together.

It took a few minutes before the heat in my face faded. Then I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and forced myself to focus on work. Maybe I didn’t need the money to move away now, but I still needed it to take care of myself and the only innocent in the mess—my baby.

In the chaos of my short-lived plans to get away, I hadn’t really let myself think about the life that Raider had helped me create.

It shouldn’t have come as surprise to me when I started losing my breakfast—before I had even had breakfast—the week before. It had, though. After the first morning, I had known what was going on and had gone to the doctor just the week before to confirm that I didn’t have an STD or something worse since Raider hadn’t used protection the night we’d had sex.

Still, I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Hadn’t wanted to think that my heart would forever be connected to the man who had spent so many years breaking it, and had finally succeeded in shattering it.

For days now, I had tried to pretend like nothing had changed, like I wasn’t going to have to make decisions that didn’t just concern me but my child, as well.

I didn’t know how Raider would react to finding out I was pregnant, and I wasn’t in any hurry to find out. However, I knew that I would eventually have to tell him. Since I was staying, people wouldn’t be able to miss when my belly started to grow bigger. Maybe I could play it off as just gaining weight for a while, but not even that could last long.

Tying my apron into place, I finally sucked it up and went out to start waiting tables. Like I had done at the strip club, however, I let instinct take over and moved on autopilot. I smiled, chitchatted with my regular customers, and pretended like my life wasn’t falling apart at the seams.

The lunch hour came and went, but the flow of customers didn’t let up until nearly three. I was supposed to be off at four, but since I had come in late, I figured I would stay a while longer to make up the hours. I knew Aggie wouldn’t mind.

With half my tables now empty, I took the time to restock the ketchup and steak sauce at each booth then went into the back to make some fresh sweet and unsweetened tea for the upcoming dinner crowds that I knew we would be swamped with starting at five.

No one spoke to me, not even Aggie, who must have gotten the hint and was leaving me in peace. I was glad that I didn’t have to keep up the act with them, glad I could go into the kitchen and let my face relax from the forced smiles and laughs that made my cheeks ache.

“Hey, Quinn,” Little John called over to me from his place at the grill. “One of the girls said you have a new table full of customers that just walked in.”

“Okay, thanks.” Wiping my hands with a paper towel, I headed out into the dining room.

Opening the swinging door to the kitchen, I put my smile back into place and went out to see which one of my tables was now full. Then my smile disappeared when I saw the three blondes sitting in the booth that had been empty a few minutes before.

Instinctively, I touched a hand to my abdomen, mentally promising my child that I wouldn’t let those three bitches near it, ever. Raven was the only aunt my baby needed, not these three selfish-ass cows who had made my life so miserable throughout my entire life.

I didn’t even bother pulling out my order pad as I stopped by the booth. “What do you want?” I asked in as bored a tone as I could muster, but I was too distrustful of their sudden appearance to completely pull it off.

Heather lifted her head first, then Whitney and Amanda followed suit. Typical. Heather was the leader of them, and the other two were just like lemmings, ready to follow her off the side of a cliff if that was where she chose to go. How my mother had given birth to these three, I wasn’t sure. None of her goodness had carried over to them. They had used and abused her just as much as they had me from birth.

“Well, look, girls. It’s our sister, the star of the show over at Paradise City.” There was a smug look on her thickly made-up face. Something close to triumph made her eyes shine. “Heard you were bringing them in by the truckloads, little sis. How does it feel to be the county’s highest paid stripper?”

A few people at my other tables turned at her words, and I could feel their judgment boring into me, long before the whispers started. I felt the back of my neck heating, along with my face, when I heard an older lady who was always in the diner start muttering to her husband about “knowing how she really was all along.”

My sisters noticed, too, the glee on their faces hard to miss. It didn’t matter that they were all club sheep. They belonged to the club; were the MC’s property. The people of Creswell Springs didn’t look down their noses at them. At least, not as much as they did the girls who danced at Paradise City.

“The soup of the day is the broccoli cheddar. The special is the meatloaf. We have two different kinds of berry pie for dessert.” I spoke through clenched teeth, hoping they would just order some food and leave me the hell alone.

Of course that wasn’t their plan. Their favorite thing to do in life was to make me miserable. Second only to fucking around with Raider.

“Hmm …” Whitney twirled one of her perfectly curled locks of hair around her finger, pretending to think about what she wanted. “Maybe we will sample the pie … But that doesn’t mean we want to see your pie, Quinn darling. I mean, half of Northern Cali has already seen that, but we would rather not.”

“How about the fish tacos?” I suggested with a sneer, not caring who overheard me or not. “I mean, your breath should smell like your pussy, right?”

The guys in a booth at the other end of the diner started snickering, and when I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye, I saw that they were two MC brothers. Had there been brothers in there all day long like the day before? I hadn’t noticed, but now that I did, it kind of freaked me out. Something was definitely up, and I was going to make Colt tell me what it was as soon as I got home.

While I was looking at the guys out one corner of my eye, I was still keeping my sisters in my line of sight, so I knew exactly when Whitney moved. She was sitting beside the window, with Amanda blocking her in, but she didn’t let that stop her as she jumped across our baby sister, her nails going for my face.

I stepped back at the last second, making her fall against Amanda, pushing the younger girl out of the booth and onto her ass. She yelped in surprise, while Whitney screeched at me in a voice so high it was a wonder it didn’t break the glass in the windows.

The commotion had the rest of the diner turning to see what was going on.

She righted herself and jumped to her feet, coming toward me with a look of pure venomous hate on her face that was so similar to my own. “You fucking little slut. Wait until I get my hands on you. I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

“Whitney,” a deep voice barked her name from the front entrance, making everyone’s head snap around, including my own.

Seeing Raider striding toward us had me backing up even more. The evidence of his fight with Colt that morning showed in his split lip and a large bruise high on his jaw. He moved smoothly, so I didn’t think he had been too hurt from their brawl. Then again, I figured Raider was probably use to tussles like that.

Most of the fight left my sister’s face. She tried to put on a seductive look, but Raider barely looked at her as he kept walking past her, only stopping when he was mere inches from me.

He lifted one of his huge hands, skimming a finger down my cheek before smoothing a lock of my hair back behind my ear. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

My mouth fell open in surprise at both his tender touch and how he had ignored all three of my sisters. In the past, I had been the one being ignored over those three. Hell, over any other woman.

I heard odd choking noises coming from my sisters and chanced a look in their direction to find them just as surprised as I was. Whitney looked hurt that he had ignored her, a pout on her lips that made her look like a petulant little girl rather than the twenty-seven-year-old woman she actually was.

Belatedly, I stepped back from Raider before I could enjoy the feel of his callused finger caressing down my neck. Before I could take more than two steps, however, he caught my fingers and pulled me back toward him.

“Quinn.” With his other hand, he caught my chin, tilting it up so he could look into my eyes. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

Remembering that my mouth was still gaping open, I snapped it shut and found myself nodding. “I’m fine. She didn’t touch me.”

“Good.” He moved his fingers from my chin to cup my neck. “Are you finished? Aggie said you were off at four. It’s just after that now.”

“I …” I didn’t know how to answer him. Or why, more to the point, he had called Aggie to find out what time I got off work.

“She’s good to go,” Aggie called out from the kitchen. “We got her tables covered. Take her home, make her rest. She looks like a puff of wind could knock her over right now.”

Raider’s eyes skimmed over my face, his green orbs darkening from their usual olive-jade color to moss. “Let’s go, sweetheart.”

“I was going to stay a few extra hours to make up for the time I missed this morning,” I tried to argue.

He only shook his head, a grim but determined look on his face. “No. Grab your things. I’ll drive you home.”

“But … I drove myself.”

“I know. I had Raven drop me off so I could drive you.” He took my hand, linking our fingers, and pulled me past my sisters, who still had their mouths gaped open.

As we neared the entrance, Aggie came out from the back with my purse in her hands. “Take tomorrow off, Quinn,” she commanded with a small smile. “The place won’t fall into the poor house without you for one day.”

“But—”

“See you, Aggie.” Raider tucked me close before I could argue further and opened the door.

“You drive safely with my girl in there with you, Raider Hannigan.”

He tipped his head at her. “You don’t need to worry about that, Ag. I got precious cargo to take care of.”