When Arsen woke the next morning he didn’t try to seduce her, even though having tasted her pleasures, he wanted her more badly than he had the night before. Something had changed between them after they made love, but the change seemed to be for the worse.
Quinn seemed more distant and withdrawn than she had been recently. He was familiar with her rollercoaster emotions, though that had been improving as well, but even though he knew he had let her lead every step of the way last night, he suspected she was regretting the decision to fuck.
He’d tried to draw her out, but she dodged every attempted to engage her on the subject, assuring him everything was fine. He’d finally dropped the matter. If she wanted to talk, she knew where to find him.
They returned to Tucson, stopping at his house to shower and change. The deeper into the morning they got, the more distant Quinn became. She wasn’t unpleasant, or surly, just quiet, and that concerned him more than anything.
They arrived at the clubhouse just after lunch and Arsen went directly to the lab. They should have received their latest order of sassafras oil, and he needed to check it for purity. He trusted the assay document that shipped with the oil for the soap, but not the MDMA. If it wasn’t ninety percent pure, as the supplier claimed, he would have to adjust the quantity of oil used in the distillation process to compensate.
He was waiting on the CG-MS to complete the run and tell him what was actually in the oil when his phone rang.
“Jason,” he said, after glancing at the caller ID. “What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Thanks for the information on the fake Hearts and Daggers. I’ve been able to put the fear of God into people with it. Which leads me to the next thing. We’ve tracked down the counterfeiters. It’s right in your back yard. I don’t know if they’re manufacturing, but the supply is coming from an outfit called the Chrome Horsemen, out of Phoenix. Heard of them?”
Arsen sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. They tried to break into the molly market a couple of years ago and we shut them out. Looks like they are trying again, but this time trading on our name, the fucks.”
Jason chuckled. “It sucks to be so successful at what you do that people try to counterfeit it, doesn’t it?”
“Ha, ha, fuck you,” Arsen growled.
Jason laughed. “I’m sure you can handle it. We’re squeezing their pipeline on this end. People were pissed they were buying a 60 hit when they thought they were getting a 150, not to mention all the other shit you said was in there. Word on the street backs up what you were saying about the dosage.”
Arsen grinned, enjoying the fact he was putting the screws to the Chrome Horsemen. “I have no reason to lie to you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Just being clear. We’ve been nothing but honest with you since the beginning. I’m not going to change now.”
“That’s good to know. By the way, I have some more good news, for you anyway. The supplier to our San Francisco chapter got busted. Can you supply them as well? We’ll handle transportation, just like normal.”
“Probably. What kind of demand are we looking at?”
“Total? I’d say fifty a week, but we’d like 100 on the next shipment to build supply and meet some pent up demand.”
“Jesus! How are you moving that much stuff?”
“The San Francisco chapter supplies all the way down to San Luis Obispo, plus our demand here is LA is going up because people are starting to come to us over this fake shit. They know we have the good stuff. To be honest, from our point of view, this counterfeiting has been good for business. You shut them down to cut off that supply and yeah, I think we can move more than fifty, maybe as much as seventy-five a week.”
“We can do it, but we’re going to need a couple of weeks to ramp up to that. I simply don’t have the raw materials on hand for you to double your order size, then provide the fifty bump, and still meet my other demand. I burned a lot of inventory with that last bump I gave you. How about I deliver the fifty this week and next, then get you the hundred the week after that?”
“If that’s the best you can do, we’ll take it.”
“That’s the best I can do on such short notice.”
“Okay, but stock up. We may want another increase if demand keeps going up.”
***
Michelle stepped up behind Quinn. “You okay? You seem a little down.”
“Yeah, fine.”
Michelle studied her a moment her then grinned. “You’re a lying bitch. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but don’t try to blow me off with the everything is fine bullshit. What’s wrong. Did Arsen do something?”
“No. Well, yes, but…”
Michelle looked around and then nodded her head. They moved to one of the guest rooms and she shut the door. “What did he do?”
Quinn looked down. “He took me to the cabin last night.”
“He did?” Michelle asked, her surprise clear in her voice.
“Yeah. I know about Holly.”
“Is that what has you down? That wasn’t his fault. Nobody could have seen that coming.”
“No, that’s not it. We spent the night and…” She saw Michelle’s eyes widen.
“Did he force himself on you?”
“No!” Quinn cried. “Nothing like that!”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know!” Quinn cried in frustration. “He was so patient and gentle, but I feel so…confused.”
“Over what?”
“I don’t know! That’s the problem! I got upset and started crying and he just stopped. I felt so guilty for leading him on then pulling the rug out from under him, but he didn’t seem to care. We tried again and I got into it, and it bothers me I did. It makes me feel like a whore.”
Michelle looked at her for a moment, her face twisted into disbelief. “What? Why would you say that?” she asked, her voice full of exasperation.
“I don’t know. I feel like I shouldn’t haven’t enjoyed it, not after I’d been…”
“That’s just stupid!” Michelle snapped. “Did you enjoy sex before?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Then why wouldn’t you enjoy it again? I think it’s amazing you’ve improved as much as you have. Arsen told Zane what you’d been through, and the fact you came out of that at all is a testament to your strength. The fact you took a lover only a month or so after you escaped is amazing, but I think that’s a good sign.” Michelle lowered her voice and leaned in closer. “To be honest, I didn’t know Arsen had it him to be as thoughtful and kind as he’s been. After Holly was killed, he kind of turned back into a manwhore. I can’t blame him, and I know what he was doing, but that didn’t change the fact he’d changed.”
“Changed how?”
“I think Holly was a good influence on him. They got married about five years ago. Before that he was kind of wild. He used to fuck any woman he could bed, two, three, sometimes four different women in a week. Then he met Holly, and I guess she could match him in the bedroom. After that, he settled down. Holly and I became good friends and she would tell me things, like how they would sometimes spend the entire weekend in bed, fucking, eight, ten, twelve times over the weekend, or how they would ride out into the desert, throw a blanket on the ground, and fuck under the stars.”
Michelle shrugged. “After she died, he kind of went back to the way he was. Not as bad as before, but in the last six months he’s made regular use of all the club girls. I guess he was trying to replace her, or fill a hole inside him, I don’t know. None of us knew what was going on with him because he wouldn’t talk about it. All I know is losing her devastated him.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“Don’t you see? After you showed up, so far as I know, he hasn’t screwed anyone, and the fact that he went back to the cabin with you.” She smiled. “Arsen’s a good guy, but I didn’t know he had the self-control he’s shown with you. Before Holly, if a woman wouldn’t fuck him, he was done with her. But now, with you, he’s waited a month? While he’s been helping you heal, I think you’ve been helping him.”
She stared at Michelle a moment. “Why are you telling me this, and what does that have to do with how I feel?”
“Because I think everything happens for a reason.”
“You think Holly died so Arsen and I could be together?” Quinn cried, appalled at the idea.
“No, but maybe he found you on the interstate so you could heal each other.”
“You’re talking about fate. You think we’re meant for each other? I don’t believe in stuff like that.”
Michelle shrugged. “Call it what you will. I think you two going to bed and getting it on was the best thing that could happen to both of you. You’re learning to trust again, and to get on with your life, and he’s learning somethings are worth sacrificing, and fighting, for. I think you two going to bed is the first step in healing. For both of you.”
“If you’re right, why do I feel so guilty, like I’ve done something wrong?”
“I don’t know. Why do you? Do you think it was wrong to sleep with him? You’d been doing that for weeks already.”
“No, but we didn’t have sex until last night. We hadn’t even kissed.”
Michelle shrugged. “So? Were you going to go through the rest of your life and never have a man between your legs again? Seems to me that would be the worst fate of all. I wouldn’t want to live like that, would you?”
“No, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t know!”
“Maybe that’s because you think you should feel like it was wrong, but you know, deep down inside, there was nothing wrong with what you did.” Michelle paused then took her hands. “If it feels right, and it’s not hurting anyone else, then it is right. Remember that.”
Quinn watched Michelle’s eyes a moment. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For talking to me.”
Michelle smiled. “That’s what sisters do,” she said gently.