He shook his head, still watching me. “Not that, Kinsley.” He swallowed, blinked a couple of times, then picked up his helmet. He shoved it on his head. “Give me your phone,” he demanded, holding out his gloved hand. I didn’t think twice as I handed it over. He took off a glove then worked the keys. “If you ever get into a shitty situation like that again,” he looked up at me with an intense stare, then handed my phone back, “you call me. I don’t care who the fuck you’re with or where you are, you fucking call me, got it?”
I nodded like a bobblehead. “Yeah, okay.”
He leaned toward me, an aggressive move, but I wasn’t scared by him. “Make sure that you do, Kinsley, because if I find out that one of those fuckers has pulled this shit again, I swear to fucking God…” He closed his eyes for a second as his nostrils flared. “He jerked his chin to the house. “Go inside. I bet your mom’s just waiting to tear you a new one.”
Sure enough, the door flew open, and my mom stood there, thunder simmering below the surface, and right then, right there, I was terrified.
Quinn revved his bike and left, disappearing into the night.
I turned and started toward the house. “Please, Mom, can we leave the interrogation until the morning?” I pleaded.
“Oh, if you think that’s all it’ll be, you’re in for a rude awakening, Kinsley Jensen.”
Fuck.
Chapter 6
Quinn
My anger flared the second I’d seen Kinsley on her own, walking, nobody around, down the most deserted road in the entire town of Broken Hollow. Once the movie theater closed up for the night, so did everywhere else, leaving the place a breeding ground for trouble makers and criminals, me included. There weren’t even any bars to go into just to get off the street.
The only reason I was there was that I was on my way back from visiting my mom. The cemetery was on the other side of town, out of the way of people’s lives.
When I saw Kinsley, I had to stop and ask what the hell she was doing there. What Kinsley didn’t know was that she was going in the wrong direction, taking herself further and further away from civilization.
I had to get her the fuck out of there, especially that road, the one that had changed everything.
I understood why she hadn’t called a cab. It was so easy to get blindsided by somebody when distracted. It’d happened to me more times than I could count—I’d eventually stopped when it continued to happen.
I ran my already wrapped hands over my face again, barely able to control the pent up fury that sat like a violent storm under my skin, just waiting to blow the fuck up. I had to get it under control until I got to the circle.
“Let’s go,” Josh said, grabbing his bag. “It’s almost go time, and we haven’t even shown our faces yet.”
“Give me a minute,” I said behind my fingers, my red, fabric-covered hands together in front of my mouth. I breathed in as much as I could, expanding my lungs to full capacity. I let it go, controlling the air as it left my body, trying to get myself focused for the circle. With Kinsley on my mind tonight, I was sure to take it out on whoever was in front of me, giving me the much-needed release I’d been waiting on for the past two weeks.
“I’ll be waiting in the car.” He walked out, leaving me in the hallway of our house to get my shit together.
“Shit.” I grabbed my bag and walked out, locking the door behind me. I had to get to the event that’d been organized, and I didn’t have another minute to spare. I got in Josh’s car and buckled up. “Go.”
He sped through the streets, Broken Hollow disappearing behind us, the houses and streetlights, still open cafes and diners that unsuspecting people sat in, long gone in the distance.
“So, are you gonna tell me what the hell happened?” Josh asked.
He’d given me space when I got home at almost twelve-thirty, earlier than usual when I’d been to see my mom. Riding the streets to clear my head hadn’t been an option the moment I’d sat Kinsley on the back of my bike, her arms around me, crushing me like she was holding on with her life. My head was fucked up more than usual after that, and the blood boiling in my veins hadn’t even cooled to a fucking simmer. On the outside, though, I looked the same pissed off Quinn as ever.
“I gave Kinsley a ride home,” I said, finally. “Phoebe left her alone on Chavene.”
“What?”
I nodded slowly. “Yup. Scared out of her fucking mind,” I continued. “Couldn’t search for a cab company in fear of being distracted.”
“Why the hell did she leave her?” he ground out, his anger showing under his usual calm front.
I shook my head this time. “No fucking clue, but I bet Phoebe knew Kinsley didn’t know the area.”
“Do you think it was something to do with the beach?”
My eyes darted to him. “What about the beach?”
“Well, people kinda thought you were together, and Phoebe’s not exactly the most rational person when it comes to you, so maybe she was warning her away?”
“Do you speak Cosmo now?” I asked, my brows dipping.
He rolled his eyes. “Look, Rachel happened to mention that Phoebe still throws a fit because you don’t reciprocate the obsession she has with you, and now that she thinks there’s a chance you’re getting hot and heavy with the new chick…” He lifted a shoulder and tipped his head to the side.
Not that it mattered. She was still preening for me, regardless. Even her fucking somebody else didn’t stop her.
“Phoebe’s fucking Layton,” I shot back. “I don’t care if it’s to try to make me jealous, which it never will—trust me—I never wanted her in the first place.”
“Try telling that to a deranged psycho chick who thinks you belong together.”
My head fell back, and I massaged my eyes while I could. They were more than likely going to be swollen and too painful to touch after tonight. “God, why can’t she just leave me alone?”
“Why can’t anybody?” Josh asked. “It comes with the territory, unfortunately, Quinn. It’s not just girls that get caught up on a guy, especially ones that do what you do and made a name for themselves in the process. I’ve seen plenty of guys get so messed up over girls that don’t feel the same way that they practically turn into stalkers. Watching them with their boyfriends, trying to muscle in when their guy’s not there… It happens too often.”
He was right, and it was fucking depressing. I couldn’t understand why people just couldn’t let go of someone if they didn’t want them back. Move. The fuck. On. It wasn’t rocket science.
“Whatever, she needs to get a life and grow out of her diapers already.”
***
We arrived at the run-down brick barn on Clover Farm, the only building left standing from the hurricane that tore through the area in the late fifties. There was no roof, no doors or windows, just the bricks, and steel frame. We parked in our usual spot at the rear, a few spaces away from Layton’s RV.
I got out, my feet crunching on the dry dirt under my feet, gravel shifting as I stepped away to close the door.