Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
But Ande, my best friend, would be okay on her own. She would make it just fine without me.
And Quinn? Well, Quinn could fuck right off a cliff for all I cared.
He’d broken my heart.
I would live.
As long as I didn’t have to see him on another freakin’ date again, that was.
I glanced at the clock and saw it was just barely five.
I had time…
I backed out of the driveway and went to the nearest recruiting station.
I walked inside and signed my life away.
I walked down to the Army recruiter’s office, the one division of military that Quinn would never consider, and walked right in.
The recruiter who saw me walk in assessed me and his eyes gleamed as he took me in.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m interested in enlisting.”
Two weeks later, I graduated early from school with a quietness that startled Ande. One second, she was talking about next semester and prom, and in the following breath, I told her I was leaving.
Both of us were crying as we walked away.
Well paint me green and call me a pickle because I’m done dillin’ with you bitches.
—Text from Quinn to his brothers
QUINN
8 weeks later
I was angry.
Livid, actually.
Two months I’d been gone, and the moment I get back, she’s on a date?
The anger and resentment inside me at the knowledge that she hadn’t waited, that she hadn’t tried to fight harder, had been like an acid burn for going on a few hours now.
That was why I’d said yes to a date.
Had agreeing been the smartest move on my part? No.
Had doing the agreeing in front of my sister been smart? Absolutely not.
Had I gone on the ‘date’ anyway? Yes.
But the date hadn’t gone on long.
She’d realized rather quickly that the date I’d agreed to had been for a different reason than her.
I.e., she knew that I was still really stuck up on Shayne.
I’d pretended, though, until I saw her walk in.
The moment she saw me, I knew.
I hadn’t necessarily seen her face, but the entire restaurant had felt like it’d gone chilly.
My date, who’d been facing the entrance to the side of the building where Shayne had come in, had seen her, and upon the look on her face, I knew that Shayne hadn’t been able to control her emotions.
She never had been great at that.
“Why did you two break up?” Dali asked.
I leaned back in my chair, wondering if I should answer honestly, and decided… fuck it.
Why not tell her why?
“Because my parents are police officers. I’m now a police officer. And Shayne’s family is a bunch of criminals,” I said. “Her brother is the hot shot gang leader of the Breakers, and he’s gone out of his way to let anyone and everyone know that he doesn’t approve of a relationship between Shayne and me. We broke up because I couldn’t continue to be with someone who would knowingly associate with a man who saw nothing wrong with attracting young, impressionable kids into his clutches, and teaching them that the only way is the Breakers way.”
Her mouth pursed. “I think maybe you could’ve allowed her to graduate first before you broke up with her, though. What was she supposed to do? Leave her family? She’s only seventeen.”
She had a point.
But…
“There was an absoluteness to the way she shared that she wouldn’t consider leaving her brother,” I said, almost a little too honestly.
“Why did you agree to this date when you’re still incredibly in love with her?” Dali continued to push.
“Because I don’t want to be.”
Anger at myself, and at Shayne, fueled me through the next few days.
Then, starting at the Dallas Police Department kept me going through the next two weeks.
It was only after I heard a passing comment from Ande in the kitchen when she was talking to Garrett, our youngest brother, when I realized my mistake in ignoring Shayne.
In doing so, I didn’t know what she was doing until it was too late.
“Wait a minute,” I said to Ande, stopping in the middle of the kitchen. “Can you repeat what you just said?”
Ande’s eyes were narrowed. “No, I won’t.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because I don’t like you very much, Quinn,” she said. “I told you in the beginning that if you hurt her, I’d hurt you. And since I can’t physically do it, I emotionally can.”
Then Ande left, angry as hell, leaving me with way too many questions and no answers.
I looked at Garrett and said, “What was she talking about? Where is she?”
We both knew who ‘she’ was.
There was no beating around the bush for either of us.
“Shayne joined the Army.”
“She what?” I asked, thinking I didn’t hear correctly.
“She joined the Army,” he answered again. “She shipped out two days ago. Applied for early graduation and got it. Her brother signed the documents necessary for her to join at seventeen. She’s gone.”