Page 83 of Turning Back

“Why not?” I say. “That’s how everything works. You don’t know what you don’t know.”

“Or you just stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away.”

“What the fuck?” I laugh.

“You need a DNA test, Quin.”

“Why? We’re doing good for now. If we know, that’ll spoil it.”

“That’ll set things straight, not spoil it. Once you know you can decide how to move forward.”

“We already have. Me, and Bric, and Rochelle, and Adley.”

“You think this game will last forever?” he says.

“It’s not a game when no one’s playing, Smith.”

“Well,” he says, kicking his feet up on my glass coffee table. “I hate to break it to you, but everyone’s still playing.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know more than you think,” he says. “And I’m not trying to be a dick, but I’m serious. You need that DNA test. You need to know who the father is. And beyond that, Adley needs to know too.”

“She’s six months old.”

“I know, but kids grow up, Quin. And secrets tend to stay secrets. Don’t fall for it.”

“It’s not a trick,” I say, starting to get pissed off.

“Fine,” he says, slapping his hands on his knees and standing up. “I’ve gotta go beat the shit out of some thugs at the gym. Little bastards kicked my ass last week. But I’m ready now.” He tucks his little rats back into the gym bag and hikes it over his shoulder. “You’re gonna show up on Saturday for the opening, right?”

“What opening?” I ask.

“Oh, Chella didn’t tell you? I guess she was gonna do that tomorrow at lunch. The Tea Room is having a soft opening on Saturday to nail things down before the grand opening next week. Chella told her about the baby. But don’t worry, I’m running interference for you, bro. I’m gonna make sure—”

“My mother?” I ask, cutting him off. “She knows about the baby?”

“See,” Smith says. “This is why you need that test. That cute mother of yours is going to fall in love, Quin. And if that baby isn’t yours, it will break her heart.”

I think about this for a minute and decide he’s probably right.

“And yours,” Smith adds as he opens the front door. “You need to get that info soon, Quin. Because Bric is falling in love with that kid too.”

Chapter Seventeen - Rochelle

I knew three things when I found Elias Bricman four years ago.

One. He was hot.

Two. He was half-owner of Turning Point Club.

Three. He liked to play games.

If I had to make a list of three things I know about Bric now, none of those things even come close to mattering.

I didn’t even know who Quin was until Bric took me to dinner at the Club the day after we met. He was sitting up in Smith’s bar—both of them were—when Bric brought me upstairs for a chat. That’s what he called it. A chat. That chat ended up being an offer to play the game. Which was the whole reason I was there.

I’d heard about this game they played from a girl named Lindsey up in Salt Lake. I was just passing through Utah on my way to Colorado, but my car broke down and I ended up staying for a few months, trying to get the money together to fix it. Lindsey was just a roommate I had at the time. She was a law student at the University of Utah. And since I was on a very tight budget, I was looking on campus for temporary housing, and got a room in her house for fifty dollars a week. She liked me, she said. And when she found out I was heading towards Denver, she got chatty. It turned out that Lindsey had played a game in Denver with three men. She told me all about it. Told me about the money, the sex, and, of course, the Club.