Page 103

Fucking finally.

I open the door to the office and step inside before stopping dead in my tracks. Quinn is seated behind the desk and just like yesterday, she’s crying. It fucking rips through me like claws and I can’t fight the pulling sensation deep down in my gut, telling me to go to her and wrap my arms around her. Crossing the room in three quick strides, I stop next to her chair and do just that.

“God, I missed you, baby,” I whisper into her hair and a sob bubbles out of her but I ignore it. Whatever is going on is serious and I need just a few more seconds to hold her before I find out what it is.

“Lucas,” she gasps, clinging to my shirt so I hold her tighter, hoping to take just a little bit of her pain away as worry eats away at me. Pulling back, I meet her eyes and try to force a smile to my face.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on here, baby? Why I had to hunt you down at work just to get you to talk to me?”

Another sob spills out of her mouth and she nods as she presses the back of her fingers to her lips. “You should sit.”

“Think I’ll stand,” I growl. Her eyes beg me for compliance and I pull her back to me, pressing my lips against her forehead before releasing her and rounding the desk. We both sink into our chairs and she sucks in a breath.

“I don’t know where to start.”

I nod, running the tip of my finger along my bottom lip as I study her. “Why don’t you start with what happened at the baby shower?”

“We…uh, we have to start before that.”

“Meaning?” I ask, arching a brow.

“Do you remember when I told you about Brooklyn’s father?”

My stomach turns as I remember the night she told me about her past and I nod. “Yeah, I remember, babe.”

“The man who raped me… he was never found and I’ve never seen him again…” She sucks in a breath as more tears fall down her cheeks. “Until we were at the baby shower.”

I blink and stare at her, my mind stalling on her words. “Are you saying one of the guys raped you? Quinn, they would fucking never…”

“No, Lucas,” she whispers, her tears falling faster. “It wasn’t one of the guys.”

“There was no one else…”

My sluggish thoughts screech to a halt and I stare at her for a second, searching for any kind of clue that she’s not implying what I think she’s implying.

“No,” I whisper and she nods, staring down at her shaking hands as she presses them to the table and another sob rips through her.

“I’m so sorry, Lucas.”

I jerk out of my seat, knocking it backward as I stumble away from her. “No.” She meets my eyes and I can see the certainty in her gaze. I run my hand through my hair as I pace back and forth across her office. “No. It’s not possible.”

“You have no idea,” she says as she stands, “how much I wish it weren’t true but as soon as I saw him, I knew. Your brother is the man who raped me.”

“No!” I scream, shaking my head. My thoughts are heavy as I try to piece it all together, make it all make sense because she has to be mistaken. There is no way that Clay is her rapist. “You’re wrong. You didn’t get a good look at him.”

“Lucas,” she says, her tone grave. “For those two minutes, I stared your brother in the face as he violated me and I will never forget him. Not even when I’m old and gray. I know this is hard for you but don’t ever insinuate that I don’t know who the monster who raped me is.”

I take another step back and shake my head. “He’s not a monster. He’s my brother.”

“To you, he isn’t but to me…”

“No. He had to have been high at the time. He probably didn’t even know…”

“And that makes it any better?” she asks, interrupting me and I shake my head.

I don’t know what to do.

I don’t know what to think.