QUINN"I never knew it got so cold down south." Lisa Taylor wrapped her scarf a little more securely around her face. "I'm glad I remembered my gloves."On the other side of me, her husband leaned over. "Well, it is December, Lisa. You can't expect beach weather. Virginia isn't that far south."I bit my lip and tried not to laugh. Leo's parents had been down here for the last three days, visiting on what Joe called a 'pre-wedding mini-vacation' and what Lisa referred to as 'Joe's attempt to keep me from killing people'. Although they never really argued, they sniped at each other all the time, which made it less than fun to be around them. Apparently, being the parents of the groom was almost as stressful as being the bride's family. Simon had called us last week, griping about the tensions between Justine's parents and his own."You've got to take them off my hands for a little while, Leo. Please, I'm begging you." Neither of us had ever heard Simon sound so desperate. "All of the
QUINN"There's my boy!" Joe clapped his hands and whistled as the Rebels took the field for their first possession in the second half. We were up by two field goals, but with a team like New York, that wasn't quite a comfortable margin. "I told him we wanted to see him score today." Lisa nudged me. "Both times, it's happened when we weren't at the game. It's starting to give me a complex."I laughed. "I missed one of them, since it was on the road. So don't take it personally." Down on the field, the center snapped the ball into Gideon's hands. The quarterback stutter-stepped backwards, looking for an open receiver and then fired a pass downfield to a wide receiver, who caught the ball and took off. The crowd jumped to its collective feet, cheering him on. He made it to the twenty-eight-yard line before he was forced out of bounds by a New York player. We sat back down as the chains moved, and Joe patted my back. "This is going to be it, this next play. You watch. I've got a
QUINNWe'd been waiting in the empty, echoing corridor outside the locker room for twenty minutes. The guard had kindly but firmly told us that we couldn't go any further, but after Ellie had cajoled him, he'd promised to give us any update he heard and to talk to the trainer about letting us in as soon as it was possible. People swooshed through the hall, to and fro, but none of them showed us the least bit interest. A couple of reporters straggled down, but a non-life-threatening injury to a second year player who was only just beginning to show his strength wasn't exactly breaking news. I tried not to be bitter about that, thinking of all the times the press had hounded us about stupid stuff since Leo had been in college. One of the journalists was live streaming the game on his phone, with the volume pumped. Apparently the Rebels had made the extra point after Leo's touchdown, but New York had come back to score ten points after that-a fast touch down and then a field goal. Th
QUINNThanks to the security team that we'd hired to keep the media and the curious public at bay, I could only barely see the people lining the perimeter of the roped-off section of the beach. I knew they were there, but it was okay; today of all days, I wanted to share all of my happiness with everyone and anyone. Behind me, the folding chairs that had been arranged on the portable wooden floor-and who knew they had such things!-were filled with our loved ones. We had quite a crowd, for what we'd both termed a small, intimate wedding, but then we were very blessed with both friends and family. My mother sat in the front row, flanked by Joe and Lisa on one side and Mark and Sheri on the other. Leo and I had dispensed with the silly idea of the bride's side and groom's side. We shared so many friends that making them choose which one of us to support would have been crazy. And our parents had decreed early on that they were all going to sit together, forming a united front. The
QUINNThe party was in full swing, with music blaring and the dance floor crowded. I was sitting on Leo's lap, with his arms circling my waist as we chatted with Zelda and Tucker. "Hey, did you see that?" Zelda nodded toward the crush of dancing couples. On the very edge, Gia was slow dancing with Tate Durham. She stared up into his face as he murmured to her, and I glanced back at Zelda with raised brows. "When did that happen?" I'd spent quite a bit of time lately with Zelda and Gia, who were both my bridesmaids, but Gia hadn't mentioned anything about Tate Durham. I didn't even realize she knew him, although thinking back, they must've met at Carolina, when we used to go see Leo and Matt."Got me. But they look mighty cozy.""She deserves a little happiness. And Tate's a good guy." Leo, who had been talking to Tucker about how brutal mini-camp had been this year, picked up on my last words. He followed my gaze to Gia and Tate and smirked. "Well, it's about time." "Hey.
LEOI couldn't remember her name. The girl standing in front of me, twirling a lock of her blonde hair around one scarlet-tipped finger as she leaned forward to give me a good look at her tits down the scooped neck of her snug sweater ... I didn't know what to call her. That wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't spent a couple of hours last night fucking her senseless. "I didn't know if you had my phone number." She smirked and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "We didn't actually do much talking last night.""Yeah, that's true." Holly? Hallie? Hildie? God, who was she?"But in case you wanted to get in touch so we could . . ." One of her light eyebrows rose suggestively. "You know, get in touch again, you should have my number." Before I could reply, she eased closer to me, brushing her boobs into my chest as she reached around to grab my ass. Or I thought that was what she was doing-but no, her fingers dug into the back pocket of my jeans and p
QUINN"Some people think they're so much better than the rest of us. So much smarter." The voice behind me was all too familiar. A mix of apprehension and annoyance flooded my mind. Trish Dawson. Perfect. Just who I needed to deal with today. Clenching my jaw and kept walking. I'd learned through painful experience that ignoring girls like Trish was the only way to deal with them. It didn't make them stop, and it definitely didn't make me feel better, but pretending they didn't exist let me hold onto some dignity. "Hey, queer queen. I'm talking to you." She was closer to me than I'd thought, and so I wasn't ready when she reached around and knocked the notebooks out of my arms. I felt my face go hot as I stopped to pick up the books. This wasn't my first experiencing with being bullied; I figured they'd laugh and move away. But this time, they didn't. Trish and the other three girls formed a small, tight circle around me, all of them smirking. "What's the matter, queen
QUINNNate stood there, leaning against the door jamb with what might've looked like casual nonchalance in other guys. But I knew he did that to rest his legs after the long walk down the hallway. Rowing crew had helped Nate improve his strength, no doubt, but it couldn't take away the damage caused by the degenerative muscle disease."Hey, Nate." I smiled, craning my head back so I could see him better. "I thought you had practice today.""Canceled." His eyes flickered over to Jake. "Hey, man." "Nate, this is Gia. I've talked about her, I know, but I don't think you've met. Gia, this is my best friend in the world, Nate Wellman. He's known me since I was born, and he harbors all of my deepest, darkest secrets." I'd meant my introduction to be light and flippant, but Nate didn't so much as a crack a smile. His gaze skittered over Gia, and he gave her a brief nod. "Hey."Her eyes lit up as she looked him over, and I realized with a jolt that Gia saw something in Nate that