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Prologue

JAMES

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A LOVE STORY

Right?

Yeah, I know, I didn't believe in that shit Lust? Hell, yeah Love?

No fucking way

Yet here I a at a closed door 'Cause she left ood this time And if she was smart, she'll never takeup her life She deserves better, and that's nothis hands on her makes me want to roar like the animal I am and beat the life out of him Quinn's always affected me that way

I remember the first time I saw her

A one-piece swi body, eyes dark and et to know and adore In thatheels and never looked back

I knew she was out ofback, I wonder if I hadn't pursued her, would things have turned out differently? Is it Fate that determines our choices in life? God? Free will? Or just plain old innate selfishness?

I got her, of course There hadn't been a girl I wasn't able to seduce Proble soul She possessed ht and pure I was almost blinded

Quinno She looked right into my sorry soul and lovedI could never settle for less? Didn't she realize no matter how many times I screwed up, or broke her heart, or bent her to o?

If I hadn't known such intensity existed, would it have been better for both of us?

I don't pretend to have any of the answers I never did All I knohen she left ether in Key West was a sliver of a possible future, a future filled withthan I'd ever had in o after her, into another dimension I had no experience with I could leave my friends and my shit behind and start fresh, and becolih I still worried day after day if that man even existed

Now, I know he never did

But it's too late I followed her to Chicago, enrolled in art school, and swore I'd be everything she wanted For a while, it was as perfect as I i choice and watched my future and the love of s and reminded me of my limitations

Yeah, did you think this was a fucking love story?

Sorry to dissuade you, but you better go down to your local bookstore and pick some other shit up Unless you're like me, and believe true love, the real kind, isn't nice and sweet and pure No, it's dirty, and sinful, anda chunk of flesh fro yourself bleed out in slow, helpless intervals until you thankfully pass out

No This isn't a love story But it's the only story I got

Let's hope the ending hasn't been written yet

Chapter One

QUINN

"HEY, QUINN, THEY NEED YOU IN ROOM SEVEN!"

I nodded,over the polished floor of the senior citizen ho with Mr Pearson to s histo poison hied for someone to save him

I hardened h I just wanted to throw Nurse Crotchet off hiive him the lollipop I carried in my pocket for those freak-outs that ed her, she threatened to tell the supervisor I was a probleraduation loomed so near

I took a right and swung into Mrs Apple's roo down the hallway I'd been working at the center for a year now, and had gotten to know all the patients on a one-to-one basis I took e and considered a part-tiet a per at the New Beginnings Rehabilitation Clinic

Usually I liked the center and found both the staff and residents pleasant Most people think of senior centers as sowns and patients shuffling down corridors with a mad look in their eyes Unfortunately, there were toohomes, but this residence catered to the elderly who still had their functions and were able to make sense of where and who they were

The cheerful yelloalls were set off with paintings and fra the residents to think of the positive things in life rather than why their son or daughter hadn't visited them in too many weeks

But I pushed all these hts from my head and stopped at Mrs Apple's bedside "Quinn! There you are, sweetheart I don't want to go to bed yet I'd like to read inme a hard time"

I s out her pillows, and pretending to fix her blankets "It sounds like a wonderful idea, Mrs Apple, but re blood work super early in the , and they won't let you eat or drink When you read, you always get thirsty"

The eighty-year-old scrunched up her face in deep thought I kept up ht, when the deot Didn't I have my blood work yesterday?"

I tried not to grin, because she was damn sharp "This is a different blood test Oh, your nail polish is chipping off How about I re-do them tomorrow? What color do you think you'd like?"

She lifted her hands, heavily veined with brown spots But her nails were squared off with pretty pink polish that sparkled under the di different Maybe purple?"

I shookthe a bit wild on ive Mr Foster a heart attack? He already can't keep his eyes off you"

She cackled out a giggle "Stop playing withwith Emma"

I raised my brow "For real? How come no one told me?"

"You can't keep secrets"

I gasped "I'reat secret keeper!"

Mrs Apple surrendered to the pillow and let out a sigh "Everyone knows you break under duress Your heart is too kind" Her lids slid closed, an effect of the mild sedative she'd just received "Why aren't you with your young man? He must miss you"

I brushed the stray silver hair froht Sleep tight"

"Good night, Quinn"

Ipast a tired sigh, I glanced at o After a full day of classes, and the night shift this week, I was ready to collapse I hadn't spent any quality time with James in a few days, and I missed him Funny, in the pastsand I'd changed since returning last year from Key West, when our idyllic week spent in the sun, fiercely falling hard for each other, blehen I f

ound out he'd ot on that plane and left hione through the ut

And then he followed o

A shiver buet that ht hair blowing in the wind, pale-blue eyes trained on ot o and see if we could ive hiive him a chance I mean, I loved him, heart and soul The way he overtook lance, the way he tenderly stroked h The way he held hs while he whispered how I belonged only to hiiven me only one Him Completely

Ja

On cue, lanced at the screen, and hit the button "Hey, I was just thinking of you"

His low chuckle rippled s "Was I naked?"