Page 95 of Loving You

I march up the steps right behind him.

“I can do it myself. Just show me where the sheets are.”

“I’m going to do it.”

“No, I will.”

“Quinn, stop.”

“No, you stop. If you want things how they always have been, then stop doing nice things for me.”

“I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want things to go back to how they were!”

He’s breathing heavily now as he paces behind the bed twice, then sits on the edge.

“Do you really believe that after last night, I don’t want you? Hell, Quinn, I’m trying to push you away to help you. Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”

He looks away from me as if it actually hurts him to see me standing in front of him. I take a tentative step toward him, reaching out to cup his cheek and make him look at me.

“Help me how?”

His eyes connect with mine, and his throat bobs as he swallows the lump in his throat. He reaches for my legs, his fingers caressing the back of my thighs for one quick stroke each before he stands quickly. He squeezes my hand twice before he drops it.

“Just trust me,” he says with a little more control and then opens his closet door to pull out some sheets.

I start to take the ones off his bed. “Right now, you’re the only one not making this easy, by not telling me the full story.”

His gaze drifts to mine briefly before he sits on the bed again.

“If Mr. Pepperton can take my career away, he can take yours, too.”

Every word is spoken with defeat, and I didn’t realize how much that would affect me.

I move in front of him again to make sure he hears me loud and clear.

“Whatever Mr. Pepperton does is not on you. His choices will never be your fault.”

“They might be. If we hadn’t decided to do this whole fake dating thing, you wouldn’t even be on his radar, Quinn. Now you’re at the top of the list with me.”

“Do you know this for a fact?”

“No, but his comments this morning didn’t change my mind.”

I let out a big sigh.

“We never should have started this stupid idea.”

He’s right. It’s not the first time we’ve come to this conclusion, but it's the first time we might actually follow through on a breakup plan.

“Well, I guess that means we have only one option.”

“What’s that?”

“We break up before the summer is over.”

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