Page 84 of Whatever It Takes

“Let me go.”

“You know me well enough to know that won’t happen.”

“Fine.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked back at me with a pained expression. I wanted nothing more than to pull her close, but I was afraid she would only shove me away. “Then take me home. I need time to process this. I need to wrap my head around everything.”

The desperation in her voice had my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach. I could do that. I could give her that. I would do anything for her.

Things were awkward when we told my family that we were leaving early. Obviously, they knew something had happened. Emery threw a little fit when we told her it was time to go home. It only made things more difficult when my parents offered to let Emery stay and Charlotte said no.

The tension in the car on the way back to her place was so thick; I had to roll the driver’s side window down just to breathe. I snuck a glance in the mirror and gave Emery a calm and gentle smile. Even she was quiet, which was a dead giveaway that she knew something was wrong.

Feeling out of control was not something that I was familiar with. I was used to being strong and put together. It was foolish of me to think that keeping this from her was the best way to handle it. She was silently crying in my car, trying her best to hold it in, when what she really needed to do was let it all out.

I’d been worried about how she would react. How this would affect her. It turned out that I had every right to be.

“Quinn, you’ve got to understand that I’m doing my best to hold it together, but it seems fucking impossible,” she whispered while staring out the window, unable to look me in the eye. “I just need to be alone tonight.”

I shifted my hands along the steering wheel. I was tempted to turn the damn car around. To where, I had no fucking clue. I just didn’t want to bring her and Emery home and just leave them both. Not like this.

It didn’t feel right, but what the hell did I know? Clearly, the only thing I knew was how to fuck everything up.

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