Page 4 of Rehabbing the Beast
Chapter Three
“Where’s Quinn?” Sethdemanded when an entire week passed and there had been no sign of her. Other than the bare minimum required to communicate, no one spoke to him. No one would tell him where she was,howshe was, or when she was coming back. He hadn’t seen Dave, either, but he didn’t give a shit about that, or anything else for that matter. He cared only about Quinn.
If he’d been irascible before, he was downright vicious now.
“Quinn’s supposed to do that,” he seethed, kicking out at Deiter’s strong hands as they pounded into his flesh. “Where the fuck is she?!”
Deiter flipped him over onto his stomach without replying and pressed even harder. Hard enough that Seth O’Rourke was too busy clenching his teeth together to consider any further attempt at conversation.
* * *
“WE’LL MISS YOU, QUINN,” Jenna said, one of many who had gathered in the small lounge to offer their farewells. After spending nearly two weeks as a patient, having parts of her face repaired and realigned, she’d done a lot of soul searching. As much as she loved helping others, she simply didn’t belong here.
No matter how hard she tried, she was always just slightly out of step with everyone else. Quinn’s heart, her very soul, beat to a different tempo and always would.
She was through pretending. There was only one place she’d ever felt like she belonged.
She’d already phoned her landlord. Once she left the hospital, she’d go straight home and pack what few belongings she’d managed to accumulate (she was not, by nature, a materialistic person) and hit the road. In a few hours, the rehab center, her co-workers, and Seth O’Rourke would become memories, links in her chain of life experiences. It was time to start working on the next link.
Even former employees weren’t exempt from hospital rules and regulations. Quinn was not spared the humiliation of being escorted out upon her release. Dave pushed her wheelchair toward the elevator that would take her to the lobby and into the next phase of her life. Because he had struck a patient, he had lost his job. Once the director heard the full story, however, and since Seth refused to file a complaint, Dave was given the option of resigning so that the incident was kept out of his permanent record. He already had another job. No one had the heart to refuse him the chance to say goodbye to Quinn, though.
The elevator doors had just opened when they heard a familiar voice. “Hey!Hey!Hold up there!”
Quinn tensed as Dave looked hopelessly at the already overcrowded elevator. She knew as well as he did that there was no way he could wedge her in there with the bulky chair. Instead, he quickly turned and began pushing Quinn in the opposite direction, deliberately ignoring the increasingly loud commands to stop.
Quinn was acutely aware of the stares they were receiving, and if there was one thing that she could not abide, it was being the center of attention. “It’s okay, Dave. Stop for a sec, will you?”
Dave did as she requested, but the concerned expression on his face let her know that he did so reluctantly. He blamed himself for what happened. Though she had assured him time and time again that it wasn’t his fault, that she had been the one to do something stupid by jumping on his back, he still felt responsible, and unfortunately, nothing she said or did was going to change that.
* * *
“WHERE THE FUCK HAVEyou been?” Seth asked roughly, quickly closing the distance between them. Dave stopped, but kept his body between Seth’s chair and Quinn’s. The sight of her in a wheelchair had nearly stopped Seth’s heart until he remembered hospital policy. Still, two weeks had passed. Had she been here all that time as a patient?
“I’ve been a little... busy,” Quinn said quietly, her head bowed. “But Deiter will take good care of you, Seth.”
“Fuck that,” Seth growled, drawing up beside her. He wanted to see her face, goddammit. To look into those big gray eyes andknowthat she was okay. “He’s been beating me like a red-headed stepchild and no one gives a shit. Hey, turn the chair around so I’m not talking to the side of her head.”
For a few moments nothing happened. Then Quinn took a deep breath and nodded. Dave turned the chair.
Nothing could have prepared Seth for what he saw. The entire left side of Quinn’s face, her delicate, beautiful face, was bruised beyond recognition. Her lips, jaw, and cheekbone were still swollen, and there was a bandage over her left eye. Ugly black thread hung loosely in various places where the larger cuts had been stitched.
He swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat, right along with the primal scream that threatened to rip out from his chest.His Quinn. His delicate Quinn. The beast raged and clawed, wanting to kill and maim and dismember on her behalf. It was only the knowledge that it had been allhisfault that kept him from doing so.
It took a full minute for him to compose himself enough to speak again. When he did, his voice was little more than a growl. “So. You were just going to go and get yourself released from this hellhole without saying goodbye? Is that it?”
He saw the slight twitch in the right corner of her mouth, along with the wince it evoked. “Yes.”
“You’re a cold, heartless bitch. You don’t think about anybody but yourself, do you? Just wait till you come back. That fucker will have me so messed up you’ll have your hands full.”
The tiny flicker of amusement faded. “I’m not coming back, Seth.”
No!The beast was up again, head butting him, desperate for release. “What, did they fire your ass or something?”
“Or something,” she murmured so quietly he barely heard it. “Goodbye, Seth, and good luck. I have faith in you. You’re going to walk out of here on your own two feet, I just know it.”
An iron fist, complete with razor sharp claws, slammed through his chest, grabbed his heart and squeezed until it damn near exploded.
“Fuck you, Cupcake.”
