Page 26 of Claiming His Reunion Obsession

“Let me go up to him, Chelle. Give me that much. I want to have it out with the man who stole my daughter. It’s my right as a father to have him tell me face to face, isn’t it?”

I feel a knot of anxiety in my stomach, but I know I asked something similar of Quinn just now, telling him to let me go down to see my dad. I have to return the favor, and I know Quinn would want some alone time with his lifelong friend too, whatever the outcome for them both.

I just hope they don’t hurt each other, or make me want to choose a side.

Because I’d choose both, I can’t have one and not the other in my life, but if it comes down to losing one, I know I’ll choose Quinn.

He’s my man and I’m his woman now.

Chapter Twenty

Quinn

I know he’s coming up alone, I can feel it. I want to go down, only to make sure Chelle’s not down there alone, and to make sure she doesn’t wander off, but I know too that she’ll stay close by. I know she will, even just for me.

The front door’s open and I hear the elevator. A few seconds later he’s in the doorway of the upstairs penthouse. I knew he’d come up here because I knew he’d know it’s where I’d take anyone I wanted to spend the night with.

He looks like hell. Like he hasn’t slept, like he’s been mad, sad and a worried dad all in one night.

I don’t feel bad though. This is the moment, this is the payment due for the gift of Chelle in my life and I’m ready to cover it, whatever it takes.

I’m standing in the hallway, near the entrance to the lounge. I can hear the wind again, it’s starting to howl through the building now, the waves from the beach I can hear still too.

“Come in,” I tell him, Randy. My oldest friend. My brother. I never thought I’d feel like I had to think about what to say to him, not once ever in our whole life.

He steps inside, frowning with a degree of approval as he takes in the interior, then the view as he looks past me to one of the balconies. Even though the weather’s turning, the view is still spectacular.

His gaze turns to mine briefly, he looks me up and down and I know it’s coming. I don’t even tense up or brace for it. It’s the least I owe him, and he can have it. He can have a thousand if he wants.

I feel his hand as it hits my face, but it’s open, it’s not a punch. I was expecting a decent swing. The type I know he’s capable of. The kind we developed together as boys, learning to box, then later with other martial arts. But it’s an anti-hit.

I’m not insulted, I’m actually a little proud of my oldest friend.

“That’s it?” I ask him, fully expecting him to launch a major assault, vent some of the rage, the disappointment I know he’s feeling.

“That’s it.” He says slowly, “Just a slap. For not calling me. For not picking up… for not thinking you could come to me, with anything, even this…”

He breaks off, his voice shaking with emotion, which he reels in like a pro.

“I’ve got two in my family, Quinn. My daughter is number one. She’s my world, my baby girl. You know that,” he growls, looking at his feet, fighting the tears again, forcing himself to stay true, to look me in the eye.

Man to man.

“The other? That’s you, Quinn. Always has been, remember? No matter how many damned foster parents and homes we went through, it was always us. Our own family, just the two of us…”

I feel the sting of nostalgia, I know exactly what he means because I feel it too.

“How can I tell you, Randy? How can I say it?” I ask him, but he knows there’s no real answer.

“You could’ve just called is all. You could’ve just said you were taking Chelle home, I dunno… something. But leaving me to worry all night, to imagine the worst. I was worried for both of you, I was ringing hospitals at three a.m. for Christ sakes, hoping you both hadn’t been killed in a goddamned car crash.”

The weight of his feelings gets to me. I know I can’t be accountable for a father’s worry or a friend’s concern, but I can bear a brother’s grief. I can carry it with him, not for him.

“I’m sorry.” I tell him, right to his face, looking right in his eyes. “I love Chelle and I know she loves me too. I’ve claimed her as my own, Randy. She’s my woman now. I know you’ll have to get used to that, but I’d like you… I’d like more than anything to include you in the family we’re gonna make. A real family… not just a foster one. Our own kids, our own place…”

---