Page 74 of Toxic Obsession

She gave me a sad smile. “I’m almost twenty-one, and you’re so many of my firsts, Quinn. I know we’ve both had sex with other people, but …” She traced my jaw with her fingertips. “Have you been in love before?” She slapped her palms over her eyes. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I just want to be a first for you, too.”

I gently grabbed her wrist and pried one hand away. She peeked at me with one blue eye. “I’ve never been in love before. I’ve never spent the night with a girl. I’ve never been jealous over a girl before either.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

Her other hand slipped away from her face. “When were you jealous over me?”

I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Several times. When I saw the way you looked at Vaughn, when I realized Adam had seen you on Dimitri’s website, when I shared you at the society.”

Wynter just blinked at me with an astonished expression. “I didn’t realize that you hadn’t been in love before. For some reason, I just assumed you had.”

“Nope. You’re the first, and if I have my way about it, the last.”

Wynter grinned. “I might like the sound of that.”

I wrapped a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair around my finger. “I do want a future with you, but I also know that we have to figure out what happened with Kyler.”

That was the first time I spoke his name without cringing. Maybe it was the way Wynter talked about him. They seemed similar in a lot of areas before all hell broke out. In some ways, I felt as if the good parts of him were still with her, but maybe I was just talking myself into that idea to ease the pain.

“Babe?”

“Yeah?” She placed her palm against my bare chest, sending warmth radiating through me.

“Tell me about Kyler. Better yet, what do you think about taking me home with you for Thanksgiving? I have to be back Friday though, since we have a game on Saturday. Maybe we could drive up Thursday morning and back on Friday afternoon.”

If the music hadn’t still been playing, I’m pretty sure I could have heard a pin drop. I released Wynter’s hair, focused on the many emotions that flashed across her face. She gulped, then sat up slowly. “You know it’s the same house that we lived in with Kyler, right?” She tucked her legs beneath her, staring at me as if I had a hole in my head. Hell, I probably did. My idea was fucking crazy, but something was pulling me in that direction. I had to trust my gut.

“I do. I want to see his room and find out if anyone else close to him will talk to me about who he was.” I tapped my temple. “I need to try to make sense of what happened. In no way will I excuse what he did, but maybe understanding why I lost Bell …” I dropped my hand to the mattress. “I know it’s crazy, but if I can’t handle it, I’ll drive back, and you can stay with Janine until you come back after break.”

“What about Vaughn?”

I sighed, taking a minute to think that through. “I think you’re safe now, but I wanted to make sure you felt you were.”

She gave me a half-shrug. “I’m not sure about at Whitmore, but I’ll be fine in my hometown. I never had a bodyguard there and survived, so I think we should give him some time off to be with his fiancée and family.”

“Fiancée, huh?” I rubbed my neck, giving her a sheepish look. “How did you find that out?”

A wicked little smile eased across her face, and I wanted to kiss it off.

“I asked. He’s a dad. Just thought I’d let you know that you have nothing to be jealous about.” She leaned over and pressed her soft mouth to mine. “Quinn, my house doesn’t look anything like yours. It needs paint and new wood floors, repairs. I’ve done the best I could with keeping a roof over our head, but I couldn’t afford to keep our home looking nice too.”

I placed my palm on her knee. “I don’t care, Wynter. I want to spend the holiday with you. I also want to meet Janine and get to know her. The fact that Kyler lived there too, if there’s anything we can look through or ...” My voice trailed off, and I shoved my hand through my hair. “If we don’t find answers, maybe Sutton will have some soon. She’s still digging.”

Fear and concern warred in Wynter’s expression. “What if it’s too much? I could visit alone and search his room, then bring back whatever I may find.”

“Please. Let me meet Janine and spend the holiday with you.” I’d probably fucked up this conversation by putting too much emphasis on Kyler. That was only a small part of why I wanted to go. I couldn’t stand the thought of being away from Wynter for four days.

“Are you sure that’s the biggest reason?”

“If I could, I would have you over at my house, but not with Adam in town. I still don’t trust him. We can either stay here, or I’d like to take you to visit your sister.” Hopefully my explanation helped.

“I hadn’t thought about not being able to go to your place.” She briefly closed her eyes. “Let me talk to Janine and see how she feels about you visiting. It’s a big step for all of us. I need to include her on the decision. My vote is yes, though. I would love to spend the holiday break with you. But, Quinn, what about Brody? Will he be safe alone with Adam? As soon as you get home on Friday, you turn around and leave for your football game.”

“I’ve thought about that, but he’s ready. He can protect himself. And he has a lot of friends he can stay with if shit gets out of hand, friends I trust too.” I smiled at her. “That’s another thing I love about you, you know.”

“What’s that?”

---