Across The Hall (14 page)

slits.

“What he does or doesn’t do to me should not be your concern,” she snapped at me.

“Sylvia, I am not going to stand aside and let some jackass manhandle you.” No matter what had happened between us, I would not let someone

abuse her.

She thrust her chin in the air and said with an air of finality, “Quinn, get the fuck out of my place. Right now. My life is mine to live, and you are not

going to make any more decisions for me. If someone leaves a mark on me that’s my problem, not yours. You gave up al right to care about me

when
you
decided I was better off going to U of M than being with you.” She stated it al very calmly as she walked to the door. She opened the door

while staring straight into my eyes. “Leave. Now!”

I swept my gaze over her one last time, looking for any other markings. I didn’t see any, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. My anger was

barely contained. I wanted to find Beau and mark him. I wanted to kick the living crap out of him for doing that to Sylvia. “This isn’t over, Sylvia. I’l

leave now, but I’m watching. I wil not let that bastard hurt you.” I said this just as I reached the door.

As she shut the door I heard a strangled whisper, “No, you’re perfectly capable of doing that on your own.”

I couldn’t believe the nerve he had. First, to not leave when I’d clearly told him to. Then he’d had the bal s to get al overprotective over a little

bruise! It wasn’t any of his business anyway. I continued to fume as I picked my clothes off the floor. I was glad he’d seen them there. I hoped he’d

gotten a good eyeful. He needed to know that I was no longer his. I lived my own life, and it most definitely did not include Quinn Lobato.

I threw my clothes in the laundry basket. I went to my drawer and pul ed out a pair of sweats. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to accidental y

see the marks and jump to conclusions. I continued cleaning around the apartment, grumbling the whole time. When I got angry I cleaned. At that

moment, I was downright pissed. I was even beyond the tears that came to my eyes when I was mad.

Not long into my rage-induced cleaning spree, there was a gentle knock at my door.
Oh, he’d better not be back for round two.
There’s no way

he’s coming out of this one unscathed.
I flung the door open ready to tel him to go to hel . Standing there was Kai, aqua eyes wide with curiosity. I

shut my eyes and groaned. I wasn’t ready for this yet. I was stil hung over. My head stil pounded and my emotions were nowhere near under

control.

Kai stepped forward with her arms outstretched. I fel into them and cried. She stepped forward, shutting the door behind her, without moving me

from her arms. Kai just held onto me. She didn’t say anything, just held me to her and let me cry it out.

I poured four years of hurt and anger out on her little shoulders, each sob harder than the one before. I felt worthless. Money. It was al about

money. I’d never even thought of that. Sure, the Lobatos had money. Quinn didn’t need to worry about loans or scholarships to pay for Princeton. I’d

never thought money mattered to him. It was starting to sink in that obviously he did not want to have to pay for two Princeton educations. I had

planned to get loans but once we were married we would have had to pay back the loans. He must have thought about that and decided I wasn’t

worth it.

My sobs eventual y slowed. My throat was tight and my chest ached. My head stil pounded but my mind felt numb. I was aware that Kai’s shirt

was soaked. I pul ed away and looked at her. Her face held nothing but love and concern. She reached for my hand and led me over to the couch.

Her voice was soft and quiet. “Sit here. I’l be right back.” She disappeared into the kitchen and I heard the fridge open.

She came back with a can of pop and Tylenol. She grabbed the box of Kleenex off the bookshelf and sat down beside me. If she hadn’t already

had my unending love and friendship, I would have given it al freely then. I sniffed and attempted a smile as I reached for the meds and the pop.

“I love you.” My voice cracked. She reached over and gave me another hug.

“Do you want to talk about it? I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” She let out a wry laugh. “Actual y, I think the whole building heard you.”

I groaned again and hid my eyes with my hand. “I’m sorry. I probably woke everyone. That sucks to be woken on a Sunday morning by a domestic

spat between the neighbors.”

“We didn’t actual y hear what was being said. Sloane and I just knew it was you and Quinn. I waited until it was quiet for awhile before I came to

check on you. So what was the deal?”

I took another drink of my pop and launched into an explanation of the morning’s shouting match. Kai, being Kai, stopped me often with a

question or comment to add. When I got to the part about him tel ing me why he left, her eyes went wide again. Amazingly, she didn’t say anything

about that.

“And then he saw the bruise and was al ‘how did you get that?’” I was giving my best angry, overprotective Quinn impersonation. “And I...”

“What bruise?” Kai interrupted me.

“Oh, it was nothing. Beau just held on to me a little too tight last night and left a bruise. It’s no big deal.” She stil looked at me skeptical y. “See?

It’s nothing.” I pul ed the top on my sweats down a little, quickly flashing a bit of the bruise for her to see.

Kai looked at me curiously. “How did Quinn see that?”

“What?” I was confused.

“It’s on your hip. You just had to move your pants to show me.”

“Oh, I didn’t have pants on.”

Her smile widened. “You were in your apartment with Quinn this morning, and weren’t wearing pants?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. He came to the door and I thought it was you so I quickly threw on a shirt and underwear. It wasn’t like I was naked and

yel ing at him. He just saw it when my shirt rose up a little.” I was blushing furiously. I tried to tel myself that it wasn’t a big deal that I’d just had my

first real conversation -- okay, argument -- with Quinn in four years, and I’d done it half naked. When I’d opened the door and it had been him

standing there, every thought I’d had went out that door. I didn’t think, even once, that I was only wearing a t-shirt and underwear. Not until he’d

pointed out the bruise, anyway. By then, I was so pissed at him I just wanted him out.

“That’s not what’s important anyway. What is important is him acting al perfect and holier than thou, accusing Beau of ‘manhandling me’ when he

just got done tel ing me how he’d made a life-altering decision for my benefit. That he was going to be watching to make sure Beau doesn’t hurt me.

Why can that asshole not get it through his head that he is doing the very thing he is accusing Beau of?”

Kai wasn’t smiling anymore. She looked far away, like she hadn’t even heard me. “Kai. Earth to Kai-ying.” I said, annoyed, as I waved my hand in

front of her face.

“I’m sorry, Sylvia. I heard you. I just had a thought...” She trailed off and looked at me curiously.

“And that thought was...” She didn’t answer me. She just shook her head.

“Wel , what are you going to do about al this?”

That I wasn’t sure of yet. I took a deep breath in and released it slowly. “First, I need to stay as far away from Quinn Lobato as I can. I can’t

imagine that I wil do anything other than go off on him again if he even says one little thing to me. Second...I don’t know if there is a second.” I

sighed.

I then told Kai about my night after we came back home.

Her damn little eyes glittered with mirth when I relayed running to the bathroom to puke. “It’s not funny. It was embarrassing. He’l probably never

cal me again after that.” Thinking of it again, I wanted the ground to open up and swal ow me. If he did cal , how was I going to face him? I would be

mortified, knowing he’d seen me sprawled out on the bathroom floor like that.

Kai reassured me that it would al work out. She stayed a while longer with me. We talked about other things -- stuff from Jason’s party, Kerri and

the others. I was feeling better by the time she got up to leave. I hugged her again.

“Thank you,” I simply told her once again.

“Sylvia, I’m always here for you. We are al here for you. We just want to see you happy.” She squeezed my hand once before letting go, and went

out the door.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I avoided my phone. I would cal Jason and Kerri back later. Beau never cal ed and Quinn didn’t attempt to

talk to me when I passed him in the hal on the way to do my laundry. I spent the day reflecting on the past and making plans for the future. By eight

that night, I was worn out. Classes didn’t start until Tuesday, but I stil went to bed early that night. I just wanted the escape from my reality that sleep

would provide me with.

***

classes at the same time as Quinn. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning we ran into each other as we left our apartments. He would

say hi, and look me over.

I knew what he was doing. He was looking to see if Beau had left any more marks. The first few times I didn’t even give him the satisfaction of a

response. I would just lock my door and walk away. He walked the same way onto campus as I did. If I hadn’t known Quinn better, I would have

thought he was fol owing me. At least he never tried talking to me more than just the perfunctory hel o.

Slowly, my anger dissipated. I began to greet him back. One day, we even talked about the weather as we walked to the outer door together. I

was stil upset with him. I felt as if some part of me always would be. At least for the near future, anyway. I was stil hurt by it al . I just tried real y hard

not to let myself think about it.

I stayed busy. I stil had work, which was starting to wind down with classes in ful swing. My hours there were slowly being cut down. That was

always helpful, this year in particular. The classes weren’t necessarily harder. They just demanded more time for work outside of the classroom. I

spent a great deal of time in the library, getting my ideas for my major projects together.

I didn’t see much of Kai, Kerri and the guys. They were al busy too, getting into the swing of the new semester. I had cal ed and checked on

Colby a few times. He even came over for supper one night. I had yet to see Jason. We just couldn’t seem to find a time when we were both free. I

missed him. I hadn’t told him about Quinn yet. He’d gotten me through so much in the past and listened to so much of my heartbreak that I just didn’t

know how to tel him that Quinn had reappeared. I would tel him at some point. I just wanted to do it face to face.

Then there was Beau. He did cal back. He cal ed Monday night after the weekend party. He said he’d figured I’d had a pretty nasty hangover that

Sunday and didn’t want to be disturbed. We spent a great deal of time together when he was in town. It seemed like he was always leaving. I didn’t

realize that many people skipped out on bail. When he was in town, we tended to spend our time alone together. That first weekend I took him

along with me when I went out with the others. The guys had invited Quinn, not knowing that I was coming. It wasn’t quite a repeat of the park. I tried

to ignore him as he glared at Beau al night. His eyes were hard, dark and ful of animosity. Beau found it al very amusing.

At one point during the evening, Beau was tel ing Reed and Sloane about how on our first date I didn’t know how to order beer. I knew I was

blushing. I hadn’t realized he had picked up on that. When he was done he made a comment about having broken me in then and asked me to go

get us al another round. Kerri and Kai were in the bathroom and Quinn’s glowering at us was getting on my nerves. I needed the break away, so I

got up to go get the drinks. As I stood, Beau patted me on the ass. I glanced down at him to see him smirking at Quinn. I fol owed his gaze to find

Quinn clenching his jaw and gripping the table. I rol ed my eyes and leaned down and whispered in Beau’s ear, just loud enough for Quinn to hear.

“You can do that again harder tonight, when we get back to my place.” Then I let my tongue slowly trace along his ear. I looked over at Quinn as I did

it. He had his eyes shut and looked as if he were mental y counting to ten.

I ranted to myself the whole way to the bar and back. He had no right to care what I did with Beau. Did he real y think that I would never date

again? He left me. Was I supposed to just sit on my thumbs and grow old alone because he didn’t want me? Who did he think he was that I would

put my life on hold for him? He was just waiting for me to fal back into his arms. Wel , that wasn’t going to happen. Ever! I’d learned my lesson. How

long before he would have had another reason to leave me? Wel , it wouldn’t work. I did move on. Quinn was just going to have to get used to

seeing me with Beau. If he couldn’t handle it, he could leave. These were my friends first. He didn’t have to hang out with us.

By the time I got back to the table, I had worked myself into a rage. I planned to tel Quinn just what I thought about his behavior. Then I stopped

myself. That was exactly what he would want. If I let him know it bothered me, he would keep doing it. Instead, I just ignored him and turned my entire

attention to Beau. I would show Quinn that his presence didn’t bother me in the slightest. I would show him that I had someone else in my life, and he