“Pancake?” I offered, passing her an empty plate and gesturing to the stack she’d made. Smiling, she took one, squirting maple syrup over the top. “These are delicious, Quinn.” I devoured a pancake before reaching for another one. Moving to lean against the top of the bed, I patted the space next to me. “Come here, baby,” I said softly. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before scooting over to sit in the space next to me. I noticed she’d left a larger-than-necessary gap between us, almost slipping off the edge of the bed.
“Is everything okay?” I frowned at the space between us. She nodded and moved a little closer. “Quinn.” I paused waiting for her to look at me. “You know I’d never make you do anything you weren’t comfortable with, don’t you? If what happened in the kitchen was too fast for you, I’m sorry, sweetheart…” I trailed off, feeling like a jerk that I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
“No, Brody. I’m the one who’s sorry. I got carried away in the kitchen, that was all me.” She moved next to me and placed her hand on my arm. “I do know you’d never make me do anything I didn’t want to. It’s just…” She paused, dropping her eyes from mine. I placed my hand over hers and squeezed encouragingly, urging her to go on. “Well, I’ve not done this before. I have no clue what happens next.”
“What happens next is up to us. We can go as slow or as fast as you want, Quinn. There’s no right or wrong answer.” She smiled and reached up, kissing me on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
Taking the now empty plate from her hand, I placed it on top of mine and put them both on the nightstand next to me. As I lay down, I pulled her onto my chest, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. Tracing my fingers up and down her arm, I felt her body finally relax.
“How are your ribs feeling?” I asked her cautiously, using the question as a way to kickstart a conversation about Evan.
“They’re okay, I guess. Still sore when I cough or sneeze but loads better than they were.”
“Are you ready to tell me about Evan?” Sighing, she pushed off my chest and lay next to me, her blonde hair splayed out on my pillow. I turned on my side and waited for her to talk. Her eyes were focused on the ceiling and I tried to stay calm, knowing what she was about to tell me would push me over the edge.
“Mom married Evan when I was sixteen. Her parents had kicked her out when she got pregnant with me. I never knew my dad, and it had just been the two of us until she met him.” She turned her head and gave me a sad smile. “She was so in love with him. No one deserved to be happy more than she did, and Evan seemed like a great guy. I didn’t really know him all that well, but he made Mom happy. If she was happy, so was I.” She moved to lie beside me, resting her head on my bare chest again.
“Go on, baby,” I encouraged, wrapping my arm around her.
“They’d been married for just over a year when she got sick. Her kidneys began to fail. She’d had diabetes all her life, and it had taken its toll on her kidneys. She went on dialysis, but it only worked for about a year. I wanted to give her one of my kidneys, but she was stubborn and wouldn’t let me. In the end though, she was so sick and there was no match on the transplant list. She had no choice but to let me help her.”
“You gave your mom one of your kidneys?” I asked in surprise, my hand stroking her hair. She nodded.
“Yeah, about six months ago. It didn’t save her though. She was too weak to make it through the operation. She never woke up.” Her voice was choked with emotion and I could feel tears hitting my chest.
“Don’t cry.” I held her close to me, her body wracking with sobs. “You did an amazing thing, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered a few minutes later when she’d stopped crying.
“You have nothing to apologize for.” I lowered my head and pressed my lips into her hair. I hated seeing her cry and wished I could take her pain away. Taking a deep breath, she continued.
“After she’d died, I was left living with Evan. I didn’t know any of my mom’s family, and not knowing my father, I had no one, and nowhere to go. Things were okay for a while, but then Evan started to show his true colors. He was drinking heavily and that’s when he would get violent.”
I felt my body tense and I knew she felt it as she placed her hand on my abdomen, her fingers making circles on my skin. “The first time he hit me, he’d been out drinking all day and could barely walk. I’d left my dish from dinner on the counter instead of washing it up. He slapped me around the face. I managed to get away from him and upstairs before he passed out on the couch.” Her voice had dropped, and she was almost whispering. “He seemed to have no recollection in the morning of what he’d done. I didn’t mention it and neither did he. I prayed it was a one-off, but I wasn’t that lucky. He hit me again a few weeks later for something just as insignificant, only this time it was a punch to the face.”
“Fuck! I’m so sorry, baby.” She hugged me tighter, and we lay in silence for a few minutes. I could feel anger bubbling in my stomach as my mind replayed what she’d just told me. I wanted to find the bastard and cut his balls off. “What made you leave, sweetheart?” I asked after she’d been quiet for a while.
“His friends started turning up at all times of the day and night. Well, that’s what Evan told me they were, they didn’t seem like friends to me. Sometimes they’d beat him up, other times they’d share a drink with him. I managed to stay out of their way the majority of the time they were there. I wasn’t so lucky a few weeks ago. Two guys knocked on the door when Evan was out and forced their way in. When he came home, they demanded money off him. Money I knew he didn’t have.” Pausing, she dragged in a shaky breath. “We were barely managing to pay the bills, let alone give money to these guys. I guess he’d fallen behind on the payments to them. They told him they’d be back in seven days. If he couldn’t pay…” She trailed off and buried her head in my chest.
“What were they going to do if he couldn’t pay, sweetheart?” I asked gently, dreading hearing her answer.
“They were going to… to take me as payment instead,” she muttered.
I looked at her in disbelief. “And Evan was going to let them?”
She nodded. “He said it was my fault he owed them money. The insurance wouldn’t pay out for all the dialysis Mom had. When both of us had surgery, it wasn’t covered by the policy. He’d had to borrow the money to pay the medical bills. He chose the wrong people to borrow off.” Her voice was breaking again, and I knew tears were rolling down her cheeks. “He hit me and dragged me upstairs, throwing me into my bedroom and locking the door. My ribs were already sore from a few weeks prior when he’d thrown me against a cabinet. I think that fall added to the bruising that was already there.” She was sobbing by now and I could barely tell what she was saying.
“Okay, baby. Shhhhh. It’s okay,” I soothed. “You don’t have to tell me anymore.” I knew she hadn’t told me everything, but I couldn’t stand to see her so upset. I needed to know Evan’s full name so I could get Ethan to run it through the police database, but I wanted her to calm down first.
Rolling her onto her back, I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. “I am so sorry you had to go through all of that, Quinn. Thank you for telling me. I can see how hard it is for you to talk about.” Bringing my body over hers, I lowered my head and kissed her softly. “I think you’re amazing,” I murmured against her lips.
“Amazing? Why?” she asked, her forehead frowning in question.
“You were selfless enough to give your mom one of your kidneys. That’s an amazing thing to do, baby.”
“Anyone would do the same to save a loved one.” She gently shrugged her shoulders, and I shook my head.