The Beast and the Homecoming Queen (8 page)

“No, thank you for telling me. You are amazing and I want to show you that. I know you have had a hard life, but I want to be here for you no matter what.”

“Plus you want to help me get my light back.” Quinn smiles when she sees his beautiful smile.

“Oh yes, I want to see that light again. But then I think you may be too beautiful for anyone else to see.” Quinn rolls her eyes. “Hey now, don’t roll your eyes at me.” Justin says, and winks.

“And what will you do if I do?” she says playfully.

Justin laughs, and picks her up. He throws her over his shoulder, and she gets a great view of his butt. “Now I can't see if you roll your eyes.” Quinn laughs, and he walks up the stairs.

When they get into her bedroom he gently puts her down. “I thought I was too heavy for that.”

Justin shakes his head. “You are light as a feather.”
Quinn can't help herself, she rolls her eyes, and he picks her up again.

Justin picks her back up and she giggles as he tosses her onto her bed, and sits on top of her. He takes both of her hands into one of his, and pins it above her head. “Are you ticklish Ms. Murphy?” He softly moves his free hand down her side, and she bites her lips to stop her laughter. He smiles down at her, and leaves his hand on her hip. “Oh beautiful Quinn, I will take that as a yes.” He tickles her on her hip and she burst out laughing. Just when she thinks she can't handle it anymore he stops.

Quinn smiles up at him, and he just stares at her. “What are you thinking about Justin?” He lets go of her hands, and she touches his face.

“I'm sorry about Jenna. What did she say to you?” Justin asks and moves off of her.

Quinn misses the feel of his body on hers and sits up. “She said that you are hers, and I am your duty.”

Justin narrows his eyes, and shakes his head. “I'm not hers, and she knows that. Quinn you aren’t my duty, you are my choice.” She covers her mouth when she yawns. “Get some sleep, we will talk tomorrow.” Justin leans in and kisses her cheek. She
lies down on the bed and watches him leave. He leaves the door open, and she closes her eyes.

Chapter Six

Controlling Ass Face

Quinn feels something warm touch her forehead. “I love you sweetheart.” A male's voice says, and when she opens her eyes she is alone. She looks at her nightstand and sees a pink
and white dahlia, which is her favorite flower. Quinn reaches for it and smells it, it smells heavenly. Then she notices a note with her name on it. She sets the beautiful dahlia down, and grabs the note.

Quinn

You have a choice, no matter what they say. Follow your heart, my sweetheart.

Kaden

Quinn remembers someone saying,
I love you sweetheart
. That is what woke her up, she touches her forehead. She can still feel Kaden's lips on her forehead. She looks down at the flower, and wonders how he knew that was her favorite flower.

She jumps when she hears a knock at the door, and shoves the note under her pillow. “Justin?”

Justin opens the door, and smiles at her. “I was--” he stops talking and sniffing the air.

“What are you doing?” s
he asks, and he walks around the room sniffing. “Justin?”

He looks at her, and his eyes seem more yellow. “Kaden was here.” He looks at the flower that is still on her pillow.

“What?” she says and grabs the flower.

He looks at the flower then back at her. “Quinn, I know he was here. Did he hurt you?”

Quinn looks at him, there is no way Kaden would hurt her. He did tell her he loves her. “He would never hurt me.”

Justin laughs. “You don't know him that well, he could snap you like a twig.” Quinn glares at him, and then looks at the time. It's six in the
morning, which means he was here all night.

She allows her eyes to soften. “You stayed all night?”

Justin opens his mouth, and then shuts it. “Yes, I thought you would sleep better with me in the house.”

Quinn smiles at him, and reaches out for his hand. “Thank you.”

He nods, and smiles. “I didn’t mind, I wanted to make sure you slept.” He closes his eyes, and when he opens then they are his gray-yellow that she is used to. “I was coming up here to tell you that you needed to get up. I already took a shower, so go take yours. I will have breakfast ready down stairs.” He kisses her palm and stands up.

“I don’t eat breakfast.”

He lets her hand fall. “Today you do.” Justin winks and walks out of her bedroom.

Quinn shakes her head, and pulls out the note from Kaden. She gets up and walks over to her desk and puts it in there with his other notes. She grabs her long sleeve black shirt, and a pair of light blue jeans, and then heads to the bathroom.

***

Justin walks down the stairs and into the kitchen. He waits until he hears the shower until he takes his cell phone.

It rings three times before Kaden picks up. “Justin.”

Justin takes a deep breath to calm him down, and it doesn’t work. “What the hell were you doing here?” Justin is so mad he can feel his body trembling with is anger.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Kaden says, and Justin can hear the grin in his half-brother's voice.

“Don't give me that
bull crap, I can smell you all over her freaking bedroom.” Justin has to lower his voice, he doesn’t want Quinn to hear him.

Kaden laughs. “Jealous much?”

“You know the rules, and Quinn likes me. And I know you have been trying to get her not to like me, I have news for you it didn’t work.” Justin smiles thinking about Quinn, and how she is now his girlfriend.

“I don’t think you should keep things from her, it isn’t right.” Kaden's voice drops, and Justin knows the moon is affecting him too.

Justin closes his eyes. “You think I want to keep things from her? I hate it, I want to tell her everything but our dad would beat me.” Justin knows that is true, you don’t go against what the pack leader orders.

“Whatever, I don’t want to talk to you anymore. But know this, I care for her and if you hurt Quinn I will kill you.
I won’t walk away from her either, not yet.” Kaden hangs up and Justin shakes his head.

He puts his phone in his back pocket, and sets the table.

***

When Quinn walks down stairs, she smells food.
The only food that has been in her house in the past three months has been TV dinners and take-out. She knows how to cook, but doesn’t want to cook a meal and eat alone.

Quinn stops and smiles at Justin's back. He is at the stove, and slightly singing to himself. She hasn't heard him sing before, and
its heartbreaking beautiful. Justin is singing a song that she knows by Gavin DeGraw
More Than Anyone
. It is one of her favorites, it basically says if you need a friend he will be there, he is going to love you and holding more than anyone.

Justin turns around after hitting a high note, and chokes when he sees her. Quinn is smiling, and he looks like he might cry. “I think you might sing that song better than Gavin.” She grins when she sees a blush
darken his face and chest.

He clears his throat. “How long where you standing there?”

Quinn laughs, he is cute when he is embarrassed. “The whole time, and I loved the last note before you choked.” She winks at him. “I didn’t know you could sing.” Quinn spots bacon, and takes a piece.

Justin nods towards the table, and she walks over to it. “Yeah no one knows, I don’t want to look like a wussy.”

Quinn laughs, and sits down. “Justin I don’t think anyone would think that, have you seen yourself? You are six foot something and you are covered in muscles from head to toe.” He laughs behind her, and she smiles.

“I am six foot two,
” Justin says, and squeezes her shoulder. He sets a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of her. He sets down across from her, and she frowns.

Quinn knows that she didn’t have any of this food in her house. “Where did you get this food?”

Justin takes a bite, but she sees his grin. “I went out this morning before you woke up.” That explains how Kaden came in without Justin knowing.

“Well thank you.” She eats another piece of bacon.

Justin smiles and she continues to eat. “You know you don’t need to thank me, I want to be the one you turn to.”

Quinn stands up and takes her empty plate to the sink. She keeps her back to him. “I will turn to you more when I know you aren’t keeping things from me.”

Quinn feels an arm around her waist. “I will tell you everything after homecoming. I promise you.”

She nods, he has told her that. “I have a question for you.”

Quinn turns around, and looks at Justin. “What?”

She watches him take a deep breath. “Have you kissed Kaden?” Quinn loses her smile, and stares into his eyes.

She won't lie to him, they weren’t together so it should matter. But she has a feeling it will matter to him. “Yes, the night he stayed here.” Quinn watches many emotions flash on his face, and it settling on hurt.

Justin closes his eyes, and Quinn feels bad. “Did you two--”

“No!” She puts her hands on his shoulders, and shakes him. “Justin, look at me.” He slowly opens his eyes. “We kissed that was all, I am still a virgin.”

He just stares into her eyes, like he is trying to see if she is telling the truth. “Okay, but I don’t like that he has kissed you. I could kill him for that.”

“What, for a kiss?” He doesn’t say anything. “Please promise me you won't do anything.” Again she gets nothing from him. “Justin! Please, if you do anything I won't go to the dace with you and I won't be with you.”

Justin narrows his eyes. “Fine I won't do anything to Kaden, but you have to promise me you won't see him alone again.”

Quinn pushes him away, and puts her hands on her hips. “You can't tell me who I can see alone. What are you going to do follow me around?” He stares at her blankly again, and then nods. “You got to be kidding me. I don’t like this.”

Justin shrugs. “Quinn, y
ou have a choice. You don’t see him alone or I will deal with him.”

“What!” Quinn has to close her eyes and count to ten before she says something she might regret.

She wants the guy that was cooking and singing in her kitchen back. “Fine I won't see him alone again.”

Justin nods. “Good, I am sorry to be like this, but I don’t share easily.” He smiles like he is remembering something. “And Kaden and I have never played well with each other.”

Quinn shakes her head and moves away from him. “Whatever, I think you should go.”

“Quinn.” She turns around, and shakes her head.

“No, right now I am really mad. I don’t like you being a controlling ass face.”

Justin bites his lips to hide his smile. “I
am sorry, but it's who I am. Quinn I will do what you ask, I will see you at school.” He walks over to her to give her a kiss; she stops him by putting her hand on his chest.

“Justin if you kiss me right now I will probably bite of your tongue.” He puts his hands up, and grins.

“Okay, then I will see you later.” He blows her a kiss and walks away.

Quinn waits until she hears his car pulling away, before she grabs her bag. She promised she wouldn't see Kaden alone, but didn’t say anything about writing him a note. She grabs her notebook and a black pen.

Kaden

Justin doesn’t want us to be alone anymore. He said he will hurt you if we are alone again. But I want us to still be
friends; maybe we can work something out. What he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him. But we do need to talk, I heard you say something this morning, and I want to make sure I heard it right.

Quinn

PS Thank you for my beautiful flower. How did you know it was my favorite?

Quinn takes the note and folds it, then adds Kaden's name to the front. She wonders how she will get it to him without Justin
seeing; she moans and makes her way to her car.

When she gets to school she doesn’t see Justin's truck, but she does see Kaden's motorcycle. She parks by it and gets out. Kaden is just getting off of his motorcycle, and he is placing his helmet on the back. As she walks by him she puts the note on his motorcycle, and continues to walk.

Quinn's heart is pounding when she sees Justin's pick up pull in. At least she knows he didn’t see her, Breanna pops out of nowhere. She does that a lot.

“Hey Quinny! So how last night?”

Quinn laughs, this is her Breanna. “It was good,” she says, and Breanna stops.

“What happened? When I left you were having fun, and you and Justin were connecting.” Breanna looks a little mad.

“He is a controlling ass face,” Quinn says, as she hears Kaden's voice behind her.

Breanna giggles. “Ass face?”

Quinn grins, and glances behind her shoulder. She sees Kaden and Mark talking and laughing.