Faith was watching me as if I’d grown a second head. “You okay, Strattan? What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.” But I was distracted. “Thank you, Faith.”
“Me?” Her eyebrows shot up to where her hair met her forehead. “What did I do?”
“You helped me too.”
I wanted to see Mason. He had practice, and he wouldn’t be done till later in the evening. I promised Coach I’d do sprints and weights with Mason, but that would push us back another hour, and we had our dinner with Helen tonight.
I couldn’t do anything now, and for once, I didn’t want to do the one thing I always wanted to do.
I did it anyway. I went on a run.
MASON
“You won.”
Those were two words I normally would’ve loved to hear from Adam Quinn, but as I put my gym bag into the Escalade, the sight of him standing at the end of my vehicle didn’t give me a good feeling. He was pale, bags under his eyes, and looked like he needed a meal or a good night’s sleep.
“When’s the last time you slept, Quinn?”
A broken laugh barked from him, and he shoved two fists into his baggy coat pockets. “That’s your greeting to me? I just told you that you won.”
“I heard. What are you doing here, Quinn?”
He snorted again, still sounding bitter. “At least have the decency to call me by my name. I’m here. I’m conceding defeat. You. Won. You won. You can be happy now. Right? Because that must be why you destroyed my life.” His voice rose, and he was almost spitting out his words. “Right?” His nostrils flared. “I mean, you did what you said you’d do. You ruined me. Becky wants nothing to do with me, and that video—you’re always going to have that over me, aren’t you?”
My phone was in my pocket, not my bag. I shut the Escalade’s door and faced him squarely.
He kept going. “The case against my dad is bad. He’s going to go away, but it doesn’t even matter. His reputation is ruined.” Another hard laugh. “And that’s what you have against me now. You took my girl. You have my reputation, and I can’t even get mad at you. I set myself up. The video I used against you. I broke into your house. It’s perfect.” He looked down at the ground, shaking his head. “It’s just perfect.”
A sad echo.
He wanted me to feel pity for him? Fury lit a flame inside me. He’d tried to take my life away. He tried it again, and that was after a few years of peace. I clenched my jaw. I didn’t feel pity for this guy. He was a feral animal. Wounded, backed into a corner, but he’d come back fighting. I had no doubt about it.
I eyed him. “Why are you wearing a coat?”
“Huh?”
I nodded at him. “This is California, and it’s eighty. Why are you wearing that coat?”
He looked down at it like he hadn’t realized he had it on. “I don’t know.” His voice was strained again, quiet. “I don’t remember putting it on.”
“Why are you here, Adam?”
His eyes flicked to mine at the mention of his name. I saw something lighten, like he was thankful for that. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I don’t know.” He was almost murmuring to himself. His head hung low. “I think I came to let you know that. You won.” He rolled his eyes up and let his head fall back. “What am I going to do? My dad is furious, but he’s going to prison. He’ll get convicted. The evidence against him is rock solid. Becky won’t talk to me. I have no one anymore.”
The parking lot was almost empty. I had taken longer than usual to get ready because the plan was to meet Sam and Logan at the hotel for Helen’s dinner. I could feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. It was probably Sam or Logan, or both of them, wondering where I was. I could’ve reached in and hit one button to let them listen to the conversation, but then they’d know Quinn was here. They’d come.
They couldn’t come.
If he was going to do something, he was only going to get me. No one else.
“I was going to go to law school, Mason.” His shoulders crumbled before me. He was almost shrinking in size. “I was engaged to a great girl. Becky loved me for me. She was there in the beginning. She was always there for me, and I wouldn’t look at her. Not like that. It was Sam for me.” He cursed softly. “Man, Sam was so beautiful.”
He looked up again, a sheen of tears in his eyes. “I fell for her before Sallaway did. I wanted her first. She was stunning. I tried to talk to her, but she never saw me. Then he swooped in and got her, and she was gone. I started dating Ashley after that, but Sam was the one I wanted.”