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I walked down the steps and headed over to the side of the pool. I sat down at the edge and stuck my legs into the water. I didn’t have to enjoy having the giant thing taking up a good deal of the backyard to appreciate the fact that it was heated and felt freaking awesome.

If I was being honest, I didn’t actually hate having the pool. I just didn’t want to show that I liked it and then have to eat my words that I’d been wrong about it. And that was never fun.

I sipped my coffee while thinking about the dress now hanging up in my closet and the picture on the wall beside my bed. Both meant everything to me, yet I hoped like hell no one else noticed them, because I wasn’t ready to talk about them and maybe never would be. Sometimes having to share a closet with another person wasn’t always a good thing. Thankfully it was Dash, and he was good at keeping his mouth shut when I needed him to. Not all of them were capable of that. Some boys had really big mouths.

Like always, I felt him before I saw him. He had a magnetic pull that I was never capable of resisting. Not that I ever wanted to, even when I wanted to kill him. He owned a part of my soul, they all did. There was no denying it.

Quinton sat down beside me, rolled his pant legs up to his knees, and stuck his legs in the pool. I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from snapping at him when he reached across my body, picked up my coffee cup, and brought it to his lips. He drained the rest of my coffee before leaning over me and placing my mug back exactly where he’d gotten it from.

What a fucking dick.

I was not impressed in the slightest. Any sympathy I had for him after seeing him sleeping on that couch had completely vanished.

“You do realize that now you need to get up off your ass and go get me another cup of coffee, right?” I questioned Quinton.

He just looked at me and quirked an eyebrow like the arrogant prick he absolutely was most of the time.

“Don’t worry about that. I’m sure one of the guys will be out here with a refill soon once they notice you’re out here.”

I scowled at him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I think you need to get me a new one since you were the one who very rudely stole all my coffee like a complete and total asshole.”

Now it was him who looked totally unimpressed by me, and that had me annoyed with him to the extreme all over again. I should have woken him up earlier and let all my rage out on his ass like I had originally planned.

“This is what you’re choosing to fight with me about right now?” he asked incredulously. “I figured there were more important things to talk about after yesterday.”

He had that right.

Like, where the fuck was my ring?

You would think that would be the first thing he’d have given me the moment his bitch ass sat down beside me, but no, not Uncle Quinton. He wanted to squabble over petty shit and steal my coffee.

“Where did you take off to yesterday? You do realize we are all under a serious threat right now, and it’s not okay to take off like that all on your own. It’s not safe, and you had every single one of us worried sick about you. Not to mention what you put Simon and Trenton through by leaving without them. I know I upset you, but you really need to work on thinking about the rest of us before you do something so rash again.”

I wanted to scream and maybe find something to throw at him again. I briefly thought about bashing him upside the head with my mug, but since it was Dash’s, I didn’t want to chance breaking it. Quinton was lucky, and he didn’t even seem to realize it.

I sighed. “I was with Rain, Quint. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about. I wouldn’t have run out of here in the first place if you hadn’t shit all over my heart. And please don’t even talk to me about Trenton and Simon. You’re smart enough to know that neither of us are quite ready to have that conversation just yet.”

His face pinched in pain when I mentioned him shitting on my heart, but he was downright pissed when I said what I did about Simon and Trenton. I knew when the time was right, I needed Quinton on my side about the brothers, but it was obvious from his expression he wasn’t ready to open that door yet.

That was okay, I could be patient. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was quite ready yet myself. But the time was coming, I could feel it. Simon and Trenton weren’t going to be nearly as patient as me, I could feel that too.

He gritted his teeth and ground out, “Okay, I’ll admit that I handled the entire situation poorly. I apologize for that. You deserve better and we both know it. I’m an asshole. I’ve now apologized. What more do you want me to say?”

As far as apologies went, it wasn’t a very good one. It wasn’t too much pride that was Quinton’s problem, not that he didn’t have an overabundance of pride because he did. The problem was he shut down and turned into an asshole when he was disappointed in himself and hurt the people he loved. That was unbearable to him, and he never dealt with it very well.

I noticed the bruise high on his cheekbone and winced. I hoped Tyson didn’t have bruises to match, because it would make me feel like a terrible person since I was essentially to blame for it. Quinton’s bruise didn’t exactly make me feel bad. It did, however, make me wish I’d stuck around long enough to have watched them brawl. It was probably a panty soaking show that I had missed out on.

“Do you want me to go and get your ring?”

I sure did, but I also wanted to find something for him to choke on. It was times like these when I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have a penis. It would really come in handy right about now.

I gave him a sweet, innocent look as I leaned into his side, which should have been warning enough for him, but he clearly missed it. I pushed all my body weight into him as I shoved him into the pool.

He landed on his side with a giant splash as he sank beneath the water. The look of surprise on his face before he went under was absolutely priceless.

I felt better about the whole thing already, but I wasn’t stupid enough to stick around and enjoy my victory. I got up, abandoned my coffee cup, and ran.

I didn’t make it far, and I honestly should have known better.