Page 56 of Dirty Daria

26

Reed

I leave the restroom feeling loose and good. Three of those strong as fuck yellow drinks will do that to a guy. Anger surges through me as I see Mack and Daria heading for the exit, Mack points Quinn out to me and signals that he’ll be back in a few.

What-the-fuck-ever.

The guy has a one-track mind and it’s all Daria all the time.

I stand behind Quinn when I reach the bar, pushing my chest into her back. She spins to see who it is, eyes widening when she sees it’s me.

Who the fuck else would it be?

“Hey, Reed.” She grabs my hand and squeezes it once before letting it go. “This is my new friend, Theo. Theo, this is my friend, Reed.”

“Hey, man.” Theo holds out his hand to me. I ignore it, instead placing a possessive hand at Quinn’s hip.

“Oh, are you two together?” Theo asks.

“No,” Quinn says at the same time that I say, “Maybe.”

Theo smirks at me. “I didn’t hear a yes.” Then turns to Quinn saying, “Can I buy you another drink?”

“Yes!”

“Quinn, a word.” I take her hand and pull her from the barstool and off to the side of the room.

“What are you doing?” I ask spinning to face her.

“Having a drink and talking to my friend. What areyoudoing?”

“Saving you from yourself.”

“I don’t get you, Reed.” Quinn runs a hand over her forehead to capture the fine mist of sweat that has settled. Itiswarm in here.

“One minute you are acting like the biggest dick in the world to me,” she continues. “The next you get all possessive like you own me or something. Tell me this, do you like me, Reed?”

I sigh, heavily. I don’t want to have this conversation with her.

“Well?”

“Of course I like you, Quinn.”

“Okay, so do you want us to be together?”

I run my hands through my hair. “I don’t know. Fuck. I’ve kinda got a lot of shit going on right now, you know?”

“It’s pretty simple, Reed. Either you do or you don’t.”

“If you’re going to force my hand, then it’s don’t.”

Pain flashes across her face. I don’t think she expected me to say that. I watch her throat move as she swallows. “Okay, then.” She turns to leave, but I grab her arm and pull her back toward me.

“It’s not that easy, Quinn.”

“Actually,Reed, it is.”

“No, I just, look, you’re a lot to take in, you know?”