and watch.
“He bought the garage, Quinn,” Jace says gently. “I just found out and came to tell you.”
My knees wobble and my vision blurs. No, he must have it wrong.
“I…” I whisper, but my voice has retreated to the depths of darkness threatening to swallow me up.
“Your dad signed it over to him this morning. He got in contact with him, offered a good price and your dad, thinkin’ he was doing the right thing by you, sold it to him without question.”
No.
No.
God, please, no.
I shake my head, and tears burst free and run down my cheeks.
“Jace,” I rasp. “This isn’t real … tell me it’s not real?”
“I’m so sorry honey.”
My entire body starts to shake as a mass of emotions flood me. Everyone around me becomes a blur as tears explode and my eyes become fuzzy. The sounds of shuffling become louder around me and then I hear his voice, the voice I don’t ever want to hear again.
“I was going to tell you, angel.”
“Don’t call me angel,” I scream, swiping my eyes furiously. When I find him, I pin him with a glare so acidic he flinches. “How dare you! I told you what that garage meant to me, and you swept in, using me along the way, while you wrapped your grubby, disgusting hands around it and snatched it out from beneath me.”
“That isn’t—”
“Don’t!” I yell. “Don’t give me excuses. You’ve wanted it since you walked in that first day. I should have known all this,” I wave at him, “was a big, disgusting act. You were just distracting me so you could take what’s mine.”
“It wasn’t yours,” he barks, losing his cool. “And you couldn’t have saved it, you and I both know that. I did you a favor.”
“A favor?” I laugh so bitterly it hurts. “A fucking favor? How do you suppose you did me a favor? No, you did only yourself a favor. I might not have been able to save that garage, but you owed me at least the chance to try.”
“Listen, Quinn…”
“Don’t,” I cry, launching forward and shoving him so hard he’s forced to take a few steps back. “Don’t try and make yourself look better. You’re a dog, and you know it. Worse, you had the balls to kiss me and make out like you actually wanted it. Real, Tazen?” I shake my head. “You wouldn’t know real if it slapped you in the face.”
“Come on,” Jace says, wrapping an arm around me. “Let’s go.”
With tears staining my cheeks, I let him turn me.
“Angel,” Tazen calls.
I look over my shoulder at him. “This is far from finished.”
Then, I let Jace lead me away.
CHAPTER NINE
“How could you?” I cry, pacing the room.
My dad is sitting on the couch, staring up at me with a check in his hand for a hundred thousand dollars. He looks confused, like he couldn’t possibly imagine why the hell I’m sad over the loss of the garage. I understand in his fried brain, he thinks he did the right thing. That it was a simple solution, but he failed to think about what the place meant to me.
And he knows, even in his state. He knows.
“I told you I’d fix it,” he mutters.
“Fix it?” I whisper. “That was the only thing I had left. It was the only part of her,” my voice breaks, “we had left.”
My dad flinches and I know that was a low blow.
“I…” he stammers. “I was only tryin’ to fix things, Quinnie. I couldn’t stand to see you suffering anymore.”
My shoulders slump and I drop my head. I can’t be angry at him, not when he thinks that he has just fixed everything. In a way, he has. Our bills can be paid, our mortgage covered and things will ease up. But we have lost something that we can never get back, and that is making my heart ache in a way I can’t turn off.
“It’s okay, Dad,” I whisper, placing my hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to sort all of this out. Let me put the check in the account.”
He hesitates, staring at the check promising a large amount of money. He wants it, and I know exactly what he wants it for. I can’t risk that happening, if he gets hold of this kind of money he’ll drink it away before we have the chance to do anything. So, in a gentle voice, I say, “Dad, if you did this for us, then you need to let me put