BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(36)

“Is the doctor available?” I ask, in reference to an old joke.

“Uh-oh, what’s up man?” Cole responds and immediately and sets his laptop aside.

“The doctor?” Quinn asks, confusion written all over her face.

“Cole used to be our therapist, I guess. We called him ‘Doc’ because he was the guy to go to with problems.”

“Yeah, he is great like that.” She stares up at him dreamily. Freaking nauseating. “When can I be a patient?” she whispers while rolling closer to him. That’s my cue to leave. Yet again. I turn on my heel and grab for the doorknob.

“Stop, man,” Cole says with a laugh. “We’re just messing around.”

“Nah, I’m so sick of this shit. I can’t ever say two words to you or Jax anymore without interrupting some kind of love fest.” I’m ranting like a * now.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Jace.” Quinn pats the bed next to her and I park my pathetic sorry-ass down. “I can leave if you guys want to talk.”

“No, I don’t care if you’re here. I just need one conversation where someone isn’t down someone else’s throat.”

“Deal,” she says. “Give them a break though,” she says, pointing to the door. “She just got back, so they’re in the honeymoon phase again.”

“I know, I know.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “That’s why I haven’t blown a fuse in front of them yet.”

“What’s up, son?” Cole smarts off again. I stare at him, not saying a word. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m done f*cking with you, for real this time.”

“I dropped Pre-med.” With Cole, it’s best to get straight to the point. He doesn’t have the attention span for beating around the bush.

Quinn’s mouth drops open and Cole looks equally stunned. “Uh… what? You dropped out of school? It’s your senior f*cking year, man. You couldn’t go one more year?” he scolds.

“I didn’t say I dropped out of school. I said I dropped Pre-med.”

“What the hell else are you going to do now? Changing your major this late in the game is not going to be easy.”

“I’ve been double-majoring.”

Another set of stunned faces.

“I never wanted to be a doctor. Okay… well, I did once when I was sixteen and my dad and Jax stuck to the idea like glue. When Pops died, I just felt it was… right, you know?”

“What’s your alternate major?” Quinn encourages me to continue.

“Finance and Business Economics. Business, basically,” I reply with a shrug. “Okay guys, seriously. The stunned faces don’t f*cking help.”

“Go on… tell me the reasoning behind all of this,” Cole requests.

“Look, I always saw myself taking over my dad’s business one day. I used to talk about it all the time with him. Then I spoke of being a doctor for like a week, and he acted like I walked on water for something I hadn’t even accomplished. Jax later took over that notion for him. I hear the way he talks about me to people, like I’m going to cure cancer.”

“Is Pre-med too hard?” Cole asks calmly.

“Fuck no, I was actually pretty good at it. I just don’t want to do it. I gave it a shot; I tried to love it. What I want to do is take over Pop’s company when my uncle retires.”

“I’ve never even heard you say what your father did,” Quinn reflects.

“Security,” Cole’s gruff voice responds.