With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men, #4)(95)

“Hey.” Ten turned back and lifted his hands in defense. “She was so into you after you guys started going hot and heavy, I kind of thought she might’ve changed for you. I hoped she had.”

“But just not enough to trust her overnight at our place, huh?”

Ten sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I told you I was sorry. And I am. If I could take it back, I would. The last thing on earth I’d ever want to do is betray one of my friends. I feel like shit, okay.”

I didn’t want to give in, but I knew he was speaking the truth. He didn’t betray his friends, otherwise he would’ve satisfied his craving for Caroline a long time ago. But he stayed away, in honor of Noel.

“So, what do you say, Quinn?” Pick squeezed my shoulder again. “Are you going to forgive the dumbass for accidently sleeping with someone he probably shouldn’t have?” When his gaze met mine, I realized he wasn’t referring to just Ten and Cora; he was reminding me of Zoey.

I glanced away, the shame catching me in the throat. What I’d done with her was fifty times worse than anything Ten had done with a girl he thought was completely available and willing.

After blowing out a breath, I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, my voice rusty as if I hadn’t talked in a week. “I guess. Whatever.”

“What? Really?” Ten straightened, looking bewildered. “Just like that? You forgive me?”

He stared at me in disbelief as if he wanted more from me. “What?” I said, scowling back. “Don’t expect a hug or anything.”

Pick and Asher burst out laughing. Looking a little sick to his stomach, Ten spun on his stool to face the bar, and then reached over to snag the bottle out of Asher’s hand so he could tip it up and just let the alcohol guzzle down his throat.

Scowling, Pick pointed at him. “Hey, you’re paying for that entire bottle now, f*cker.”

The front doors came open. The four of us turned as Mason strolled into the club. His face was dotted with red splotches but he was whistling under his breath. He stopped when he saw us staring, though. Glancing around, he sent us a perturbed scowl. “Well, thanks for inviting me to the party.”

“Hart and I are just keeping Hamilton here from killing Ten,” Pick explained. “What’re you doing out and about? I thought you had chicken pox.”

“I do, but...” Mason pointed toward the stage, only to frown and scratch his arm. “I promised Asher I’d help him reset the stage for karaoke night. Except...”

“Quinn already helped me.” Asher nodded to me with a grateful smile.

“Yeah,” Mason said slowly, sliding his gaze his way. “What is Quinn doing here, though?” Then he glanced at my roommate. “And Ten too, for that matter. I thought Gamble was filling in for me tonight.”

“Ham broke up with Cora,” Pick announced.

Again, the calm, level way he said it made my jaws clench. Coming from his mouth like that, it sounded like some average, everyday thing had happened, whereas I was barely keeping myself together from all the trauma. I wanted to rage and break things, and curl into a ball and die, and then shrivel up from mortification, all while the things I’d done with Zoey kept whirling through my brain, keeping me perpetually guilty and horny at the same time.

To say I was an utter mess was probably the understatement of the century.

“Oh, shit,” Mason uttered, turning to Pick. “You finally told him how she hit on you, huh?”

I spun toward Pick and gaped at him openmouthed. He backed away slowly and lifted his hands, his eyes wide with culpability.

Oh my God. She had hit on him.

“What the f*ck!” I gripped my hair, wanting to pull out every lock by the roots, just...anything to relieve the anger and humiliation inside me.

Mason turned wide-eyed to Ten. “Did Hamilton just say f*ck? Or is my fever messing with my ears?”

Ten smacked him in the arm. “Way to go, *. You turned him to cursing.”

“Does anyone else here know something about my life that I don’t?” I demanded, glaring down every man in the room. “I thought you guys were my friends.”

They’d always made me feel included and welcome, like one of the crew. To realize they still kept things from me did not sit well. Did they think I was too stupid to keep up, too naive, too—

“You are our friend, Quinn.” Pick’s calming voice didn’t really calm me this time. And when he set his hand back on my shoulder, I shrugged it off and glared. He lifted his palms and took a step back.

“So, what? You think I’m too fragile to handle the truth, then?”

“No.” Pick scowled and shook his head. “Not at all. We think you’ve had to deal with a lot of new experiences in the past few months that you’ve never dealt with before. We know how sheltered you were; you didn’t get a normal teenager’s life. So when it comes to women, sex, and love, you didn’t get to wade in like the rest of us. You’ve had to jump straight off into the deep end. It’s because you are our friend and we’re completely loyal to you that we didn’t interfere or bother you with things we didn’t know for sure. We just wanted you to have fun with your first girl. And Cora didn’t exactly hit on me, as Lowe phrased it. She just put off this vibe like she wanted to, so I shut her down before she could. So she didn’t. I could’ve totally been reading it wrong, and I didn’t want to cause you any undue paranoia, so I never said anything.”