With Every Heartbeat

When his mouth opened, but no words came and a strange expression entered his face, I held up a hand. “Sorry. Ignore me.” That information was none of my business. “Still...that’s so cool that the football coach came to you. You must’ve been a natural.” I smiled, glad to hear he’d turned out a success after his beginning had been so similar to mine.

Quinn shrugged bashfully. “I was big enough to handle a hit here and there, but I still had decent aim with my throwing arm.” He glanced at me only to suck in a sudden breath. “Ouch. That must’ve hurt.”

Before I knew what he was doing, he reached out and slid his fingers over the top of my shoulder where my shirt had slipped down revealing bare skin. The graze of his flesh against mine made me shiver. When my nipples instantly went hard, I jerked back with a gasp.

His eyes widened as if he’d just then realized what he’d done. Snapping his hand back to himself, he immediately apologized. “Sorry, I just...they surprised me. I’m so sorry.”

When I realized he was talking about the scars and that’s what he’d touched, I immediately covered the area with my hand.

“The way they’re in a straight line like that...” He shook his head and his eyes filled with compassion. “That’s crazy. Someone must’ve possessed some insanely controlled temper to do something like that.”

I shook my head, instantly denying it, but Quinn merely whispered, “Zoey.” He lifted a hand to stop me from protesting. “I know what cigarette burns look like.” Then he reached for the hem of his own shirt and lifted it. I got an eyeful of perfectly formed abs before he twisted to show me his back.

My mouth fell open. Not only was he marred everywhere with belt-inflicted scars, but little white and red dots were scattered sporadically, showing me how many times someone had taken the butt of a cigarette to him and burned him.

Tears filled my eyes.

He dropped his shirt back into place. “My abuser just wasn’t as neat as yours.”

I opened my mouth and met this gaze, but no words came.

“Cora told me about you before you ever moved here,” he admitted. Then he glanced away. “I’ve wanted to say something to you for a while, let you know I understood and that I’d been there, too.”

I wiped at my wet cheeks and finally managed to asked, “Who...?”

“My mom,” he answered with a blank nod. “But only until I was twelve. That’s when she overdosed and died. I went to live with my grandma after that. I’d never had any kind of schooling at that point. Gran knew I would’ve been horribly out of place if I started public school then, so she homeschooled me until I was ready for ninth grade. I don’t think a lot of people knew I was seventeen my freshman year of high school.”

“Wow,” I whispered. My hand trembled as I reached for him, but I kept reaching until my fingers were covering his.

He slipped his around until our palms pressed together. Then he sent me a sad smile. “I was worried about you when you first showed up. I’d had years to get over what I went through before I moved out on my own. But you were just escaping. I didn’t know how easily you’d adjust. I wanted to let you know I was here to talk...you know, if you ever needed to, but I wasn’t sure...I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to broach the subject.”

I smiled and nodded, sniffing with a new batch of tears wetting my eyes. “You’re doing a very good job of it now.”

He half smiled, half laughed. “Yeah. Better late than never, huh? I guess we should’ve watched a scary movie together weeks ago.”

When I blurted out a laugh only to mop up more tears, he stood and tightened his grip on my hand to urge me out of my chair as well. “Come here.”

My stomach fluttered with unease and excitement as I followed his instruction without question. I stood, and he pulled me into a hug.

I’m not sure if I’d ever really been hugged before. It was...amazing. I rested my cheek on his shoulder, inhaled his heavenly scent and hugged him back as hard as I could.

Warm lips pressed against my forehead. “It’ll get better. I promise you.”

More tears fell and I squeezed my eyes closed, wishing this moment would never end. But footsteps in the hallway approached and Cora’s voice lightly called, “Quinn?”

“Right here.” His arms loosened around me, but he didn’t lurch away with any kind of guilt.

He was still lowering his arm from around me when my best friend appeared in the doorway, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She jerked to a stop when she saw us. Dropping her hand to her side, she gazed back and forth between us with confusion. “What the hell?”