Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

The auction is in full swing and going better than expected. Aaron will be last in the auction. He wanted to go first, but I told him that if he goes last, he will most

kely gain the highest bids of the night. My reasoning is that all the ladies who lost the earlier bids will be desperate to win the last one of the evening.

Andrew, our CEO, is presiding over the auction. We agreed that since he is the head of the hospital board, it would be good for him to represent Merry General. As he become more comfortable with the role, his sense of humor came out, much to the crowd’s delight. As each new bid comes in on the bachelor on the stage,

Andrew makes smart little quis about the amount of the bid and the bachelor’s attenutes. O

The general ambiance of the event is lich. Drinks are flowing, money being donated at an impressive rate, and the competition between all the single women is high. Overall, the night is going well.

I leave Anora at our table with Rylan and Shawn while I check in with Aaron before he goes up on stage. He looked calm when he joined the rest of the bachelors in line, but I can see the steady ticking of his jaw. He is anything but calm, I asked too much of him tonight.

This entire event is a stressor for him. Tons of people milling about. Women pawing at him for attention. Bylan dressed to impress in that siren red dress must be driving him crazy. I saw her follow him down to the beach earlier. I hope he was rivd to her.

As I approachim, he gives me a nod, gets up off his stool, then walks behind the bark side of the stage, out of view from the crowd, I follow him. When he turns to face me, there are so many raw emotions in his eyes. All I can do is give him the space he needs to calm down.

“What is going on, Aaron?

on? Do you need to bow out? I asked too much of you tonight am so sorry.”

“old Bylan why I push her away”

The pain in his voice pulls at me. I know what he told her without asking him. That head to have been hand to say to her and even harder for her to hear.

“How did she handle it?”

“She blew me away, Q. Just took me by surprise. I expected her to call me a coward. What she did and said before she walked away was so much worse because now, I have hope.”

I can guess what she said.

“Rylan told me she will wait for me to heal, to feel worthy of her, then she will be there when I am ready. What if I am never ready?” He asks. His voice cracks at the end.

That was exactly what I thought she said.

“You will be. It will take time. You will have setbacks. Some days you will want to quit, but you are a fighter, Aaron. Fight to get your lite back. I will be right by your

“Promise?”

“I have had your back since we were kids, throughout boot camp, through our first deployment, and I will have your back when we par both old enough to have our kids put us in nursing homes. You pulled my a***out of the fire, were my guide out of the dark, and now it is my turn to help you.”

ack to me,ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Aaron gives me a solemn nod, then turns away from me so he can wipe his eyes. When turns back to me. “Ok, let’s get back out there so I can make someone donate an obscene amount of signey”

“Are you were you still want to go out there into the lion’s den?”

Lepes are calmer, and the smile he gives me is genule.

He laughs, then walls past me to go back to his stool. I can’t stop him if this is what he wants to do. All I can do is keep an eye on him as the night progresses. I

4-hope the woman who bids on him is a patient one.

As I head back to my table, Ethan McAllister steps into my path, Great, one crisis atted, now on to the next. Fantastik.

“How may I help you tonight, Mr. McAllister? Are you enpying the ambiance? I hope you made a donation.”

“How do you sleep at night after everything you have done to my wife?” He asks. His pyes are glittering with rage as he blocks

my path.

I glance down at his hands as I contemplate how to respond. He is clenching and unclenching is fists. He wants to fight me, but is restraining himself. At least he is

still somewhat rational

“Honestly, I sleep pretty well. Thank you for asking. I am sure you saw my dance. She helps me sleep like a baby.”

Not the wisest thing to say to a semi-imational person, but I can’t seem to help mysel

“Are you really that cold-blooded? You abandoned your pregnant fance for no reason Now here you are acting like none of that happened and are parading your new w**e for all to see.”

I see red when he calls Annora a w**e. However, I know he is just trying to antago me into a fight. I will not give him what he wants by playing his **id

“I see you are a bigger fool than I originally thought. If you will excuse me, I have better things to do with my time.”

“How can you be so cruel to do what you

have done to

Dionne? She gav

gave birth to your child, and you refused to answer her calls”

1 Laugh at the absurdity of his statement. His version of events doesn’t fit with what actually happened. At least not from my viewpoint. Maybe that is how Dice

saw things. If so, then she is post as delusional as Ethan K.

There is a saying about stories and truths. It is said that there are not two sides to a story, but three. Her side, my side, and the truth. Until recently, I always felt the truth was on my side. Now I know Dionne manipulates the truth of any situation to fit her narrative

In this case, for her, she painted me as the villain so Ethan would fall for her s**b story. In some ways, maybe I am the villain. I never loved her, but I used her, -affection to make myself feel better. I admit it was wrong. For that and only that will I ever tell her I am sorry.

“How long before I left her were you two f**g each other?”

Surprise crosses his face for a split second before his features harden with anger again I put a dent in his defense. Suddenly, I am not the only one at fault for how the past ended the way it did,

“You were always too busy with your career to give Dionne the attention she deserved

“So that is the en

excuse you two give yourselves for her cheating on me with you? How about the baby she aborted? What was her version of the story for you?”

“What abortion?” Ethan asks. Confusion flashes across his face.

Ch. That explains a lot. He doesn’t know the aborted my child because she is trying to pass off his son as mine. Why would she tell him? That would raise doubt in his mind and make him harder to manipulate. Dionne, you are devious beyond words

“The layers of this drama get deeper and deeper as more is revealed. When I investigated McAllister Industries, you struck me as a smart min. Now I can see that you are a gullible fool. I can tell you from personal experience she isn’t worth all this drama. Your level of p**y whipped is mind-bopeling.”

He raises his arm like he is going to throw a punch at me, but lowers it when someone speeks behind him. His face turns red with rage when he’s prevented from turning this into a physical altercation. Thankfully, Gayle came around the corner and called my name.

“You walk away now, but I will be laughing in court when you are made to pay for what you did to Dionna and her son.

You mean the child that could very well be yours more than mine?”

His face burns white, and jake that opportunity to walk away. I step around Ethan, then walk to where Cayle is standing. With one last glance at Ethan, I turn back to Gayle and lead her away. Thit mun is unhinged.

1 positive the thought never crossed his mind that Logan could be his son.

“Do you want me to alert security about him?” Gayle asks.

“No. At least not right now. If he causes anymore scenes, then we will call the point. What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Nothing at all. I heard voices an wn on my way to hand in some donations. I saw on act like he was going to hit you, so I spoke up.”

“Thank you, Gayle gives me a smile, then walks to her seat. I head straight to my table where Annom is waiting. There is a frown on her face as I sit down. I grab her hand, brush a Liss acres her knuckles, then tell her what happened with Ethus

Annoyance flashes across her beautiful face when Pell her he flinched like he was going to throw a punch. I can tell she wants to say something, but she keeps quiet considering the situation we are in. I am gratefull for that. This is not the place to talk about my dirty laundry.

One thing is clear, however, Dionne has twisted that man’s mind to the point that he will believe thing she tells him. Yes, I left her without a backward glance, but that was only after she confirmed the abortion and told me why. Should I have trasl to reach out to her after she called me the first time after I left? Maybe. However, at that point, there was nothing she could say to me that would have made her actions go aw

If Ethan wants a fight, I will give him one. Just not the way he wants. There is no way I plan on stooping to his level. I am done with physical violence. However, I wouldn’t put it past him to try to hurt me in other ways. He strikes me as crazy enough to go to any lengths to prove a point.

“Ladies, are you ready for our last bachelor of the evening?” Andrew asks the crowd.

stands up off his stool and walks up onto the stage. A few women in the

When he gets loud cheers in response, he motions with his hand towards Aaron. A moved whistle as he approaches Andie Aaron smiles and flashes his dimples to the ladies. This will be fun to watch.

I glance at Annorac she is leaning towards Rylan and Shawna. When she sits back, there is a smile on her face, same for Rylan and Shawn. Well, this feels like trouble. I knew from the minute I introduced Rylan to Annora that they would become fast friends. Add Shawn to the mix and oh boy, here comes trouble.

“This lucky bachelor is none other than the other half of G&C Enterprises, Aaron Carter. We are going to start the bidding at half a million dollars. Do we

Before Andrew can even finish his sentence, a yell of a million-dollar bid comes from a woman towards the left of the stage. Andrew nods his head in her direction and continues with the auction. The next bidder shocks me.

“Two million,” Rylan calls out.

The look on Aaron’s face is priceless as his head snaps in her direction. Andrew smiles at her, then

en nods his head in acknowledgement. Does Rylan have that much money? I glance over at Annora to see her smiling. Ah, that was what the whispers were about.

“We have two million dollars; do we have two-point five?”

“Two-point five,” the same woman who woman who started the bidding calls out,

“How high are you three willing to push this?” I whisper to Annora.

“It is for a worthy cause. Besides, we are doing this to help our friend, Aaron may have volunteered for this, but that doesn’t mean his evening has to end with a total stranger.”

“Are you three doing this to push Rylan and Aaron together?”

“No, but that didn’t even cross my mind when I told them about it.”

“Three million,” a fresh voice calls out.

The bids go back and forth between the two ladies until it reaches five million dollars, Rylan looks defeated at the price. I can tell she was hoping to win su thai Aaron would be a tonight without the pressure of entertaining a random stranger. I will play their game.

The balance of whatever the last lid is, in Hylan’s name,” I whisper in Annara’s ear

smiles at me, then gives Rylan’s elbow a rudge. When Hylan glances over at her or gives her a thumbs up. Hylan instantly raises her hand and calls out her bid of six million dollars. I guess these ladies all have the go big or go home me**ty tonight.

“We have six million from the lovely woman in red bere. Do we have six polid-five?” Andrew calls out after acknowledging Bylan’s bid. When he gets no oesponse, he falls out once more and then again before he declares a winner.

The look of pure joy on her face makes me smile. While she walks to the stage to claim her date, I pull out my phone to quickly transfer the funds to her bank account. This is probably the oddest thing I have ever spent money on.

No, that isn’t true, but this transaction will stay between the three of us. I am not sure I want my best friend knowing that I helped Rylan win a date with him. Especially after what they talked about earlier. He may think that she isn’t willing to wait like she said, but that she is pushing the issue now,

I know Rylan, and I don’t think that is something she would do. Now that she knows how he feels about her, she will back off and wait for him to come to her. Rylan had always been true to her word. She will give hing all the space he needs

After tonight.

I watch as Rylan leads Aaron off the stage, then onto the dance floor off to the right of the stage. My best friend looks both happy and angry at the same time. What a combination of emotions.

I glance at Annora, hold my hand out to her, then ask, “Annie, would you like to dance?”