Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“Hey!” I chirped happily. Brandon smiled as I came over to him.

“Hey,” he said coolly. “You already get in?”

“Uh, yea,” I said. “Just for a second.”

“Cool,” he said. “I guess let’s go.” He dropped his bag by my chair then pulled his shirt off to toss down next to it. I averted my eyes as we walked over to the shallow end of the pool.

“Thanks for coming today. Everyone else bailed,” I said as we stepped into the water.

“No one else is coming?” he asked. I shook my head. “Oh,” he said quietly. We slowly waded into the water, and I aimed for the spot I found Kent and Tyler minutes ago. Thankfully, Michael had disappeared. I didn’t want to make this more awkward.

Brandon followed me in the water, and we stopped when we got over to the far wall. “So, uh, what have you been up to?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Working on my grandfather’s car,” he said.

“Cool,” I said.

“Why am I so awkward?” I thought.

“Because Brandon is a loser,” Sapphire taunted in my head. I rolled my eyes.

“Why is he a loser?” I argued with her.

“He has nothing going for him. He’ll end up doing nothing with his life. You can do way better,” she reasoned.

“Earth to Quinn,” Brandon said, pulling me from my argument with my wolf.

“Oh, sorry,” I said.

“It’s cool,” he said. He leaned against the wall of the pool, easily resting his arms along the edge. “So-” he started but was cut off by someone screaming, “CANNONBALL!”

Seconds later, we were hit with a wave of water as someone jumped into the water from right above our heads.

“Not cool,” Brandon shouted.

I wiped the water off my face in frustration for the second time. When I blinked my eyes open, Michael was standing in front of me with a cocky grin. Water dripped down his toned chest. “Sorry about that, Quinn,” he laughed.

“Do you know him?” Brandon linked me.

“No, well sort of….” I replied.

“Looks like you found a friend,” Michael smirked. I shot him an annoyed look.

“Yea, so you can go away,” I told him.

“Well, that’s no fun!” he complained. “What’s the harm in making new friends?”

“I don’t need any new friends,” I said, getting more irritated. Brandon looked at me oddly.

“Fine,” Michael said. “But you wound me, Quinn.” The superior smirk never left his face, but he turned to leave us. My shoulders relaxed slightly.

Brandon watched him leave before saying anything. “So you really know that guy?” he asked.

“I mean a little,” I told him. “I just met him. Our brothers are friends, and they met up.”

“You should stay away from him,” Brandon said with an irritated look.

“Why?” I asked him. Sure, Michael was confident and cute enough to make it a dangerous combination but it felt odd coming from Brandon. He stepped in front of me, caging me in between his arms.

I looked up at him a little wide-eyed. “You’re too much of a nice girl to go around with a guy like that,” he said, his voice lower.

“W-what do you mean?” I stuttered accidentally.

“You are too nice and soft. A guy like that takes girls like you, chews them up, and spits them out. He is just a jerk who likes to use his power to break other people,” Brandon said.

“How do you know? What power? Do you know him?” I questioned.

His arms tensed as he gripped the wall on either side of me. “It doesn’t matter. Just stay away from him,” he said.

I was quiet for a moment as he held my gaze. Eventually, I looked down. “That sounds like something a boyfriend tells his girlfriend,” I mumbled.

He shrugged, stepping away from me. “Maybe,” he said.

“So, uh, what do you want to do?” I asked, trying to make things go back to normal.

“Honestly,” he said, looking around. “I think I am going to head out. I thought more people were coming. This is kind of stale.”

“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry. Yea, you should go.” Disappointment cut through me. With a wave, Brandon turned and headed out of the water again. I stood in there watching him walk away, feeling like a loser.

“That was quick,” someone said behind me. I turned around to see Michael sitting down on the edge of the pool.

I quickly masked my disappointment. “He had other things to do,” I lied.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“You’re lying,” Michael said, the smile returning to his face. “Your heartbeat picked up.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” I said. I turned to look for the closest ladder. It would be much faster than walking all the way back out of the pool, and I wanted to escape to stew in my misery alone.

“You don’t have to be like that,” Michael said. “I was just playing around. I didn’t mean to make him leave.” Now that sounded like a lie to me.

“You didn’t make him do anything,” I said over my shoulder. I started to walk away slowly toward the ladder. The water sloshed behind me, and Michael caught my arm.

“Hey,” he said, pulling me back. “I’m sorry; That wasn’t nice. I was bored and just playing around.”

“It’s whatever,” I said, frowning. I was sad that Brandon chose to leave, but that wasn’t exactly Michael’s fault, and it wasn’t fair to take it out on him.

“Don’t be sad; he’s not worth thinking about,” he said.

“I’m just going to go wait for my brother,” I said, pulling my hand away. Michael let go and watched as I walked away. I could feel his gaze on me the whole way back to the chair.

I plopped down, grabbing my book out of my bag. I tried to read again, but I was too frustrated with the whole day. I stared at the words in front of me, but fifteen minutes later, I realized I had just been reading the same paragraph over and over and still didn’t know what it said.

I let my book fall in my lap, aggravated. I scanned the pool area for my brother; we had been here long enough. I wanted to go home. When I finally found him, he and Tyler were jumping into the deep end. I stood and walked around the pool, calling out to him.

“Hey, Kent, let’s go!” I said. He met me over at the pool’s edge.

“Why?” he asked.

“Cause I want to go, so we are going,” I said.

“Your sister sucks,” Tyler said, coming up next to him.

“I am serious. We are leaving,” I said.

“We can leave when you come in here and catch me,” Kent laughed.

“I am not getting in to catch you,” I told him. “Say goodbye to your boyfriend, and let’s go!”

“No!” he shouted. He pushed off the wall and swan away from me. Tyler laughed and followed him.

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. This was not happening. I marched back to the chair and threw myself down. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back. My little brother was such a little brat.

“If you want them to get out of the pool so you can leave, I can do that easy,” Michael said. I opened my eyes to see him staring down at me.

“I doubt you can make them listen like that,” I told him.

Michael smirked. “Want to bet?” I just laughed at him. “No, really. I bet I can.”

“Alright, prove it.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and his eyes darted down for a second.

“What do I get if I win?” he asked.

“What do you want?” I returned.

“Your phone number,” he said, his smile growing larger. I rolled my eyes. There was no way my brother was going to listen.

“Fine, you get my brother to get out of the pool and leave with me, and you can have my phone number,” I said. “What do I get if you fail?”

“I’ll leave you alone,” he shrugged.

“Deal,” I said quickly. He winked at me before turning around and strutting over to the deep end where our younger brothers played in the water.

He called Tyler over to the edge of the pool and bent down, whispering something in his ear.

MICHAEL

“We’re leaving,” I told my brother. “And before you object, I will tell mom about the vampire smut under your mattress if you don’t tell your friend it’s time to go.”

“You f*****g monster,” Tyler said.

“Try me,” I smiled. My little brother was our parents’ favorite, but that only taught me how to get my way. Tyler scowled at me, knowing I had won this one. “Plus, you’re too young for all that. How would your little friend feel about it?” My eyes glanced at Quinn’s little brother for a second before coming back to mine.

“Fine, we’re going,” Tyler g*****d. He turned around and had a hushed conversation with Quinn’s little brother. I waited until they were headed to the nearest ladder to climb out before strolling back over to Quinn.

She was sitting up on the chair with her mouth hanging open. “We have something to fill that with,” Eros commented. I bit back the laugh threatening to escape.

“She would look great on her knees making that face,” I replied.

“How…” she trailed off.

“I win,” I said happily. Tyler and Quinn’s little brother joined us.

“Let’s go,” Tyler muttered.

“I’ll meet you out front,” I said. “Quinn has something for me.” I looked back at her, and she was blushing. I couldn’t tell if it was frustration or shyness, but it was cute.

“Get your stuff, Kent,” she told her younger brother. “We should get going.” He picked up his bag.

“I’ll go wait out front with Tyler,” he said. They both walked away, leaving Quinn and I alone.

“So,” I said, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet. “About your number.”

She stood up and shoved a book into a backpack. She turned away from me, pulling on an oversized shirt. She slung her bag over her shoulder before spinning around to me, holding her hand out expectantly. “Phone,” she said.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and passed it to her. We were quiet for a minute while she put her number in it. She shoved it back in my hand, muttering, “Thanks.” She was feisty one moment and polite the next. All her emotions were written right there on her face despite her attempt to hide them.

She hurried away toward the gate. I opened my phone and checked what she had put in. To my delight, it was an actual phone number. I smiled as I put my phone back in my pocket and went to grab my stuff.

“I have you now, Quinn,” I thought.

“Yes, we do,” Eros agreed.