Red Hot (27 page)

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Authors: Niobia Bryant

BOOK: Red Hot
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Quint stepped up onto the front fender to lift his body up to sit on the hood of the truck. It didn't buckle under his weight, and he wouldn't have cared if it did. Just as the cold wasn't affecting him when his anger had him well heated.
He didn't know how much time had passed before Kaitlyn's car finally parked next to him. Lei hopped out and came around his vehicle to stand by him. “Kaitlyn stopped and got me some Mickey D's,” she said, looking up at him with a little guilt in her pretty eyes.
Quint smiled down at her as he reached to stroke her head. “Go eat your food. I'm coming in,” he said.
“Thanks, Miss Kaitlyn,” she said over her shoulder before she used her key to unlock the apartment and enter.
Quint turned his head to eye Kaitlyn slowly walking over to him. She wore a sequined dress that fit her curves like a second skin. She looked beautiful and sexy; but in that moment he saw the old Kaitlyn and he wondered if he had changed his prejudgment of her too soon.
 
 
Kaitlyn came over to stand between Quint's legs and pressed her hands to his thighs.
“You good?” she asked, looking up at him and pretending unspoken words didn't still linger between them.
Quint nodded as he looked down at her. “Just disappointed in Vita. I have a feeling I haven't heard the worst yet.”
“Have you talked to her?” Kaitlyn asked, playing with her oversized clutch bag.
He shook his head. “She's not answering her phone.”
Kaitlyn had a lot she felt she could say, but she refrained. She never wanted Quint to feel as if she were trying to guide his actions to suit her fancy. He had enough stress on him; the last thing he needed was her in his ears with her nickel.
“You had fun at your dinner party?” he asked.
She looked back up at him as she nodded. “My friends Tandy and Anola threw me a surprise dinner party. If I knew it was going to be more than just the three of us, I would have invited you. We had fun.”
“Probably not my type of crowd,” he said, reaching out to pluck something from her hair.
“You don't know that,” she said, feeling her guard rise.
“If these are the people who influenced the type of person you were when you first came here, then I'm pretty sure.”
Kaitlyn leaned back and held up her hands. “Whoa. All that judgment from Mr. Perfect is a little much,” she said in a tight voice.
“‘Mr. Perfect,' huh?” Quint asked.
Kaitlyn nodded. “Also Mr. Judgmental. Take your pick,” she said over her shoulder as she turned from him.
“Says Miss Materialistic, Miss Daddy's Girl, and Miss Afraid to Grow the Hell Up,” Quint shot back, still sitting on the hood.
Kaitlyn turned back. “Do you have a problem with my family?” she asked, recalling her earlier thoughts of possible insecurity on his part.
“I have a problem with them taking the woman I love and turning her back into the spoiled little rich girl I couldn't stand,” he admitted.
Kaitlyn looked up at him with disbelief carved in every inch of her face. “Because my family is able to help me, I shouldn't accept it to prove to you that I'm grown?”
“No, you shouldn't accept it because you're smart and brave enough and
woman
enough to get it all on your own,” Quint stressed. “
If
you wanted to, but the hard road ain't for everybody.”
And that hurt. He complimented her and then swiped it all away by insinuating she was weak.
“Are you jealous of my family's wealth?” she asked, more out of hurt than anything.
Quint slid down off the hood as he released a heavy breath. “For you even to think that lets me know you are every bit of the spoiled brat that I thought you were,” he said, standing next to her and shaking his head in disbelief.
“Get the hell out of my face, Quinton,” she whispered up to him as her eyes glistened with tears fed by anger and hurt.
“I'll do you one better and get the hell out of your life.”
Kaitlyn's jaw literally dropped as she turned to watch him walk away from her and into his apartment without another word.
C
HAPTER
16
“Wow. You look . . .
interesting.
”
Kaitlyn turned in her chair and looked up at her boss, Lyle Turner, who was frowning at her as he entered the office. She knew she probably looked a sight because she felt like there were bags under her eyes and grit on her lids. Nothing good ever came from crying all night—especially physically.
“Allergies,” she lied.
“Really,” he said in obvious disbelief, coming around her desk to stand behind her.
Kaitlyn turned back to her computer to pretend she wasn't straight out giving him her back. “I put the list of upcoming local designers on your desk. I think you will like the young lady from Atlanta the best,” she said, trying to remain professional even as she felt like her world was shattered.
Kaitlyn couldn't believe that Quint had actually dumped her.
Like, really, Quint? Really?
Her pain quickly flipped to anger.
Who the hell is he to judge me?
And that was the emotional roller coaster she rode all night. In between listening to Mary J. and Whitney Houston songs, she tore up Pepsi floats and glasses of wine.
Tears and then anger. Back to tears and then more anger. It took everything she had not to go downstairs and knock on the door to knee him in the nuts . . . before kissing the hell out of him.
She hated that she sat there all night waiting for him to call or to come up and say he didn't mean it. To take it back. To say he was sorry.
But he didn't.
“Fuck him,” she muttered, glancing over at the five-by-seven photo of Quint and herself that she kept on her desk. She slapped it down.
She wasn't chasing a man—
any
man. And especially not one who sat in judgment of her as if she had to be exactly who he thought she should be for their relationship to work.
 
 
Quint had been in his office since before the sun rose. He sat behind his desk and tossed a tennis ball up into the air as he wrangled with his thoughts. His concerns. His problems.
His relationship with Kaitlyn.
All night long he lay in bed and tried to let sleep top his thoughts. He failed.
Some of his worries were alleviated by Lei volunteering to move back in with him. Still, would Vita fight him for custody, when relinquishing their daughter meant giving up the child support he voluntarily paid her to help with Lei's care? Or would she give up and enjoy her new relationship?
Did he make a mistake in resigning from his job, starting a new business, and taking on his mortgage again? Should he forge ahead now that Lei was back with him? Or play it safe?
And then there was Kaitlyn. In the months during their relationship, he had seen so much growth in her from the partying, self-involved “it” girl she had been.
But now, she seemed to be wavering at the first opportunity not to stand on her own two feet, to fall right back into being a label fiend and a shopping addict. She seemed poised to go back to losing some of the independence she claimed.
Quint really had to consider if he wanted to be with a woman who allowed her family such involvement in her life. He liked the Strongs, but what possible sense did it make for them to spoil her, then punish her for living the life they created for her, and then reward her for being independent-by-force by spoiling her some more?
Kaitlyn was a relationship girl, and he had been happy with her over the months. He had discovered and accepted that he loved her. He had even imagined himself with her for the long term, but he refused to saddle himself with a woman who would forever be comfortable playing the role of the baby of the family.
He cared for her, but he would have had more respect for her if she had stiffened her back and turned down any help from the family. He did not want to marry a frivolous woman. He had been down that road before. He wasn't taking the trip again.
The door to his office opened and Quint looked up as Lei stepped inside. She was dressed in clothing she'd left behind at his house.
“You finally up?” he asked.
She nodded as she closed the door behind her. “Mama called and woke me up.”
Quint checked the time on his cell phone. It was well after nine in the morning and Vita was
just
calling.
“Why didn't you wake me up?” Lei asked, dropping down upon one of the chairs in front of the desk.
Quint tapped his fingers against the top of the desk. “After what happened last night, I thought you and I needed to talk about just what's going on at your mother's house with you.”
Lei looked over at him and nodded in understanding. “I told Mama I wanted to move back home with you,” she admitted.
“And?” Quint asked as he leaned back in his chair and fiddled with his cell phone on the desk.
“And she said no.”
Quint looked up to the ceiling before he looked over at her. “You know I love you, and I would walk to the ends of the earth for you. That's my job as your father,” he began. “This situation with your mom can get a little complicated, so I don't think the moving back and forth between the two of us is a good idea.”
Lei looked pensive.
Quint sat up and pressed his elbows on the desk. “Think about it and be sure that you're sure. And if you say that you are, then I will talk to your mom and make it happen. Of course you can visit her whenever you want.”
Lei looked down to the floor. “I'm sure. I love Mommy, but . . .”
Her words trailed off, and Quint felt a chill to his core as a tear fell from his daughter's face. He jumped to his feet and came around the desk to pull her to her feet and hug her close.
“Your mother loves you,” he assured her, not wanting her to feel pain from Vita's actions. “But I'll fix it. Okay? I'll fix it.”
 
 
One week later
 
Kaitlyn knocked on Quint's front door and then fidgeted as she waited for him to open it. When he did, she pushed the box she was holding into his hand.
“Your things that you left at my apartment,” she said, not even looking at him as she turned away.
She turned back in surprise when she felt his hand lightly grasp her waist. She eyed his hand and then lifted her head to eye him.
“Yes?” she asked coolly.
Quint looked down at her. “I just wanted to say that I'm sorry things didn't work out. I'm not mad. I still care about you, but we just see the world different,” he said.
Kaitlyn hated that she still had such a strong reaction to him. And it all was so familiar. The vibe. Her pounding heart. Racing pulse. Energy. Chemistry. She missed him.
“Is that it?” she asked, wanting to get the hell away from him just as strongly as she wanted to kiss him.
Quint looked exasperated. “I'm trying to apologize, Kaitlyn.”
“For what?” she asked, fighting hard to keep it cool.
It had been a week—a dang-on week—since they even spoke hi or bye to one another. His apology was late. Real late.
“Whatever, Kaitlyn,” he said.
“See if all your judgment keeps your bed warm,” she snapped.
Quint turned with the box still in his hands. “So sex is all you think is important to me,” he said, his voice hard.
She felt all her emotions rev up and forced herself to stay composed, while her insides shattered at the change in them.
“It's the only damn thing you never complained about,” Kaitlyn retorted.
Quint looked down at her with those intense eyes of his. “You really seem to be enjoying the single life.”
Kaitlyn had been hanging out with Tandy and Anola more. He noticed. Why did the thought of that excite her?
“You thought I was going to sit home and cry about you ending things?
Never,
” she stressed. “Life goes on. Don't be mad.”
“Grow up, Kaitlyn,” Quint muttered.
She watched his back as he turned on her. “And you have to learn how to love unconditionally!” she shouted.
Again he turned back and eyed her.
“Because if I ever was the woman you loved—and you said last week—then you don't love with limits,” Kaitlyn told him. “I didn't.”
“Oh, so you did hear me?” Quint asked.
“Oh, so you do remember saying it?” Kaitlyn shot back.
Quint looked at her in disbelief. “Does every damn thing have to be a tug of war with you, Kaitlyn?”
A sharp come-back rose to her lips but Kaitlyn swallowed that back. “I just admitted that I love you,” she said softly as if the moment was small when in fact it wasn't. It wasn't at all.
Quint's eyes searched hers even as he said, “Sometimes love ain't enough.”
Kaitlyn laughed bitterly. “Real love is
always
enough, but don't worry. You don't have to put up with oh-so-horrible Kaitlyn anymore. I'm out of here. Tell Lei to call me sometime, if that's okay with you—”
“Kaitlyn.”
“Good-bye,
Quin-ton.
”
Kaitlyn rushed into her car before the tears fell. She pulled out with a slight squeal of her tires as she got the hell away from the complex and her complex relationship with Quinton Wells.
 
 
Two weeks later
 
Quint sat across from the conference table and eyed Vita as she read over the documents that would legally revise their custody agreement. She looked up at him before she flipped her hair over her shoulder and twisted her own rhinestone-covered pen between her fingers.
Never once did Quint shift in his chair or flinch from her somewhat hostile stare. He sat there, looking professional in a pin-striped suit, being all about the business of taking care of his child, once and for all. The papers stated that he would receive full custody and she was allotted liberal visitation on weekends and some holidays. It was a complete reversal of roles from the arrangements that were agreed upon via their divorce.
Quint never wanted it to come to this, but he couldn't allow Vita to doctor her level of competency as a parent based on whether or not she was in a relationship. It wasn't fair to Lei for her mother to swoop in and out of her life on a whim.
Vita continued to flip leisurely through the papers as both of their attorneys looked on, in what had to be feigned patience.
“Vita, we both know you're going to sign the papers, so why this performance?” he asked, his voice cool as he deliberately patted the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
Her lips thinned into a straight line and her eyes glittered like wet glass as she finally placed the pen to the papers and signed them before sliding them over to her attorney.
Quint felt relief wash over him. Even though he offered her the hard-earned $5,000 from his savings to allow Lei to stay with him, things were never a done deal with a complicated woman like Vita.
Never.
 
 
One week later
 
Kaitlyn looked down at her phone on the floor as she stroked her chin while lying on the couch in her parents' den. Her hand literally itched to call Quinton and ask him why he threw their relationship away so easily. Why would he, and how could he?
“I have a problem with them taking the woman I love and turning her back into the spoiled little rich girl I couldn't stand.”
A huge revelation and a backhanded insult all at once. Only Quint.
Had. Does. Had. Does.
She didn't know about his feelings but she was very clear about her own. She loved him. She told him that. He rejected her feelings.
Sometimes love ain't enough.
As if him picking the worst possible moment to reveal his feelings hadn't been bad enough.
She reached down and picked her phone up from the floor, using her thumb to scroll through her contacts until she came to his name. She flopped over onto her back on the couch as she looked at the shirtless photo of him that she saved in his contact info. She hadn't had the nerve to delete it yet.
Just like he wasn't deleted from her heart.
Being with Quint made her think of kids and love and forever. Maybe not in their immediate future, but definitely as part of their future together. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away.

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