Rise of the Notorious (8 page)

None of them had even bothered to see if she was doing okay. They were clearly all too involved with themselves to take notice that she needed them, that she wasn’t sure she could handle any of this without them. It was a dark and lonely place, and she had never felt so lost.

Maybe she should just leave; then someone might actually take notice and give a shit about her for once. She felt the pain hit her in the chest like a hammer, mixing viciously with the resentment. If only she could find a way to disappear. Maybe then they would care.

Lynette’s hands combed
through Linc’s hair, her smile content as she felt him sigh against her, his back to her chest with her legs wrapped around his waist. They lay on her sofa with the television on across the room, though neither of them paid attention to the baseball game currently playing. Linc trailed his fingers down her calf, lost in his own troubled thoughts.

“You’re letting this hair of yours get quite long,” Lynette commented, lifting a piece of it between her fingers, admiring the warm chestnut color of it as it caught the light of the lamp behind her.

“I don’t have time to get a damn haircut,” Linc countered, tilting his head back so he could eye her.

“Nor do you have time for a proper shave, either,” she mused, reaching out to trace the five o’clock shadow that graced his jawline. “Though I’m not complaining…it gives you a dangerous look.”

He snorted, shaking his head as he settled back against her chest. “Is that what you want, Lynette, danger?”

“We all
think
we want the bad boy until we actually have him. Then we have nothing but regret.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I’m only a bad boy half the time, then,” he joked, earning a laugh from her.

“You have the bad boy swagger, Linc, but then there’s that heart of gold you carry with you.” She patted his cheek lovingly, grinning down at him. “And I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

“Good, because you’re stuck with me,” he informed her, enjoying the feel of her soft hands cruising over the skin of his arms. “Have you talked with your dad?”

She tensed against him. “No. And I don’t intend to speak to him.”

“I need to know what he meant with that text message. It might as well have been a threat against my family, Lynette. We’ve talked about this.”

“You’re overreacting,” she reasoned, feeling sorry to see him so worked up over something she was convinced meant nothing. “He’s not going to do anything to you or your family.”

“Then why say it?” he asked, sitting up to face her. “Why make the statement if it means nothing?”

“Because he is angry that I won’t follow his advice and leave you.” She frowned, her eyebrows furrowed with distress. “With the election coming up next year, he’s probably just irritated that I won’t distance myself from you. Regardless of how you and I feel, he sees your family as a liability to his election chances.”

“Well, who is his opponent? Is he planning on using us against your dad?”

Lynette considered this, biting her bottom lip anxiously. “I don’t know his name, but it’s possible. Politics is a dirty business.”

“I’ll have Quinn look into it, find out who he is,” Linc decided, distracted by the thought as he ran with it in his head. He laid back down against her, knowing that he was going to have to eventually confront Shaw himself and find out the truth. He was still not convinced that the senator wasn’t up to something…

“Is something else wrong?” Lynette asked, brushing a few strands of hair out of his face. “You seem out of it tonight.”

Linc thought instantly of his sister and realized that, despite having forgiven her, the issue still weighed heavily on his mind.

“It’s not a big deal, not anymore,” he began, squeezing her knee affectionately. “Just work stuff.”

“Work stuff, huh?” She leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead, her lips lingering over his skin. “You can tell me, Linc. I want you to tell me.”

He reached up to run his hands through her copper waves of hair, releasing a long breath as he tried to find the right words to say. “My sister admitted yesterday that she has known since she was nine years old that my grandfather murdered his father.”

“Excuse me?” Lynette froze, unsure she heard him right. “Nine years old?”

“Yep.” Linc grimaced, the truth of it churning uncomfortably inside of him. “She knew, all this time.”

“I see…” Unsure what to say to him, Lynette rested her head against his and stared off at the television, her eyes unseeing. After a long moment, she spoke again. “So what does this all mean?”

“Nothing, really. What’s done is done. It doesn’t change anything. She’s still my sister,” Linc told her, feeling defensive. “It hurts that she kept that secret from us, but that was her choice.”

“Are you worried about what other secrets she may be keeping from you?”

He said nothing for a moment, considering her question. Part of him felt instant anger at her for even suggesting it, but the other side of him understood it was a valid question worth noting. Was Madison hiding anything else from him?

“I don’t know,” he said finally, sitting up again and turning to her. His eyes met hers and held, dangerous emotions storming in them. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

She nodded as he suddenly cupped her face in his hands and leaned in, capturing her mouth with his own. He poured all of his uncertainty, all of his stress and anger into the kiss, needing to forget all of it, if only for a moment. His hands trailed back to grasp at her hair, tipping her head back so he could run his tongue along her exposed neck. When she moaned against him, her hands grasping at his shirt and her body arching toward his, he let himself become consumed by her. For tonight, at least, he didn’t have strength left to worry.

Quinn strolled down
the hallway toward Grant’s office, dressed in a flowery skirt and blouse the color of soft pink roses with her hair curled freely around her face. She grinned as she spotted Grant through the open door of his office, busily working away at his desk. It gave her comfort to know that was where she would always find him. Rain or shine, he would be there, tirelessly burning the midnight oil.

Before she could make her way to her desk to set down her purse and the impulse buy vanilla latte she’d picked up that morning, Madison swept out of her own office, looking distracted and distant. On instinct, Quinn paused and smiled cheerfully at the other woman. “Good morning.”

Madison’s eyebrows shot up as she eyed Quinn curiously, wondering what she could possibly want now. “Good morning.” She nodded and attempted to maneuver around to make her way to the elevator, only to have Quinn stop her.

“I know you’re busy, but are you doing alright?” Quinn asked, concern shadowing her features. “I know you were close to your grandfather…all of this must be particularly hard on you.”

Madison tensed, irritated at the woman’s intrusion into what she considered a private matter. “No need to worry about me, darling. I’ve survived this long without your concern.”

To her surprise, Quinn only smiled. “Grant admires you, you know. He may not say it much, or really show it, but I know how much he cares about you.”

“He cares because we’re family. Simple as that.” Madison brushed off the comment, eager to get away. She really didn’t have time for whatever it was Quinn was trying to do. “It’s been nice chatting, but I have to go.”

“I admire you, too.” Quinn stopped her again. “I know you’re still on the fence about Lynette and me, however, we're here for you regardless. If you ever need anything, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to bend, someone to vent to…you know where to find me.”

Leaving it at that, Quinn turned into the office alcove to set her belongings on her desk. She distracted herself with hanging her purse on one of the coat hooks while behind her, Madison tried to make sense of the strange new sensation beating its way into her protected heart.

She had never really had close girl friends before. Her best friends had always been her brothers, her uncle, and her grandfather. Even in her early twenties while in college, she had rarely socialized with girls her age. Instead she had, since she had been young, closed herself off to that kind of friendship.

The truth of it was, she inherently did not trust other people. In rare cases, outsiders could earn her trust, as was the case with Raoul and her assistant, Carrie. But for the most part she avoided close, personal contact with others like the plague.

So what was it about her brother’s lover that had gotten under her skin? She still did not trust the woman, and yet part of her craved the easy offer of friendship that seemed to come so naturally. Was it only because she felt so alone now, detached and alienated from the family that had always been her source of strength?

No. If that were true, then she was weaker than Cyrus had raised her to be. She didn’t need anything except the family empire, and she was more than a fool if she let herself forget that. Annoyed with herself, Madison left, skipping the elevator and taking the stairs instead.

Quinn silently watched her go, wondering if she had managed to even make a dent in the formidable steel armor Madison protected herself with.

“What was that about?” Grant asked, leaning against the doorway to his office. His eyes shifted from the stairwell back to Quinn.

She flushed with an awkward smile. “I was just worried about her.”

“Worried about Madison?” Amusement flashed over his face. “I wasn’t aware you cared so much about my sister.”

“Why wouldn’t I care?” Quinn began, shaking her head sadly. “She matters to you. Therefore she matters to me, too.”

He let her words sink in, once again caught off guard by her natural devotion and compassion. He wondered if he would ever get used to it. When he couldn’t find anything else to say, Quinn turned back to her desk and sat down, avoiding his eyes.

“I know she may not like me very much, but I do really want to be her friend. I just want her to know that she can rely on me, that I’m here for her. I can’t even imagine what she must be going through emotionally right now, with all of this pressure being put on her. It would be enough to drive me crazy.” She took a deep breath, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully. “I really do admire her. She’s brilliant, fearless—”

She was cut off as he suddenly held his hand out to her, silently urging her to her feet. She stared at it for a brief moment before rising out of her chair, her eyes meeting his as she accepted his hand. Before she could say anything, he pulled her against him and held her.

“I love you,” he murmured, breathing in the scent of vanilla in her hair.

She let out a laugh as she grinned, leaning her head back so she could look at him.

“If I tell you how much I adore and respect Linc, will you kiss me?” she teased playfully, enjoying the sarcastic smile that played over his lips.

“Nice try.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his hand lingering over her skin as he watched her. He said nothing for a long moment, letting his heart feel what it miraculously had learned to feel again because of her.

“When you look at me that way, I feel like you’re looking right into me…” Quinn admitted, her heart racing as she held his gaze. “Does that even make sense? I don’t even know what I’m saying…”

“Tell me you love me,” he commanded, serious and intense. She trembled from the words, felt her knees giving out from the tone in his voice. This was the power that had drawn her to him in the beginning, the power she couldn’t resist.