Perfect Sense (Perfect Series Book 1) (29 page)

“Alright, girls, show’s over.” Lyndsey snatches the magazine, giving me a look of sympathy.

“But that’s my magazine,” the girl whines.

“Not anymore.” Lyndsey shoves it under her armpit. “Be gone.”

The three girls look both shocked and hurt, but also too intimidated by my feisty little sister to argue with her. Hesitantly, they turn around and walk out the front doors of the store.

“I think I might throw up.” I groan and flop down on the stool outside of the dressing room door. “Do you think I made a huge mistake?”

“Quinn, we all know he’s a sexy slice of mancake. And honestly I am terribly jealous that you’ve seen every sacred and delicious part of him. But if he can’t support you then he’s not worth it.”

As reckless and floosy as my sister can be, she would never let a man stand in her way of getting what she wants. She’s right. I watch her toss the magazine into a nearby garbage can with a frown. She calmly gives me a hug and clears her throat. “Come on, he’s not worth the tears. And if there is one thing you need right now to help you cure the pain, it’s a good time with your girls.”

As we enter the club Platinum Blonde, Lyndsey quickly notices Vaughn and Olivia talking to a group of guys. “There they are, in the corner over there.” She points to a small group in the VIP section. In an instant, Vaughn’s eyes meet Lyndsey’s frantic wave. We push through the mass of bodies and up the stairs to their group, where the drinks are flowing.

“Quinny!” Vaughn squeals, and wraps her arms around my neck. “It’s been too long, girl!”

“Move it, Vaughn. Take it easy on Quinn.” Olivia laughs. “I want to give her a hug too.”

Vaughn releases me from her death grip and tosses back her long red hair. “She’s all yours Olivia.”

Olivia embraces me in a hug and kisses my cheek. “Let’s get you a drink!” She turns to the bottle in the middle of the table and pours me a cranberry vodka. “I’m warning you, it’s a stiff one.”

She hands me a drink and I frown down at it. Normally I would refuse, but I promised Lyndsey I’d loosen up and enjoy our night out together.

“So Lynds, where’s Louis tonight?” Vaughn asks, playing with the straw in her glass.

“He went to Santa Anna with some of the guys on the team,” Lyndsey replies, warily.

“Let’s ditch this club and go meet them. I want to see Fisher again…if you know what I mean.” She gives me a wink and then laughs.

“You’re such a whore!” Olivia teases her and smacks her in the arm.

Vaughn takes a sip of her drink. “Or am I just a lady who knows what she wants?”

Hearing my name, I turn around with my drink in my hand, my long brown curls flowing down my back. Aiden rises from the L-shaped sofa in our section, wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a tight blue V-neck shirt. His eyes smirk in my direction as he climbs over the web of legs dangling down along the sofa.

“Quinn, you look…” He passes a cool glaze over my entire body. “Amazing.” He takes a sip of his drink. “Where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you around.”

“Working,” I reply, inhaling his pleasant scent. “The only reason I’m even out tonight is because I promised Lyndsey when I received my acceptance to Harvard I’d go clubbing with her to celebrate.”

Aiden cocks his head to the side with a huge grin. “Are you serious? You were accepted to Harvard?”

“Yeah, I got my offer of admission into the MBA program a few days ago.”

He smiles. “You’re not going to believe this…but I’ve been accepted into the MBA program at Harvard too.”

“What? Really?” I ask, shocked.

He nods. “Yeah, I’m starting this upcoming semester.”

“Wow. Congratulations. That’s great news. I had no idea you applied to Harvard.”

“You never asked.” He downs the rest of his drink and pours himself another. “Maybe if you had taken me up on my offer for a night of catch-up you would have known.”

I blush, feeling terrible for the time I stood him up. “I start this upcoming semester too.”

“Need a roomie?” he asks with a smug smile.

“Let’s go dance!” Vaughn shouts, pulling on my arm, “Olivia and Lyndsey are already dancing up a storm.” She leans over and gives Aiden a kiss on the cheek. “Come on, Aiden. You can show us your stellar moves.”

“Nah, you ladies have fun. I’m going to chill out here.” He gives me a wink and then makes his way along the sofa, high fiving the people slouched down on it before he flops down in the middle of them.

Vaughn pulls me by the arm, lurching us through a crowd into the middle of the dance floor. When we mesh beside Lyndsey and Olivia, shaking their booties, I try to let loose and have some fun. But restlessness rumbles in my gut. I glance down at the screen of my phone, still no calls or texts from Cash. I take a deep breath, feeling on edge, like something isn’t right. I take a sip of my drink and vow to divert all my thoughts from Cash.

A couple songs later, Olivia shouts that she needs another drink. The three of us follow behind her up to the bar, where she orders us a round of Patron shots. “Who’s ready for some shots?”

“Hell ya, you know I am!” Vaughn joins in.

Olivia puts them down and high fives Vaughn. She doles out the shots, one in front of each of us, a lime wedge teetering on the edge of each glass. Olivia holds hers up, signaling everyone to raise their glass in unison. “To my girls! And to Quinn getting accepted into Harvard! Way to go girl!”

She throws back her shot and we all follow. I cough and sputter, feeling the burn in my throat. When I catch my breath, I spot Lyndsey beside me glancing down at a text message from Louis on her phone.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

Lyndsey blinks at me, like she is worried and takes a step backward. “I’ll be right back. I need to give him a call.”

“Lynds, what’s going on?” I shout over the music.

“I said I’ll be right back.” With that she spins around, pushing her way through the crowd and over to the nearest exit. I take a step forward, ready to chase after her when I hear Aiden’s voice.

“Alright, girls, next round is on me. Quinn, you in?”

Four more rounds of shots later before Vaughn and Olivia hit the dance floor again, leaving me alone with Aiden who is chewing my ear off.

“Quinn, we need to go.” Lyndsey tugs on my arm, pulling my attention away from Aiden. I look up at her with blurry vision, into her anxious eyes.

“What? Why?” I slur and sway as I hop down from the bar chair, grabbing the back of it to steady myself.

Her phone is pressed to her chest, and her face is pale with a sliver of worry wrinkled into her forehead. “Quinn, we need to go. Now.”

“Nah. I think I’ll stay here and hang with Aiden for a bit longer.” I turn my back to Lyndsey.

“I said we’re going.” She yanks me by the arm and through the warm mass of bodies, without even letting me say goodbye to him. She pushes us through the heavy metal doors and out into the cool night air, waving down a cab.

“Let go of me! I was having fun. What the hell?”

“We need to call it a night. This is life or death right now.”

“Where are we going? Is everything okay?” I ask, wresting my arm free from her hold. For someone so damn tiny, she sure can hold her own.

She shakes her head. “No. It’s Cash.”

“He was supposed to meet us at my place four hours ago.” Louis says, running his hand through his hair. “We were supposed to go with the rest of the team to celebrate Cash’s resigning at a party in Santa Anna, but he didn’t show up at my place. I called him a bunch of times. Fisher called him a bunch of times.” He pauses and scales his eyes up Cash’s building then looks back at me. “Eventually he answered, but he sounded half in the bag…”

“And you think he’s at home?” I ask as my heart pounds painfully in my chest. “What does this have to do with me?”

Louis swallows hard and shoots a knowing glare at Lyndsey. “He’s taken your breakup pretty hard.”

“You told them!” I spin around and shove Lyndsey with the palm of my hands, watching her stumble backward. I drop my head in my hands and grumble. “I trusted you, Lynds.”

“I’m sorry, Quinn!” Lyndsey shouts. “Cash was freaking out about you. I had no choice but to explain what was going on. They are worried he’s been drinking.”

“Quinn, look at me.” Louis grabs my shoulders and shakes my stare into his steady gaze. His eyes are hooded with worry. “We’re not going to tell anybody, okay. I’ve known Cash for years and I’ve known him during his good times and his bad times. He’s been sober for over a year and for him to slip like this, I just knew…” Louis pauses and looks away from me briefly. “I’ve never heard him sound as crazy as I did tonight. He was literally flipping the fuck out on the other end of the line because you two are done. I know he’s in there, Quinn. We’ll be right behind you, but I need you to calm him down. If he’s even had a drink or a snort of coke, he’s fuckin done. He’ll ruin his contract with the Tornados if anyone finds out about this. I can’t let him do that.” I stare back at him, my body vibrating from the inside out with tears pooling in my eyes. “Quinn, please.” He releases his grip and takes a step back.

I look over at Lyndsey, standing beside a very nervous Louis and then turn my eyes to a concerned Fisher leaning against the railing. I walk up the concrete steps and pull open the front door, terrified to finally face the dark side of Cash.

When the elevator pings, the doors slide open and we step into the foyer of his penthouse. I stare into the darkness, letting my eyes fall on the shadows of the room, lightly illuminated from the moonlight through the window. The living room is trashed. Lamps are smashed. The coffee table is flipped. Curtains are torn. Empty beer cans are crumpled and tossed all over the hardwood. Nausea recoils in my veins, pulsing painfully from the catastrophic sight.

Slowly, I move through the destroyed living room with Lyndsey, Louis and Fisher following behind me and step into the kitchen, flipping on a light. I hear Louis mumble under his breath
this isn’t good
when my eyes dart to the kitchen table, decorated with white powder and credit cards. My heart sinks when I see about fifteen copies of the Men’s Health magazine ripped to shreds and scattered all over the floor. I move slowly, toward the kitchen table and pick up an empty bottle of whiskey.

This is not the Cash I know. These drugs, this booze, this can’t be the real him. The one everyone warned me about.

I jump when the bathroom door bursts open behind me. Cash stumbles out, his arms wrapped around some trashy blonde, kissing the side of his mouth. She is wearing a black bra and tight white skirt. She holds a bottle of whiskey in one of her hands while the other is wrapped around his neck. Cash does a double take when he sees me and freezes, seeing me standing in his kitchen with Lyndsey, Louis and Fisher behind me. My heart sinks and I think I may throw up. Because despite the shock of seeing some girl wrapped in his arms, seeing him so wrecked from the booze and drugs makes him almost unrecognizable. His big blue eyes are dark and vacant with deep circles and his face is masked with a dreary, weathered glaze.

The girl looks up at us, with a smile on her face. “You guys want a drink?” she slurs.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cash staggers forward and puts his face inches from mine. “I thought you’d be on the next plane to Boston by now.”

The stench of whiskey blows off of his lips and an uncontrollable anger overcomes my senses and smashes into my gut. That familiar oaky scent makes me shudder with painful memories what it represents: the death of my childhood, the loss of my mother.

“What am I doing here?” I point my finger at the girl hanging off of his arm. “What is
she
doing here?”

And before I can even control myself, I lunge forward pounding my fists as hard as I can against his chest. He doesn’t budge a fraction, but I manage to kick her away from his body with the heel of my stiletto in a fleet of fury, until Louis and Fisher grab me by either arm. I start kicking and flailing my arms and legs screaming in my drunken state and call Cash pathetic.

“What the fuck, Louis?” Lyndsey shouts at him then glares at Cash. “This is crazy. We’re going.”

“Quinn, I’m so sorry.” Louis drags me out of the kitchen and through the living room. I fight them with every step, wanting to run back into the kitchen to continue my attack on Cash. When the elevator doors open, I almost fall backward, feeling my arms being ripped from Louis and Fisher’s hold as the back of my dress snags on something mid-step.