TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (19 page)

We pull into Rebel Wheels and I get out, not waiting for Colin to come open my door.
 
I move slower than I want to, because I know when I try to fast-walk, I waddle even worse than normal.
 
I’m half afraid that Colin is going to catch up to me and try to talk to me again, but then as I’m going up the stairs, I see him moving over to his workbench.
 
He isn’t even looking at me, and it makes me want to cry.

I’m afraid if I don’t have this baby soon and get rid of these pregnancy hormones, I’m going to go insane.

I open the door to Mick and Quin’s apartment and find Quin, Teagan, and Rebel in the living room.
 
Teagan’s eyes are dark, and Quin is pacing.
 
I don’t have to hear a single word to know she’s angry.

“Good, you’re here,” Quin says.
 
She stops pacing, leans over and grabs some papers off the table, and then hands them to me.
 
“What do you think about all this?”

I take the papers from her and look first at Teagan before I start reading.
 
“Is it okay with you?”

She nods.

I read the letter from her attorney and then glance at the papers below.
 
“This looks like a bill,” I say.

“Yes, it is a bill.
 
A bit fat one,” says Quin.
 
“Can you believe that?”

“I thought they said they would wait to be paid.”
 
I look to Teagan for answers.

“I guess there were some conditions to that,” she says.

I look back at the paper.
 
“They want twenty thousand dollars?
 
Do you have that much money?”

Teagan shakes her head.
 
“Not even close.”

I glance at Rebel before looking back at her.
 
“Can you borrow it from someone?”

She shakes her head again but doesn’t say anything.

Quin jumps in to respond.
 
“Rebel isn’t the full owner of Rebel Wheels.
 
Olga loaned him some money to start it and she decides where their profits go.
 
Rebel has reinvested all his personal money back into expanding the business, so he doesn’t have anything to loan Teagan.”
 
She looks over at him.
 
“Sorry for sharing your shit, but she needs to know so we can talk to her about it.”

He nods, but says nothing out loud.
 
I cannot read his expression other than to see that he’s not happy.

“What do you want me to say?” I ask, looking at all of them in turn.
 
“If I had anything at all, I’d give it to you, but I don’t.”

“Are you saying that if you could do something to help Teagan, you would?” Quin asks.
 
She folds her arms across her chest.

“Yes, I’m saying that.”
 
I raise my chin a little at her challenging tone.

“No matter what?” Quin says.

“Quin … don’t,” Teagan says.
 
Her request lacks the strength I’m used to hearing from her.

“What’s going on?” I ask, my suspicion taking over.
 
I’m being tricked into something, but I don’t know what it is.
 
I don’t have a single dime, so I know they’re not asking me for money.

“It’s all good news,” Quin says, suddenly smiling.
 
“Teagan desperately needs help, and you’re the only one in a position to help her.”

“I doubt that,” I say, almost laughing.
 
“Unless you want me to sell my baby, which I’m not going to do.”
 
I narrow my eyes at her.
 
If she asks me to sell my baby, I’m leaving and never coming back.

“You didn’t really just say that,” says Quin.

I shrug.
 
“I never know with you guys.
 
You’re crazy.”

Quin gives me an evil smile. “Crazy like a fox.”
 
She pauses a few seconds before delivering the news.
 
“We need you to work for Colin so he can loan Teagan some money.”

I snort.
 
“Yeah, right.”
 
Another hare-brained idea, courtesy of Quin, no doubt.

Quin and Teagan just stare at me.

“What?” I look from one to the other. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly so,” says Quin.

“No.”
 
I shake my head.
 
“I’m not … that makes no sense.
You
go work for him.”
 
I put the papers back down on the table and step back on my way to leaving the room.

Quin shrugs.
 
“Would if I could, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”
 
My voice is going up in volume, but I can’t stop it.
 
I’m losing my temper because they’re backing me into a corner.
 
I’m stuck and everyone knows it.

“Because, my mom and Jersey need lots of physical therapy.
 
I have to take them everywhere
and
I have to take care of my sisters
and
the house
and
the meals
and
all that other crap.
 
I already have a full time job.”

“What about you?” I ask, gesturing to Teagan.
 
“You could just make a few phone calls or whatever he needs.”

“He needs more than that, and I have to work for Rebel.
 
He needs me full time.”

I’m standing there with my mouth hanging open when Colin walks in.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

My mouth snaps shut and I glare at him.

“Did I do something?”
 
He takes a step back as if he’s going to reverse himself right out of the apartment.

“Yes, apparently, you
did
.”

“What?”

“You are blackmailing me into working for you, and getting your family to guilt me into it!”
 
I throw my arms up and let them come down to hit my thighs. “How rude can you be?”

“What?”
 
He walks fully into the room and stares at everyone.
 
He doesn’t look happy.

“Yeah.
 
Nice try, by the way,” I say in the most sarcastic tone I can muster.
 
Like he’s all innocent.
 
Please
. “Low blow, even for you, Colin.”

He holds up a hand in my direction.
 
“Listen, I don’t know what anyone in this room has said to you, but I didn’t
ask
them to say anything.”
 
He glares at Teagan.

“I didn’t say anything!” she yells.
 
“You think I want to push her into helping me?
 
Jesus.
 
If she doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t want to do it.”

“It’s me, Colin, not Teagan.
 
Don’t get mad at her.”
 
Quin glares at me.
 
“I just thought Alissa would want to help the people who’ve been helping her, but I guess I was wrong about that.
 
My bad.”

My hands fly to my hips.
 
“Now wait a second…”

Colin looks right at me.
 
“It’s fine.
 
Don’t worry about it.
 
I’ve already told the galleries it’s a no-go, and I don’t need you to work for me anyway, so just go on about your business.”
 
He leaves the apartment without another word and the room goes completely silent.

My face burns with shame.
 
I’m standing here inside a circle of friends who have done nothing but provide for me, and all I’m doing is saying no to everything they ask of me.
 
What kind of person am I turning into?
 
What’s happened to me?

Tears rush to my eyes and start to overflow down my cheeks.
 
I look at Teagan. “I’m going to fix this,” I say, my voice catching in my throat.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says.
 
She sounds exhausted.
 
“I’m just going to call it all off.”

I grab the papers off the table and hug them to my chest. “No.
 
Don’t do that.
 
I’ll be right back.”
 
I rush out of the room, on a mission.
 
I have to make this right.
 
I have to fix what I broke.
 
I cannot let all these people down.
 
They’re the only family I have right now, and they don’t even have to be.
 
They’ve chosen me, so now, I have to choose them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“COLIN … WAIT!” I YELL, AS he disappears into the office.
 
I’m at the top of the stairs, gripping the railing with one hand while my other holds Teagan’s papers against my chest.
 
“I need to talk to you.”
 
Tears blur my vision.

I can’t see the stairs very well and miss one with my right foot.
 
The sensation of falling with nowhere to go fills my heart with dread. I scream as I feel myself heading downwards.

My right hand shoots out and grabs for something, anything.
 
Papers go flying around my head.
 
I find the railing with my fingers and grip on with everything I have.

My body swings to the left with the momentum of gravity and lack of balance and my belly bangs into the railing hard.
 
My arm is behind me, twisted in a very uncomfortable position, but it’s the only thing keeping me from tumbling head over belly to the ground below so I don’t want to let go.

I try to keep my grip, but my sweaty palm makes that impossible.
 
My hand slips off the railing and I’m heading down the stairs again.
 
My body rolls sideways and I’ve got the railing at my back.
 
I’m just a step away from releasing my other hand as my wrist twists around painfully.

Suddenly, Colin is there.
 
His body is like a wall, stopping me from going any farther.
 
I freeze in place, getting my breath back, looking up at the top of the stairs.
 
Several faces are there, staring down at me with shocked expressions.

“I’m okay!” I say, nearly breathless.
 
“I’m okay.”
 
I pull on the railing and stand up straighter as Colin supports me at my back.
 
I can still feel the warmth of his body pressed into my skin.
 
I’m not sure if my inability to breathe is from that or all the unintended exercise I just did.

“Wow.
 
That was a close one.”
 
I feel ridiculously lucky right now.
 
Lucky and embarrassed; I’m not sure that I’ve ever been less graceful in my entire life.

“You sure?
 
You hit yourself pretty hard,” Colin says.

I turn around and see his worried face right next to mine.
 
“Yeah.
 
I’m fine.
 
Thanks to you.”
 
I wave up at my audience, hoping they’ll leave me to my embarrassment.
 
“Nothing to see here.
 
I’m good.”

“Horror-movie-worthy scream, though,” says Quin, smiling.

Teagan and Rebel disappear into the shadows behind them without saying anything.

I nod and wave at Quin before turning around to face down the stairs again.
 
“I’m going to try this one more time.”
 
I hang on tight to the railing as Colin hovers nearby.
 
My legs are shaking and I’m pretty sure I’m about to pee myself.
 
It’s some kind of miracle that I haven’t already.

“I need to get those papers,” I say, trying to distract myself from my problems.
 
I gesture to the lawyer’s letter and attached financial data that is now spread out over the floor beneath the metal staircase.

Colin leaves me to gather them up, handing them to me when I reach the safety of the ground floor.

“I was serious.
 
I don’t need your help anymore.”
 
His voice is gruff.
 
He looks off to his right like he’s going to leave me standing there.

I put my hand on his forearm to keep him by me.
 
“I want to apologize.”

“For what?”
 
He looks down at the ground.

“For being rude.
 
For turning my back on you guys.
 
I want to help.”

He takes a step back, pulling out of my grip.
 
“Why the sudden change of heart?”

I force myself to keep looking at his face instead of at the floor like I’m tempted to.
 
I’m reminded of my earlier scare, when I was freaking out thinking that Charlie was stalking me.
 
It’s because of my friends here that I have a safe, anonymous place to live, far removed from my old life.
 
I owe them so much.

I wish I could explain all of that to Colin, but I can’t.
 
I do my best to convince him I’m serious, though, because I really want to work for him and help him with his career.
 
He really is so talented. “I just … opened my eyes a little, I guess.
 
I want to help.”

“You’re busy with your own stuff.
 
The baby.
 
Your life is about to really change.
 
You don’t need a job right now.”

“I know my life is about to change in a major way.
 
And for that to happen in the
best
way, I need to be working.
 
Please let me work for you.
 
No one else is going to hire a pregnant girl.
 
I don’t even know why you want to … or wanted to, but I shouldn’t have said no.”

He grits his teeth together and stares off into space.
 
His profile is stunningly handsome, even with the scar I can see in his eyebrow and upwards, stretching from forehead to hairline.