Page 48 of Scars Like Wings
“Yeah, but you keep fruit snacks and cracker sandwiches in the backseat, babe,” Simone pointed out.
“I came here to have a good time, and I feel so attacked right now,” I said, shaking my head before turning to Quinn, who was trying and failing to stifle her laughter.
She cleared her throat to fix her face. She still failed. “You can leave your bags here. I will have someone put it in your car. We will go get some brunch, come back here so you girls can get Byrd’sSUV, and you all head back home.”
“We love a plan of action! Now, let’s go, ladies,” I said.
“Sure thing,mother.”
I popped Maisie on her arm as she and Simone walked out. I went to follow, with Quinn behind me. As we went down the stairs, Quinn whispered into my ear, my body hyper-aware of the warmth of her proximity, “Personally, I love a girl who stays ready for anything.”
I gripped the railing to avoid falling as I missed a stair.
Out the front doors, we found a huge sage green Chevy Suburban parked with the triplets already in the third row backseat. Showing her manners, Quinn opened the back door so that Simone and Maisie could get into the second row seat. I was about to join them when Quinn stopped me and motioned to the front passenger seat. I smiled.
There was something about seeing her opening doors for me and in the driver’s seat of such a big vehicle that definitely did things for me.
We weren’t waiting long before Nat opened the door and got into the backseat. She wore ankle boots, jeans, and a fancy sweater and sunglasses that screamed designer. Her hair was in a ponytail but was curled to perfection, along with her bangs. While I knew the smell of the Fenty makeup on her face, her perfume smelled too posh for me to identify. Her whole vibe just screamed celebrity until you got to what was in her hand, along with the Hermes purse at her elbow.
“It is eleven o’clock in the morning, after you just spent the night drinking hard liquor, and you have aWhite Clawin your hand. Is this a cry for help?” Quinn asked, staring at her through the rearview mirror.
Nat took a sip from the can before flipping off her cousin. “Bite me. I already know that Cody has a flask. I’m just classy about my alcoholism and prefer to do it in the car on the way there rather than in public.”
“You both truly bring honor to this family,” Cooper said in his monotone voice.
Quinn pulled around the circular driveway and we set off toward the restaurant. Before we even got off the property, Cody and Nat started arguing over what music to play, with Nat wanting Nicki Minaj radio and Cody wanting Fall Out Boy. When they started cursing each other out, Quinn wordlessly played a playlist of her own. Once she turned up the volume, we all started singing along to “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. I thought she was going to return her hand to the steering wheel. But instead, Quinn reached over and rested her hand on my knee—the onewiththe ripped hole in it—so her ring and pinkie finger were resting on the exposed skin and her middle finger toyed with the frayed denim. I immediately stopped singing as I felt that same electricity I always did course through my body at her warm, rough hand touching me. My breath caught in my throat, while my knee lifted up toward her hand all on its own. I glanced over at her, and she winked at me with that heated gaze of hers. Then shesqueezedmy knee.
That something shifted in my chest all of a sudden at this incredibly simple gesture.
Brydgette Fallon Pierce, you need to stay fucking strong, bitch. Remember your promise. She can hurt you. You justmetthis girl. You always fall too hard and too fast with the idea and then have to grieve what could have been. Don’t do that.I heard the chanting in my head like a siren at the highest possible volume. It should have been all I heard.
And yet, that hand on my knee likethat…
The drive to the restaurant was shortish, being less than fifteen minutes away, but somehow it felt longer. Especially as I put my hand over hers, the warmth seeping into my hand and knee. I didn’t want to admit how much I liked it.
Soon, Quinn pulled into a space in front of a long old-timey silver building shining in the morning sunlight. The neon light strips around the building and the sign for Marie’s Diner let me know how it shined at night, too. The building looked like something out of the fifties, but the smell told me I was going to immediately fall in love with this place. Quinn came around the Suburban to open my door and take my hand.
Entering, a bell chimed over the glass door. The inside of the restaurant, oddly, was more like an old Italian family-style restaurant rather than a diner. There was a long Formica counter in front of us with red vinyl barstools and a display case of desserts at the far end, but those were the only things that would make someone think this was a diner. The matching red vinyl booths against the walls and windows had backs scalloped like clams. Dingy stained glass chandeliers hung over each booth, and the ceiling was detailed with swirls that screamed eighties and nineties. The restaurant smelled like sweet desserts and greasy savory goodness, the perfect hangover cure joint.
“Oh, hey, you crazy kids. I knew y’all were on your way in soon,” a older lady behind the hostess stand with penciled eyebrows greeted. “Y’all want your usual spot? The girls should be able to still fit, and I already have it set up.”
“Yes, ma’am, Mrs. Debbie,” Quinn confirmed.
Mrs. Debbie grunted before grabbing three additional menus and silverware. Quinn squeezed my hand and led us to follow behind her.
Mrs. Debbie stopped in front of a half-circle booth encircling a large table. There were already five menus with five wrapped bundles of silverware next to them. The hostess moved the settings around to fit the three additional ones. As she leaned away, I could tell immediately that it was going to be a tight fit. I raised my eyebrows.
“Your server will be over in a bit, kids.” Mrs. Debbie returned to her stand.
Cody practically leaped into the middle of the booth, patting the place next to him for Maisie to join him. She rolled her eyes but squished beside him. Simone went in next to Maisie, with Cole close by. Cooper went to sit on the other side of Cody, and Nat finished out the end of the left side. Quinn led us to the right side where she went in beside Cole and pulled me in next to her.
My guess was very right. It was ridiculously tight in the booth, and I was practically sitting in Quinn’s lap to stay in the seat, the booth’s vinyl unforgiving to my plus-size curves, thick thighs, and hefty hips along with Quinn’s thickly muscled frame. Quinn put her right arm behind me to rest her hand across her shoulders to give us a bit more space, something that Cole and Cody did as well for Simone and Maisie. But I still had to lean into Quinn, still had to be enveloped in sweet and smoky scent and her heat literally radiating off her body in hot waves even through all the layers of our clothes.
Something I both craved and wished I could avoid.
Gods, she smelled so good. I would pay over twenty dollars for a candle of her scent.
“Are you comfortable? I know there’s not a whole lot of room,” Quinn asked, turning toward me. Her face was just inches from mine, and I could smell her breath this close. Even herbreathsmelled amazing. Why was I supposed to put distance between us? Why did I need to slow this all down? Why couldn’t I just kiss her right here, right now? Why couldn’t I just be obsessed with these feelings, this woman, this…this?