Love, Diamonds, and Spades (18 page)

“Likewise, Quinn.”

Quinn turned back to Rylan. “Rylan, meet Cameron, Brody’s older brother, manager, and all around Mr. Fix It and vacuum cleaner for all of Brody’s trouble and crap.”

“That is what’s on my business card,” said Cam, dryly.

Rylan frowned. “I checked out your ex’s photos online and matched him up.”

“Yeah,” nodded Quinn. “They’ve always looked similar. Cam always looked smarter, and a touch douchier.”

Cam chuckled. “Same old Quinn.”

And because Rylan was clearly in a strange alternate universe, Quinn smiled back before shaking her head and volleying back, “Same old Cam. I knew your brother wasn’t smart enough to come up with this plan. It just took me a few days to get over the hurt and figure it all out.”

Rylan felt a migraine coming on. “I’m completely confused as to whether I should bash this guy’s head in right now or not.”

The question went unanswered as at the moment, Cameron and Quinn were busy facing off and ignoring him completely.

Quinn tsked. “I’ve forgiven a lot of what you’ve done for Brody over the years but this was way below the belt. Stealing another artist’s song? Even for you, this seemed extreme.”

Cam let out a heavy sigh. “You were always the only one who thought I had an ounce of good in me.” He looked over at Rylan. “I was going to keep it as an insurance policy only, I swear. If things got out and got ugly, I was going to bring this out to try and redeem him at least a little. We weren’t going to take it, perform it, or anything.” He turned back to Quinn. “I was actually going to go over all of that with Rylan today – it’s all in the paperwork.”

Rylan studied his worried expression. “What do you mean if things got out and got ugly.”

“The deadbeat dad thing,” guessed Quinn. “Am I right?”

“Gold star for Quinn. But there’s a little more to it. I know it’s going to be hard for you to believe, and I don’t blame you, Brody does finally seem to have gotten his shit together a little. At least enough to be stable. He’s seeing someone who’s a pretty good influence on him. He’s in gambler’s anonymous. And on the music front, he’s on a few good-sized tours and concerts.”

Cam scrubbed a tired hand over his face. “The thing is, he had to hit rock bottom first before this turnaround. It wasn’t that long ago, too. Ever since, I’ve been worried that it would take just one thing to send him on a tailspin that even I won’t be able to pull him out of.”

Despite everything, Rylan could see at least that this man cared a great deal for his brother. “So you were worried that with the media coverage on Cooper, someone might dig a little and find out about Brody abandoning him.”

“Not just abandoning him, but also treating Quinn like total garbage.”

Cam’s eyes were filled with sorrow, regret, and definitely shame. “I know what happened with that loan shark before Brody skipped town. I didn’t know about it until way too late. Quinn, you have to believe that if I’d known, I would’ve gotten you out somehow. I would never have left you in that position.”

She nodded. “I know. But I knew you were covering a lot of his debts already. Between the two of us, that brother of yours has several lifetimes of shit to apologize for. But I never faulted you for what Brody did to me, or what I had to do to get myself out.”

Cam shook his head. “You were always stronger than anyone I ever knew, Quinn”

“I appreciate that.”

She reached over for the contract and held it up. “We’re not signing this, Cam. You know it’s not right. But I know you’re worried about your brother. He doesn’t deserve it, but I give
you
my word that I’ll be your insurance policy. If it does trickle over to your world somehow, I’ll step up and do what I can to keep the backlash as little as possible.”

“Quinn, I can’t ask you to do that. I’d never ask you to do that.”

“But you were willing to ask the man I love to sign over a song he wrote for my son, your nephew. The boy he clearly loves.”

He dropped his head into his hands. “Shit, when you put it that way.”

“Did you think I was going to put it any other way?”

“No. Which is why I tightened the screws as much as I did with Rylan. I didn’t want him to bring you along.”

Quinn chuckled. “Still scared of me?”

“Always.”

She studied him for a beat. “You listened to the words, didn’t you? To the song.”

“Yeah.”

“And you were honestly okay with letting Rylan sign over that song to Brody?”

“I listened to it after. And no, I wasn’t okay with it after I heard the lyrics that Rylan had written.”

Cam sighed. “For what it’s worth, I really didn’t come here with this plan in place. That’s why I needed a few days to get the contracts. I listened to it yesterday.” He glanced over at Rylan. “I made changes to the contract after that. The contract was built to protect Brody’s reputation but it would’ve protected your rights to the song, even from my brother.”

“Too little, too late, Cam,” said Quinn.

Rylan smiled over the echoed words that had come to mind when he’d first met Cam.

“So I repeat,” she stared Cam down. “I’ll be your insurance policy. He may be the last person on earth I ever want to see or speak to again, but thanks to his little swimmers and his stupid reliance on the pull-out method, I have Cooper. And I’d never trade any pain or hardship or asshole ex for any second I’ve spent being Cooper’s mom. If it’ll keep Brody from hitting rock bottom, I’ll smile on camera and I’ll do what I can to help you keep his ass out of the fire.” She ripped the paperwork in half. “But you’re not touching this song.”

“Goddamn, my brother really is the stupidest man alive for letting you get away. And every day, you prove me right. I’ll take your deal. I’d be an idiot not to.”

Rylan growled. “Hold on. I don’t want you having to stand there and do any of that, honey. I can write other songs. You should never have to defend that asshole or paint anything he put you through in any other light but the truth.”

Quinn looked at him for the first time that day. Her hand squeezed his. “If I know Cam, he’ll work like hell to make sure it never comes to that. So I wouldn’t worry. But either way, I’m not letting you tarnish that song. I meant what I said about the man who wrote that song.”

His heart hammered in his chest, his veins filling with hope like pure adrenalin. “Still?” he asked hoarsely.

“We’ll get to that in a bit. Let me finish with Cam, first.”

Rylan fought back a grin.

Cam wasn’t as subtle. He chortled out loud. “God, I’ve missed you. You’ve grown up to become a hell of a woman.”

“Flattery never worked on me. Right now, I’m still pissed that you put Rylan through what you did, and that you even thought about going behind my back to broker a deal that affects me.”

Regret flashed in his eyes. “I didn’t want to disrupt your life again.”

“I believe you. Still doesn’t make your man nuggets any bigger. You should’ve come to me.”

He nodded. “You’re right, I should’ve.”

Quinn leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “I hear you’re managing a few musicians now and doing well for yourself.” She tilted her head. “They’re in good hands.”

“High praise. Congrats on your MBA, by the way. I always knew you were too good for Brody. That’s precisely why I tried to get you to dump his ass at least a dozen times.”

Rylan’s estimation of the guy went up. He wasn’t getting a single hit off his bullshit meter.

Smiling, Quinn nodded. “This is true. I still maintain it would’ve been a lateral move to start dating you.”

Rylan growled. The asshole was back on his shit list.

When Quinn’s hand squeezed his knee reassuringly, his anger quickly dissipated. Mostly because he never thought he’d ever get to have Quinn’s hands on him again. And also because of the genuine affection he heard in her voice.

“Cam always looked out for me while I was dating Brody. Always.”

A hard look crossed Cameron’s features. “Not well enough at the end.”

“Don’t. It’s in the past.”

Silennce blanketed over them and Rylan broke the awkwardness with the only thing on his mind. “I’d really like to get to our conversation so should I kick this guy’s ass before he leaves or not?”

Quinn laughed. “Let’s go with not. Cooper may not have a biological father worth knowing but his uncle is a decent guy.” She looked at the man in question. “I want to give Cooper a few more years to grow up but I’ll tell him he has a pretty cool uncle in Europe. If he says he wants to meet you, and you’re in the states on a trip, I’ll be sure to make that happen.”

Cameron looked utterly humbled by that. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I want you to go get on that 1 p.m. flight you have scheduled and forget this whole thing happened.”

Cam shook his head. “I’m impressed. Your P.I. is good. I still don’t know how he was able to find this meeting location for you.”

“Jay’s the best.”

Rylan had to concur. Jay, the PI.. that worked for Connor Sullivan, the lawyer who did a lot of legal work for Cactus Creek, was pretty legendary.

Cam got up from his seat, tucking the ripped contract back into his suitcase. After a proud, affectionate look at Quinn, he glanced back at Rylan. “I never told my brother to fix things with Quinn because he was a dumbass who didn’t deserve her. You...you’re a good guy. So you do whatever it takes to get her back. Because if not, you’re officially dumber than my brother. And you’ll deserve the shitty regret you’ll feel for the rest of your life for losing out on a really great girl.”

And finally he was gone.

Quinn turned to him, her expression fierce even as her eyes softened when they met his.

“And now for you…”

* * * * *

QUINN STARED HARD
at the man she loved.

“You once told me you’d never wager something you weren’t willing to lose,” she stated, watching his reaction carefully. “But you were willing to jeopardize my feelings for you, the trust I had in you, and with it, any possibility of us having a future.”

“No,” he nearly growled. “I was never
willing
to risk any of that. But I couldn’t let myself be selfish. If it was going to keep you and Cooper safe, keep him from hurting you two again and turning your lives into a circus…then
that
was a risk I was willing to take. I was willing to
risk
it for what was best for you two, but never, ever was I willing to lose what we had. What we can still have if you would just give us a chance.”

She nodded. “And that’s the only reason I’m standing here right now. And that’s the only reason why I’m going to torment you with my presence every day for the rest of your—“

His lips crashed onto hers. “God, I love you. I was so afraid I’d lost you forever. And every damn second since, I’ve done nothing but think about a million ways to beg you to take me back and forgive me.”

“No.” Quinn pulled back and shaped her hands to his face. “There’s nothing to forgive, Rylan. What you did, you did because you loved us, because you were trying to protect us. There’s absolutely no fault in that. And I meant what I said the other night. The man who wrote that song for Cooper is the one I’d want to be his father.”

“He’s also the man I love.”

He dragged her back to him for another soul-searing kiss. “Can we please go pick up Cooper and spend some time together as a family? I’ve missed the hell out of you two all weekend.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“
MOMMY! COME
hear the new song that Rylan and I wrote for you.” Cooper bopped up and down excitedly.

After six tough months with lots of ups and downs, it was amazing to see Cooper back to his old self. Better, even. The doctors told her children are more resilient but his speed of recovery had been astounding to her. Where once he could barely breathe after running around the yard, now, he was hopping around the place without a struggle in the world.

Plopping down on the couch she grinned as her two favorite men put on their serious-musician look that they used whenever they would perform one of their duets. Rylan had been by her side every day of Cooper’s recovery, and since they’d spent much of that time in the hospital or holed up on bedrest, he and Cooper had had plenty of time to make up songs. As his recovery progressed, some of the songs were even implemented into his rehab, much to Coop’s delight.

The kid was a complete ham.

Rylan played a plinkety plunkety tune and Quinn laughed as she saw Cooper dancing around like a marionette before settling down and singing in that adorably sweet voice of his.

Chocolate cake for breakfast,

Bed time after seven,

Splashing puddles in the rain