The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn woke up with a smile on her face as she felt Kris’s warm body next to her. She wished she could stay like this forever. She heard her cell phone ringing, and she quickly grabbed it, jumping out of bed to answer it so she didn’t wake Kris up. “Hello?” she asked, not even bothering to see who was calling her.

“Hey Quinn, sorry to bother you while you’re up visiting Kris’s family,” she heard Claire’s voice as Quinn walked into the bathroom to grab one of the plush robes the hotel provided and wrapped it around her body. “But, we have a problem.”

Quinn shut her eyes, her mind racing, thinking of all the problems Claire could be calling her about. “What is it?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

“Um…” Claire trailed off. Quinn was getting impatient and was about to snap at Claire to finish her thought. “Dean’s gone.”

“Wait, what?” Quinn asked, shaking her head, not quite sure what that statement meant. “Gone where?”

“That’s the problem, we’re not sure where. He told Garrett he was going away on ‘business’ for a little bit, and that worries me and Noah.”

Quinn sat down on the edge of the bathtub, trying to get her thoughts together. “What do you think he’s up to?” she asked.

“We don’t know,” Claire replied. “But, Dean is up to something, and I’d put money on him still trying to get that team from you. You’ve one upped him, and he’s not going to sit by and just let that be, you know that. Noah told me to not ruin your trip and wait til you got back to tell you, but I was afraid it would be too late,” she told her. “I’m sorry,” she added.

Quinn sighed. Her trip had been going so perfectly. It would be like Dean to ruin it without even knowing he was doing it. It would be just another perk to him. “It’s okay,” Quinn told her. “I’m glad you told me. Kris and I are here for another couple of days, but I may try to get back a little early so I can try to cut Dean off from whatever he’s up to before he can figure out that I know. Thanks, Claire, I’ll talk to you later,” she said before hanging up the phone.

She didn’t move from the edge of the bathtub for a couple of minutes. She needed to gather her thoughts. Did she really want to ruin her time with Kris because of Dean? She didn’t even know what Dean was up to, and there was that slight chance that it had nothing to do with Quinn, though Quinn really doubted that.

She finally stood up and walked back out into the main part of the room to see Kris sitting up in bed. “Hey,” he said, flashing her a smile, and for a split second, Quinn forgot about everything that Claire had just told her. She crawled into bed with him as he said, “I was wondering where you were.” She moved in closer to him and he wrapped his arms around her. “And why do you have this on?” he asked with a chuckle as he pulled on the thick robe.

Quinn simply smiled at him but kept the robe on. “Claire just called me,” she told him, and Kris could tell that whatever it was had been serious, and he waited on her to continue. “I guess Dean took off somewhere to do some ‘business’,” she said, holding her hands up and making quotation marks in the air. “No idea what that means, but we’re all guessing he’s scheming to try to get the team out from under me,” she told him.

“Quinn, we’ve been through this, he can’t get the team. There’s no way for him to,” Kris told her simply, but the look on her face told him that she didn’t fully believe him. “Do you want to go back home?” he asked. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to Pittsburgh and ruin this trip with Quinn. But, if that was what was going to put her mind at ease, he’d do it for her.

Quinn sighed. “No,” she said, shaking her head.

“Are you sure about that?”

Quinn nodded. “Yeah, but I do need to make a phone call. Then, I promise I’m back to being all yours. I won’t let Dean ruin this trip from hundreds of miles away. I just need to double check something first,” she told him.

Kris motioned with his hand for her to proceed, and she got out of bed, grabbing her phone again. Going over to the desk on the other side of the room, she sat down and dialed the number she was looking for. Within seconds, Mario was picking up his phone. “Hello Quinn, what can I do for you?” he asked.

“Hi Mario, I’m sorry to bother you right now,” she began.

“You’re not bothering me,” he interrupted her. “What is on your mind?”

Quinn took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to explain everything to him. “I know a little while ago you banned my brother Dean from going into the stadium. Does that ban still stand even though the season is over?” she asked.

“Yes, Quinn, it does,” Mario responded. “Why are you asking? What is going on?”

“I don’t really know,” she answered honestly. “Apparently Dean is up to something, though no one really knows what. He left and said he was going away on business for a bit, and I’m just really nervous he’s got something up his sleeve. I don’t know why he would attempt to get into Consol, but I wouldn’t put anything past him. I just really think he’s going for the team again,” she explained.

“Quinn, we’ve made sure that there’s no way he can get a hold of any part of the team. Legally, you and I own the team, and Dean couldn’t get it unless one of us signs it over to him. I know you’re not going to, and I can assure you, if you didn’t already know, that I’m not going to either. So, you can stop worrying and enjoy your time with Kris up there,” he told her.

Quinn started to say something, but then stopped. “Wait, how did you know I was up in Canada with Kris?” she asked, a bit of amusement in her voice. She had told Mario that she was going away for a few days in order to make sure he didn’t need her there, but she had never told him where exactly she was going or who she was going with.

She could practically see the smile on Mario’s face. “Oh Quinn, I know everything about my players,” he told her, and Quinn couldn’t help but chuckle herself. “I’ll see you again on Monday. In the meantime, don’t worry about a takeover from Dean. I’ve got everything under control here, and I’ll make sure to have extra security around the stadium and specifically our offices in case Dean would try to make his way in there. We can discuss this more next week. But really, you need this vacation, as does Kris. Do not let Dean get in the way of that.”

“I plan on taking that advice,” Quinn smiled. “Thank you, Mario. I will see you next week,” she said before hanging up. She glanced back over at the bed to see Kris still laying in it, though he was occupying himself on his phone. She set her phone on the desk and made her way back over to the bed, ripping the sheet off of Kris, exposing his naked body.

“Hey!” Kris exclaimed, and Quinn just smiled at him as she crawled on top of him, straddling him. “It’s only fair if you take this off,” he said, pulling at the robe. Quinn didn’t say anything, untying the belt and shrugging out of it, throwing it behind her on the floor.

***

“My hair looks awful!” Quinn said, as she stared at herself in the mirror, trying to curl her hair just how she wanted it, but it was so frizzy and not looking how she wanted it to.

“Quinn, we’re just going to dinner with my parents, you don’t have to have perfect hair,” Kris said, not thinking before he spoke. “Not that your hair looks bad,” he quickly added, trying to get himself out of the hole he was digging. “It looks good,” he continued, and Quinn rolled her eyes at him.

“No, Kris, your hair looks good! Yours always looks good! It’s not fair,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, while Kris chuckled.

“Je suis desolé,” he told her, though it was clear that he wasn’t really that sorry.

Quinn rolled her eyes at him again, but stepped out of the bathroom to put her heels on so they could get ready to leave. They were meeting Kris’s parents at some restaurant, and Quinn didn’t want to be late.

She and Kris walked out to their car, and Quinn sat back as Kris drove down the highway. He reached over and held her hand, causing a smile to appear on her face. She stared out the window, still not able to get enough of the gorgeous scenery. The ride was quiet, but both of them were content.

About ten minutes later, Kris pulled into a parking lot of what appeared to be a nice steakhouse. He walked around and opened Quinn’s door, helping her out of the car and walking her inside. They found his parents in no time, and they sat down at the table with them. “Kris, I think we’re actually going to go somewhere else,” Christiane told him as soon as the two of them sat down.

Kris looked at his mother curiously. “Pourquoi?” he asked. Quinn noticed Christiane and Tristan were already moving their chairs out to leave, and she started looking around, wondering what was going on.

“We’ll tell you when we leave,” Tristan said, and Kris slowly started to move his chair back, looking at Quinn and shrugging his shoulders as she followed his lead.

“Il est trop tard,” Christiane mumbled as she focused on something behind Kris.

Kris turned his head around to see what his mother was looking at, and he let out a low groan. “Kris, what’s going on?” Quinn whispered from beside him.

Before Kris could answer, a striking woman with long, dark hair was practically running up behind Kris, her high heels clicking on the hard floor. “Kristopher!” she exclaimed, bending down and wrapping her arms around him. Quinn noticed the woman’s short, tight, black dress riding up her thigh, but the woman didn’t seem to care about pushing it back down as she stood up, finally letting go of Kris. Quinn’s attention turned to Kris, wondering who she was, but the look on Kris’s face let Quinn know that he wished the woman wasn’t there.

“Darcy,” Kris said, not matching her enthusiasm.

“Kristopher, it’s so good to see you!” she said, bending down and kissing his cheek. Quinn still squirmed, even though she could tell Kris was uncomfortable. “I was hoping you would be here when I saw Christiane and Tristan here! And, here you are!” she said. Quinn continued to look her over. She had long, lean legs that were bare from her short dress. Quinn had to admit the woman was beautiful, though she still didn’t know how she knew Kris or his parents. The way she was standing so close to him and touching his arm made Quinn uncomfortable, but she wasn’t going to say anything about that.

“Yes, I’m having dinner with my parents and my girlfriend,” he told her, putting his hand on Quinn’s thigh.

“Well maybe we can catch up afterwards or tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.

Kris shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, Darcy.”

“C’mon Kristopher,” she continued. Quinn noticed Darcy always called Kris by his full name, something else that made her uncomfortable. “Don’t you think you owe it to me to at least talk to me and catch up? Please?” she asked, jutting her bottom lip out.

Kris sighed as he shut his eyes. “Darcy,” he began.

“You know I’ll break you down eventually, I always do,” Darcy smiled, putting her hand on his wrist.

Kris pulled it away as he finally relented. “Fine, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Just please leave us alone for dinner,” he said.

“Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I’m assuming your number is still the same. I’ll call you,” she added, giving him a kiss on the cheek that quickly grazed the side of his lips before she walked away with an extra kick in her step, obviously happy with how the interaction had gone.

Quinn looked over at Kris. “Who was that?” she asked quietly.

Kris didn’t look over at Quinn when he answered, instead looking at his parents, now knowing why they wanted to get out of the restaurant so quickly. “That was Darcy. My ex-fiancée.”