Timeless Masters | boyxboy | (Book Two: The Master Collection)

Chapter X - Seeing the World the Way You Do

"What would make you think such a thing?" Quinn's voice trembled as he sat in a panic.

He was in the rear of the stagecoach with Darcy and Jasper. They were all on their way back to the Lancechester manor when suddenly Darcy had thrown a question out to him. "Are you and Oliver involved romantically?" she had inquired out of the blue.

Quinn hadn't seen the question coming, nor would he have expected to provide an answer. As he sat opposite the couple, his face paled of all color, leaving him a ghost in their presence. He felt like he was shrinking suddenly, sizing down to an overwhelmed child as a look of dread came to his hazel eyes.

"To be quite honest with you, Quincy," Darcy said, "I am no dull woman. I do have eyes. In the manner you simply look upon Oliver, I can tell there is something much more than friendship between you. I did not need to walk in on the both of you sleeping together to figure it out. I had my suspicions before. Particularly at dinner the other day. You two blossomed with intimacy. It is the reason why I tried for a moment to keep you from being dragged away by Alice. She is a very persistent girl, but I could see you wanted nothing to do with her attempts."

Quinn was unsure of what to say. How could one possibly admit so blatantly that, yes, he and Oliver were in a relationship? It was no easy task. So, Quinn denied. It was all he felt he could do. "I do not know what you are talking about," he said, his voice shaky yet stern at the same time. "I am not in love with Oliver. He is nothing more than my childhood friend. He was only frightened of the storm from last night so I allowed him the company of being in my chamber. That was all."

Darcy gave a smirk and shook her head, "I said nothing about love, Quincy. And, I promise, you have nothing to be afraid of in front of Jasper and I. In truth, we are the last people you would ever have to worry about discovering your true nature. We are no different from you—."

Quinn stopped Darcy there, "No different? You do not know what you speak of. There is nothing wrong with me." His eyes went from Darcy's to Jasper's. The blond man's expression hadn't changed, and he truthfully didn't look too concerned with the topic at hand. Growing up, Quinn had seen how this matter could bring out the foulest in people, anger and disgust at the mere thought of a man bedding another man, or the ridiculous notion of a woman intimately loving and bedding a woman. But, Jasper, he looked totally neutral to it all.

"And you are correct," Darcy said, giving a nod of understanding. "Quincy there is nothing wrong with being who you are, particularly in front of Jasper and I. When I mentioned being no different from you, I meant what I said."

"How could you possibly understand?" Quinn interjected. "The constant fear I live in each passing day, how could you possibly understand even the slightest of it? Every morning since I was eight years old I have been afraid of this world and the things it could do to me, the things it could do to...because I know for sure what the result of 'being who I am' can lead to. I have seen it."

Darcy could see the pure emotion in Quinn's eyes, the distress coupled with terror. "You are mistaken, Quincy," she said calmly, "I know exactly what you are talking about. Jasper and I know all too well. Although we have not witnessed the treachery for our own eyes, Quincy, we know." When the young man didn't interrupt her with an argument, Darcy touched kindly at his knee across from her, an earnest look cast in her eyes. "You are afraid, I see that. It is scary to find people who understand the things you are feeling right now, for trust in a world such as this is too goddamn hard to come by. You think you can trust your family most times, but it is the right friends in which you must luck into enable to feel safe, and there seem very few one can find who are just like you. Please, don't be afraid of us. We understand."

Quinn let Darcy speak, his head resting on his knees as she then touched the back of his hair. He didn't want to believe there were others who could comprehend what went through his head every day, but there were two sitting directly across from him, and from the sincerity in Darcy's speech, there was no muddling her intentions.