Find Me

16

SIXTEEN-DYLAN

Waking to find that Quinn had snuck out pissed me off. I thought we'd been on the same page and could plan our next course of action together, but she hadn't stuck around long enough to give us that chance. Once I dealt with my anger, I began to panic. Where the hell would she go? What was her plan? Surely she had a plan, right? I needed a plan. I needed reinforcements. I quickly got dressed and then ran to Lexi's apartment, cursing my father for taking my car. If Quinn got hurt because I didn't have my wheels, then I'd never forgive him.

Cohen answered the door, to my insistent knocking. He looked like he'd just crawled out of bed and growled, "What?"

"Where's Lexi? Has she heard from Quinn?" I asked, frantic.

Cohen frowned, "Why isn't Quinn with you? Lexi went to work."

I pushed off the doorframe and ran down the stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator. I ignored Cohen's questions, that I could hear echoing through the building. I didn't have time for questions. Once I slammed through the door, I took off at a sprint, for the coffee shop. I'd just rounded the corner, coffee shop in sight, when I spotted Quinn. She was squared off with a man over twice her size. I glanced around, looking for some way to help her and spotted a campus security guard. Oh, thank God. I sprinted toward the man and instructed, frantically, "You need to shoot that man."

Hearing the panic in my voice, the guard, quickly got his gun out and surveyed the situation, just as Quinn sprayed something in the face of the sperm donor and then stabbed him with a knife. The guard growled, "It doesn't look like that man is in danger. That young woman is attacking him."

Quinn cried out a moment later and I saw that her wrist had been injured, causing her to drop the knife and she was suddenly unarmed. I glared at the guard, "That man is a criminal. He escaped from prison and he's going to kill her if you don't shoot him."

A sudden gurgling sound came from Quinn and she fell to the ground. "Fuck." I growled, punched the guard in the face, knocking him to the ground, and grabbed his gun. Then I ran forward, to get a better shot, because I'd never shot a gun before and I didn't want to risk missing. When I was just a few feet away, the sperm donor was standing over Quinn, raising the knife to strike her again and I pulled the trigger. I didn't even hesitate. I shot him four times before I was tackled from behind and put into handcuffs.

I didn't give a damn what they did to me, but I demanded, "Call an ambulance! She's been stabbed! Is she breathing? Did I get him? He can't hurt her anymore, right?"

"Dylan? Oh my God, Quinn!" Lexi rushed to her side, phone already to her ear. As it rang, she glared at the guard, whose knee was digging into my back. She told him, "He's not the bad guy here!" Then she spoke into the phone, as I was pulled to my feet and ushered toward a police car that had just arrived. Too little too late, I thought, as I looked back over my shoulder to make sure the sperm donor stayed down. He wasn't moving.

Everything happened in a whirl of motion after that. I was taken away, in the back of a police car. I'd be told later, that Quinn was loaded into an ambulance, while the sperm donor was taken to the morgue. Apparently one of my shots, lodged a bullet into his black heart. Good riddance, I thought. Cohen went behind my back and called my father, which is how I found myself staring at him, from across the interrogation table.

Dad's jaw was clenched as he said, angrily, "So let me get this straight. You walk out of my home, declaring you will not be back and basically tell me not to consider you my son anymore. Then a few short days later, I'm being called into the police station because you allegedly killed a man. Do I have that correct?"