Dispute Resolution

Chapter Eighteen

Quinn blinked. She couldn't think to do much else. To say she was stunned was an understatement. Gray was gone, she had kicked him out and she wasn't quite sure why. She was almost certain she'd made a mistake but she couldn't process it right now with Kat and Summer talking to her.

"Come on," Summer said, rousing her. "Let's get you inside."

"What are the two of you doing here?" she asked once the door was closed behind them.

Her voice sounded weak and wobbly and the tears were threatening to spill out. She bit her lip hard, trying to focus the pain on something else than what she was feeling in her heart and mind.

"We were worried about you," Summer said. "You didn't come back to Gray's private box and you wouldn't answer your phone."

"Oh."

And for some reason, that's when the tears started. Kat and Summer looked at each other, dumbfounded, before they jumped into action. They led her over to her lounge, brought her a box of tissues, tied back her hair, gave her hug. Kat made some soothing noises, and finally, her sobs stopped, although she still hiccupped occasionally.

"Listen, we can't stay long, Max is waiting downstairs in the car," Kat said, " but are you going to explain why Gray Holloway, our boss and one of the richest men in Australia, took you on a date, was just in your apartment and why he has now turned you into a sobbing mess?"

"And why were you practically naked in his company?" Summer added.

"Um, we were discussing my latest article," she said, not even remotely sounding convincing.

"Is that what you call it," Summer scoffed and Quinn knew they would want complete disclosure. "Truth time. Spill," Summer said.

"I've been sleeping with him," she blurted in a rush of words. For once Summer and Kat were both silent, stunned expressions on their faces.

"For how long and when were you going to tell us?" Kat demanded.

"A month and if you hadn't turned up tonight, probably never," she admitted. "I haven't even told my mum."

"Wait, let me get this straight, you've been sleeping with him, went on a date with him, but now you're a complete wreck. What on earth happened tonight?" Summer asked, a perplexed but concerned expression furrowing her brow.

"I just kicked him out."

"We saw," Kat said.

"Why?" Summer asked.

"I'm in love with him." There was a pregnant pause before Kat spoke again.

"Okay, wait. You are telling me you have been screwing one of the richest, most powerful men in the country, who also just happens to be the sexual equivalent of chocolate and now you've just kicked him out because you're in love with him?" Kat said. "I know I said we couldn't stay, but have you got any wine?"

Kat's comment made Quinn laugh despite everything she was feeling to the contrary.

"Details," Summer said, "Start from the beginning and don't leave anything out."

She told them everything, from the heated meetings in his office to the tawdry first encounter on top of her two-page spread to what had happened tonight. She wouldn't have believed it if they weren't sitting in front of her, but for the first time that Quinn could ever remember, both Kat and Summer were completely silent, shaking their heads in disbelief, absorbing her every word.