“Not an excuse.”
“Quinn, maybe we could leave here, go out to dinner and have a nice chat,” Sofia says, trying to keep the peace. I feel sorry for her. I really do. She probably came here, hoping to find her long-lost brother, but that’s not me. I don’t care that we share the same egg donor. I want nothing to do with Alicia.
“Quinn.” Alicia stands and comes toward me. I’m trapped with nowhere to escape. She reaches out to touch me and I shy away. My father taught me to never hit a woman, but right now I want to slap her hand away and push her until she’s on the other side of the room.
“Don’t touch me,” I tell her sternly. She drops her hand and her face morphs into sadness.
“You’re my son.”
“I. AM. NOT!” I grit, spit flies out of my mouth. “You abandoned me. You left me. You walked out on me when I was days’ old. My mother’s name is Katelyn. She raised me. She stepped in when she didn’t have to. She fed me, clothed me, made sure I did my homework. She’s the one who took me to get haircuts, bandaged up my knees and stood by me proudly. You’re nothing like my mom. She’s kind, sweet, caring and she loves me.” I jab my finger into my chest. “She loves me because I’m her son, whether she gave birth to me or not. That’s how being a mother works.”
“She didn’t walk away when I asked her to adopt me. She doesn’t treat her own children better than me. My mom gave me a life, she nurtured me, helped me grow into the man that I am. That is where you failed. I hate the fact that I’m here because you raped my father. I hate it. It makes me feel dirty and unwanted. He didn’t want anything to do with you, so you raped him.”
She waves me off. “Your father used to sleep with anyone who looked his way.”
“Except you. You had to drug him.”
Alicia rolls her eyes. “I just encouraged him a little.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Hey, what’s going on? Are you… Sofia?” My eyes land on the door where Nola has walked in. I look from her to Sofia and back, and that’s when I realize it was Nola who mentioned Sofia and how she thought…
“You knew?” I’ve suddenly found
my footing and am stalking toward my girlfriend.
“Knew what?” she asks.
“Oh, don’t play stupid, Elenora. You’ve known for years that Quinn’s my brother.”
Her mouth opens, closes, and opens again. “I’m so confused right now. Sofia, you said he wasn’t. I asked you before—”
“Before what? Before you backstabbed me and slept with my brother? This whole time I’ve asked you to stay away from him, but you didn’t listen.”
“Who’s Elenora?” I ask, so confused about the conversation happening in front of me.
“Oh, that’s her,” Sofia says. “We were roommates in college for the past two years. She knows all about you. She decided right after graduation to come to Los Angeles to find you, had a little crush, you see. Did she tell you about Roy?”
“Sofia, what are you doing?”
“Roy?” I ask.
Sofia crosses her arm and nods. “Her fiancé back home.”
I look back at Nola or Elenora, whatever the hell her name is and shake my head. “I don’t know what to ask you about first, the fact that you have a fiancé, your name or that you knew she was my sister and didn’t say anything to me?”
“I tried, but—”
“Was that before or after you came to see me a couple of weeks ago?” Sofia stands there, with her hands on her hips.
A couple of weeks ago was when we slept together. I’m starting to put the pieces together, but everything’s fuzzy. “I trusted you. I told you things I’ve never told anyone in my life and you’ve been lying to me this entire time. You brought this vile woman into my life without even warning me, without even asking if I wanted to meet her?”
“Quinn, if you’d let me explain.” She grabs ahold of my shirt, tugging me toward her. She’s crying, but I’ve already shut down. I was real with her, telling her about my life, letting her into my family all while she’s been playing me.
I shake my head. “Anyone who is associated with Alicia Tucker isn’t welcome in my world. Anyone who cheats and lies, has no place in my life. Clearly, you’re with me under false pretenses and the feelings you say that you have for me aren’t genuine. I should’ve known better than to get involved with a waitress, but there was something about you, and now I know what it was.”
“What’s that?” she asks, her voice breaking into a sob.