Fractured Hearts (Shattered Lives, Book Three) (28 page)

Quinn gasped. “James?”

“Quinn?” The balding man looked stunned.

“Oh, my god…,” she whispered.

Gunther looked back at who Quinn was addressing. As the man ran toward her, Gunther screamed, “Stand down!” He jumped in front of her and stopped him in his tracks.

“Quinn, baby, I’ve missed you so much.” He grinned. I could have sworn I heard Gunther growl.

“Is this him? Really? This little fucking twat?” Gunther seemed a bit shocked. Frankly, so was I. He was a tousled, scrawny man and was shorter than Quinn, who was of average height for a woman.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Gunther glared at Quinn as her eyes filled with tears, and his filled with panic. He was working hard to keep it at bay. He would die if he lost her.

Quinn’s anger-filled rant pulled me away from watching Gunther. Her fury had a fierce quality that was almost vicious, yet dignified. I would hate to be on a receiving end of her words.

“Do you have
any
idea what I’ve gone through?!” she screamed at James. Aggressively pointing at Gunther, she followed up with, “If it wasn’t for this man, I would be dead myself! But, apparently, that never mattered to you!”

“I’m here now, baby. Where are Carrie and Max? I can’t wait to see them.” He took a step closer to her. A snarl rolled off of Gunther’s lip, then Quinn slapped James across the face.
Nice.
I chuckled as I watched his hand fly up and rub his cheek. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You fucking asshole!” She raged so much, her voice was going hoarse. I was a bit surprised by her reaction because she was usually much more controlled and collected. “Of all the things you could have done, you chose to leave your family! You said you were going to hunt down formula for Max!”

“I couldn’t find any, then I got stuck in a few tight spots. You get that, right, baby?”

“You never tried to come back, did you?” Quinn waited a brief second for James to respond. “Did you?!” she roared.

“No, I didn’t,” James admitted. “Where are Carrie and Max?” He looked around.

“
They’re dead
! I had to kill both of them! You want to know why? Carrie went outside with Max to go across the way to see if the Wheelers had any formula they could spare and they got attacked. I had to beat them to death with a shovel.” Quinn fell apart.

Jesus Christ. I had no idea that was what happened.
My heart ached for her.

Gunther grabbed and held her tight. “Shh… It’s all right, love,” he murmured. She tucked her face into his chest and he nestled his face into her hair.

“Love?! That’s
my
wife! Get your hands off of her!” James charged at Gunther.

Not a smart idea, but I wasn’t going to stop it. Stupidity tends to shoot oneself in the foot…and head.

Before James even made it to them, Gunther had him face down on the floor, his arm twisted behind his back. He bellowed in agony as Gunther continued to apply the pressure, adding a knee to his back for good measure. The others in his group tried to charge into the situation, but Thomas and I held them back.

“Gunther! Let him go!” Quinn yelled. He looked up and saw the serious flare in her eyes. Letting him go, he stood, only to “accidentally” kick James in the ribs. “Gunther!”

Trying to control the seething energy pouring off of himself, he dropped back, a sinking look in his eyes as Quinn helped James up. It would get ugly before Gunther let James take her away from him. I had hope that once they left, things would settle down because if this was how it was going to be while they were here, the stress would get to me.

“Thanks, baby.” James coughed a few times. “Are you screwing him? Good god. He’s a bit beastly, don’t you think?”

“That’s none of your concern. And he is ten times the man you could ever be,” Quinn snipped.

“I believe it
is
my concern. You are my wife,” he snarled back.

“You lost your wife when you walked out on your family when we needed you the most.”

“Quinn, baby, come on.” James held out his arms and had a cocky grin on his face. I wanted to punch the douche myself. I could only imagine what was running through Gunther’s mind. “I want to make things right.”

“Shut up, James.” Quinn turned toward Gunther, who smiled when she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Come on. We had a lot of good moments.”

“In this current world, I’ve had better times with this man. He knows how to treat a woman.” Quinn stepped over to Gunther. His lips curled into a devious grin. “Maybe if you didn’t walk out on your daughter and grandson, I would have an ounce of respect for you. However, clearly,
you’re an asshole
.” Watching Quinn’s face as she scanned the group, it seemed as if a light bulb went on in her head. She walked around in front of the rest of James’ group. “So tell me… Which one are you screwing?” Walking back and forth, her index finger tapping her lips, she stopped in front of the Barbie look-a-like, who was maybe twenty-five. “You. What’s your name?”

She looked at James and mumbled, “Savannah.”

“Well, Savannah, did you know you were fucking a man who walked out on his family?”

“Quinn…”

“Shut up, James!” she roared, annunciating every syllable. “I am not speaking to you at the moment.”

Gunther chuckled, enjoying every second of her belittling that prat. He was relaxed but attentive, standing a short distance away from Quinn, ready to intervene if necessary.

“No, I didn’t know he had a family. He said he lost his family.”

Quinn laughed at Savannah’s response. “Did he now?” She turned on her heel. The ire was flaming as she faced James. “I can’t believe how dumb I was for all those years. All those late night ‘business meetings’, all those ‘emergency situations’ you had to go into work for… You were fucking other women, weren’t you?”

James seemed a little defeated. A bit late for that. “Quinn…please. Forgive me.”

“Why should I?”

“Because, baby, we had some good times.” He glanced around, feeling every pair of eyes staring at him. “Can we do this in private?”

“Oh, I don’t fucking think so,” Gunther growled.

“Gunther, I’ve got this. Let me ask you, Savannah. How’s the lovemaking?” She shrugged. “That’s what I thought. Honey, find yourself a
real
man. Not one who leaves his sixteen-year-old daughter, six-month-old grandson, and his wife to fend for themselves in the midst of a motherfucking apocalypse! Oh, and find one who knows how to make you scream because I know for a fact this man can’t.”

Dig
! I couldn’t help myself and broke out laughing.

Quinn walked to the real love of her life. “That’s my girl,” Gunther murmured, pulling her to his side.

Completely humiliated, James stood, shamefaced. Well-deserved, if I do say so myself. “Well, wasn’t this a happy accident?” James huffed.

As much as I was enjoying the show, we needed to get things moving. “Gunther… The gym?” I prodded.

“Yes. Back in line!” Gunther barked at James.

“Whatever, you testosterone-filled ape.”

Gunther’s body stiffened.
Here we go
. But Quinn touched his arm to make him come back down to reality. “James, I suggest you do what he says because I may not stop him the next time,” Quinn warned.

“Why? Is
it
going to shoot me? Because, at this point in my life, I really couldn’t care less.” He sauntered back in line and, with a loud sigh, put his hands in the air.

The glare from Gunther’s eyes was fiery. “Gun…,” Quinn whispered. As he slowly turned and looked at her, she grabbed his face. “I need you to calm down.”

“I
am
calm,” he growled through a tight jaw.

“No, you’re not.” Then she leaned in close to his ear.

I heard them murmur, exchanging a few words between them: J.T., somersault in my cargoes, deep throat, come all night long. I had the urge to plug my ears like I was five and yell, “La, la, la.”

“I will be on my best behavior, love. You can count on that.”

“I will hold you to it.” She raised a brow at him. “You’re really gray.”

“So I’ve heard.” He kissed her cheek. “Be back in a few, love. I want you to go back to
our
room and wait for me.”

After he tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear, he turned around, finding James glaring at him. Gunther’s lips twisted into another wicked grin. A visible flicker of jealousy flared up in James’ body, making Gunther chuckle.

He led the crew to the gym and pulled open the door, but before James could go in, he threw his arm across the doorway.
Shit, I just want to get this done.
“I just would like to thank you for leaving her. She is an amazing woman, and any man would be lucky to have her. I’m privileged she chose me.”

“And when she closes up shop, I won’t send my condolences.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Gunther grinned.

James laughed. “Oh, she will. Just you wait. Why do you think I fucked around so much? She wouldn’t give me what I wanted at home.”

“Maybe if you could please her in the first place… I believe you heard her say I make her scream.”

When I coughed, Gunther’s eyes shifted to me. He moved his arm away from the door and waved the crew in. I tossed in the packs they brought, devoid of anything that looked like it could be used as a weapon. Pulling the keys from my pocket, I locked the door.

“Tell me…,” I said with a smirk, turning to Gunther. “How badly did you want to kill him?”

“If he even looks the wrong way at her…” Then he smirked. “Anyway, see you later, lads. I have a blow job to collect because I was on my best behavior.” He walked away with a bit more than his usual swagger.

Thomas and I chuckled.

Henry called a quick meeting in the hall outside everybody’s rooms to inform them they are to sleep with their doors locked until further notice.

Gunther drummed his fingers on his upper thighs, impatiently waiting for him to finish. Once Henry turned to go to his room, Gunther grabbed Quinn and shoved her into theirs, quickly closing and locking the door.

While pushing her against the wall, he said in a low rumble, “The last time you rewarded me, I was completely fucked up from a bag.”

“I know. Makes me wonder if you remember any of it.”

“That was something no man could forget. The only difference is all my senses are in overdrive after a bag. Right now, I’m normal.”

“So it won’t be as good?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Her face dropped and turned pale. “Oh no…”

“What’s wrong?”

“My stomach… Move!” Quinn ran over to the bucket and what happened next was
not
sexy.

“Love…” He wet a cloth and held her hair back as she continued to vomit. After handing her the bottle of water to rinse out her mouth, he pulled her into the bed and tenderly wiped her face down.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered.

“It’s fine. You don’t feel well. I’ll take a rain check.” Gunther pulled off his shirt and crawled into bed next to her, holding her.

“What a fucked up night,” she murmured into his chest.

“You can say that again.” He paused and played with her hair. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she moaned.

“What did you see in him? Because,
clearly
, he isn’t the sexy beast I am.”

Quinn burst out laughing. “Clearly. He just wooed me. He paid attention, he was a perfect gentleman… I don’t care about looks.”

“So if I had a serious case of the fuglies, you would still love me?”

“Yep. You being a sexy beast just helps your case that much more.”

They both laughed. Quinn held her stomach and moaned in pain. “What do you suppose is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I thought it was those carrots, but now I’m not so sure. I haven’t thrown up like this since I was–” Abruptly, she stopped.

“Since you were…?” he asked, probing her to finish her thought.

“Oh, my god, Gun…”

“What, love? You have me worried.”

She rolled over on her stomach and sat up on her elbows. “I haven’t been sick like this since I was pregnant with Carrie.”

He eyes held hers for a moment. “Wait… Do you think you’re pregnant?”

“I don’t know. I always thought that after sixteen years of unprotected—and, might I add, uneventful—sex, I couldn’t get pregnant.” They lay quiet for several minutes, not saying a word, stunned about the possibility. “First thing in the morning, I want to go to the clinic and see if there are any tests. I think I saw one when I was straightening the shelves the other day.”

Gunther had a half-smile on his face. “Can’t wait.”

“If it’s true, are you going to be fine with it?”

“It would make me the happiest man in the world.” He pulled Quinn closer and held her tighter than ever before. With a headache blooming, he fell asleep, thinking about what it would be like to hold a child of his own.