NEARLY A WEEK later, Finny was hovering next to me again, breathing down my neck as I tried to concentrate on making a drink at the bar.

We'd just announced last call, and I was trying to get through a couple orders so we could close up and head home. I had a pretty girl to take to bed so we could both forget about the rest of the world for a few hours.

Finny drummed his fingers on the bartop like he was trying to decide what he wanted to say, and it was grating on my last nerves.

"So, uh..."

I gritted my teeth in annoyance because it was giving me flashbacks to last week when he'd told me the worst fucking news.

The last thing I ever wanted was to drag Quinn down into the mess I'd made with my former team. I could handle their pushback, but while I knew she was strong enough to take on anything, I didn't want her to have to. She didn't sign up for this shitstorm the way I had.

"Spit it out, Finn," I said with a sigh as I put the finishing touch on my drink and slid it across the bar to the waiting customer. I started working on another, trying to keep my anxieties at bay.

He cleared his voice in response. "It's just that you're all over the internet again."

I frowned, my stomach immediately dropping. If someone else was saying shit about Quinn, I was going to fucking kill them. God, I'd had enough of this.

"Is it Quinn?" I asked because that was really the only thing that mattered. I didn't give a damn if people were talking about me; they could gossip all they wanted. But if they wanted to bring my girlfriend into it, I had things to fucking say about that.

Because Quinn was mine now—not for now, not until she left, not until her assignment was over. All that was a different life, a different story. Now she was mine. Full stop. And like hell was I going to let anyone ruin that or ruin her.

"Yeah, actually, it is," Finn said, but he didn't sound...worried. His tone of voice was the only thing that kept me in check as I passed the next drink across the bar. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Quinn walk by with a tray of dishes she was taking back to the kitchen.

Fuck, I didn't deserve her. The way she'd been jumping in to help Sunny around here from the minute I brought her to that first fish fry had been unbelievable. She was incredible, and I'd never take her for granted.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face Finny and whatever the hell the internet was saying now. It had better be fucking good, or I just might lose it.

I wiped my hands on my pants before sticking one out, palm up. "Show me."

Finny hesitated annoyingly before putting his phone in my hand, and I glanced up to see his face for the first time since he'd walked over here.

And weirdly enough, he was smiling.

"What the hell is that look for?"

His smile broadened as he set the phone down in my hand.

"Oh, you'll see."

Finny stepped back, watching me expectantly as I looked down at his phone.

The first thing I saw was Quinn's name. But it wasn't in the headline or the byline.

It was beneath it.

She was the author.

The article wasn't about Quinn.

The article was by Quinn.

And it was about...me.

Slightly panicked, I looked around Sunny's again, trying to find her. Had she given in and written the article that the Warriors wanted her to? I wouldn't have cared if that was what she chose to do, but I hated if it was something she felt like she had to do because of what someone had leaked last week.

I scanned the restaurant, frowning when I realized Quinn must be back in the kitchen still. 

"Just read it," Finn urged, redirecting my focus back to his phone as soon as he realized I'd fully intended on going to find her.

I took a deep breath, not sure if I was ready to read it. Quinn had said something that night on the beach about still writing an article about me, but she hadn't elaborated and hadn't mentioned it since then. I'd noticed she'd spent a fair amount of time on her computer this past week, but I hadn't made the connection.

Honestly, I'd thought she was likely doing what she could to salvage connections with people in the industry, sifting through her options. She'd had this determined sort of look on her face every time she sat in front of that laptop, and I hadn't wanted to interfere. Hadn't wanted to burst her bubble or say something that would just frustrate her. Because the truth was, I wasn't so sure that she could salvage anything after what they'd leaked.

But she had this expression like she could fix it, like she could fix everything, and the last thing I wanted was to ruin it all for her.

"You're still not reading it, are you?" Finny grunted, and he was right. Even though my eyes were on the phone, I hadn't been able to force myself to read on.

I'd read a million articles written about me during my tenure on the Warriors, and there was always something so odd about looking in on yourself from the outside. I wasn't sure how to describe it, but it wasn't usually a good feeling to see yourself from that light since so often that light wasn't favorable.

"I'm just mentally preparing," I explained. "You know how much shit I've read about myself over the years?"

"Wow." I saw Finny rock back on his heels out of the corner of my eye. "So you're saying you think Quinn writes shit, huh? What a good boyfriend you are."

"That's definitely not what I'm—" I cut myself off, biting down on my tongue and realizing that my nerves were getting the better of me. I glanced away from the picture of me on Finny's phone to meet his gaze quizzically. "I never told you we were dating."

He laughed. "I mean, it's been pretty obvious. And you didn't have to." He nodded back to his phone in my hand. "She did."

I followed his gaze to the article again as he sighed and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Auggie. Not a damn thing." I could hear the smile in his voice as he added, "Just read it, okay?"

Swallowing, I nodded. And then I was pretty sure Finny walked away, but I honestly wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Maybe he was there, maybe he wasn't. All my focus turned to the article. That Quinn wrote. About me.

I held my breath as I read the opening.

It detailed how Quinn met me. What she knew about me as a reporter. What the Warriors had told her. It was what I'd expected.

But then...then it detailed how Quinn knew me now. How she learned the truth behind my departure from professional football but knew she'd never be able to report on it because it would expose her employers. So, instead of writing something that lacked honesty, she bowed out.

Not only because of her inability to produce an article that would be lies written as truths, but also because she was no longer interested in a working partnership with me, and she had no interest in using our growing relationship as a means of producing an article she was paid to write.

She had no interest in becoming exactly what the Warriors were and what the Warriors wanted her to be: a manipulator, an exploiter, a puppeteer.

Their last article, which smattered pictures of us on the internet, had been their last attempt to pull the strings.

But Quinn Castle responded by cutting us loose.

She cut me loose.

And I'd never felt anything like it before.

She'd asked me that day on the boat if I felt freedom when I walked away, and the truth was, I'd only had a taste. Because this? This feeling right now, this was freedom. This was everything.

She was everything.

Fuck, I needed to find her.

Setting Finny's phone down on the counter, I looked around the bar only to come up short when I didn't spot her. I took off for the kitchen, flying through the door and looking wildly around until my eyes landed on the prettiest fucking person I'd ever known.

She looked surprised at the way I'd entered, her eyebrows lifting as I strode toward her with intent. Sunny slipped past me, leaving so we were alone. That was good because as soon as I got within reach of Quinn, my hands were on her face, and then my lips were on hers.

She gasped against my mouth, giving me a chance to deepen the kiss, and after only a moment of shock, Quinn melted into me.

She groaned, kissing me back just as deeply. Her hands wound around my neck, her body pressing into mine, her tongue dancing, tangling as we kissed in the middle of Sunny's kitchen. And when we finally came up for air, she breathed, "You read the article, didn't you?"

I nodded, closing my eyes as I rested my forehead against hers. "Yeah, baby. I read the article."

"You deserved to have your story told," she whispered. "Your real story. To have your parents honored properly and your retirement understood and for people to know that—"

I cut her off with another kiss because fuck, if I didn't kiss her, I'd say things that I wasn't sure if she was ready to hear. God, I wanted to tell her, though. I wanted to say everything, every thought floating around in my head, especially the most important one.

"August," she moaned, and goddamnit, that drove me wild. She drove me wild. "It was okay, then?"

"It was so much more than okay. God, Castle."

She smiled against my lips. "I'm glad. I know people still might not believe it, but I'm hoping it helps."

"I don't even care if people believe it," I rasped. "All I care about is you."

Quinn murmured my name again, and as much as I loved hearing her say those two syllables, I loved kissing her more. Our lips crashed back together, our bodies crushed just as tight. Quinn's fingers tangled in my hair at the base of my neck, tugging like she wanted more. And fuck, I wanted nothing more than to give it to her.

"Need you." I grunted the two words before scooping Quinn into my arms, enjoying the way she squealed with delight. "I've never needed anything the way I need you right now, baby."

She laughed, all breathy and aroused. And damn, it only turned me on that much more.

"Are you going to carry me all the way back to the beach house?"

I shook my head, hoping to God that Finn and Sunny had done me a solid. And sure enough, when I turned around and walked Quinn back out of the kitchen, I found the bar empty.

"No, Castle." A smirk grew on my face. "We're not going back to the beach house."

She smiled down at me, more radiant than ever. "Where are we going then?"

"One time you told me no one's ever bent you over a pool table before. Not properly, anyway."

Quinn's eyes lit up, and it heated me up from the inside out. 

I dropped her onto the edge of the pool table, flashing her a wicked grin.

"It's about damn time I fix that."

☀️

a/n:

I love a full circle moment, but I love a smutty full circle moment even more 👀

xoxo amelie