Dreamlover (Mariah Carey)

"So you and Brittany are really done?" Q asked me as I cut into my perfectly cooked steak.

I ignored her and groaned when I began to chew, she raised her eyebrow, and I kept moaning.

Her cheeks got pink, my moans obviously doing something for her.

"Feeling desperate, Q?"

"God, yes." She whispered, then shook her head and put on her HBIC smile. "I just need to know that I won't have Britt banging down my door to defend your honor."

"Defend my honor?"

"She never told you?" She raised her eyebrow again and shook her head. "Of course, she didn't."

"Why don't you tell me?" I asked before taking another bite of my steak. I could tell she didn't want to piss me off from the hesitance in her voice, but then I raised my eyebrow right back. "Please?"

I had said that last bit with a growl, then watched her body shiver.

This was going to be fun.

"She threatened to sacrifice a chicken if I stepped foot near your wedding. I was dishonorable by fucking you in that hotel room."

My face was stone, but then I cackled at the thought of Brittany threatening Quinn.

"I'm not surprised; she was insane during our wedding planning."

"I gathered." She rolled her eyes and then began to eat her steak.

We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, and then, finished with my steak, I sat back and watched her eat.

When I had shown up outside a million-dollar penthouse in DUMBO, she'd asked me questions about my life, and I had ignored them.

That wasn't why I was there.

No strings meant that she didn't deserve my life story for me to fuck her.

But I could tell it was bothering her that we weren't closer.

The pandemic had robbed most people of social skills, and I could see it all over her.

She'd been with Fran for two years, working at a hospital until she landed in one herself.

COVID nearly killed her, so she became a recluse, refusing to leave Fran's long after most people had gone outside.

I could see how it had changed her, and I wanted to ask about it, but nothing I knew about her journey in California had been told to me by her.

Everything had come through the Lima grapevine.

Mami had been keeping me updated about every one of my classmates because she had been counseling their parents.

She was breaking doctor/patient privilege by telling me, but I wouldn't spill what I knew to anyone, not even Britt.

It was good to know what was going on with people; it made me feel like I had some control.

All that said, I knew exactly how badly Quinn needed to get laid and why she'd come to me.

We'd had sex before, and I was incredibly clean.

The only hang-up for her was my connection to B.

Anyone would have that hang-up, especially since Britt and I shared more than a past with Benito; we now had a future together.

I'd be intimidated by it all if I were in Quinn's shoes.

"Tell you what, Quinn, rock my world tonight, and I'll play the part of a best friend. We can braid each other's hair and spill our guts while we eat junk food."

I thought she'd say something snarky, but her desperation was stronger than her pride.

"Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Say less, San. I'll do whatever you want."

"Anything?" I ran my bare foot up her shin, and she bit her lip so hard that I was scared she'd bite through it. Then she let it go and smiled at me.

She stood up from her chair and came around the table.

I turned in my seat just as she was kneeling.

Her cool hands separated my thighs, and then she smiled at me. "Anything."