Quinn took the day off, like he said he would. He puttered around, cleaning up house, making sure that he meal-planned for the upcoming week, and also checked in with his family. His aunts were staying longer since they could work from home for a little bit, while his cousins were coming back into town that day.
Quinn would have liked to see them, but knew that they had their own lives. He also had to let Noah go so that he could go to his own job as well, much to Noah's grumbling. It was clear that the man didn't want to go back to work and would rather spend time with Quinn, but Quinn made sure he went back.
It wasn't just for their future business, but because Quinn needed some time alone.
He needed to fortify his shield.
What did that mean? Well, it meant that if he'd had one before, it was piss poor. He'd let Michel walk all over him for a damn year, and while Noah had been really patient and kind with him, that didn't mean that he couldn't point out what was obvious. Michel was not a good man.
Quinn had apparently needed to see how good men, good partners treated the ones they loved in person for that to click. Michel had treated him like shit, had used him to get what he wanted, and had pushed Quinn around. Quinn had a sneaking suspicion that if he had pushed back even once during the year-long…relationship that he would have dropped Quinn like a hot potato.
Quinn shuddered, almost disbelieving how stupid and stubborn he'd been. He needed to sit down and really think about why he had let him get away with so much. Why had he tolerated such shitty treatment for so long? Why had he let Michel walk all over him? Why did he continue to go back even after he kept pushing Quinn into areas he wasn't comfortable with?
Quinn needed to look at the details without the others around, and he needed to do it sober. No wine, no beer, just Quinn and the plain, solid facts. He liked facts, dealt with them often, and as he began to go through the year-long situationship that he'd had with Michel, Quinn grew sick to his stomach.
He did eventually throw up, his body revolting at what he was seeing.
Michel had systematically taken apart Quinn from the inside out. He had tried to push him down, destroy him. Quinn's personality had shifted, his mannerisms had changed. All so that he could be whatever Michel needed him to be. It was disgusting, it was horrifying, and Quinn had let him do it.
Quinn was queasy all over again, his fingers grasping at the edge of the porcelain throne he found himself leaning over. At least it was spotless. Quinn was a bit of a clean freak and hired a cleaning service to help him when he was gone or things were a bit too busy. This was one of those times.
Not only that, but Quinn had allowed him to financially manipulate him as well. Why? How thick had the rose-coloured glasses been for him to allow this to happen? Quinn wasn't even affected by pheromones. He was a damn beta! He couldn't use that as an excuse, and Quinn stared at the numbers he had turned a blind eye to and wanted to beat himself up.
So much wasted. Time. Energy. Money.
The last one was a particularly hard blow because that didn't just harm him, it harmed his future plans with Noah. They would need capital to get the company started, and fuck, Quinn might not be able to match him dollar for dollar anymore.
Did Michel know that Quinn was planning to start his own company? Had this been something close to espionage? Was Michel smart enough to do something like that?
Quinn didn't think so, but he wouldn't rule it out. His older brother was smart, and as much as Quinn got along with his elder half sister, that didn't mean she wouldn't sabotage him to make sure he didn't leave.
Quinn shook every time he looked at the facts laid out. No emotions, just details. Bank statements, records, everything. It had taken him the day to get it sorted, and Quinn felt like a damn fool at the end of it.
In the end, he had to put everything to the side to get his meals prepped for the week. It was a good thing, after all, it gave him time to mull it all over and nearly burn his ground beef in the process. Just another fact to add the shit list he was building Michel. It was only after he had prepped everything and then impulsively ordered food for his own dinner that he sent a picture of the gathered information to Noah.
Noah called him shortly after.
"Is that all?" He asked, and Quinn was a little startled at his question.
"Is what all?" Quinn asked and Noah growled.
"Quinn, don't be stupid. You know that you put more into that waste of a man than just all of that." Noah argued and Quinn flushed. He gripped onto the phone in his hand, staring out at the darkening city skyline and sighed.
"If I think too hard about the emotional side of it, I cry, so, yeah. That's all." There was silence on the other end of the line for too long. "For now, at least." Quinn added quietly. Noah's explosive sigh was expected even if it made Quinn flinch.
"If I wouldn't get caught, he'd be thrown into the ocean with fucking cement shoes." Noah growled.
"Noah!" Quinn chided, and Noah growled louder.
"He deserves it! And I'm probably not the only person out there that wants it either! You should probably get an sti panel done, Quinn. I'm worried he might have given you something. You never fucking told me the man never used condoms." Noah sounded extra pissed. "Are you doing okay? How was your day?" Noah's change of the topic felt sudden, and Quinn just laughed.
"I already ordered enough food for you to eat assuming you were coming over." Quinn told him. That seemed to soften the other man. "Don't make me have to eat it all. I've already meal prepped for my week." Quinn teased and Noah grunted.
"I'd gladly take your home cooked meals over any takeout any day, but I'll be over shortly. I have to stop by my parents' place. They want to 'discuss' something. No doubt it was my behaviour at the end of the year party. I didn't jump when they told me to." Noah ground out, annoyed he was still having to march to their beat. Quinn's heart ached.
"I'm sorry my actions might have put our plans back." Quinn apologised, earning another growl from Noah.
"Shut up. Don't even start that. I have no one who relies on me besides you, so all of my money goes towards our plans. It's even invested and everything. Don't worry. It was only a year, we'll be fine. I know you'll be able to stay on track. You're Quinn Rivers, after all. The beta that all alphas envy." Quinn's cheeks warmed at that.
"Stop. That's such an old nickname." Quinn muttered, embarrassed. Noah let out a bark of laughter.
"You only don't like it when you're being mean to yourself, so buckle up. I'm not going to relent until Quinnie is back on his feet." Two nicknames, back to back? Noah was in a good mood, and damn it, Quinn felt his whole body warm.
"Don't you dare call me that. You promised you wouldn't say it ever again." Quinn warned and Noah's laughter was a balm to Quinn's damaged soul.
"Ah, I did do that, didn't I? Good thing no one else is in the car with me then, hmm?" Noah's good mood rubbed off on Quinn and they continued to chat while he made his way to the Duncan estate. It was a bit out of town in one of the older districts. A beautiful home from an architectural standpoint, but terrible people lived inside of it.
Quinn got along with Michel's half sibling. Michel was a piece of shit, in Noah's words. Quinn couldn't even get along with Noah's family for a few minutes. They oozed moral superiority, dripped wealth like it was owed to them, and demanded that someone like Quinn bow to them.
Noah never understood them, especially since it was his father that put hands on his mom, stepping out of his marriage, where he could get this kind of behaviour from? After he had done something 'wrong'. Quinn never understood it either. He couldn't imagine cheating on anyone he was with. That thought couldn't cross his mind.
Noah had once angrily told Quinn that his father had explained it away as that 'he would understand once he became an alpha'. Noah had explained this to Quinn in university, so he had long since awoken as one, and he still couldn't understand it. Noah might have the same urges as other alphas, but he was responsible. He was a good man.
He would rather hurt himself before he would dare consider hurting any omegas. That was probably why he'd become a silent omega protector in university. Quinn had also been a protector, especially after he had shown off photos of his cute cousins when they were practically babies at the time.
Patrick had no idea that he'd had secret older admirers from other omegas until Quinn had told him when he was a proper teen. Patrick had been embarrassed and brushed it off, but had given Quinn some signed photos after. He was still a cute kid.
All of that was to say that Quinn had a pretty good idea of what might have been going on. Noah's father had probably wanted him to do something strange or disturbing to an omega or challenge an alpha for an omega and Noah had said no. In all likelihood, it might have even been Michel.
The Duncan's and Baxter's didn't get along, after all.
That was something Quinn hadn't known about, but found out after he'd attended his first end of the year party.
Noah, for his part, stayed on the phone as long as he could before he had to go. It worked out since Quinn's delivery service called up to be let in and Quinn put it all in the oven, waiting for Noah.
Noah showed up an hour later, huffing and puffing like an angry bear, slamming the door closed before he began to pace the apartment. From the kitchen to Quinn's bedroom, over and over. Quinn just watched, used to this. He had to do it every time he came back from the Duncan house. He had explained the reason behind it once.
They forced him to sit still, perfectly still. If he moved, it was a mark against him and a punishment might be doled out. So when he was finally free of that hell he had to move. Quinn let him for about 10 minutes before he got up and began warming up the food. It was only the smell of fried chicken that pulled Noah out of the hell he'd just been in, and like a tamed beast, he came and settled down on a stool, still grumbling.
Quinn smiled to himself. How in the world had he landed himself someone like Noah in his life? Maybe that was how Michel was able to slip in. He needed something evil to balance out the good in his life, otherwise something worse could have happened. That was the only way Quinn could explain it to himself at the moment. He was sure Noah would dispute it if he said it out loud, so he didn't.