Love Unspoken

Quinn picked herself up off the ground, grabbing the packages one by one. She glanced back and found the horse had bolted. Probably headed home. Great. Now she had to lug all this stuff back herself.

She was so done with Alexander, that lunatic. After two years of not seeing him, he was even worse off.

With her arms full of packages, she trudged toward the highway, hoping to hitch a ride.

Alexander struggled to his feet too. Without his cane, walking with his limp was a nightmare. But he pushed through the pain, trying to catch up with Quinn. Quinn walked a bit and looked back.

He was a mess—muddy, hair all over the place, limping like crazy.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

"Why are you following me? Don't you know Walter's looking for you?" Quinn snapped.

Alexander had caught up by then. "If I die, will you treat him like you treated me?" he asked, testing the waters.

Quinn's face darkened at the mention of the past.

She remembered being played like a fool by them, and her anger flared up again.

"No!" she shouted.

Then she turned and started running. Faster and faster, until Alexander couldn't keep up.

She wanted to make sure he couldn't catch her.

She ran until she was out of breath and had to stop.

Clutching her chest, she panted and looked back. No sign of Alexander.

But she wasn't doing great either.

Her body had always been weak, and she hadn't run like this in ages. She was gasping for air.

Quinn clutched her chest, her breathing getting faster. The packages slipped from her hands.

She had to sit down to catch her breath.

After a moment, a familiar dizziness hit her, and she knew this wasn't working. The world spun, and she collapsed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blurry figure running toward her.

Before the figure got close, her eyelids grew heavy, and she blacked out.

When she woke up, she saw a wooden ceiling above her.

"You're awake?" a familiar female voice said excitedly.

She turned her head and saw Amanda, with Alexander beside her.

Confused, she asked, "Why am I here?"

She had collapsed miles from Amanda's house, closer to town. Why wasn't she in the town hospital?

"Alexander carried you back. He's so annoying. I asked him to carry groceries, and he said he couldn't, but he carried you back so fast," Amanda grumbled.

Quinn propped herself up, thinking this was a bad joke. She wanted to stay away from him, but here he was.

Amanda glanced between them and then left, saying, "You two talk. I'll be outside."

After she left, Quinn tried to get out of bed, but Alexander pushed her back down.

"You're not fully recovered. Rest a bit more," he said.

Quinn eyed him suspiciously. "You carried me back?"

Alexander nodded, looking unfazed.

Honestly, Quinn didn't buy it. If he could carry her that far, why couldn't he catch up with her?

"Then why didn't you take me to town? Why bring me here?" she asked.

Alexander sat down beside her, looking serious. "I wanted to spend more time with you."

Quinn was speechless.

Meanwhile, out on the lawn, Sean and Matthew were squatting, trying to figure out what Alexander was up to when they saw a group of people on horseback approaching. Matthew squinted at the group. "Who are they?"

Sean squinted too. After a moment, he jumped up and shouted, "It's Walter!"