“You make it sound like you’re asking me on a date.”
“I did ask you on a date,” I remind her. “Just before you split my head open.”
“The answer’s no,” she says, but she does lower her weapon.
Quinn slips it back into her purse, but rests her hand on the strap so her gun remains within easy reach. When she resumes her walk home, I fall into step beside her, shortening my stride to match hers.
“Is that no to giving me your number, or no to the date?”
Quinn looks straight ahead, ignoring me and the car crawling behind us. “No to both.”
“Because you already have a boyfriend? Or is it because you still think we Griffins are evil monsters?”
“I don’t know what kind of man you are, Reid,” Quinn says. “And I don’t care to know. You’re a complication I don’t need. Can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Sorry, that isn’t going to be possible,” I say, annoyed with myself for wrapping two questions up in one. She’s ignored the one about boyfriends. “We have a very good reason for being here.”
“Such as picking a fight with Ilya Barkov?”
“Yes.”
I’m not telling Quinn anything she doesn’t know, or that the Russians don’t know for that matter. The only thing I won’t be sharing is that we still don’t know how the fuck we’re going to stop Ilya.
“Here’s the thing, Quinn. I don’t know you either, but I get the feeling we’re on the same side. Even if we can’t work together, we could at least make sure we don’t waste effort pushing against each other,” I say. “Unless you enjoyed us pushing against each other as much as I did.”
She shakes her head and keeps walking. Not a denial then.
“Look, I appreciate your loyalties are to one person, and one person only,” I say, repeating her words back to her.
Quinn glares at me. “You’re listening into my phone conversations?”
“I was walking behind you and I overheard your conversation,” I clarify.
“You mean you were stalking me again.”
I step in front of her, bringing her to a stop. When I rest a hand on her hip to keep her in place, she doesn’t push me away. “Who has your undivided loyalty, Quinn?”
Her eyes glisten with reflections from the streetlight. “None of your damn business.”
I prod her from a different angle. “Then tell me who Strider is? Your boss? Your boyfriend?”
There’s a flash of annoyance, but she quickly recovers. She juts out her chin. “You really are obsessed with whoI’m dating, aren’t you?” she asks, placing her hand over mine.
I take it as an invitation to put a hand on her other hip, and she covers that one too. My thumbs stroke her curves as I breathe her in. Roses. “I’m obsessed withyou,” I correct. “And I’d like to know if I have competition because damn it, I think about fucking you way more than I should.”
She doesn’t blanch at the confession. In fact, she rolls her hips slightly from side to side. Her lips part and my gaze drops to her mouth. If I see the tip of her tongue, I might just combust. Quinn dips her head, forcing me to meet her gaze again. “In case you haven’t worked it out yet, I don’t fuck around,” she says. “I came to Poulton Springs to do a job.”
She peels my hands off her body, and marches off again. I have to adjust myself before I hurry to catch her up.
“Are you in a rush to get home and Google the Griffins?” I ask. “Or was that what yourfriendwas doing for you?”
“You and your brothers do some good work, I’ll give you that,” Quinn says with obvious reluctance. “But you’ve also confirmed your links to the McConkeys. Did John send you here? Are the Griffins under orders to take over Ilya’s operations?”
“Wrong on both counts,” I say through gritted teeth.
I’m not angry with her, or any of the residents in Poulton Springs for their ill-informed opinion. Not much anyway. They’ve been gaslit into believing Barrett’s the hero and we’re the villains, but it’s a lie that makes the town even more vulnerable. It makes Quinn especially vulnerable, if only she’d see it.
“If you’ve learned anything about our business today, it’s that we build communities. Unlike Barrett. The foodprocessing factory isn’t the first business he ran into the ground. Maybe you should get your boyfriend to do some proper fucking research.”
