I rear back, taking in the same dude from last night. What was his name? Deacon?
But he doesn’t go for the drinking fountain, just leans back on the wall, gazing at me. I start to walk away, but I only make it two steps when I realize he’s staring.
Is he following me?
“What do you want?” I ask.
“To keep watching.”
I face him, straightening my spine. “Who the hell are you?”
But he turns his eyes to Quinn, looking lost in thought for a moment, and I don’t like it. I move to block his line of sight, but he speaks up. “She looks like someone I used to know,” he murmurs. “Someone who’s not here anymore.”
I glance at Quinn as she sets down a barbell and refastens her ponytail.
“You’re going to need to binge her,” he tells me.
I narrow my gaze, looking at him.
“No matter where you go,” he says, “or who you meet or the time that passes, you will want her when she’s with someone else. When she’s thirty. When you’re in the same room with her… You will want her until you’ve had your fill of her.”
What the fuck?
But my gaze shifts to Quinn again, just for a moment.
Is that true?
She starts jump roping, her ponytail bouncing, and the years ahead of us start piling up. Her career expanding. Mine in Dubai becoming more and more like a prison. Someone climbing into bed next to her at night. Me getting her wedding announcement in the mail.
Standing next to her in a room and watching other people make her happy.
I don’t notice when the guy leaves, but when I come back to myself, he’s gone.
I look around, seeing him disappear through a door that I don’t think is for customers.
Who the fuck is he?
Glancing at the clock, I see it’s almost nine. I need to talk to her, and I can’t do that here. No one is getting into the car with us when I take her home. No one’s dragging me out for a drink. I need to deal with this.
Heading downstairs, I slip into the locker room, grab a towel, and strip, climbing into a shower. Luckily the place is emptying, and I’m alone. I just hope that creep isn’t in here. He’s weird, and I prefer not to be bothered.
I smooth my hand over the top of my head, rinsing the suds.
He’s weird, but heknows. And if a stranger can tell, then Madoc, Jax, and Jared don’t know yet simply because they don’t want to. One of them should take her home tonight. Bingeing her isn’t the answer. I need to purge her.
Finishing washing, I shut off the water and rake the towel over my body and head before wrapping it around my waist. I exit the shower and stalk back into the locker room.
As soon as I get to my row, though, I see Quinn digging into my locker.
I start for her. “What are you doing?”
“Taking my brother’s car,” she snaps. “You can find another ride home.”
I charge over and take her wrists, pulling them out of my shit.
But when she fires her eyes up at me, I see the flush in her cheeks and the tension in her jaw.
She’s mad.
