He laughed and shook his head, quickly moving toward our helmets and picking them up. “You’re drunk. The only thing that’s going to be settled tonight is you. In your bed.”
I stepped away from him, raising a hand to stop him from dragging me home. “I can’t go back yet. Jack and Jill are here, and I’m going to party.”
“Jack and Jill. Yeah,” Quinn drawled, rubbing on his ear. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“They work with me. They... they think I’m a loser who never should have scored the party page. They are probably right, but they are annoying enough I want to prove otherwise.”
Quinn narrowed his eyes toward the double doors leading back inside. “Jack and Jill, you say?”
“That’s why I need to stay. So how about a compromise?”
He gave a small, snorted chuckle. “Guess if you can still use big words, you can’t be too far gone.”
“Oh, I think I’m pretty far gone,” I said, stepping up to him and planting a hand on his upper arm. “But before you take me home, I want to dance....”
Turned out there was a snag in my plan.
I couldn’t dance.
I tried again to mimic Quinn’s moves as he danced beside me with a wizard. I jerked my hips side-to-side and knocked the witch I was dancing with. She cursed me. Well, cursedatme and pushed me backward until I landed on my ass. Certainly it felt like a curse.
Jack and Jill laughed at the edges of the crowd, pointing and sniggering through their tears. Quinn stopped dancing and crouched next to me.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he asked Jack and Jill as he slipped an arm around my waist and helped me up. My uneven footing had me pulling on Quinn’s sleeve for balance.
Jill muttered, and suddenly Quinn left my side. In what felt like slow motion, I watched Quinn shove him.
Jill teetered on his heels for a moment before losing the fight with gravity and slamming onto the floor.
Colorful cussing followed Quinn as he charged back to me, hooked his arm around mine and lead me out of the mansion. Stormy shadows clung to him the entire drive home.
When he parked the car, he thumped the steering wheel and continued to stare out onto the road.
“Jill’s a jackass,” I said. I concentrated on Quinn’s mouth as a focal point to minimize my dizziness and churning queasiness.
Quinn’s shoulders dropped as if releasing the tension from the party. He leaned back against the headrest for a moment and sighed. “Let’s get you inside. I have to go back so Shannon can get home.”
“Shannon. Yes, I forgot.” I sounded as disappointed as I felt. But I couldn’t be sure why exactly. Tomorrow I’d have to look into it.
Quinn was already standing at my side of the car as I unbuckled my seatbelt. He opened the door and offered me his hand. Once I was firmly on ground, I pulled on his hand until he looked at me.
“There’s going to be an investigation,” I said, threading my cold fingers through his warm ones and stepping closer until we were against each other.
“Investigation?”
I nodded. “Involving kisses. It’s imperative I settle this question of yours.”
“You are so drunk,” he whispered, coming close to my lips. “Adorable as hell, but still so far gone. I don’t even think you’ll remember this in the morning.”
He gently untangled our hands and slid my glasses up my nose for me. “And, Liam, I think it’s as much your question as it is mine.”
I rummaged into my pouch for my pen and notebook. “Maybe. I’ll take that into consideration as well.”
I turned to the car and used the roof to rest my notebook so I wouldn’t forget all these thoughts and questions—
Quinn plucked away my notebook and lifted me over his shoulder. His laughter vibrated through me as he carried me inside.
I hit his ass all the way up to the second floor and into our apartment, demanding he put me down at once. I even fished mycold hands under his shirt to convince him, but he merely slapped my ass with a stinging clap and took larger steps toward the bathroom, where he—finally—dropped me.
