“No,” Quinn answered before I could speak.
I gaped at him.
He reached out to take my hand in his, squeezing it tight. “We’re here until tomorrow.”
Eh … what?
“All right, well, we caution you to be vigilant while you’re in Oban. Contact us if anything else happens. And we’ll be in touch if any more information comes to light.”
Dazed by the entire morning’s events, I asked quietly as we walked out, still hand in hand, “We’rehere until tomorrow?”
Quinn’s features were strained. “I just watched a man in a balaclava drag you up an alley … if you think for one second I’m letting you out of my sight, you have another thing coming.”
Tears pricked my eyes as I turned away. I hadn’t cried at all since the attack, and I didn’t want to now. I didn’t want to give whoever had done it the satisfaction. And while I was irritatingly afraid to be alone, I reminded Quinn, “You have Angus’s game. You can’t miss it.”
“You’re coming with me.”
I shook my head. “Quinn …” To hell with my pride. “I don’t think I can see Kiera today of all days.”
He squeezed my hand, bending his head so I had no choice but to meet his eyes. “I won’t force you to come along. I can drop you off at my hotel where I know you’ll be safe. But … maybe if you saw how happy and in love Kiera is with Gary … maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
At my hesitation, he winced. “Fuck, Taran, ignore me. You’ve just survived a botched fucking kidnapping attempt by Christ knows who. I’ll call Kiera and explain. She can drop the kids off at the hotel instead. You and I’ll just go back there and wait.”
Shock rooted me to the spot.
He would miss Angus’s game … for me?
I didn’t want that. No. There was no scenario in whatever was brewing between us where I would ever put Quinn in the position of having to choose between me and his kids. No matter the extenuating circumstances.
If I went back to the hotel, I’d stew and panic and worry.
If I went to the game, I’d be too distracted to think about the masked attacker or the break-in or the car nearly mowing me and Quinn down.
I licked my dry lips. “Did you call Ramsay back while I was being interviewed?”
Ramsay had called back multiple times after Quinn hung up to chase after me and the attacker.
He frowned at the subject change. “I did. When we return to Leth Sholas, he’ll need your phone to see if we can track who actually called you. Especially now.”
Okay. We were doing all we could to figure out who was behind this. I didn’t want to leave Quinn’s side because, despite our history, he made me feel safe. It occurred to me not for the first time in my almost thirty-seven years that learning self-defense might not be a bad thing.
“I’ll come with you.” I shrugged wearily. “I don’t want you to miss Angus’s game.”
29.Quinn
Restlessness jittered through me as I tried not to seethe over what had happened this morning. I attempted to focus on my son and his game, cheering as I watched my wee boy execute maneuvers with his hockey stick that never ceased to amaze me.
“We should get him on skates next,” Gary mused as we stood together on the edge of the field. “If he can skate, he’d make one hell of an ice hockey player.”
“Considering the nearest rink is Dundee, that might be an issue,” I murmured dryly.
“Some of the parents are talking with the council about fundraising for a permanent rink.”
Good luck with that, I thought, knowing how difficult such an endeavor would be.
Gary chatted to me about the ice hockey initiative and I hopefully nodded in all the right places. It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested. It was just that I couldn’t get the look of terror on Taran’s face when that man dragged her away out of my head.
I glanced over my shoulder for the fifty millionth time. She sat on the benches with Heather on one side and Kiera on the other. Heather was too busy texting on her phone to pay attention to either her brother’s game or the fact that her motherwas murmuring with intensity to Taran whose expression was carefully neutral.
