Page 124 of Cohesion

“You aren’t in that world right now, Detective. Don’t look if you don’t want to see.”

Quinn levelled his gun. “No. Step away from him.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Xavier.”

One single word from Hunter, and the tension in Xavier’s shoulders disappeared instantly. “You disappoint me sometimes, Alex.”

“Good.”

Xavier gestured with his hands, and the men kicked the backs of Mulhall’s calves, dropping him to his knees with a painfulthud.

Quinn hesitated, glancing between Jericho and Hunter. Jericho subtly pleaded with him to back down. Everything screamed at Quinn not to. To do something. He couldn’t wear his badge proudly and let this happen. It wasn’tright.

But he had to trust Jericho. They were nothing without that.

Fuck.Quinn lowered his gun with a tense, jerky drop of his arms.

Xavier lifted Mulhall’s chin. “This lovely detective is going to take you into custody. You’re going to let him. You’ll behave and go like a good boy. When they question you, you’re going to sing like a canary.” He leaned down until their noses were inches apart. “You won’t like what will happen if you don’t cooperate. You hid important information from my men, and that comes with a consequence you aren’t prepared to face, trust me. If I ever see you free on Sydney streets again, there isn’t a uniform in existence that will save you. Understand?”

Mulhall tried hard to hide the fear and keep hold of his bravado, but it was useless. He knew it was over. He’d lost.

Quinn couldn’t help his feeling of satisfaction. This piece of shit had kidnapped and beaten Sebastian, hurt people that Quinn cared about, and killed people in his pursuit of some fucked-up revenge. He’d planned to kill Sebastian, and leave him to rot in this building.

Quinn would do the right thing and let justice be served in the court of law, like it should be, but that was as far as his generosity extended. The rest was everything that Mulhall deserved.

Cain moved forward and yanked Mulhall to his feet. “I believe custody belongs to me. Hughes is a bit busy with his—” He waved his hand. “All that.”

Xavier paused, halfway out the door. “Do call me, Alex.”

“You know I won’t.”

“One day.”

And then he was gone, leaving them all in a strange kind of limbo. Quinn had no idea what the fuckhad just happened. Mostly he didn’t care. Sebastian was here and okay. Xavier didn’t matter to him. They were details for another time when he had room for them.

They needed to leave so that Sebastian could get looked after, so they could make sure there wasn’t any damage they couldn’t see, or anything that would cause complications. He wouldn’t lose Sebastian after all this because they weren’t diligent with his care.

“So…” Sebastian said into the silent room. “Do I look bad?”

“…no,” Quinn answered.

“You hesitated.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“I didn’t. Stop trying to argue with me.” Quinn pulled Sebastian back into his arms before he could open his mouth again, bringing the others with him. He wrapped them all up as best he could, the five of them tangled together.

Quinn ignored everything else except the four men in his circle. He didn’t care about anything else. All that mattered was that Will, Peyton, Sebastian, and Jericho were in the room with him, and everyone was breathing.

Everything else was meaningless background noise.

Chapter Eighteen

Jericho leaned back againstthe wall and shoved his hands in his pockets, getting comfortable. They were gonna be here awhile. Likely all night. They’d need extra chairs in here.

---