Page 56 of Quinlan

A huff of a laugh escapes Rome. He’s well aware that I’ll never talk about Quinlan likeshe’sthe one desperate for either of us. She isn’t.

We might be fucking with Quinlan. Truthfully, she’s the one who has us wrapped up around her little finger. We’re the ones desperate for her, as much as we’re driven to get our revenge.

“Couldn’t stop it.” Rome reverts to his serious self. “Her brother acted like a goddamn possessive ass and—”

“Hewhat?”

Rome tells me everything, and I’m pissed. We were supposed to piss him off. He wasn’t supposed to take it out on her.

And yeah, I get it now. Why Rome turned into a territorial animal around her.

“Fuck.” I roll my shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that’s settled there. Failing. “If I were you, I probably would’ve bent her over in the middle of the street and fucked her right there. All that adrenaline—”

“Only you wouldn’t.” Liam points a finger at me. “You’re not going anywhere near him until we have her.”

“I know,” I growl, impatient. Desperate to go up and see her already.

“Love makes you do crazy things.”

“How do we plan to get in?” No way is he talking about love to me. This isn’t the time. Isn’t the place. Bad enough that it’s in the forefront of my mind. “Did Rome convince her to leave it open while he kissed her?”

“No.” Rome doesn’t laugh. “We did not discuss her chain lock on her door.”

“It’s like you don’t even know me.” Flames flicker inside Liam’s amber eyes.

I do, in fact, know Liam. No lock or safe will get between him and the information he’s after.

Information, or woman.

We’re quiet after that, strolling into Quinlan’s building as if the three of us live there. Go up her elevator as if we’ve been here a thousand times.

Liam bends over, picking Quinlan’s locks while he’s standing over the (not) welcomedoormat.

I glower at the text beneath Liam’s shoes. I’d bet a lot of fucking money that Rex got her that. At first, I’d believed he loved her. Then the accident at the pool happened, and he changed. Wouldn’t let her out of the house. Told her it’s safer inside.

Made it near impossible for me to catch glimpses of her.

I believed he’d been protecting her. It was too late when I realized he hadn’t.

Our investigators said Rex told her it’s for her own good.

Truth is, he didn’t want anyone laying a finger on her. Didn’t want her to see there’s other, less shitty people out there. Didn’t want her doing anything except taking care of her parents.

She wasn’t getting away from under his sick, possessive thumb.

He’d done the same thing to me and my foster siblings. Brainwashed us into thinking this was it for us, being stuck with him until we’re out of the foster care system.

The muted sound of the last lock pulls me out of my nightmares. Liam pushes the door, and we’re inside her apartment.

Quinlan’s unique, intoxicating smell hits me first. My eyes adjust to the dark as we walk past her living room. Past the exposed brick wall, her work desk.

Her apartment is organized, just like it was in the pictures from our investigators. The gray throw blanket is folded neatly on the back of her couch. Not a single glass, mug, or a dish have been left on the coffee table or in the sink.

Rome’s played mind games with her today. Liam and I had before him. Yet somehow, there’s no sign of it in her place.

We have to do better. We will, when, not if, she goes out with Ray on her double date. We’ll shake the foundations of the ground she stands on.

It’s twisted and wrong to be turned on by the idea. It makes me impatient, pushing past Liam and Rome on my way to her room. Our sweet virgin won’t realize what’s hit her until we’re already deep under her skin.

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