Page 5 of Dirty Daria
“I know it will.”
“Not all the time or anything, but that’s not a bad plan for when it’s required. The only thing is, Quinn, I need to make sure your life isn’t in danger at any time and that’s not always easy to do.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me.” I roll my eyes.
“I’m sure my sister, Katya, thought the same thing.”
“Well, when you put itthatway.” She knows I can’t compete with that. “I wonder what normal people who don’t have vigilante badasses as their best friends do?”
“They don’t get into situations like this.”
“What are you going to do about Mack?” I change the subject.
“What do you mean what am I going to do?”
“Well, you’ve been working together again, and tonight he gave you that look.”
“There was no look.”
“There was most definitely a look.”
“Even if there was a look, I can’t do anything. You know that. It’s an impossible situation. I have bumped against the wall.”
“What wall?”
“You know, the wall. I’m bumped against the wall.”
“Your back is against the wall.”
“Fine. Whatever. Still means the same thing. There is no future for Mack and me.”
“So, if I help you, does that mean there’s no future for Reed and me?”
“Probably.” She shrugs, as though it’s no big deal. As though that simple statement hasn’t just rocked my world in the worst way possible. I can barely remember a time that I haven’t loved Reed Roberts. Yes, technically, I’ve only known him a year or so, but the love I have for him is deep-rooted. And in that twelve-month time, it has become more real than anything I’ve ever felt before.
“No offense,” Daria says as she turns onto my street.
“None taken.” My little place looms ahead. I smile to myself when it comes into view. One of my favorite things about it is the holiday lights the owners put up every year—draped ones that look like icicles floating down from beneath all the street facing windows as well as colored twinkling lights around the main entryway and the stairwell leading to my apartment. It’s not going to win any awards for best on the block, but it’s eye catching and festive, two things that always make me happy.
Daria pulls up in front of the house and shifts the SUV into park. The engine idles.
“Do you want to come up?” I ask her even though I know she’ll say no. “We can salvage Christmas Eve. I’ve got holiday movies and popcorn just waiting for us.”
“No.” She smiles sadly. “It’s been a rough night and I really just want to get this makeup off my face, curl up with a blanket, and forget this whole thing ever happened.”
“You can’t do that,” I tell her. “Otherwise how will you catch the bad guy?” I’d mostly meant it as a joke, but she doesn’t laugh. So, I leave it be. “See you tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Her tone has that fake assuredness to it. I wonder what has her so down and upset. Whether it’s Mack and the impossible situation they are in, or that they had to take a step back tonight and let the bad guy go. Not something that Daria is used to.
I blow her a kiss and exit the SUV. She waits by the curb until I’m up the stairs and have unlocked my front door before driving away. My apartment looks the same as it did when I left earlier tonight. I’m not sure why I expect anything different; except that everything else in my life has changed over the last seven hours so why should this stay the same.
Tonight was exhilarating, no doubt about it. Like all the best parts of all my favorite movies dissected and spliced back together to make one extra-long cinematic adrenaline rush with no intermission. I see the appeal of what Daria and her girls do on a regular basis. Hell, I feel the appeal. The vindication in righting a wrong. The satisfaction of a much-needed job well done.
She said that I don’t get to do it again, go out on a job for her as an operative. But I nailed it tonight—for the most part. And I think I make a good asset to her team. Even if it is as a diversion. Something about being part of her vigilante collective is intensely rewarding and I don’t even have the intimate connection with trafficking that she and the other girls do.
After donning my sweats and making a large mug of hot chocolate, I curl up on my couch with a blanket and make a list of the various ways I’m a missing piece in the puzzle that is Daria’s quest for justice.
Quinn’s Value to the Team
