Page 37 of Never Again

Fucking helpless.

He’d never felt like this before and he fucking hated it. She was just a job, another paycheck that he needed to protect, but no matter how many times he told himself that…

She was just a job.

“What is she doing in there?” Quinn asked, clenching his jaw as he stood there, waiting for the supply closet door to finally open so that he could see with his own goddamn eyes that she was fine.

“Honestly?” Nathan said, sighing heavily as he dropped his hand away. “I have no fucking clue. The only thing that I know is that she wants to be left alone.”

“I figured that one out on my own,” Quinn drawled.

“She used to hide in the pantry. At first, we didn’t know what to make of it. Mom would tell us to just leave her be, but Dad would lose his fucking mind until one day, he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go into the pantry and find out what was wrong. Whatever she said to him had him quietly stepping out of the pantry, closing the door behind him and telling us that she was fine. We probably would have believed him if he hadn’t installed a lock on the pantry door the next day so that she could lock herself inside,” Nathan explained with a shrug.

Well, that explained why there was a lock on the other side of that door, Quinn thought, only to frown when the woman that he still couldn’t place said, “She used to sleep in the closet.”

At Quinn’s questioning look, the incredibly beautiful redhead released a long-suffering sigh as she said, “I can’t believe that you don’t remember me.”

“Should I?” Quinn asked, his gaze returning to that locked door as he considered breaking it down, needing to make sure that she was okay and-

God, he was fucking pathetic.

Any other job and he would shrug it off, thankful for the small reprieve, but with Bailey…

She was driving him crazy.

“You used to glare at me whenever I came within twenty feet of Bailey,” came the softly murmured words that had him going still.

Sure that he’d misheard her, Quinn glanced back at the woman that looked so fucking familiar and-

“Kelly,” he said, taking in the red hair that looked darker now, the bright blue eyes that used to watch Bailey’s every move, the perfect lips that used to torment Bailey and-

“I would really appreciate it if you didn’t kill me,” the woman who used to make Bailey’s life a living hell said, nodding solemnly.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Quinn demanded, knowing that there was no way in hell that Bailey would willingly hire the woman clearing her throat awkwardly, her panicked gaze never leaving his as she reached over and grabbed Nathan by the arm and yanked him in front of her with a weakly mumbled, “Really hoping that you don’t kill me.”

Deciding that he’d had enough for one day, Quinn headed for the door, deciding that it was time to get some answers.

CHAPTER20

“I’m fine,” Bailey said, slowly exhaling as she continued staring down at her laptop when she heard the telltale click of the storage door lock opening.

When she didn’t hear anything else, she looked up from her computer and-

Wow, did he look pissed, Bailey thought, swallowing hard as she glanced from the large man taking a knee in front of her to the closed storage door behind him and couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to end with Nathan being forced to identify her body later. Swallowing hard, she shifted her attention back to Quinn and was actually impressed by his ability to take that terrifying glare to the next level.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Quinn bit out between clenched teeth as she sat there, wondering how she should answer that.

“Possibly?” Bailey asked with a hopeful smile that she really hoped would appease the clearly pissed-off man in front of her.

“Tell me that you really didn’t hire the woman that made your life a living hell,” Quinn said evenly while she sat there, frowning in confusion.

“Kelly,” he said when it became clear that she had no idea what he was talking about.

“What about her?” Bailey asked, frowning as she watched Quinn reach over and slowly closed her laptop, his glare never leaving hers as he took it off her lap and set it aside.

“Tell me that you really didn’t hire her,” he bit out.

Blinking at the very large and clearly very angry man in front of her, she said, “Okay?”

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