Page 42 of Never Again

And she really wanted to stop her.

“You don’t understand,” Bailey said, licking her lips nervously as she watched Jess close the gate with a satisfied sigh. “Please don’t do this to me!”

“It’s for your own good,” Nathan said, keeping his hold around her as Jess made her escape with an absently murmured, “Don’t worry. I’ll confirm your date for you.”

“Does my safety mean nothing to you? Someone is out to get me, damn it!” Bailey reminded him, not that she really believed it, but…

God, she’d say anything at this point if it saved her from spending an evening with Jonathan Parkins. Absolutely anything, Bailey thought, struggling not to panic as she glanced at her only hope to find Quinn still doing chin-ups as he glared straight ahead, a muscle in his jaw ticking as she resigned herself to doing the unthinkable.

“Ow! You little brat!” Nathan snapped, but he didn’t let go.

Damn it!

For a moment, she considered pinching him again, but…

“I’ll give you a raise if you go get that baseball bat,” Bailey said, shifting her focus back to Pam to find her personal assistant worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she pointed towards Quinn.

“H-He confiscated my bat.”

Of course he did, Bailey thought, closing her eyes in defeat as she resigned herself to going out with the jerk that broke her heart.

CHAPTER23

It was none of his fucking business, Quinn told himself as he stood there, watching Bailey from across the large room as she slumped over onto the couch with a forlorn sigh and-

“You don’t have to watch over me all the time,” Bailey mumbled sadly as she continued staring at the wall.

“Yes, I do,” Quinn murmured quietly as he leaned back against the wall, his gaze quickly flickering around the loft to make sure that everything was as it should be before focusing back on the woman who looked absolutely fucking miserable.

“I’m fine,” she said, shifting to get more comfortable while Quinn stood there, wishing like hell that he could see her as just another job.

He should do one last check to make sure that everything was secure before calling it a night, but…

“Who is Jonathan Parkins?” he found himself asking, crossing yet another line.

“The jerk-face that used to be my best friend,” Bailey mumbled.

“What happened?” Quinn asked, pushing away from the wall and made his way around the large loft apartment, checking to make sure that everything was secure before turning in for the night and-

“He stole my baby,” she said, making him go still, that is, until she followed that up with a sadly mumbled, “That was my video game.”

“Of course, he did,” Quinn murmured quietly, feeling his lips twitch as he checked the windows while he made his way to the couch and dropped down on the oversized chair where he waited for the small woman releasing heartfelt sighs to continue. When she didn’t say anything else, he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Will you let me have a Coke if I do?” Bailey countered with a hopeful look that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

“It’s easier to share my pain when I have caffeine,” she mumbled sadly, making sure to add a sniffle at the end there.

“That depends,” Quinn murmured, shifting to get more comfortable.

“On what?” Bailey asked, looking really fucking hopeful as she sat up.

“On whether or not your story moves me to tears,” he said dryly as he gestured for her to get on with it.

Her eyes narrowed on him as she thought it over. After a moment, Bailey said, “Don’t play with my emotions, Quinn.”

“You don’t trust me?” he asked, biting back a smile when she folded her arms over her chest and continued glaring at him.

“Not after you banned me from the office and stole the remote so that I couldn’t binge-watch serial killer documentaries so that I could pout,” Bailey said with a sniffle.

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