Page 11 of Never Again

“Who did you piss off?” he demanded, only to narrow his eyes and open the door when someone in the stairwell, most likely Jess, said, “That’s what we’d like to know!”

That quickly turned into a mumbled, “Oh, crap,” when they saw the murderous glare on Quinn’s face, which was, of course, promptly followed by the woman that really should have had her back scrambling to safety with a mumbled, “We should probably call it a night as well,” leaving her to face the really large man alone.

She should probably be concerned by that, and she was, she really was, but at the moment, she had something else that they needed to clear up. “Pam isn’t fired,” Bailey said, and then, just to make sure that they were on the same page, she nodded firmly once.

“Yes, she is,” Quinn said, clearly not understanding the concept of a firm nod.

“I’m sorry, but I think that there’s been some confusion. You don’t have a say in who stays or gets fired at my company,” Bailey said, wondering why he thought that he could come in here and-

“Does your brother have the authority to sign contracts on behalf of Haven Technologies?” Quinn asked in a hard tone that told her that she was already getting on his nerves, which was another reason why he couldn’t stay.

But they’d get to that in a minute…

“That depends on where this conversation is going,” Bailey said, crossing her arms over her chest to mimic his stance, deciding that it was time to remind him that she was no longer the same little girl that he used to boss around.

Nodding slowly, Quinn leaned down until he was eye-level with her so that there was no mistaking just how much he hated being here as he bit out, “Your brother signed a contract with my employer giving me the authority to do whatever I need to do to keep you safe and that includes the hiring and firing of all security personal.”

“I see…” Bailey said, letting her words trail off as she blindly reached over and opened the stairwell door, her glare never leaving him until the last second when she turned around and headed for the stairs that would take her up to the roof, knowing that he would follow her.

When she reached the second step, Bailey turned around, opened her mouth only to realize that he was still taller than her, quickly shut it, moved onto the third step with a satisfied sigh when the move made her an inch taller than him and said,“You’re fired,”taking an obscene amount of satisfaction in saying the words that she normally hated, but it had to be done.

This wasn’t going to work out.

She wasn’t stupid.

She realized that there was a problem, sort of, and had no problems with hiring more security, buying a new lock or two, and looking into upgrading their security system, but he couldn’t stay. He hated her, and honestly, she wasn’t sure that she could handle him, not if he was anything like the annoying boy who had taken it upon himself to make her life a living hell when she was little and something, mostly that glare that was starting to unnerve her a bit, told her that he hadn’t changed.

Deciding that they were done here, Bailey said, “I’m sorry that we wasted your time coming here. I’ll make sure that you’re compensated, of course,” only to clear her throat awkwardly before adding, “It was nice seeing you again, Quinn,” when he continued glaring at her.

She was definitely making the right decision, Bailey told herself, clearing her throat one more time as she moved to leave only to mumble, “Excuse me,” and move as far to the right as the small stairwell would allow before squeezing past him and-

“Oh, come on!” Bailey said when the stairwell lights suddenly went out, leaving them in complete darkness and ruining what promised to be a memorable exit. Okay, so the throat clearing and awkward mumbling ruined it a bit at the end, but she’d been more than willing to go with it and hope for the best, Bailey thought, only to frown when she heard it.

She opened her mouth only to swallow hard when Quinn placed his hand over her mouth and softly whispered, “Shhhh,” in her ear.

Deciding that was an excellent plan, Bailey nodded once. When Quinn dropped his hand away and took her hand in his so that he could slowly lead her back down the stairs, she didn’t argue. She tightened her hold around his hand while she listened as the sounds of someone ransacking her apartment became louder and-

“Get down!”

-made everything worse.

* * *

Nathan openedhis mouth only to close it, shake his head, and fucking sighed while Quinn stood there, staring down at the small woman currently curled up in the fetal position on the emergency room gurney and-

“Tell me how this happened again,” Nathan said as Quinn tried figuring that one out for himself.

One minute, he’d been glaring at the little brat, unable to help but notice just how fucking adorable she was, and the next…

“I got startled,” Bailey said only to wince, curl up more tightly into herself and press the icepack that the doctor gave her against her head after he’d finished stitching the deep gash on her temple while Quinn reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on from what had to be the biggest fucking understatement of the year.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re in the emergency room,” Nathan bit out angrily with a glare aimed at Quinn, only to curse under his breath when the small woman cowering in the corner mumbled, “I’m really sorry,” again.

“No one’s mad at you,” Nathan said, sending Pam a pitying look that had the small woman that had taken ten years off Quinn’s life, adding, “It…it was an accident.”

“If someone could knock me out again, I’d really appreciate it,” Bailey mumbled sadly, making him feel like the biggest fucking asshole alive as she reached over and grabbed hold of her brother’s hand.

“I-I thought that she was the delivery guy,” Pam said with a helpless gesture in Bailey’s direction, making everything in him go still.

---