Page 13 of Never Again

“Unfucking believable,” Quinn bit out as he made his way back to the room where he’d put his stuff, his gaze flickering to the small woman mumbling incoherently against the couch cushions and-

He should have fucking looked harder for her.

He should have kept calling her case worker, kept calling her foster parents, called in every fucking favor until he found her and-

He never should have left her alone on that train.

“Tell me what I need to do to keep her safe,” Nathan said as he stepped into the room with her bag.

“I need to get her out of here so that my men can get to work,” Quinn said as he grabbed his bags and carried them to the door.

“I’m a good girl,” came the mumbled announcement that had him sighing as he watched Bailey blindly reach back for the blanket thrown over the back of the couch and-

Somehow ended up rolling onto the floor with a pained groan and a muttered, “Kidnapping’s painful.”

“Where are you taking her?” Nathan asked, looking resigned to letting his sister go.

“Somewhere that I can keep her safe,” Quinn said as he took in the large loft apartment and-

Fuck it.

“Grab the bags,” Quinn said, throwing his weapons bag over his shoulder and headed back to the couch.

“Where’s that?” Nathan asked, shifting Bailey’s bag over his shoulder before he grabbed the rest of the bags.

“Georgia,” Quinn said as he leaned down and scooped up the small woman who apparently didn’t handle pain meds very well either.

“Why am I being kidnapped again?” Bailey mumbled against his chest.

“Because this is how it’s done,” Quinn told her as he felt her small hand grab onto his shirt.

“Are you going to ransom me?” came the curious question as he forced himself to ignore just how fucking good it felt to hold her in his arms and headed for the stairs.

“I’m thinking about it,” Quinn murmured absently as his gaze flickered to the stairs that led to the roof before he headed downstairs, pausing at the landing to make sure that there weren’t any more surprises waiting for him before he moved his ass.

“What’s the plan?” Nathan asked as he followed him down the stairs.

“To keep her safe.”

* * *

Thorne, Georgia

The Next Day

“Why areyou doing this to me?” came the sadly mumbled words as Quinn stood there, pinching the bridge of his nose as he waited for the small woman that was driving him out of his fucking mind to realize that she wasn’t being buried alive.

“Bailey,” Quinn said, waiting for her to stop fighting the sheet and pass out so that he could figure out what the hell he was thinking. He was crossing a huge fucking line by bringing her here. They had plenty of safe houses that he could have taken her to, but for whatever reason, he wanted her here.

“Why does my bottom hurt?” Bailey mumbled sadly as she gave up trying to fight her way free from the sheet and decided to wrap herself in it and-

“Because you keep rolling off the bed,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he waited for the small woman driving him fucking crazy to stop wiggling before he leaned over and picked her up and placed her back on the bed.

“And my head?” she asked, sounding curious.

“You decided that it was a good idea to stand back up after I told you to stay down,” Quinn said, really wishing that he’d seen that one coming, but in his defense, whenever he told a client to get down, they stayed down until he told them to move.

“I heard running,” Bailey mumbled sadly.

---