Page 24 of Never Again

“They really did. Thanks to them, I was able to afford the best junk food that money could buy.”

“What every growing fourteen-year-old girl really needs,” he murmured in agreement.

“It was a priority,” she said, wondering if he had any idea how comfortable he really was. “During the day, I did my best not to piss off the librarians, and then at night, I had free reign of the library, which worked out well until the librarian decided to call social services and I was forced to find other accommodations. Since I was fourteen and kind of small for my age, that didn’t really leave me with many choices, so I decided to try my hand at living off the land.”

“Jesus Christ,” came the mumbled reply that had her nodding in agreement.

“Indeed.”

“How did that end?”

“With me getting lost, dehydrated, and covered in more ant bites in the woods off a small playground. That’s where Nathan found me, covered in dirt and beating the shit out of a large anthill with a stick and somewhat delusional. After he wrestled the stick away from me, he decided to interrogate me until he realized that he couldn’t break me. That led to him grabbing my hand and dragging me home, grumbling the entire way before he shoved me in the bathroom with a change of clothes and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“Once I finished devouring the rather delicious sandwich, I took the longest shower of my life, helped myself to some ant bite ointment, and pulled on an oversized Dungeon and Dragons tee-shirt and gym shorts that hung off me. When I was done, that was followed by another glaring match, my refusal to talk, and Nathan calling me a pain in the ass before he shoved me under his bed to hide me from his parents. I barely lasted an hour before his dirty gym socks sent me fleeing for my life and straight into Calian, who took one look at me and decided to let me have a good night’s sleep on the pullout couch before calling social services in the morning. By breakfast, I had him wrapped around my little finger and Aylen refusing to let me leave, and the rest is history,” Bailey finished with a heartfelt sigh, only to realize that at some point, Quinn had fallen asleep.

Poor guy, Bailey thought as she reached up and ran her fingertips along his jaw, unable to help but notice how handsome he was as she dropped her hand away and decided that she should probably take this opportunity to see what else she could find out on that iPad. Decision made, she gently pushed his arms away and-

“Don’t make me tie you up.”

-decided that a nap sounded lovely right now.

CHAPTER13

“But what if I-”

“No,” Quinn said, not bothering to look up as he finished dicing up the onions.

“It would just be for a minute!” Bailey said, no doubt sending him a hopeful smile.

“What happened the last time that you managed to get your hands on my laptop?” Quinn asked as he finished dicing the onions and dumped them into the frying pan on the stove.

“You commenced with the glaring.”

“And?” he asked as his gaze flickered in her direction to find Bailey sitting in the middle of the bed with that hopeful smile that he couldn’t help but find really fucking adorable.

“You seemed angry for some reason,” Bailey said, clearing her throat as her gaze shifted just to the side, not quite able to meet his gaze.

“Do you think that might have something to do with the fact that you ended up curled up in the fetal position, squeezing your eyes shut and holding your head as you begged me to get Pam and have her finish the job?” Quinn drawled as he watched Bailey open her mouth, seemed to rethink that decision, closed it, shifted, and then, finally…

“Probably,” she mumbled sadly as her shoulders dropped in defeat.

“And…” Quinn prompted.

“I promised not to touch another device until my head was healed,” Bailey reluctantly admitted with a pout.

“And has it healed?” he asked, returning his attention to the steaks he’d prepared earlier.

“I mean, technically yes since the stitches came out this morning,” she pointed out.

“And when the doctor pointed the light in your eyes?” Quinn asked, dropping the steaks in the pan as his gaze flickered back to the woman struggling to come up with an answer that was going to end with her getting her greedy little hands on his computer again.

She cleared her throat before she said, “I may have cried a little.”

“And…”

“I no longer wish to discuss this matter,” Bailey grumbled as she allowed herself to fall over onto her side with a heartfelt sigh.

“Are you sure? Because I’d be more than happy to discuss the soft little sniffles that you released the entire drive home,” Quinn said, only to chuckle when she sadly mumbled, “I was traumatized.”

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