Page 32 of Never Again

With a pathetic little mumble, Bailey sat back with a disappointed sigh and a nod as she said, “Yes, yes, I did.”

“Jesus Christ,” Quinn said, rubbing his hands down his face, once again wondering how much more of this he was going to be able to take.

“I have questions,” Bailey said, sounding thoughtful.

“Of course you do,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he pulled his legs free and sat up next to the woman who was quickly destroying his will to live.

“How many ways can I kill a man with my thumb?” she asked as he grabbed the coffee and downed it in one gulp, needing the hot, bitter liquid to make it through this conversation.

“None.”

“How many ways can you kill a man with your thumb?” came the follow-up question that had him placing the empty coffee cup back on the coffee table so that he could drop his head in his hands, already feeling a migraine coming on.

“Eleven,” Quinn said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face.

“I’m going to need you to show me at least half of them,” she said in an awed whisper that had him dropping his hands away so that he could glare at her.

“No,” he bit out, praying that would be the end of it, but he knew better by now.

“It would make things easier if I turned into a killing machine,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly.

Refusing to be sucked into this conversation after she’d fucked with his head yesterday because she was bored, Quinn shoved the blanket off his lap and headed to the bathroom. Five minutes later, he was enjoying a hot shower when he heard it. Telling himself that it was just his imagination fucking with his head, he closed his eyes and-

“You know what would make this easier?” came the question that had him dropping his head in defeat.

“No,” Quinn said, hoping that she took pity on him and left him alone for the day.

“Going home,” came the sadly mumbled words as though it pained her to make the suggestion.

“Not happening,” Quinn said, absolutely refusing to bring her back until the building was secure and he had a few more answers.

Until then, they were staying right where they were.

* * *

“This is fun.Isn’t this fun?” the small woman that was driving him fucking crazy asked with a satisfied sigh as he stood there, tightening his hold on the armrests of his chair to stop himself from spanking her and-

“Let’s see,” Bailey said, making a show of looking over the selection of nail polish that she’d somehow convinced him to buy for her when they made a quick run into town to grab food while he sat there,seething. “I think the pink compliments your skin, but I have to admit that I’m partial to the emerald.”

“I’m going to spank your ass,” Quinn bit out, hoping that the warning would be enough to put a stop to this.

Nodding, Bailey said, “Green it is,” with a nod and a murmured, “This is going to look really good on you.”

“Bailey,” he said evenly, only to swallow nervously while he was forced to sit there watching her as she took her time shaking the small bottle as she shifted on the floor to get more comfortable.

“We should have done this sooner,” Bailey said as he watched her unscrew the small bottle and made a show of pulling the small brush covered in green nail polish out and-

“I have to chop more wood!” Quinn said, not even fucking caring that he was panicking as he got out of that chair and rushed to the door, praying like hell that she just let him go and-

“I should probably help you with that. Let me just grab my sneakers and you can show me how to use that ax,” came the announcement that fucking terrified him.

* * *

“I know what you’re doing,”Quinn muttered against the pillow that he’d managed to steal from the little brat determined to make his life a living hell.

“And what’s that?” came the absently murmured question as the sounds of her fingertips tapping against the keys on his laptop filled the small cabin.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Quinn bit out evenly, letting her know that her fucked-up games weren’t going to work.