Page 46 of Never Again

Clearing her throat, Bailey said, “Four hours is acceptable.”

“Please try not to piss him off,” Nathan said, plucking the phone out of his sister’s hands and changed out the word that she was trying to add.

“Why are you trying to mess with my triple-word score?” she asked, blinking up at her brother.

“Because you suck at this,” Nathan murmured with a sad shake of his head that was quickly followed by a grumble when she saw his score.

“Cheater,” Bailey muttered sadly, only to sigh heavily as she placed her phone back in her pocket just as the elevator came to a stop.

Quinn waited for her to step off the elevator before he moved to follow her and-

“Keep my sister safe,” Nathan said, stopping him with a look that told him everything that he needed to know.

He didn’t like this any more than Quinn did.

* * *

“How much longer are youplanning on ignoring me?” Bailey asked the large man standing against the wall behind her as she found herself glancing around the small bar that she’d been waiting at for the past three hours and wondered why she hadn’t considered being stood up as an option.

It made sense in a disturbingly sad way, Bailey thought as she bit back a sigh and popped a fry in her mouth even as she resigned herself to spending another hour waiting here before she could leave. The deal was for four hours, so she was going to stick it out no matter how bored she was, and God, was she bored. He better hand over the program after this, Bailey decided as she glanced over her shoulder to find Quinn standing behind her, that intense gaze of his taking in everything around them and-

He still wasn’t talking to her.

Great, Bailey thought, taking a sip of the watery fruit punch that she’d been forced to order after Nathan made her promise that she would stay away from anything with caffeine tonight to ensure that she didn’t do anything that would risk this deal. Then again, since it didn’t appear as though Jonathan was actually planning on showing up anytime soon…

“Excuse me. Can I get a Coke, please?” Bailey asked a passing waitress.

“Of course,” came the warm reply as the really nice waitress who was about to make this night better made her way back to the bar just as the heavy sigh came from behind her.

A few seconds later, the chair next to her was pulled out and the man who’d been avoiding her as much as any man who watched her every move could, sat down. “Please don’t make me kill you, Bailey.”

“I’m pretty sure that would defeat the purpose of protecting me,” Bailey pointed out as she once again scanned the room and…nothing.

All that worry over nothing, Bailey thought as she murmured, “Thank you,” when the really nice waitress placed a large glass of Coke in front of her, which, of course, was followed by a grumble, a pout, and a glare when Quinn reached over and helped himself to the only thing that was going to make this next hour tolerable.

“Not happening,” Quinn said, taking a sip of her Coke before placing it back down on the table, only to sigh, and move it out of her reach as her greedy eyes followed the move.

“Will you at least tell me why you’ve been ignoring me,” Bailey said as she gestured for their waitress, only to frown when a shirley temple with a bright red umbrella and extra cherries was placed on the table in front of her.

At her questioning look, the waitress said, “With Mr. Parkins’ compliments,” confirming her suspicions that Jonathan was playing with her and making her bite back a sigh as she murmured, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the waitress said as she quickly made her way back to the bar while Bailey took a sip of the surprisingly delicious drink.

“Looks like he’s not coming,” Quinn murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“Looks like,” Bailey said in agreement before adding, “And it also looks like you’re not going to answer me.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Quinn said, drumming his fingertips against the tabletop as he took in the rest of the bar, looking anywhere but at her. “This is a job and I keep forgetting that.”

“So, we can’t be friends,” Bailey guessed correctly, judging by the way that muscle in his jaw clenched.

“It’s not a good idea,” he said, still not looking at her.

“I see,” she said, taking another sip as she told herself that was fine.

They weren’t friends. Never had been and never would be, and that was fine, more than fine, because she had plenty of friends. She was just a job, one that he’d taken as a favor for one of Nathan’s oldest friends and as soon as he realized that there was no reason for him to be here, he’d move on to the next job, and that was…

Fine.

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