Page 51 of Never Again

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“Well, this is fun,”Bailey said, shifting to get comfortable on the hard, unforgiving elevator floor as she tried for a hopeful smile only to bite it back, clear her throat, and nod. “I’ll just sit here quietly,” when shefeltQuinn’s glare lock on her through the pitch-black that enveloped them.

When several more minutes went by and he didn’t say anything, Bailey tried to get comfortable again. That led to her realizing that wasn’t going to happen and moved to stand up only to have the man kneeling down protectively in front of her reach back and gently grab her arm and push her back down.

Knowing that she really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, Bailey bit back a sigh, shifted, tried to focus her attention on something other than the fact that her bottom was really starting to hurt. When she couldn’t do that, she bit her lip, shifted again, and nearly sighed in relief when Quinn released a heavy sigh as she felt him move seconds before he was picking her up and shifting her around a bit before she found herself sitting on his lap.

“Better?” Quinn asked as she shifted on his lap with a satisfied sigh.

“Yes,” Bailey said, leaning back against him as he wrapped an arm around her.

“What do you think is going on?” Bailey whispered as she stared through the elevator gate at her dark apartment.

“I’m not sure,” Quinn murmured quietly in her ear as they sat there, doing their best not to make any noise.

“Can we use the flashlight apps on our phones yet?” Bailey asked, shifting again when she realized that this new position had only given her temporary relief.

“No,” came the softly whispered word in her ear that had her biting back a grumble as she gently pushed his arm away, sat up, shifted, released that grumble, and then, with a satisfied sigh, turned around so that she was straddling his lap.

There was a slight pause, and then, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting more comfortable to help pass the time,” Bailey said with a solemn nod that he had no chance of seeing.

“We won’t be in here for much longer,” Quinn said, placing his hand on her thigh as she felt him shift, most likely so that he could keep an eye on the gate behind her.

“You said that two hours ago,” she pointed out.

“You really are a pain in the ass,” came the mumbled response that had her lips twitching despite the fact that she was scared out of her mind that something bad happened and-

“Everyone’s fine,” Quinn said softly as he reached up and gently cupped her face in his hand.

“You don’t know that,” Bailey mumbled, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she found herself reaching over and toying with a button on his shirt, needing to do something before the panic that she’d been fighting since this started could take over.

Something was wrong and it was her fault. They never should have come back here, Bailey thought, feeling sick to her stomach. She-

“What’s going on?”

-felt herself relax when Quinn’s phone rang. She sat there for a moment, listening as Quinn spoke. He kept his questions short as he dropped his hand and placed it back on her thigh. Bailey covered his hand with hers while she waited for answers. Thankfully, he didn’t make her wait long.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Quinn was putting it down so that he could reach back up and cup her face in his hands. “Everyone’s fine. There was an attempt to break into the building, but my team locked everything down and did a sweep of the building.”

“But no one came up here,” Bailey said, unable to help but frown in confusion.

“Yes, they did. A few minutes after the lights went out and then again ten minutes ago,” Quinn said, gently caressing her cheek.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she said, wondering how she’d missed it.

“My men are good, Bailey,” he promised her as she felt his lips press against her forehead.

“Then, why are we still in here?” Bailey couldn’t help but wonder.

“Because they directed the power from the generator to the second floor so that your team could protect your system. They’ve been dealing with a barrage of cyber-attacks since the main power went out. They managed to protect the files, but it took time,” Quinn explained.

“And everyone’s safe?” Bailey asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Everyone’s safe,” Quinn promised her as she felt his forehead press against hers and-

Felt his lips slowly brush against hers.

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