Page 74 of Something like Redemption

“I will kill him if he touches you,” he replies as his lips suck my skin delicately.

“Please, Quinn, can you do this for me? And do you think you could try to be less…homicidal?” I plead on a gasp as he bites my shoulder, his sharp teeth grazing my skin.

Quinn moans softly, his hard-on digging into my back.

“Okay, but only because you begged,” he says, and with one final kiss on my neck, he pulls away, leaving me panting, needy, and extremely turned on.

It takes a minute for my heart to cease from thumping like a bass drum, and I slowly turn to face my boy, or should I say, man.

I know Quinn has baggage, baggage which gives him nightmares. Baggage that he feels will change the way I feel about him if I ever find out what it contains. But what he doesn’t realize is we all have baggage. Ours is just a little more fucked up than others, and that’s what draws us to one another—two broken, fucked-up souls.

We are possessive, jealous, and protective over the other, but that’s because I feel we have found the missing piece of the puzzle.And the missing piece of my puzzle is Quinn. And I can only hope that I’m his—in every sense of the word.

Quinn smirks at me, as I’m sure he can see me mulling over this whole fucked-up situation.

“Let’s eat,” he says, his eyes heated as he licks over his lip ring, and I can’t help but feel he is sizing me up for his next meal.

“Let’s call the diner first,” I manage to get out.

Quinn reaches for my hand, and we silently cross the street to use the pay phone near the gas station.

Reaching into my bag, I pull out a handful of quarters, extending my palm to Quinn.

“Did you want to call? I’m sure Tristan will be waiting by the phone.”

Quinn runs his long fingers through his hair and nods.

The strain around his deep eyes reveals that he’s anxious but also excited to talk to his brother.He picks up the receiver, feeding coin after coin into the phone, and quickly dials the diner.As he chews on his lip ring, waiting for it to connect, I decide to walk away to give him some privacy.

But Quinn quickly reaches for my arm to stop me from leaving and nods. “Stay.”

So I do.

“Hey, bro,” Quinn says, and my tears fall the moment his face tips up into a beautiful smile.

I can faintly hear Tristan on the other end.“Quinn?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How are you feeling? Did any hot nurses give you a sponge bath?”

I roll my eyes, and Quinn chuckles.

“Good to see things haven’t changed.” Tristan laughs. “How are you? How’s Mia?”

“We’re both good. Well, as good as can be, considering,” Quinn replies, affectionately rubbing my cheek with his thumb.

“Yeah, I bet. I’ve spoken to Abi about the plan,” Tristan says, and I can hear he has lowered his voice.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“I’m coming with you,” Tristan says, the determination clear in his voice.

Both Quinn and I shout, “No!” at the same moment.

“Hey, I heard Mia’s voice. Is she there? How’s she looking?”

Quinn looks at me, eating me up from head to toe.

“Oh, she’s looking unbelievable.”

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