And I could tell I wasn’t going to like it. “No, don’t you dare. I’m going to hike with you. If you take my food away, you will see a side of me that will haunt you until death.” I snatched the plate away from his quick, grabby, sneaky hands. “And I’m a nurse; I run my own bloodwork. I’m healthy, swear it. Lowe’s promise,” I held up my finger’s, showing the boy scout honor symbol.
“Those two have nothing to do with one another. What am I going to do with you?” He inched forward and stole the biscuit off my fork. His face cringed with disgust when the A-1 burst over his tongue. “That is nasty. You are a sick person. I know what I’m going to do with you. Get your damn head checked because if you like that, it only makes sense that you would love me. You have horrible taste.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just insult me, my food, or you. I’m happy right now, and you not liking this means more for me. Now, go torture or do your Dr. Evil stuff. Shoo. Go.” I shooed him to the door with my fork. I was being easy-going about this. I wasn’t scared or freaking out like I was a few days ago. There was no denial anymore.
I was happy. I didn’t care what Jaxon did for a living.
I only wanted him again, and if that meant I loved a crime-fighting vigilante, then so be it. Plus, my mood was amazing this morning after the amazing sex I had last night. All those orgasms that had been building up over the years made me feel like a lighter person.
“I’ll be back to get you soon. I love you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, something he did when we were younger too. It never mattered where he was going, if he left me, he kissed me on my forehead. The press of his lips was a small gesture that made me feel more loved than any bouquet of flowers could.
“I love you too,” I said, watching that beautiful ass walk away.
“Stop staring.”
“Never,” I called out after him with a smug smile.
What would he look like in a cape?
Just a cape.
Chapter Nineteen
Jaxon
I left Quinn’s room with a pep in my step and a damn grin on my face. I never smiled on my way to work. I was calm, composed, ready to strike and kill, but damn it, Quinn had me wanting to skip down the hall.
This was not a field of wildflowers. There would be no damn skipping, Jaxon. Pull yourself together.
I got to the kitchen and didn’t notice anyone around, and while the guys were probably downstairs and waiting for me, Ingrid wasn’t here. She always stayed on the couch and smoked her joint. She claimed it was medical marijuana for her lower back pain. I believed her since some days she walked with a cane and some days she didn’t.
What if something had happened to her in her room? Damn it. I closed the refrigerator door harder than necessary, and the glass bottles on the door clanked together. I bet something was wrong because she was as old as the damn dinosaurs, and I brought home a stray. She was getting a life-alert necklace if she was going to stay.
I wouldn’t get anxiety over someone every time they weren’t around.
With an apple in my hand, I tossed it in the air and caught it. Starting my way down the hall, I made my strides quick and long so I could get to her room sooner. It was past the area where bookshelves were but before the elevator. My shoes echoed down the hall with every commanding beat of my steps. I bit into the apple, the crisp, sweet juices bursting over my tongue reminded me of how Quinn tasted.
“Get it together, Jaxon,” I said to myself, giving myself a small reminder that I was the same guy that pushed the driver off the cliff. I needed to be that guy when I wasn’t around Quinn. I hadn’t realized how much I’d changed when I finally got her trust in me. I was happier, and I couldn’t seem to hide it.
I schooled my face, wiping the grin off my lips to try and gain the stern ‘I will kill you’ expression I seemed to perfect over the years, lifted my fist, and knocked on Ingrid’s door. “Ingrid, your old bat. Where the hell have you been?” I asked through the door. I leaned my ear against the wood and heard her giggle. “Ingrid?” I repeated. “If you don’t open this door in three seconds, I’m going too.”
One. Two. Three.
I turned the knob and swung the door open to see her in bed with Louis, my driver. His saggy white ass had me frozen in place.
“Shut the damn door; you fucking peeping Tom!” Ingrid tossed a pillow at me, and I slammed the door before the sex-drenched thing could hit me.
I was ruined, blinded by the damn light of Louis’s ass. I rubbed a hand over my face and shook my head, trying to get the memory out of my head of those two going at it. “You dog,” I said, wishing Ingrid could hear me. I assumed she was the one that seduced Louis. Poor bastard never had a fighting chance with how determined she seemed to be about everything.
Well, now that I knew she was more than okay, alive, and most definitely well, I headed toward the elevator. I noticed the floors looked dirty and blurred, and I made a note to tell Grayson that it was his turn to polish the floors. We could hire a housekeeper, but we liked doing house duties. We rotated every week. I thought it was a way to keep us grounded.
Granted, when we were away, I hired someone to come in and dust and fill the fridge with groceries, so when we came back from a job, we didn’t have to worry about anything.
The elevator chimed, and the metal doors slid open. While I waited to get to the basement, I thought about the letters Quinn said she wrote to me over the last ten years. I’d never forget spending day after day in a prison cell, lying awake because sleep didn’t come easy. I slept with one eye open the entire time. I never knew what could happen. A guy always had to be on the lookout to protect one's self. I would have given anything for an escape, to see her handwriting, and get lost in her words, whether they were good or bad. It would have been like having a piece of her with me.
That would have been a lot better than staying inside metal bars with nothing but freedom and my thoughts trying to get the best of me.
The high ding of the elevator had my focus returning. Once the doors opened, I heard the guys arguing with one another, their voices carrying down the empty hall. The door was open as I entered it, and Owen was holding another syringe full of who-knows-what, and Sebastian was being the level-headed one, trying to talk Owen off the angry edge he constantly perched on.
“What’s going on? Update me,” I said as I entered the room, and all eyes turned to me.
“Bout time you showed up and was able to pull out of her pussy for more than five minutes. This was your problem, remember?” Owen spat at me, and I wasted no time slamming him against the wall by the back of his neck and pushed his face against the hard surface.
I took control of his arm and twisted his wrist back, snatching the needle from his grasp. “I will let you talk about me all your want, Owen, but fuck you if you think I’m going to let you disrespect Quinn like that.” I shoved the syringe into his neck and pressed whatever medication was inside into his bloodstream. Maybe it would kill him; maybe it wouldn’t. Right now, I didn’t care. No one spoke about her like that, no one.
Owen collapsed. His body hit the ground hard, and his head hit the floor with an unforgiving smack. His eyes were wide, and he moved them back and forth.