Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The phone rang. Quinn answered. ‘Hello, Kings an eyebrow cocked. ‘Aquarius. And you?'

‘Pisces.' Quinn managed a small laugh, making a mental note to look up Aquarius and Pisces compatibility. ‘Sorry. I don't know why I asked that. You said your mum was an Aries, and I guess…'

Stop talking, Quinn. You cried in his arms and then asked for his star sign. You're not doing yourself any favours here.

Noah stepped closer, his eyes roving over Quinn's flushed face. His hand dropped from Quinn's, and he wondered if he imagined his touch. But then Noah wrapped his thick arms around him once more, this time stronger, a reassuring squeeze.

‘You should fight, Quinn. Fight for what you believe in.'

A shiver ran over Quinn's spine, but it wasn't because of the cold snap outside. It was his visceral reaction to Noah's words that carried a weighted truth.

‘I need to be brave enough.' Quinn sighed.

Noah held him even tighter. ‘Look, you're going through a lot right now. You need to take your mind off it. Why don't we…?'

The bell above the front door tinged. Noah's voice stopped. The sentence never finished, leaving Quinn in agony, wondering what he might have said.

He looked to see who had disrupted such a moment, then spotted the woman in a black wool coat shifting snow from her shoulders. A man carrying a large rucksack stood behind her, brushing snow out of his hair.

Quinn wiped his eyes as they took him in with Noah Sage's arm still around him.

‘Blimey. It's Noah Sage,' the woman in the black coat said.