Chapter 10

CHAPTER10

“You’re being unreasonable,” Bailey said, tightening her grip around the iPad that she’d helped herself to from the coffee table, wondering why he couldn’t just take pity on her and let her use it.

“We talked about this,” the large man who hadn’t changed at all said, taking the only thing that was going to save her sanity away from her.

“Oh, God, no…” Bailey mumbled hollowly as she watched Quinn lock the iPad in the footlocker by the bathroom, slowly destroying her will to live as he sent her a warning glare that she had no choice but to ignore.

“No screen time,” he said absently as her gaze shifted back to that footlocker.

“But-”

“It’s for your own good,” Quinn said as she sat there, imagining just how good the iPad would feel in her hands.

God, the things she could do with that internet connection, Bailey thought with a heartfelt sigh as she looked up and found herself wondering why Quinn was taking off his shirt. That quickly led to the decision that Pam could swing a baseball bat at her head anytime she wanted as she watched the muscles in his abs do things that made it very difficult to think at the moment.

Definitely willing to take another hit, Bailey decided, following that up with a nod of agreement when she saw the Celtic tribal tattoo on the right side of his chest. That was definitely new, she thought as she slowly ran her gaze over him, taking in all the golden muscles that had changed over the years until she came to his navel and followed the dark trail of hair down that led to his jeans and shifted her focus to the perfectly sculptured “V.”

“What was for my own good?” Bailey absently murmured as she grabbed her juice and took a sip, unable to help but notice that the years had been very good to him.

“No screen time,” Quinn said, tossing his shirt on the couch as he headed for the door, leaving her sitting there following his progress through the windows as he made his way around the house and headed for the pile of logs by the shed.

She watched as he grabbed the ax off the tree stump, placed a log on the stump and swung the ax, making all the muscles in his torso shift in very interesting ways. Pam was definitely getting a raise, Bailey decided, allowing herself to watch Quinn for another minute before she reluctantly put her juice down with a shuddering sigh and decided that it was time to find out what else they were keeping from her.

With that in mind, Bailey took one more sip, moved to climb off the bed, took a moment to appreciate the sight of Quinn bending over, and with a heavy sigh, she forced herself to look away and made her way to the coffee table and helped herself to the paperclips from the file that she read last night when Quinn took a shower and made her way to the footlocker.

After a quick glance at the door to make sure that it was still closed, Bailey put the skills that she’d picked up over the years from her time in foster care to good use and picked the lock. In a matter of seconds, she removed the padlock, opened the footlocker, and-

“God bless him,” Bailey mumbled with a sniffle when she saw the six-pack of Coke that he’d hidden in the footlocker, probably thinking that it would be enough to keep it out of her greedy little hands and grabbed the iPad along with a Coke to help her get through this ordeal before closing the lid and returning the lock.

Once that was done, Bailey raised her head just enough so that she could look out the window and make sure that Quinn was still outside before dropping back down and quickly making her way to the bathroom. When he didn’t barge in the house and demand his iPad back, she closed the bathroom door behind her with a satisfied sigh, grabbed a towel off the counter and settled in the tub. After she shoved the towel behind her head, Bailey cracked open a Coke, took a sip and then focused her attention on the iPad.

Ignoring the throbbing pain behind her right eye, Bailey took another sip, broke through Quinn’s password and decided to have a look at the emails and text messages that her brother had been sending him over the past three days. Normally, she hated doing this sort of thing, but since he’d refused to tell her anything, she felt that she really didn’t have any choice in the matter.

“Let’s see…” Bailey mumbled absently to herself as she scrolled through her brother’s text messages, only to pause to take another sip before continuing her search until she found what she was looking for.

While she read through her brother’s dire warnings about keeping her away from anything with caffeine, Bailey sipped her Coke, made a mental note to get back at the traitor, and frowned when she found the text message with the link to a file named, “Don’t Show Bailey,” and sighed. God, he was such an amateur sometimes, she thought, taking another sip as she tapped the link and-

“Uh-oh,” Bailey mumbled weakly when her brother’s glaring face suddenly filled the screen.

“You just couldn’t resist, could you?” Nathan asked, shaking his head with a disappointed sigh as she sat there trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.

“Did…did you really use one of my programs against me?” Bailey found herself asking, more than a little impressed that her brother managed to pull it off considering the fact that he locked himself out of his computer at least once a week.

“I asked Jess for help,”Nathan said, shrugging it off.

“And the reason why you felt the need to betray me was…”

“Because I know you,” Nathan murmured absently as he sat back in his office chair and focused his attention on the cellphone in his hands.

“That doesn’t really explain why you’re keeping something from me,” Bailey said, taking a sip of Coke while she watched him type something into his phone.

“Doesn’t it, though?” Nathan asked, not bothering to look up as he continued doing whatever it was that he was doing.

“Start talking,” she said, wondering why he was being so damn stubborn about this.

Unless…

“What else don’t I know?” Bailey asked, moving to take another sip when a large, tan hand plucked the Coke out of her hand and she found herself swallowing hard as she looked up and-

“Oh, God, I’m gonna die…” Bailey whispered as she watched the large man that looked really pissed finish off her Coke before glancing at her brother to find him watching her with a gleam of unholy satisfaction in his eye.

“You left me with no choice,”Nathan said with a satisfied sigh that didn’t bode well for her.

“But-”

Shooting her a wink, Nathan hung up, leaving her sitting there, struggling to come up with a reason why she was sitting in the tub with Quinn’s iPad and sipping a Coke when she was supposed to be in bed resting. Deciding that she should probably just pretend that this never happened, Bailey cleared her throat, shifted, cleared her throat again and murmured, “Excuse me,” as she grabbed onto the side of the tub and pulled herself up. That was followed by wincing when sharp pain tore through her head, forcing her to grab hold of her head as her legs gave out and found herself in Quinn’s arms.

“You really are a pain in the ass,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he carried her back into the main part of the cabin and-

Walked past the bed and kept going.

“Umm, where are we going?” Bailey asked, really hoping that he didn’t say to dig a grave as she was forced to squeeze her eyes shut when the pain became too much.

“To do something that I should have done a long time ago.”