Chapter 12

CHAPTER12

“So, how does this work?” came the softly murmured question that drew Quinn’s attention to the sleeping bag and-

Had him sighing when he saw the iPad in Bailey’s hands.

“Oh, come on! Don’t be that way,” the little technology addict said with an adorable pout as he plucked the iPad out of her hands and shoved it into his backpack.

When he saw the calculating look on Bailey’s face, Quinn sighed heavily as he reached up and hung the bag off a branch, watching as the calculating look on her adorable face sharpened only to turn into a pout when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to reach it. With a grumble, she rolled over her stomach and sighed, just fucking sighed as she stared off into space.

“Well?” Bailey said, shifting to get more comfortable.

“Well, what?” Quinn asked, dropping down onto the ground with a soft groan and sat back against the old Spanish moss tree to enjoy the last few minutes of sun before it disappeared for the night.

God, he was fucking exhausted.

“How does this work?” came the question that had him cracking one eye open to find Bailey watching him curiously.

“How does what work?” Quinn asked as he closed his eyes again and went over everything that still needed to be done before he could take her back to Haven Technologies.

“This kidnapping,” Bailey said, sounding curious.

“You haven’t been kidnapped,” he said, but of course, she ignored him.

“How much do you think you’d get for me?”

“Your brother offered me a small fortune to keep you,” Quinn said, closing his eyes again only to feel his lips twitch when she said, “I can see that.”

“What about your parents?” he asked, more than a little curious about how that came about since the last time that he saw her, she’d been on her way to Boston with nothing more than a backpack.

“They adore me,” Bailey said with a satisfied sigh that had him opening his eyes and-

“I was just stretching,” she said with a hopeful smile that quickly died away and turned into a pout when he narrowed his eyes on her. With a grumble, the little brat threw the long stick that she’d been trying to knock his bag free with aside so that she could get her greedy little hands back on that iPad that she’d somehow managed to hide from him and sat back down on the sleeping bag.

“How did that happen?” Quinn asked, closing his eyes once again only to end up frowning when she climbed onto his lap a minute later and-

Ooomph!

-settled against him with a satisfied sigh as she pulled the sleeping bag over them.

“Comfy?” Quinn asked dryly as he sat there, never feeling more awkward in his life as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do.

He wasn’t good at this sort of thing, never had been. When Jaxon used to come to him with a scraped knee after he fell off his bike, Quinn would patch him up, put him back on his bike, and glare at him until he started moving his ass again. The few times that he’d tried to pretend that he could handle a relationship always ended badly. He just wasn’t cut out for anything more than a fucked-up existence.

“Laying down was hurting my head,” Bailey said, snuggling closer while he sat there, biting back a sigh as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.

“Do you want to go back?” he asked, even as he felt himself beginning to relax.

“No,” Bailey murmured against his chest.

“Then, do you want to answer my question?” Quinn asked, closing his eyes while he felt all the tension in his body slowly disappear.

“About how I ended up being the adored daughter of Calian and Aylen Thompson?” she asked as he found himself absently running his fingertips over her arm as he thought about everything that his men had been able to find out about the break-in, which admittedly wasn’t much. The only thing that he knew was that whoever broke into her apartment had left empty-handed. He-

“I became a hardened criminal.”

* * *

“A hardened criminal?”the man who made a really comfortable mattress asked, sounding amused for some reason.

“I was a threat to society,” Bailey said, making him chuckle, which she had to admit pleased her since she didn’t remember him smiling that much when they were kids.

“Were you, now?”

“I really was,” she assured him with a nod.

“I’m sure that you had law enforcement everywhere quivering in fear,” Quinn drawled, which, of course, earned another nod since he was finally accepting her skills as a criminal mastermind. “And how did you do this? Running guns over the border? Organizing drug mules? Running your own brothel? Perhaps you spent some time as a paid assassin?”

“Term papers,” Bailey said with a firm nod that had him sighing heavily with a murmured, “Term papers?”

“Mmmhmm, you’d be surprised by how many college kids are willing to pay a small fortune to get out of writing a ten-page paper,” she mumbled sleepily as the painkillers finally started to kick in.

“Somehow, I’m not surprised, but that’s not the whole story,” Quinn said, sounding completely relaxed as he ran his fingertips over her arm.

“Well, after I bought a ticket for the first train out of Boston to ensure that a certain someone wouldn’t find me, I found myself in Orlando with twenty bucks to my name and absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. After spending a night warming a lovely bench in the park, I woke up covered in red ants, staring into the eyes of a baby alligator that really didn’t seem all that happy to see me, and decided that I needed a plan.”

“So, after I was done freaking out about the ants, I bought a stale donut off a lovely coffee truck and contemplated my life’s choices. After that, I decided that I really didn’t have all that many and found the nearest library. I decided to put the library’s free resources to good use and was able to find an underserved demographic that needed my help. Spoiled rich college kids,” Bailey said, earning another chuckle.

“I’m sure that they really appreciated your help,” Quinn said, making her smile.

“They really did. Thanks to them, I was able to afford the best junk food that money could buy.”

“What every growing fourteen-year-old girl really needs,” he murmured in agreement.

“It was a priority,” she said, wondering if he had any idea how comfortable he really was. “During the day, I did my best not to piss off the librarians, and then at night, I had free reign of the library, which worked out well until the librarian decided to call social services and I was forced to find other accommodations. Since I was fourteen and kind of small for my age, that didn’t really leave me with many choices, so I decided to try my hand at living off the land.”

“Jesus Christ,” came the mumbled reply that had her nodding in agreement.

“Indeed.”

“How did that end?”

“With me getting lost, dehydrated, and covered in more ant bites in the woods off a small playground. That’s where Nathan found me, covered in dirt and beating the shit out of a large anthill with a stick and somewhat delusional. After he wrestled the stick away from me, he decided to interrogate me until he realized that he couldn’t break me. That led to him grabbing my hand and dragging me home, grumbling the entire way before he shoved me in the bathroom with a change of clothes and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“Once I finished devouring the rather delicious sandwich, I took the longest shower of my life, helped myself to some ant bite ointment, and pulled on an oversized Dungeon and Dragons tee-shirt and gym shorts that hung off me. When I was done, that was followed by another glaring match, my refusal to talk, and Nathan calling me a pain in the ass before he shoved me under his bed to hide me from his parents. I barely lasted an hour before his dirty gym socks sent me fleeing for my life and straight into Calian, who took one look at me and decided to let me have a good night’s sleep on the pullout couch before calling social services in the morning. By breakfast, I had him wrapped around my little finger and Aylen refusing to let me leave, and the rest is history,” Bailey finished with a heartfelt sigh, only to realize that at some point, Quinn had fallen asleep.

Poor guy, Bailey thought as she reached up and ran her fingertips along his jaw, unable to help but notice how handsome he was as she dropped her hand away and decided that she should probably take this opportunity to see what else she could find out on that iPad. Decision made, she gently pushed his arms away and-

“Don’t make me tie you up.”

-decided that a nap sounded lovely right now.