Chapter 49

CHAPTER49

“She’s not going anywhere,” Quinn bit out with a look that told his best friend exactly how far he was willing to go to protect Bailey.

“That’s not really your decision to make,” Tristan said, leaning back in his chair as he watched him curiously.

“You don’t think so?” Quinn asked dryly, even as he considered his options since going back to Haven Technologies right now wasn’t an option. Then again, neither was staying here. Tristan had always been there for him and he wasn’t about to thank him by putting him in the middle of this.

“Tell me something,” Tristan said, reaching over to grab a folder off the large stack on his desk.

“What’s that?” Quinn absently asked as he debated bringing Bailey back to his cabin in Georgia, only to wonder if that was even an option anymore.

“Why does she look like she’s about to kill you?” Tristan asked, looking really fucking amused with a pointed look past him.

Frowning, Quinn turned his head and-

Wondered why Bailey was slapping her hand over his mouth. That was followed by wondering why she was narrowing her eyes on him as she placed his iPad on the desk so that she could press her finger to her lips with a softly whispered, “Shhhh.”

When Tristan went to open his mouth, she turned that glare on him until he sighed heavily and gestured lazily for her to get on with it. With a firm nod, Bailey shifted her focus back to him, and with one last look of warning, she began searching his pockets until she found his cellphone.

As soon as she had it, Bailey shot him one last warning glare before she was climbing onto Tristan’s desk and picking his iPad back up and placing it on her lap before shifting her attention back to his phone. For several minutes, she didn’t say anything as she took her time scrolling through his phone only to frown, grumble to herself, and then shift her attention back to his iPad.

Not really sure what she was doing, Quinn shared a look with Tristan to find him watching her curiously as she did whatever the hell it was that she was doing. After several more minutes, a half-dozen grumbles, and the occasional glare in his direction to make sure that he wasn’t going to say anything, Bailey reached back and helped herself to a pen and a notepad off Tristan’s desk and began making notes.

When she still didn’t say anything several minutes later, Quinn opened his mouth only to end up grunting when the little pain in the ass decided to get more comfortable by climbing off the desk and dropping down on his lap. That was followed by her pausing in what she was doing just long enough to gesture for him to move the chair closer to the desk.

Sighing heavily, Quinn wrapped one arm around her and stood up just enough so that he could grab hold of the chair and drag it closer to Tristan’s desk. When he moved to sit back down, the little brat that he adored mumbled, “Closer,” once again gesturing for him to get on with it. Narrowing his eyes on the back of her head, he pulled the chair closer and sat back down, taking her with him as he asked, “Better?”

“This will do,” Bailey said with a sniffle as she settled back against him and-

Fucking wiggled.

“You’re evil,” Quinn said as he pressed a kiss against the back of her neck simply because he couldn’t help himself.

“It helps me think,” Bailey murmured absently as she read something on his phone and then made a note before shifting her attention to his iPad.

“What exactly are you doing?” Tristan drawled as his gaze flickered to him before shifting back to her.

“Proving my skills,” she mumbled as she made yet another note.

“And what are those?” Quinn asked as he shifted around her so that he could see what she was working on and-

“What the hell is that?” he demanded when he saw the text messages on his iPad.

“If I were to guess, I would say that this was a desperate attempt to get what they wanted,” Bailey said as she scrolled through his phone one last time before she focused back on her notes.

“What’s going on?” Tristan asked as he pushed his chair back and stood up, his curious gaze shifting between him and Bailey as he made his way around the desk to join them.

“I have no fucking idea,” Quinn said as he reached over and scrolled through all the text messages on his iPad and took in all the bullshit, the plans to destroy Haven Technologies, the callous comments about the attacks, just how fucking much they hated Bailey and wanted to make her pay, and the professions of love that had his jaw grinding as he read through every fucking word while Tristan read over his shoulder.

When Quinn was done, cold dread spread down his spine as he thought about everything that he’d just read as he slowly looked up, terrified that he was about to lose Bailey over this bullshit and-

She. Fucking. Wiggled.

Narrowing his eyes on the little brat tormenting him, Quinn grabbed hold of her hips as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to convince her that he had nothing to do with this. He opened his mouth and-

“You were yelling,” Bailey said, shrugging it off while he sat there trying to make sense out of what she’d just said.

“When was he yelling?” Tristan asked as he leaned down to see what Bailey was writing.

“When he was supposed to be sending the text message about trying to find out where my program is being stored, he was turning me over and-”

“Jesus Christ,” Tristan said, turning his head and coughing to hide his chuckle as Quinn was forced to cover Bailey’s mouth with his hand.

“You’re killing me,” Quinn said as he leaned in and kissed the back of her neck as he dropped his hand away and-

“That’s what you said this morning when I got on my knees and-”

“God, you’re fucking evil,” Quinn said with one last kiss against her neck.

“You also said that,” Bailey pointed out as she once again shifted to get more comfortable on his lap.

“You want to break this thing down for me and tell me why you wouldn’t let us say anything when you came in here a few minutes ago?” Quinn asked as he shifted Bailey on his lap so that he could see what she was writing.

“I wanted to make sure that they weren’t listening,” Bailey said, only to pause in what she was writing to gesture between the iPad and the phone.

“And you needed to do this because…” Quinn asked, only to lean back in his chair when she took that as her cue to shift on his lap so that she could throw her legs over his and shift more comfortably back against the armrest while she continued making notes.

“I needed to figure something out,” Bailey said, shrugging it off.

“Are you going to share with the rest of the class?” Tristan drawled as he leaned back against his desk and picked up the iPad.

Nodding, Bailey said, “You might want to turn that off now,” with a pointed look at the iPad in Tristan’s hands.

“Do you remember that talk we had about spanking your ass?” Quinn asked, watching as Tristan considered her for a moment before he turned off the iPad and placed it back on his desk.

“Vividly,” Bailey assured him with a solemn nod. “Which is why I knew this wasn’t you.”

“And the reason you knew that…” Quinn prompted.

“Because I knew that you adored me,” she admitted with a heartfelt sigh as she turned her attention to Tristan and held out her hand in silent demand.

Nodding slowly, Quinn said, “I’m going to spank you.”

“Probably,” Bailey said, not really sounding all that concerned as she cleared her throat and gave her hand a pointed look when Tristan only continued standing there, frowning down at her only to curse when she said, “Phone.”

“What are you looking for?” Tristan asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Bailey.

She placed the iPad on her lap so that she could take the phone and began looking through it. “To see if the virus on his iPad made its way to your phone,” Bailey explained.

“What virus?” Quinn asked as he shared a look with Tristan.

“The one that I’m pretty sure that I accidentally downloaded a few weeks ago when I helped myself to your iPad at your grandfather’s old cabin,” Bailey murmured absently as she finished what she was doing and sighed. “You might want to turn that off for now and find a way to tell your men to do the same,” she said while Quinn sat there thinking about exactly what that meant, their clients, files, security, fucking everything.

“That explains how they were able to get around our security at Haven Technologies,” Tristan said, sighing heavily as he quickly sent a text message before turning off his cellphone.

“Probably,” Bailey murmured absently.

“I’m going to need you to explain what’s going on, Bailey,” Quinn said as he gently cupped her face in his hand and pulled her attention back to him and-

“It’s not Kelly.”