Chapter 8

CHAPTER8

“Did I mention that my head really hurts?” Bailey asked, deciding that the bathroom floor was her new best friend as she pressed her forehead against the cool tiles.

“Which is why the doctor prescribed painkillers,” Quinn, the man that had been looking at her funny since she woke up, said softly as he tried to place more pills in her hand, only to sigh heavily when she shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut on a pained gasp and turned her head as far away from those offending pills as the pain shooting through her skull would allow.

“Bailey…”

“No, I’m a good girl,” Bailey whispered weakly as she willed her aching head to stop pounding.

“This will help,” the man determined to keep her drugged said.

“I-I don’t want to play in traffic again,” she mumbled against the bathroom floor, really hoping that it was clean.

“You weren’t playing in traffic. You ran out of the house, tripped over your own two feet, mumbled something incoherently, and then threw yourself on the hood of my parked car, where you sobbed hysterically, begging me to slow down so that you could get off,” Quinn said, giving up trying to press the pills into her hand and-

“This is for your own good,” came the quietly murmured words as she found herself turned over onto her back, her nose pinched shut, and the pills that were guaranteed to make things more interesting shoved in her mouth. Before she had a chance to spit them back out, he was placing his large hand over her mouth, giving her no other choice but to swallow them. Eyes narrowing on the man who’d just doomed them all, she finished swallowing the pills before accepting a bottle of water from the man who should have saved himself when he had the chance.

“Stop drugging me,” Bailey bit out, glaring up at the large man only to wince, close her eyes, roll over onto her side and mumble sadly, “My glare.”

“I’m sure that your glare is normally quite terrifying,” Quinn murmured absently as she took a sip of water, grumbled, and handed the bottle back before she curled back into a ball, praying that he took pity on her and left her alone so that she could die in peace.

“It really is,” Bailey said, not sure how much more of this she could take.

She just wanted to pass out until her head stopped hurting.

“I want to ask you something,” Quinn said, making her wonder why the man who should be sitting back and enjoying the show as karma finally kicked in and made her pay for leaving him on that train platform years ago was helping her.

“Can it wait until I’m not dying?” Bailey asked as she blindly reached up and searched the shelves that she’d spotted earlier when she’d stumbled in here after the toaster incident until she felt something soft and pulled it down so that she could pull it over her head.

“You’re not dying,” Quinn said softly as he took the large towel that she pressed against her head and replaced it with a small, damp towel that felt really good at the moment.

“Please don’t lie to me,” Bailey mumbled sadly, placing her hand over the towel as she prayed that she didn’t do anything stupid this time around.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jennifer and Steve?” he asked, making her really wish that she’d kept her big mouth shut.

“There was nothing to tell,” Bailey said, hoping that he would just drop it.

“Didn’t sound that way to me,” Quinn said, shutting the bathroom light off before sitting down on the floor next to her.

“Just drop it,” Bailey said, deciding that she’d rather wait for the pills to kick in from the comfort of wherever he wouldn’t follow her, she moved to get up only to groan when more pain shot through the side of her head and had her moving to lay back down only to grumble when she found herself pulled onto Quinn’s lap.

“What are you doing?” Bailey couldn’t help but wonder as he pulled her closer until her head was tucked just beneath his chin and she couldn’t help but notice just how comfortable he was.

“Taking care of you,” Quinn murmured softly as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I can take care of myself,” Bailey mumbled, burying her face against his chest as her hand found his shirt and held on.

“You don’t have to,” Quinn murmured softly as the familiar haze slowly took over and she found herself letting go.

* * *

He fucked up.

There was no other way to put it, Quinn realized as he thought about all those times that he’d dragged the little pain in the ass home and handed her over to Jennifer and Steve, thinking that he was doing the right thing. He didn’t have many regrets, but he definitely regretted-

“Can I have a Coke, please? It would really help settle my stomach,” the small woman who looked better than she had yesterday asked as she sat on the bed, looking pathetic.

“Sure,” Quinn said, more than happy to give her a Coke if it helped. Tossing the notebook that he’d been working on back on the coffee table, Quinn moved to go grab her a Coke when he saw the devious smile playing on her lips before she managed to pull it back and did her best to appear innocent.

His eyes narrowed on her as a thought occurred to him. “Can you drink Coke?”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to drink Coke?” Bailey asked, blinking innocently at him as he sat there, watching her as he thought over the last seventy-two hours and decided to double-check something. After sending Bailey one last questioning look, Quinn pulled his phone out and sent a text message to her brother.

Does your sister react to Coke the same way that she reacts to coffee?

Don’t fucking do it!

Came the immediate response that had him looking up to find Bailey watching him with a hopeful smile.

“According to your brother, that’s not really an option,” Quinn drawled as he moved to put his phone away only to look back down at it when a small chime drew his attention and-

Don’t trust her! The little addict will say whatever it takes to get caffeine. Keep her away from coffee, soda, tea, and whatever you do, don’t let her get within ten feet of a fucking energy drink!

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Bailey mumbled softly, drawing his attention back to the small woman blinking up at him.

“So, if I give you a Coke, you won’t go into another psychotic episode and try making friends with the squirrels in the backyard again?” Quinn asked, watching her carefully.

“Of course not,” Bailey murmured, not quite able to look him in the eye as she lied her adorable little ass off.

“I think we’ll stick with juice for now,” he drawled, going to the fridge and grabbed a small bottle of apple juice for her.

“Can I at least have my computer so that I can work?” Bailey asked as she accepted the small bottle from him.

“Not an option,” Quinn said, making his way back to the couch where he’d spent the past three days watching over her.

“Why not?” she asked, frowning as she sipped her juice.

“The doctor said no screentime for the next two weeks,” Quinn said as he watched her face drop.

“Please tell me that you’re joking,” Bailey mumbled weakly, looking like she was going to be sick.

“If it would help ease the pain,” Quinn drawled as he grabbed his iPad off the coffee table and returned his attention to the list of things that needed to be done at Haven Technologies before he could bring her back.

“I have to work.”

“No, what you need to do is rest. You just had a baseball bat knock you out,” he reminded her, looking over the notes that the security company emailed him last night.

“Three days ago,” Bailey pointed out, making his lips twitch.

“You’re not leaving that bed,” Quinn said, looking over the notes about the elevator before glancing back at Bailey.

“You really can’t stop me,” Bailey said with a sad shake of her head as she moved to climb off the bed only to go still, swallow hard, and ease back against the pillows when he narrowed his eyes on her.

Clearing her throat, Bailey mumbled, “On second thought, I think I’ll stay where I am and enjoy this lovely bed.”

“Good idea,” Quinn mumbled, focusing his attention back on the notes he’d made about the options they had for securing the elevator.

“I don’t do well with downtime,” Bailey said on a wistful sigh.

“I remember,” he said, chuckling as he swiped to the next page and looked over the notes for the roof.

“You do?”

“It’s hard to forget being evacuated in the middle of a snowstorm while you’re changing for gym class because every alarm in the school, along with the sprinkler system, went off and you’re forced to evacuate and wait outside in your boxers,” Quinn drawled, glancing up to find her struggling not to wince.

“I believe I apologized for that during the following school assembly,” Bailey said with a solemn nod.

“Didn’t really feel like an apology when you kept pointing out that it wouldn’t have happened if the principal had picked a better password,” Quinn said, watching as her lips twitched.

“I still stand by that statement today,” Bailey said as she laid down and closed her eyes as she released a sleepy little sigh while he watched over her, determined to do whatever it took to keep her safe.