Chapter 22
Quinn
Idon’t want to leave the cabin. I don’t want my car back.
Or my phone. Especially my phone. It’s a reminder that there’s an ugly world waiting for us beyond our little log cabin.
I’d woken from a dreamless sleep, sated and happy – the kind of happiness I know can’t last, so I cling onto it even more.
Pressing my naked body to Reid’s, I rest my hand over his heart.
It’s only just slowing. We’d risen early from bed with good intentions, showered together, had orgasms together, and all we had to do was get dressed.
But my belongings are still in my Jeep, so I’d slipped on one of Reid’s white dress shirts.
He’d immediately wanted to fuck me in it. Then out of it.
“I think we should try to make it to the kitchen,” says Reid, stroking my arm with the back of his hand.
“Am I allowed to wear your shirt without you ripping it off me?”
He kisses my forehead. “Whether you’re in or out of my shirt, I’d still want you more than I want food. Or air.”
“What if I sneak into Jake’s room and steal something of his to wear?”
Reid chuckles. “I’d rip it to shreds and throw it into the fire before you’d taken two steps.”
I trail a finger over the inked lines on his chest, stroking the lethal curve of the eagle’s beak and across its feathered head. “I feel bad for locking him out.”
“I’m sure he’s fine taking a night off from babysitting me,” Reid says. “But I am going to have to check in with everyone. We can’t put it off forever.”
When I can’t bring myself to agree, Reid hooks a finger under my chin and angles my face to his. “We’re going to figure this out together. Ilya doesn’t get to control you or your sister. He has no idea what he took on when he picked a fight with you.”
“How can you still think I’m worth fighting for when I destroyed an innocent man’s reputation just for Ilya’s private amusement?”
“Is that the same Jason who’s just landed his dream job in Colorado?
Once he got over the shock of me storming into his motel room, he looked pretty stoked about the hand he’d just been dealt,” Reid says.
“I’m sure there’d be plenty of people glad to have you destroying their lives if that’s how it plays out. ”
I shrug. “But I know Jason. He’s going to beat himself up over what didn’t happen until I’m able to tell him the truth. And technically, it was Strider who arranged the job in Colorado, not me.”
I need to let Strider know where I am, but I’ll wait until I can get another burner phone. Even if Jake says my phone is clean, I don’t quite trust Mace not to install his own spyware. I have a duty to protect Strider’s identity. I don’t want him dragged into this mess any more than he has been.
“Come on,” Reid says, rolling away and getting out of bed. He holds out a hand. “The world isn’t going to be saved all on its own.”
I’m buttoning up Reid’s shirt when he comes from behind and lifts me off my feet.
“I can walk,” I say, kicking my legs as he carries me into the kitchen.
Reid sets me down at the table he’d bent me over the night before. Not on a seat like a normal person, but the table itself.
“No one’s going to be able to eat off here ever again,” I warn.
Reid stands between my legs and looks down. “Oh, I don’t know, I’m getting hungry just looking at it.”
I push against his chest. “Real food, Reid. Not–”
“Pussy?”
I thump him again. “I was going to say Pringles and Twinkies.” I tell him. Reid had stocked up with the same flavor Pringles I’d had back at the mansion, preparing for the day he dragged me back here. The Twinkies are his choice. “Either way, we need a proper breakfast.”
“Fine,” he says, finally stepping away. “Bacon and pancakes it is. Or you could have cereal if you’re in a hurry.”
“Bacon and pancakes. I don’t mind waiting with that view.”
Reid stands at the refrigerator in only his boxer shorts. There isn’t a part of him I haven’t touched or kissed, but my body aches for more. My face is completely readable and he arches an eyebrow. “You can look, but you can’t touch, Viper. I have work to do.”
I rest back on my arms, my legs swinging as I watch him set to work. “This is nice.”
“What’s nice?” asks Reid, setting ingredients down on the counter.
Warmth floods my chest, and I’m enjoying the moment too much to check my words. “Having my boyfriend cook me breakfast.”
Heat scorches my cheeks and I scrunch up my face as Reid looks over his shoulder at me. He has the biggest grin on his face.
“Did you just call me your boyfriend?”
I try to shrug it off. “You know what I mean.”
He nods once. “Yes, I do,” he agrees. “Because I hang on my girlfriend’s every word.”
And with that, he turns back to his cooking.
He doesn’t try to overanalyze it, or me.
It is what it is. We’re an us now, and I dare to imagine a life beyond our current predicament.
Where would we go on our first date? Where would we live?
Would we settle down and raise a family? Or would we travel and see the world?
As my mind wanders, my eyes are drawn to Reid’s phone resting on the counter directly opposite. Reid had deliberately left it out here last night so we wouldn’t be disturbed, but there’s only so long we can keep the madness at bay. His phone keeps lighting up. And he keeps ignoring it.
“You should answer that,” I say.
Bacon sizzles on the skillet. “If it was anything important, Jake would come knocking on the door.”
The front door reverberates with the thump, thump of a heavy fist against wood.
“Like that?” I ask, my heart sinking.
“Answer the fucking phone, Reid!” Jake bellows. “We leave in thirty!”
My stomach hollows, and I immediately lose my appetite. Who’s leaving? Am I included? And where are they/we going?
“I’ve got it!” Reid hollers back, snatching up his phone.
“Good! But I still need to get in there to grab my gear!”
“Fine! Give me ten minutes!” He curses under his breath as he connects the call.
His jaw tics, and I’m expecting him to berate whoever’s disturbing our peace, but he doesn’t.
He listens. And when he eventually speaks, he’s interrupted each time.
“But I thought… Can’t we wait until…? I know that, but…
” His shoulders slump. “Understood. I’ll see you later. ”
When he finishes the call, Reid turns off the burner before coming over. He stands between my legs and sweeps his hands down my back before grabbing my ass and pulling me closer.
“We have to head back to Chicago. I need to sit down with my brothers and figure out what to do next.” He glances to where I’m chewing my lip.
“Don’t worry, Quinn. I’m not dragging you back to be interrogated by my brothers.
They’ve arranged for you to stay at one of the Moncrief hotels.
We have close links with the owners and we can combine their security with ours so you’ll be safe. ”
“I’ll be safe? On my own?”
Reid cocks his head. “You think I’d leave you on your own?
Fuck no. I thought I made myself clear when I was fucking you on this very table,” he says, eyes bouncing between mine.
“I’m not letting you go.” He leans in and sucks the lip I’d been worrying.
“We’re just getting an upgrade in accommodation. ”
Reid’s hands slip underneath my ass and when he lifts me up, I wrap my arms around his neck. “I still need fresh clothes, Reid.”
He huffs out a sigh as we return to our bedroom. “If I didn’t have to worry about other men seeing what’s mine, I’d have you sitting next to me naked.”
I give him a trembling smile. “Say that again, boyfriend. Tell me I’m yours.”
“Mine,” he growls, dropping me onto the bed and falling down over me. He braces himself above so the only point of contact is his noticeable erection against my swollen and needy pussy.
“Reid, we can’t,” I say between gasps as he rubs against me. “Poor Jake needs to pack and we’re running out of time.”
Reid brushes his nose against mine. “We can’t possibly run out of time, Quinn. We’ve still got forever.”
I’d expected a long drive back to Chicago, but we’d gone straight from the cabins to an airfield where I quickly spotted the now-familiar Griffin logo, this time on a private jet.
The transfer from jet, to SUV, to swanky hotel was seamless, and it’s just after midday when we step into a penthouse suite in the Excelsis hotel owned by the Moncriefs.
Only Jake and Levi accompanied us on the flight. The rest of their team have been tasked with decommissioning the temporary base at the cabins. I’ve been promised I’ll be reunited with my Jeep soon, but at least my belongings have traveled with me.
I refuse to consider how thoroughly the Griffin’s head of security had inspected my things. Hopefully it wasn’t with the same level of enthusiasm Reid showed when he strip-searched me.
“I need to go into the office soon,” Reid explains as he joins me in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the Chicago River. “But Jake’s going to post a couple of men outside the door.”
“Is that to keep the bad guys out, or to keep me in?”
Reid pulls me to him. “They’re to protect you, Viper. And to make me feel better about leaving you here.”
Resting my hands on his chest, I feel the sigh as it leaves him. He’s changed into his city attire of white button-down and suit pants.
“I presume I’m not allowed to come along and wait around in your offices. Are your brothers being that cautious?”
He strokes my back. “I did try, but this afternoon’s meeting is all about finding a way through this that protects us all.”
“It’s OK, I’m not offended,” I insist, tapping a finger against his chest. “I’m the one who said I can’t be trusted.”
The crisp shirt beneath my fingertips feels too much like a uniform. I miss the man dressed in black who refused a Kevlar vest in his haste to get to me, the one who exists beyond his brothers’ influence. Before me stands a Griffin. Loyal, ruthless and duty bound to follow his pack leader.
Reid stills my fidgeting by placing his hand over mine. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Fine,” I say. “I need to go shopping anyway to pick up a few things.”
“Quinn, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. We’ll go out later, together.”
“I’m not in danger, not from Ilya, not yet. He wants me here amongst his enemies,” I say, dropping as big a clue as I dare that I’m here with his blessing.
Reid doesn’t pick up on it. He’s too preoccupied with my proposed shopping trip.
“Make that face all you like,” I continue, “but I am going out. And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll be buying a new burner phone. I destroyed the last one in case Ilya got his hands on it, and I need to make contact with Strider before he starts to panic.”
“Cool,” Reid says, bringing my hand to his mouth to kiss my fingers. “You don’t have to justify your actions. You have your own agenda, and we’re not in the business of hostile takeovers. We prefer working partnerships.”
I can’t return his smile. He’s talking collectively, as a Griffin would.
What if they put it to a vote about Reid staying involved with me?
I know how that vote would go. Driving us apart is the one thing Reid’s brothers and Ilya have in common.
Reid and I don’t stand a chance. Which is why I’m going to make every moment count.
“At some point, I need to arrange to see a doctor too. Your jumbo pack of condoms won’t last the week, and I’d like to check out what other birth control options are available.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asks. “I’m happy to carry on using condoms if it’s easier for you.”
I wrap my arms around his neck, and we rock against each other. “There are enough forces trying to come between us, latex doesn’t have to be one of them.”
He rubs his nose against mine. “Nothing is coming between us, Quinn,” he promises. “But I don’t want you doing anything you’re not comfortable with. If I’ve been overenthusiastic, you will say, won’t you?”
“Overenthusiastic?” I repeat as I press up against him. This man is always hard.
“Yeah, I know what’s going on down there,” he admits.
“But for once my dick is not part of this conversation.” He sucks his teeth.
“I know I can’t look at you without wanting to fuck you.
I love the way you move, how you smell, how you taste, how you say my name when you come.
” His voice grows husky and for a second it looks like he’s lost his train of thought.
“But there’s more to us than just sex. You might blow my dick like a goddess, but you blow my mind like…
I don’t know.” His eyes sparkle. “Like the trigger-happy assassin I fell for.”
His final comment unnerves me. He called me an assassin. Is that what I am? Is that what Ilya expects of me?