Chapter 33 Quinn
Quinn
When I’d made the dagger from a shard of broken mirror, I wasn’t exactly sure who I’d need to protect myself from. I have to consider the possibility that Reid’s brothers won’t be pleased by the news of my alleged-pregnancy. They could hate me all the more for trapping him.
When Ash had said he wasn’t there to make a deal, it sounded as if he didn’t care enough about my welfare to make the call himself. And as Reid sweeps me into his arms, I don’t know if I’m still in danger.
“Ilya’s dead, and we have Quinn,” Ash says.
I look up to find three looming figures bearing down on me. The last time I’d seen the brothers had been in the coffee shop after I’d lured Maddie and Lily out of their office. They have every reason to seek revenge, and with their rifles locked and loaded, their trigger fingers must be twitching.
Automatic gunfire blasts through the building and ricochets around the room. I cry out, and as I curl into a tight ball, there’s a metallic smell that’s overpowering. I’m already covered in Ilya’s blood, but is it now mingling with mine? I’m in too much shock to know if I’ve been hit or not.
“Shit.”
It’s Mace, I think. Although it’s hard to tell above the sound of my clamoring heart.
Reid pulls me back to him. “You’re safe,” he soothes. He pulls at my arms until I uncover my face and look at him. “It’s just the other guys celebrating. We’ve taken over the compound.” He strokes my cheek. “I’ve got you, Quinn. You’re going to be OK.”
“But your…” I try to block out our surroundings. His brothers have taken a step back to give us some space, but they’re still too damn close. “What about them? I swear, I didn’t set out to get pregnant, Reid. And I wasn’t sleeping around. I’m not a whore, if that’s what they think.”
Reid’s face pales. “No one would dare call you a whore, Quinn. No one thinks that.”
“But Ilya…”
“Played mind games,” he reminds me.
“But they should hate me.” I sink my face into his chest. “What I did to Maddie and Lily…”
“Quinn?” It’s Hunter this time, and he’s close. “Can you look at me, please?”
I turn my head towards the voice, but I remain glued to Reid as Hunter crouches down, his rifle lowered.
“The stunt you pulled at the coffee shop was downright irresponsible,” he says, although he keeps his tone soft. “But my wife forgives you, and I’m not brave enough to go against her.”
“Are they OK?”
“They’re fine,” he answers. “More than fine. That pair of badasses wanted to offer themselves up as bait to find you.”
“Really?”
I wish I could laugh, but it’s beyond me. I keep a tight grip on Reid’s Kevlar vest while he trails his fingers through my hair, down my back, over my hips and legs, like he’s mapping out every inch of me as proof that I’m real.
“Hey,” Ash says, drawing my gaze up to him. “You didn’t do anything we wouldn’t do for each other. You wanted to find your sister. We get that.”
A sob escapes but catches in my throat, choking me. I can feel that abyss still waiting to claim me, and I cling to Reid. “Blake’s…” How can I say it? How can I make this real? “She’s dead. The person… The voice on the phone…”
I hiccup a breath and Reid kisses the top of my head. “Shit, I’m so sorry.”
I sit up straighter, shaking my head. Tears streak my cheeks, but I hold back the sobs. “It was AI,” I tell him. “They made me believe I was getting a second chance to say sorry, but she was already gone. Ilya killed her, and Mikhail buried her somewhere here, in the desert.”
“We’ll do what we can to recover her body,” Ash promises.
I tip my head up to him. Ash has just made it so much harder not to start wailing again. “You’d do that? You really don’t hate me?”
“Hmm, well...”
The voice of dissent comes from Mace, and even Ash scowls at him.
“What?” he asks innocently. “I’m not saying I won’t forgive Quinn for putting Lily in danger. It’s just that, well, I might need some sort of incentive.”
“What kind of incentive?” I croak.
“Make me godfather,” he says, eyes twinkling.
“Fuck that,” says Hunter. “If you get to be godfather, so do I.”
“If we’re talking godfathers, shouldn’t that be me?” comes a voice from the door. A man I haven’t seen before with messy, dark brown hair and even deeper brown eyes, leans against the door frame. I presume from the Irish accent, he’s a McConkey.
“Killian, we don’t like you that much,” says Hunter.
I can see a good-natured argument is about to break out, but now isn’t the time or the place to think of babies and christenings.
Or the future. I’m inches away from Ilya’s cooling body, and my sister lies buried in a sandy grave.
I don’t have the strength to consider the possibility of a new life just yet.
“We don’t know for sure that I am pregnant,” I say, shutting them all down. I glance at Reid. “Mind games,” I remind him.
“Then we’ll find out for ourselves,” he says. “But first we need to get you out of here.”
As Reid helps me to my feet, Ash takes off his bulletproof vest. “Wear this,” he says. “Just in case there’s anyone left.”
“There isn’t,” says Killian.
“Good, because I’m betting my life on it,” Ash tells him as he goes to join the Irishman. “Are we done here?”
“We’ve found the safe and a stronghold that Jake’s helping us clear as we speak,” Killian replies. “But if there’s anything else your man here wants, now’s the time to speak.” He tips his head to Mace. “I’m ready to blow this place sky high.”
Mace stoops down to inspect Ilya’s body.
“Jake’ll know what to take, and this is the only other thing I need,” he says, taking Ilya’s cell phone.
He looks to me when he adds, “I don’t have to go searching for one video now.
I’ll take down his whole network of sites that shared footage of the women they abused. ”
He doesn’t say it, but that could include videos of my sister. “Thank you.”
“It’s going to keep me pretty busy for a while.” He quirks an eyebrow. “I might have to recruit Strider.”
I offer a weak smile. “Does he know you’re here?”
Mace taps the camera pinned to his vest. “I’ve been livestreaming the whole thing to him. I would have brought him along, but I hear Mommy doesn’t let him stay out late.”
I look down the lens. “Can he hear us?”
“Would I be calling my new bestie a mommy’s boy if he could hear?”
“Absolutely,” says Hunter. “Mace doesn’t waste his breath insulting people behind their back.”
Mace winks at me. “He can hear.”
I’m still looking at the camera. If Strider’s listening, he’ll know our mission to save Blake has failed. He’s going to be devastated. “We tried,” I tell him, my voice wobbling. “Thank you.”
I wish I could give Strider a hug, and I’m grateful that I have Reid’s arms around me, arms I never want to leave. He only loosens his grip long enough to slip Ash’s bulletproof vest over me.
“We need to get you back to the helicopter. Are you good to go?” he asks, fastening the last strap.
I cup his face in my hands and tip my head back to look at him, really look at him. “Not yet,” I whisper. He’s traced my body from head to toe, but I need just a little more of his worshiping.
Reid pulls my body to his, and when he covers my trembling smile with his, our mouths meld. His tongue parts my lips, and as our kiss deepens, Ash clears his throat.
“We’ll wait outside.”
From the look everyone gave me when I walked into the diner, I was sure I must look like I’d just stepped out of a horror movie, but as I check myself in the restroom mirror, I simply look disheveled.
I suspect the attention I’d drawn had more to do with my arrival in the helicopter that landed in the parking lot ten minutes ago.
There had been a change of clothes waiting for me when we’d reached the helicopter, and I’d stripped out of my blood-soaked t-shirt and jog pants behind a wall constructed of the broad backs of Griffin brothers.
Wet wipes had helped clean up the bloody smears left on my skin, but there was nothing I could do about my hair.
At least the blood isn’t noticeable with my chocolate brown hair coloring, but the metallic smell lingers.
It should revolt me, but I’d gladly bathe in Ilya’s blood for what he did to Blake and countless others.
As I step out of the restroom, Reid’s waiting for me. “Do you want to stay in here and wait, or go back to the others?”
I glance out the window towards the three men pacing in front of the helicopter.
“Can we stay in here?” I ask. “I don’t think I can cope with their…” I pause to find the right word. “Their enthusiasm right now.”
Reid guides me towards an empty booth, pulling me to sit next to him as if the width of a table would be too much separation. “They want to look after you.”
“Yeah, that’s going to take a bit of getting used to considering I thought they wanted to kill me an hour ago.”
We were meant to head straight for the jet waiting to take us back to Chicago, but I’m not the only one impatient to know how far Ilya’s lies had gone.
Ash was piloting the helicopter, because of course the head of the Griffin empire can fly one, and he’d made the unscheduled stop at the all-night pharmacy Mace had found online. All I had to do was pee on the stick.
I place the pregnancy test on the table in front of us. Now we wait.
Reid circles his arms around my waist. “I want to look after you too.” He squeezes me tighter. “I will look after you.”
Before I can respond, a waitress appears. “What can I get you two?”
“Coffee’s fine for now,” Reid says.
The waitress glances at the test Reid and I are actively ignoring. “Sure thing, I’ll give you a few minutes.”
I’m pressed shoulder to shoulder with Reid, but I keep my hands clasped in front of me. “Are you sure you’re ready to be stuck with me?”
“Have you not been paying attention?” he asks. “I don’t want a life without you, Quinn. I’ve had a taste of that over the past few days, and sorry, but it’s not for me.”
“I really am sorry I put you through that.”
“I didn’t know if I’d lost you, or if I’d never had you in the first place,” he admits.
“You had me,” I say. My hands fidget in my lap. “You have me, Reid. If you still want me?”
“Fuck this,” Reid says, pulling me onto his lap. “I want you, Quinn. And if this isn’t our time to have a baby, then that’s a discussion for the future. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”
I rest my head against his chest, and take his hand. Our fingers entwine. Why do I get to live and my sister didn’t? How do I deserve any of this?
“When I found out Blake was gone, I thought I’d lost everything,” I tell him.
“I wanted to curl up and die. I didn’t see a future because I couldn’t see beyond the pain.
But I clung on for you. And when you and your stormtrooper brothers walked through the door and…
” I choke on my words. “You gave me a reason to live again.”
Reid rocks me gently, his lips resting on the top of my head. I’m sure the pregnancy test should show the result by now, but neither of us move. I chew my lip. Our relationship is so new, and we’ve never discussed if we wanted children. Circumstances have overtaken us.
“You’re quiet,” I say, breaking the silence.
“Can’t you hear it?”
I lift my head. “Hear what?”
“Me,” he says, capturing me in his gaze. “Loving you so fucking loudly, Quinn.”
My breath catches in my throat, and Reid steals the next with his mouth. We kiss slowly and tenderly, our tongues dancing and our hearts singing.
“I love you so much,” I say, aware of the plastic stick in my periphery that we don’t dare check. “I’m just too scared to hope.”
“Viper, if it’s negative, I’m happy to put a baby in you whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” I whisper.
As we’re straightening up, the waitress appears with cups and a coffee pot. She’s more brazen this time when she looks at the test. “Would you like me to get you a decaf instead, sweetie?”
“Sorry?”
She tips her head. “Congratulations.”
I snatch up the plastic stick. It’s a digital test and it has one word on it. Pregnant.
Reid’s seen it too and he grips the sides of my head. “I thought I’d fallen hard for you, but I swear, Quinn, I’m still falling. This is some ride.”
The waitress clears her throat. “I’ll give you more time.”
“Actually, I think we’ll skip coffee,” Reid says.
“Not a problem,” the waitress says, stepping away. “You take care of them both.”
I stop Reid before he can move. “You’re sure you’re happy about this?”
He beams a smile. “I’m fucking euphoric.”
My laugh is a childish giggle, and it reminds me of Blake. I feel guilty for my happiness, but I let that thought float away for now. I’m never going to stop grieving for my sister, but we grew up finding light in the darkest of places. She’s with me, shining as bright as she ever did.
As Reid brushes away the rogue tear slipping down my cheek, we’re distracted by an ear-splitting whistle. There are three men standing on the other side of the window, arms crossed over their broad chests, scowls on their faces.
“We’d better go and tell them,” Reid says out of the corner of his mouth. He holds up a finger to indicate we’ll be there in a minute.
“No, keep your finger there,” I say.
I lean forward and place my finger perpendicular to Reid’s, creating a cross – or a positive sign.
Hunter gets it first and he punches Ash in the shoulder. Meanwhile, Mace jumps onto Hunter’s back and gets a piggy back ride as they run circles around Ash, who rolls his eyes at me. I think I’m going to like him best.
Hunter and Mace stop prancing around, and Ash orders them back to the helicopter. He’s in the center as they walk away, and he clasps each of his brothers on the shoulder, fisting their shirts. They all tip their heads back and laugh.
“Are you ready for this?” Reid asks as he slides us along the bench seat.
“I won’t lie. I’m slightly terrified of your family, but I’ve never felt more loved.”
“Good,” he says, taking my hand and leading me out of the diner. “Like it or not, you’re a Griffin now.”
I squeeze his hand. “I like it.”