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“I don’t care how old she is when it involves you. You obviously didn’t.”
“Would you have had the same problem if it was Xander or were you just afraid I was beneath her?”
“I never treated you any differently until you fucked my baby sister inmyfucking house.” Tobias takes a step forward.
“Your father’s house,” Quentin taunts.
The mention of my father has Tobias’s fists balling up, and I press my hands to my brother’s chest.
“Please.Please. Both of you just calm down.” I shoot a look over my shoulder at Quentin.
“I’ll calm down when this asshole stays away from my family. Trying to get East kicked off the team and now he’s trying to ruin your life too.”
“He’s not trying to ruin my life. There’s a lot you don’t know, Tobias, so I suggest you talk less until I have a chance to explain. Remember when you lectured me on the way I talked to Scarlett the first time we met?” I flash my brother a warning look and his shoulders relax the slightest bit.
“This isn’t the first time we’re meeting.”
“It’s the first time in a long time.”
“Start talking then,” Tobias grits out.
“There’s a lot about the past that isn’t mine to tell. But I’ve forgiven Quentin. There are no hard feelings, and we’re both moving on. I think you would too if you knew. And you should also know, A.J. and I aren’t really together. That’s between us. I’m doing it to protect him from Dad while he figures out what he’s going to do. He’s hoping for a spot elsewhere, and you know what Dad would do if he found out. He was furious enough when he heard about Cincinnati wanting him. But he’s got his ex-wife and kids to think about in Chicago. He knows about Quentin. No one’s cheating,” I explain as quickly as humanly possible.
“What about the part where he’s your client, and you essentially work for him?”
“Are you implying he pays me for sex?” I glare at my brother.
“I’m implying that the optics are bad. You of all people should know that.”
“I’m well aware of the optics, but I don’t work for him.”
“Trust me. If anyone works for anyone around here, I work for her,” Quentin muses and Tobias shoots him a look, but I see the slightest twitch of his lip like he’s entertained by the idea. I frown at both of them and continue.
“We’re coworkers. Neither of us reports to the other. The Chaos pays the bill, not Quentin.”
“So you’ve reported it to management?” Tobias looks at me skeptically.
“Obviously not. Since when are you such a stickler for the rules?”
“Since this last year.”
“This is nothing like that.”
“And it’s just a coincidence that you ended up at the same organization at the same time?” Tobias levels Quentin with a suspicious look.
“Stranger things have happened,” I counter.
“Not exactly. She was part of the bait my uncle used to get me there,” Quentin answers, and I whip around to stare at him.
“What?” I ask before Tobias can say anything else.
Quentin has the decency to look slightly sheepish. “When my uncle saw you on the new hire list after they brought him on… He might have mentioned it to me.”
“So you knew when you were in negotiations—when they were edging A.J. out?”
“Might have…” He lifts a shoulder.
“See, I told you…” Tobias mutters.
