We eat in companionable silence for a while, but the subject we’ve carefully not mentioned starts feeling heavier and heavier between us.
I take off my jacket and roll it up so I can rest my head on it when I stretch out and look up at the sky. We’re too deep in the city for the stars to be impressive, but they’re still pretty. “He was supposed to meet you that night.”
Priest lies down beside me. “Yeah.”
“What happened?” I whisper.
“I wish I could tell you. We…” He takes a deep breath and holds it before letting it out in a soft rush. “Was supposed to be our first real job. It got fucked six ways to Sunday. Thought we were so fucking grown up, but we were still kids, you know? The details don’t fucking matter, but we split up to lose them. I waited all night and most of the next day.”
“I never told anyone, but he came home.”
“What?” Priest sits up, leaning on his arm and looking down at me. His face is shrouded in darkness, but I can feel the intensity of his gaze.
“He… there was so much blood.” No matter how long I live, even if the sharpest edges of loss go dull, I will never forget the sight of him dripping blood on my biology homework. I got in so much trouble for not turning that in. It’s funny what details the brain decides are worth keeping. “He gave me money and told me to take care of it. That he was going to try and come back.”
“You were what? Twelve?”
“Yep.”
“Shit… How much money?”
“Ten grand. Some of it was from what he was saving for us to move out, but I think he probably stole some of it.” Blood money. I close my eyes, unable to look at Priest without seeing Heath. “I miss him.”
His fingers ghost across my cheek, wiping away a tear I don’t remember crying. “I’m not a good man, Quinn. I didn’t learn from that night and turn my life around. I just grew up and got better at it.” Priest almost sounds like he’s apologizing for surviving.
I might not know the gory details, but I know what he’s saying. He, Colt and Sinner aren’t little boys pretending to be cowboys. But this man bought me a bed. He was back in my life for a day and he bought me a bed. Good is a mostly meaningless word meant for people who never actually do anything to test it.
Without opening my eyes, I move my hand to his and thread our fingers together. “You don’t have to be good. Just… stick around, okay? I missed you, too.”
“I’ll try.” He lifts our hands and presses a kiss to the back of mine.
I feel it all the way to my soul. The heat of his lips, the slightly wet pull as they lift from my skin. The urge to kiss him for real simmers right under the surface, but I don’t know what it would mean. Priest mentioned that there are always women around the club looking for a good time. All three of them seem so easy with their flirting. Sex is probably just another fun way to pass the time.
I don’t judge them for it. Film sets and theater productions are like sexual pressure cookers. You’re thrown together with passionate people working long hours under strange, emotional conditions. I’ve always been cautious, but I’m not a prude.
I just don’t know if I could cross that line and recover from it.
9
Chapter 9 - Quinn
The last thingI expect to see through on my doorcam when someone knocks the next morning is Sinner and Colt standing in the hall holding a TV. I crack the door open. “Um, can I help you?”
“Yeah, open the door. This isn’t heavy but it’s a pain in the ass to carry,” Colt grumbles.
I step back, watching in confusion as they bring it in and push my coffee table to the wall to have something to put the TV on. Sinner has a backpack swung over his shoulder, and he unzips it, fishing out some cords and a small coffee maker.
“No, but really. What are you guys doing?” First a bed, and now this?
Sinner grins. He’s probably the roughest looking of the three of them, with fierce features, dark golden beard and chaotic mix of tattoos, some professional and crisp, others barely more than blown-out scribbling. But his smile changes everything. I bet noteveryone gets to see this side of him and I kind of like it in a way I’m not sure I want to examine too closely yet.
Colt, on the other hand, is more traditionally handsome in a bad boy sort of way, but he’s not as open. It makes me wonder what’s going on behind those mossy eyes.
“It’s no big deal. We were just talking about how empty your place was the other night, and living in the compound with all the guys, there’s never a shortage of extra shit lying around,” Sinner explains.
“How did you get this here on a bike? And how’d you even get in? I haven’t added you to the guest list or anything.”
That actually gets a grin out of Colt. “Clarke likes us. The security routines here might need some tightening.”
