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"Get a room, you two," Isobel snapped at us from down the aisle.
I growled in frustration under my breath as I pulled away from Quinton and sat back in my own seat. I loved, Isobel, truly, I did. But she was getting on my damn last nerve. I even understood why she was so upset with me at the moment, and I still wanted to smack her upside the head.
"You let Romero stay behind, but I wasn't allowed to." She pouted, miserable. "That's so far from being fair it isn't even funny."
She was absolutely right. I'd already wasted my breath arguing about it with her in the car, though, and I had no intention of doing it again on a fucking plane. Quinton, however, hadn't argued the first time around, he'd stayed out of it. Unlucky for Isobel, he'd decided he was done staying out of it and letting the girls duke it out.
Quinton turned in his seat to face her as his hand went to my thigh.
"You're being a bitch," he told her. "And I've had about enough of it."
She sputtered in outrage and her face immediately turned an alarming shade of red. "How dare you call me a bitch," she hissed at him. "After everything I've been through, how fucking dare you."
I wanted to comment that her language was inappropriate to use in front of Baxter, but kept my mouth shut. Quinton had started it by calling her a bitch, after all, and I didn't want to chastise him because I felt like he'd spoken the truth. Though, he could have worded it better.
"I only call it like it see it," he shot back. "When you stop acting like an ungrateful bitch, then I'll stop calling you one."
Oh dear.
This was not going well at all.
"It's because of Ariel that you're no longer down in that hole. And it's because of Rain that you didn't drown in there. They both risked a great deal to get you out of there. Can you even imagine what it would have done to Ariel if her father had been caught going to get you? After everything they've gone through apart, and everything he's done to get her back... He risks it all every day by having you in his home."
I swallowed painfully past the lump of emotion taking root in my throat. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but he was absolutely right. Not that I would change anything, because Isobel had become family to me and to Rain, and even before that going to get her had been the right thing to do. There'd been no question in my mind and certainly not in Rain's. Leaving her there hadn't been an option for either of us.
"The threat is ten times worse now and you damn well know it. We've got our work cut out for us keeping Rain hidden, we can't hide you and Baxter as well and make sure you're not only hidden but safe on top of that. And I know you're angry and pissed off. It's okay to feel that way, and I'm not about to tell you your feelings are wrong. Hell, were I in your shoes, I'd feel the same damn way. You want vengeance and you want to watch as the entire Council burns for their wrongs against you. I. Fucking. Get.It."
"Then why—"
"I'm not done speaking. Don't interrupt me."
I flinched at his harsh tone.
Quinton had had enough of her bullshit—and probably mine too. Sorry, Isobel, but you're catching heat for me. Then again... #sorrynotsorry—and he wasn't going to take any more of it. This was the Quinton we all knew and either loved or loved to hate. Me, personally, I loved him, but every now and then I wanted to punch him in the throat. Not all relationships could be perfect though, so whatever.
"You're a liability and keeping you around could potentially put my family in danger. We're not doing that. Besides, I think you might just be a little unstable. Tyson told me about the brownies that you tried to drug Rain with. We can't have that around us right now. Also, it doesn't hurt that someone from the family needs to stay with Baxter and make sure he's safe. Right now, that's your job and I hope it's one you take seriously, because if you fuck it up and something happens to that little boy, the time you spent in that hole is going to look like a fucking vacation at a five star resort when I get through with you."
"Quinton," I hissed. Threatening her wasn't the right way to go about this. Jesus, he was nuts.
Wait a minute... "Did you say she tried to drug Rain?"
What in the actual fuck was he talking about?
I turned on Isobel and my nostrils flared. "Did you try to drug my father?" I asked in a cold, hard voice that I had never used with the woman before. I'd never had a need to and, honestly, never thought I would.
If she tried to hurt Rain... I couldn't even finish the thought, that was how horrible it was.
"They were pot brownies!" Isobel exploded. She threw her hands up in the air in a show of frustration. "I wasn't trying to hurt him, just loosen him up a bit. I would never hurt Rain. I love him. He's become my family, my protector, and my very best friend. Though, if you asked him, he would probably deny all of it except for the family part."
She ran a shaky hand through her dark hair, pushing it back from her face. She tucked the loose strands behind her ears and began blinking rapidly.
I didn't want to see her cry, Isobel was the strongest woman I knew. She'd gone through so much and had seemed so strong despite it. Now she was crumbling under the weight of her emotions because... because why? She had feelings for Rain and he didn't reciprocate them?
That made her crazy and as unstable as Quinton claimed her to be.
"Did you try to date rape my dad?"
"What?" she exclaimed, her face turning an alarming shade of red. "Of course not!"
