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The tears started to fall, but I didn't have it in me to feel sorry for her anymore. Maybe she wasn't the right person to stay with Baxter right now in order to keep him safe. Not if she was this kind of a psycho.
Baxter might not have been my blood, but Rain thought of him as a son and that was good enough for me. He was my little brother now, and I would do anything for him. If anything happened to him there was no telling what either Rain or myself would do, but I could tell you right now it wouldn't be pretty and the person responsible for it would suffer greatly.
"I would never hurt Rain," Isobel insisted urgently. "I love him. I would never do anything to hurt him. He saved me. I wouldn't have actually let him eat one of the brownies, okay?"
No, it was not okay. Not in the slightest. Isobel had broken my trust and I would never look at her the same again.
She blanched and her hand went to her mouth. "I don't feel so good." She scrambled up out of her seat and raced toward the back of the plane where I knew the bathroom to be.
"She doesn't want anyone to know that she loves Rain," Baxter said, speaking up for the first time since getting on the plane. "I'm pretty sure she'sinlove with him too. My mom told me there was a difference between loving someone and being in love with them. I don't think she'd ever actually hurt him, she's just confused and scared."
The kid was a smart little boy, but making excuses for Isobel at the moment didn't make him sound smart at all.
"Drugging him isn't the kind of love I think Rain wants to receive from a woman," Quinton muttered irately. "It's not the kind of love I want you to think is acceptable either. I want more for you both than that level of crazy."
Isobel had tried to drug my father.
That horrible thought kept running through my brain and I didn't know how to deal with it. Granted, she tried to give him a pot brownie and hadn't slipped a roofie in his drink so she could take advantage of him when the lights went out. Still... who does that? Quinton was right, a crazy person did that.
And that crazy person lived with my father and his adoptive son.
And now I was leaving said son with her in a strange place neither of them had ever been before with strange people neither of them had ever met before.
"She's not a bad person," Baxter assured us. "She's really not. She loves Rain and she loves me. You don't have to worry about leaving me with her, she won't hurt me. Besides, I took care of both my mother and myself when we had no one else or nothing. I don't need someone to take care of me, I can look after myself."
I didn't need the reminder that Baxter's mother was dead, and before her death she and her son had lived a horrible life where Baxter had been forced to take care of her and be the man in the family. That reminder made me feel like garbage and had my palms itching to call my father and let him know what was going on.
"If something happens to you because of the decisions I'm making right now, I will never forgive myself. And I don't think Rain will ever forgive me either."
That terrified me. My relationship with Rain was one of the most precious things in my life, and I didn't want to damage it for any reason. It would crush me.
"Put your headphones back on and watch your movie," Quinton ordered Baxter. Despite the unease swirling around in my belly, I rolled my eyes. Baxter would do it simply because it had been Quinton who told him to. The kid had a hero worship going on when it came to Uncle Quint, and it didn't help that Quinton was wrapped happily around the little boy's finger and catered to his every want and need.
Quinton turned back to me and cupped my face in his rough but gentle hands. His eyes bored into mine and my anxiety slowly faded.
"The kid is right, and I don't think we have anything to fear with Isobel harming either your father or the boy. I think she's a little messed up in the head because of her time spent in the well, and maybe she's not acting like a normal person but, baby, we've got to be patient with her. Remember, her entire family was murdered before the Council got their hands on her and then she was just tossed down in a hole in the dirt. She's had no time to grieve and she hasn't had enough time to adjust to her new life now. We gotta give her time and trust that Rain isn't stupid. Do you honestly think he'd let her live in his house and be alone with the kid if he didn't trust her? Because I sure as fuck don't. I think she's done some questionable shit, and I know I gave her a hard time, but I just want her to be aware of whatI'mcapable of if she slips up and fucks with my family. I don't actually think she's going to do it."
What an asshole.
I couldn't take his back and forth, wishy-washy attitude right now.
"I don't care," I muttered angrily as I jerked my head out of his hands. I turned back to the window, essentially blocking him out and ending the conversation.
When I was done I was done and that was all there was to it.
"Fine," Quinton sighed heavily. "I'll go check on her and make sure she's alright while you pout."
I wasn't pouting, damn it.
His heat moved away and then it was gone entirely. He'd gone to check onIsobelwho'd tried to drug my father. I didn't want to hate her, and I didn't want to resent my boyfriend for going to check on her, but if she kept this shit up then that was where we'd be no matter how Rain or Baxter felt about her.
Unfortunately for me, I now knew I needed to make what I was sure would be an unpleasant phone call as soon as we landed and got off of this plane.
Fortunately for Quinton, though, he seemed to have forgotten all about his fear of flying the moment the drama started.
I couldn't find it in me to begrudge him this.
* * *
