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Quinn slid a folder across the table toward Dave.
“This is the proposal I put together for your personal security. The two men I had with you over the weekend reported that you were polite and cooperative. For which I give my thanks. In there you will find a more detailed description of the services I am willing to provide. Personal security is not a part of my company anymore. Publicly. I do take on clients on a case-by-case basis with very specific expectations.” He dipped his chin at the folder. “I suggest you read it thoroughly and have a lawyer look it over before signing it.”
Quinn paused.
It was the kind of pause that was designed to get attention and add weight to his next words.
“You may want to pay special attention to the morality clause.”
Dave swallowed.
“What’s a morality clause?”
He was pretty sure he could guess just from the name, but he wouldn’t be him if he didn’t ask.
“It states that if you deliberately do anything to misrepresent my staff or company’s ethos then our contract is terminated.”
Alex snorted.
Quinn stiffened and he side-eyed the man next to him.
“You have something to offer?”
Alex lifted an eyebrow at Dave. “You won’t need to worry about it. He’s making it sound way worse than it is.”
Quinn reared back in the most polite rearing back Dave had ever seen. “I disagree. I believe, based on Mr. Hansen’s history and public persona, it is in a fact averyserious thing.”
Shame rolled through Dave’s entire body and he fought to sit still.
Alex rolled his eyes and snorted again. “So he’s a had few romantic entanglements that ended in misdemeanors. I told you, I don’t believe any of that was his fault. Not directly.”
“Arson is a felony,” Quinn replied tightly. “And three is a pattern, not a coincidence.”
“Don’t maketheirchoiceshischoices. All of those women had a social history of instability and a criminal record. Long before they met Sunshine Capone.” Alex turned his eyes to Dave. “Right?”
“Some people aren’t equipped to deal with the life I have.” Dave shrugged. “I understand your worry. I’m not planning on dating again for… ever?” He forced a humorless laugh. “I know that’s not a practical long-term plan but it’s what I have for right now.”
After a beat of silence Quinn spoke again.
“Arson, Mr. Hansen. That’s not just being unequipped.”
“Are you asking me if I drove her to it?” Dave asked sadly.
“Did you?”
Dave ran a hand through his hair and let his hands drop into his lap, defeated. “She thought I had cheated on her. I didn’t though. I would never do that. But she saw something online and believed the worst.”
He’d hugged a friend. Someone he hadn’t seen since high school. They’d run into each other outside of a restaurant in New York. She was an architect now. They had spoken for maybe three minutes as he waited for his car at valet. They hugged and parted ways. They didn’t exchange numbers. They didn’t promise to hang out.
Someone had taken a picture and posted it to Twitter, and by the end of the day, an entire scenario had been concocted that had never happened.
But Nora didn’t believe him.
“You can’t even tell me what you had for lunch. How am I supposed to believe anything you say?”
She’d taken one of his favorite basketball jerseys, lit it on fire, left it in the bathtub, and left the house.
She hadn’t planned on burning down the house.
