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My gaze snapped to her, my mirth falling over in shock.
“I thought you said I wasn’t your first!” I exclaimed in a harsh whisper.
Only when I caught sight of the small smirk on her lips did the tension in my shoulders dissipate.
With a breathy chuckle, I sat back in the chair and sent her a relieved smile. I couldn’t even pinpoint a time when I felt so comfortable in someone’s presence.Maybe Sloan, but even then I couldn’t talk to her like this.
“I’m not famous,” I said after a moment.
She just shrugged and brought the cup back to her lips.
She took a sip before setting it down and leaning forward. My eyes lingered on her throat, I had the strangest need to sink my teeth into the taunt column just to see her reaction to it.
“I don’t mind,” she said. “And I have nothing to hide.”
I blinked rapidly, trying to get my head in the game.Nothing to hide.I nodded, though I didn’t quite believe her. Everyone had something to hide.
“So… it’s probably a good time to ask what you do?”
“Or ask what skeletons I’m hiding in my closet,” Quinn suggested. Her tone was dark, her eyes slightly narrowed. Outwardly, nothing really changed, but there was a shift in the air.
One that excited me when it shouldn’t have.
“I just hope they are well hidden. I can handle almost anything but jobs that hurt or take advantage of people.” I said. My response seemed to stun her. She blinked before leaning back in her chair.
“What about jobs that hurtbadpeople for a cause?” she asked.
“I—um—”
“Kidding,” Quinn said, lifting the tension that had fallen over us. “I am but a lowly contractor for a construction company owned by a family member. Though becoming a vigilantewouldmake for an interesting story, wouldn’t it?”
“It would,” I said with a nervous chuckle.
It didn’t feel right. There was nothing wrong with the way she said it or the type of job… but it didn’t fit her at all. Not that she wouldn’t be able to oversee construction projects and the like… but that was just soboring.
Boring and just…wrong.
This is your paranoia talking. Just like your paranoia talked you into following her into the bathroom last night.
But if she was just a normal person…what would she think if she knew what I did?I couldn’t help but think of my job in comparison. Or how it felt to pummel that man into the ground. I hurt people. All the time for the sake of my job.
He wasn’t the first, nor was he the last. Men like him—men whohurtpeople—brought out something dark in me. Something I had no control over. But she… she would never find that out.
I waited for her to ask me about my job, but she stayed silent.
“Are you going to ask about mine?” I asked hesitantly.
“Nope,” she said, popping the “p.” “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
I shifted in my chair. Sweat coated my palms, and my mouth went dry.
I could tell her.It would be easy…then why couldn’t I? Why couldn’t I just open my mouth and say it?
“And if Ihurtbad people to protect others?” I finally asked.
“Then I would call you a hypocrite.”
Her words caused me to freeze. They shot straight through my chest like a knife, stopping my heart.
