Nelson laughed. “Hey, forget about the damn door. I’m just glad you were there to take care of my sister.”
Quinn side-eyed her with pride. “I’m not sure how much taking care of she needed. She was holding her own pretty well until the son of a bitch about tore her hair out.”
Sarah rubbed her head gingerly and slid him a hooded look. “Don’t let Quinn fool you. He was like the cavalry, riding to the rescue in the nick of time. Wolf got the first shot in, but Quinn dropped him with one punch, and that was all she wrote.”
Quinn fidgeted, his cheeks heating, while Nelson guffawed. “Maybe you should start dropping the gloves on the ice, Hads.”
“And ruin this pretty face? No way. T.J. can keep his job,” Quinn retorted. Sarah beamed him a smile, and his chest expanded a few coat sizes.
“So what’s next?” Nelson asked.
“They’ve got him locked up”—for now—“on a laundry list of charges, including felonies. They’ve taken Sarah’s and my statements, and they’ll be contacting you and Lily too. But it ain’t over. Not by a long shot.”
“He’ll get out on bail, right? Then what?”
Sarah’s hand trembled, and Quinn covered it with his and squeezed. “Because of the seriousness of the charges, they’ll set a bail hearing first to determine the amount, so he’s not getting sprung just yet. I’m taking Sarah home with me, and she’ll be safe there. Wolf doesn’t know where I live, and he’s not going to find out. Grims and one of his buddies are picking up Sarah’s Jeep as we speak and bringing it to my place, so there’s no chance for Wolf to follow and figure out where she’s stashed. But just in case, I’m in the process of getting the security system fired up. And if those precautions fail and he shows up—”
“He’s a fucking dead man,” Sarah growled.
There’s my little badass! He lifted her hand to his mouth and dropped a kiss on it. He couldn’t keep the grin from his face.
They hung up, and Quinn pulled up to the house, surprised to see a dark Buick SUV parked in front. Inside the garage, he helped Sarah down from the truck. Without thinking, he crushed her against him, burying his nose in her hair and breathing in her flowery vanilla fragrance. For about the hundredth time that day, he sent a thank you upward to whoever was in charge of the universe. A thank-you for letting no more harm come to her; a thank-you for putting him in the right place at the right time; and a final thank-you for being able to save his girl from a fucking nutjob. His girl.
For the second time that day, hot tears stung his eyes and clogged his throat. He held her close, cradling her while he blinked them back and got himself under control. They clung to one another like a pair of drowning people who had just found life preservers. And they would have stayed that way if Archer hadn’t barked to be let out of the truck.
Quinn released Sarah, taking a quick swipe at his eyes, and grabbed the door handle to let Archer out. At the same time, the door from the house flew wide, and his mother stood framed in the doorway. “Quinn? Is Sarah with you?” He’d called his mom to tell her he’d be late and why, and to be sure she was all right. He’d offered to send someone to stay with her, but she’d scoffed and flat out refused. Of course she did.
Sarah threaded her way toward his mom. “Right here, Liz.”
His mother threw her arms around Sarah and, with a sob, pulled her tight to her body. “Oh, doll! I was so worried about you.”
“So you’re not mad at me?” came Sarah’s muffled voice.
“No, of course not. I’ve just been distracted, dealing with … other things.”
Quinn hadn’t had a chance to fill Sarah in on his earlier conversation with his mom.
To his surprise and chagrin, both women burst into tears. He stood rooted where he was, Archer by his side, and man and dog glanced at each other as if to say, “What the fuck do we do now?” Normally, when faced with a combination of women and waterworks—not that Quinn had much experience, having deftly avoided it most of his life—he’d have run the other way or given them a Titanic-wide berth. Instead, he approached and embraced them, kissing each one on top of her head, gratified when they both hugged him back fiercely.
“Hey,” he said softly, “maybe we should move this party inside?”
His mom’s watery blue eyes widened. “Before we do, there’s something you need to know.”
Nothing could possibly top what the day had already brought, could it? His answer came a moment later when a familiar, disembodied male voice asked, “Liz? What’s going on?”
Quinn looked up as his father rounded the corner. Locking on eyes the same color as his, he choked.
“Dad?”
Chapter 32
Swinging from the Family Tree
Surreal. What other word could describe today? Quinn stood in his kitchen, opening a bottle of water, trying to act as if his father standing beside his mother at the counter was the most natural thing in the world. He failed miserably. He pushed a cleansing breath through his lungs and took a swig.
Sarah had ducked out after introductions to shower and rest, which was exactly what she should be doing. As much as his mind was occupied with the scene in front of him, a chunk of it was stretched out with Sarah on her bed. Was she okay? Was she freaked out? Did she need his help? Should he check on her?
His father cleared his throat, yanking Quinn front and center. “This must be a shock, me being here.”
Quinn infused his voice with as much casualness as he could muster. “A little. Mom said it’d be a couple of days before you showed up.”
“I landed a few hours ago.” Slightly strained, his father’s voice
