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I took another step back and cleared my throat. “Yes,” I answered him honestly in a thick voice.

What was going on here?

I took another step backwards, hit wall and all the air left my lungs in a rush. This was fast becoming a familiar situation for me and I wasn’t sure I liked it all that much.

If he kissed me right now we were going to have a serious problem.

“Let’s go,” Quinton barked harshly from the doorway. He shot Dash a dirty look and crossed his arms over his chest. “What the fuck are you doing?” He growled at Dash.

For once, Quint and I were on the same page, it was definitely time to go.

I stepped to the side and further away from Dash before quickly scurrying to Quinton’s side.

I pulled the bag of ice away from my face and tossed it in the direction of the dining room table. It landed on top with a clatter and slid a foot before coming to a complete stop.

I waved lamely at Dash and knew my poor abused face was flaming red.

“Thanks for, um, hanging out with me today,” I babbled awkwardly.

“See,” he teased, “sweet.”

“She hit me in the head with a fucking rock,” Quinton grumbled. “That’s not very sweet, if you ask me.”

No one was asking him anything.

“Time to go,” I groaned. We were not talking about the thing with the rock. I still felt a little bad about that one.

“Jesus,?

? Quinton grumbled. “What is it with you? There’s never a dull moment when you’re around.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to do this with him, not in front of Dash. When he wasn’t speaking, Quinton and I got along so well. When he opened his mouth, that’s when things started to go south for us.

“I’ll meet you in the car,” I told him as I turned and stormed out of the room.

How long did he plan on throwing that rock incident in my face? Probably for forever.

I walked out the door and headed straight for Quinton’s black car. His car surprised me. I could see him behind the wheel of some black muscle car or a sleek Mercedes like what Mr. Cole drives. In comparison to those cars, Quinton’s car looked normal, boring even, something a regular, every day person would drive. It didn’t suit him at all. Maybe that’s why he drove it, because it fit in and didn’t draw attention in the least.

The locks beeped before I made it around to the passenger side and I knew he had followed close behind me. Good. I wasn’t in the mood to sit out in the car like a child and wait for him to come out so he could drive me home.

This time, he didn’t bother walking around the car to try and open my door for me.

As soon as he had the car started and rolling down the driveway, I started in on him with my questions.

“What did the Council want?” I demanded to know. I kept right on firing them out at him one after the other, not giving him a chance to respond just yet. I knew if I let him open his mouth he wouldn’t let me get another word out and the conversation would go on to be a one-sided affair after that. “You weren’t gone for very long. Did you even see them? Why were they at my house? How many of them were there? What’s going on, Quinton? I have a right to know and you have no business keeping things like this from me. It’s not right and it will make me angry.”

I crossed my arms over my stomach as I rested my forehead against the cool glass window. The trees blurred as we sped past them.

Fabric rustled, and I assumed he was moving around in his seat. I was too tired to turn and look so I could see what he was doing. It had been a long day and when I got back to Mr. Cole’s house I was going straight to bed. It wasn’t just today; this week had been utterly exhausting. Hell, this entire month had done me in.

Quinton placed his hand on my thigh and gently squeezed.

“They weren’t here because of you,” he said in a tight voice. “They came because they are concerned about Marcus, so they reached out to him. He turned them away at the door. I don’t know what’s going on with Marcus, but I feel like it’s got more to do with than just your mother and his brother dying. They seemed very concerned about him.”

My breath fogged the window, but I was far too tired and lazy to reach up and wipe it away. I wasn’t really paying attention to the landscape anyways, the trees all looked the same to me.

I thought about what Quinton had just told me. Did the Council really, honestly, have reason to be concerned about Mr. Cole? Right after his brother had died, I might have said yes. But now? No, no I did not understand the Council’s concern. To me, he seemed to be doing remarkably well for someone who’d recently lost his brother, thought his lover had run out on him and been left with the sole responsibility of a teenager. He always seemed so calm, so collected. Then again, I now knew what I knew about his sister and that was a bit of a game changer.