I giggled, relaxing into him, relieved that he at least had it in him to joke. Ten minutes ago, I would have thought it impossible, but when he shifted his gaze down to me, the tiniest of smiles tipped one side of his mouth.
Then it vanished as his expression turned serious again. “I took your dress off because I wanted to be sure you weren’t hiding anything else from me. Downplaying the way he put his hands on you just to keep me reeled in. But I have to be honest with you here: I’m terrified to look at your back. I swear to God, if he left a mark on you—”
“My back is fine.” It wasn’t totally a lie. It didn’t hurt anymore, but I was sure the car door handle had left a bruise.
He closed his eyes and shook his head as if he could erase the thought of it.
“Quarry, listen to me. This is worse than his normal brand of asshole. I’ll be the first to admit that, but getting a reaction from you is what he wants. It’s what he’s praying for. And, if he doesn’t get it before the fight, you know he’s going to use it in the ring. He’s going to talk shit and have you fighting with your heart and not your head. And, when you give him that, he will beat you.”
Quarry barked a laugh. “Is that your pep talk?”
“No. That’s my ‘keep your head together and embarrass this guy in front of the entire world’ talk.” I pressed a kiss to his still-smiling lips. “You’re so close, Q. Two months.”
He suddenly rolled so I was on my back and his upper body was pressing against me. “And what if he tries something like this shit again? What if it’s worse next time? Then what? Because I don’t give one single fuck about that fight anymore. Embarrassing him isn’t going to give me peace of mind. Eating popcorn and listening to his screams while he burns inside a fiery inferno might be the only possible thing that could give me any kind of satisfaction at this point.”
“Okay, and if, in six months, you want to follow through with that, I’ll buy the popcorn. But we will watch the inferno on TV in the middle of a public bar so we at least both have an alibi.” I smiled. “For now, though, we’re going to let everyone else handle Davenport.”
“I can’t just sit around and let this go. He touched you, Liv.” His voice was harsh, but his fingers gently sifted through my hair.
“And I slapped him for it,” I answered matter-of-factly.
He groaned. “And that’s another thing. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Oh, shut up. I’m fine.” I waved him off.
“I’m serious. If anything like that happens again: You don’t speak to him. You don’t acknowledge him. You sure as fuck don’t challenge him. You walk away. And, if you can’t, you scream for help at the top of your lungs.”
In hindsight, that would have been the best thing to do. But it had felt amazing to fight back instead of cowering. I didn’t tell Q that thought. I could hardly give him a keep-your-head-together lecture if I couldn’t do the same.
I opted for a sheepish nod.
He was still staring at me sternly when a pounding on the door made us both jump.
“Liv! Get out here.” It was Slate.
Shit, when did he get here?
“The cops are here.”
Fantastic.
“Also, your mom and dad are on the way down.”
God help me. “I’ll be right out!” I let out a long-suffering sigh. “I should probably get dressed. Is your head all sorted now?”
“Not even close.” He smiled tightly, shifting off me.
While redressing, I was careful not to let him see my back. We could save the naked inspections for a week from now when my back had healed.
I was finger-combing my hair in the mirror on the door when Quarry’s strong chest pressed against my back.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
It was a sweet thing to say, but the meaning behind his words was transferred with his mouth when he brushed my hair away and kissed my neck.
“You’d be okay.”
I wouldn’t be though. I knew that to the pits of my soul. I also knew I’d eventually have to face that reality.
“I’m not so sure about that. So let’s not test the theory.” He kissed my neck again.
No. Let’s not test the theory at all.
At least, not yet.
“I WANT IT ALL. ARM it like the fucking Pentagon!”
Leo shook his head. “I cannot arm a community center, son. I’ll make it secure though. I’ll get some guys in there in the morning. We’ll do it up right.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glanced over at Liv. She was talking to her mom and Erica. Leo and Sarah had rushed down from Chicago, having made it to Till’s in record time. They’d arrived just in time for Leo to pull one of the officers aside before they’d left. As a former DEA agent and the owner of one of the biggest security firms in the country, he had a little more pull than I did in gathering information about what the hell was going on. So, as much as it had ticked me off, I had sat back and let him handle it.