"Am not going to live with you!" I half yell. He turns and cocks an eyebrow.
I roll my eyes.
"Am not enthusiastic about it either." He continues to walk.
"I don't care what you have to say Quinn, am not living with you. I agreed to come with you cause i didn't want to be around Oliver and his girlfriend."
"Some family you are!" He presses basement on the elevator.
"Atleast we get along unlike yours." My tongue slips, he back is on me. I don't get to see his reaction.
"Am sorry i didn't..." He cuts me.
"You didn't mean to say that..." He sighs frustrated. "Don't be sorry for what you mean."
I shiver when we get to the basement. It is dark and isolated. I Fall into steps behind him, making sure to stay close to him as possible.
He still has the blue old chipped truck. He reaches for the door and i stop him.
"Am still not going to live with you Quinn. The only place you are taking me is my apartment." I make myself clear.
"It is not safe." He insists.
"That could also be a lie. I don't trust you." I narrow my eyes at him.
He chuckles humorlessly, "Says the girl with me in a dark, isolated basement."
He's right, i dart my eyes from him.
He coughs, "I don't trust you either, i never have." His eyes hold intangible intensity. "You are too mysterious to be trusted."
His confession automatically makes my hand drop.
"Get in!" He orders. "I will take you to your apartment." He surrenders. "I don't even know why i care." He mutters under his breath.
"You're right. You should care more on what happens to Courtney." I snap at him.
"I do. That's why am marrying her."
****
The door to my apartment is open. Was Quinn right?
He does me the honor of pushing it further open. My heart is threatening to jump out of my rib cage.
The inside is turned upside down like the perpetrator was trying to look for something or sent a message.
I jump when Quinn phone rings behind me. He turns yo face the other way as he answers. I walk further into my kitchen. The fridge is open. Foodstuffs thrown everywhere. Am glad i keep valuable documents like my identities in a safe. Nothing is stolen.
"Stay away from her, it is me you are after." Quinn says over the phone, his voice stern and unshaken.
He puts his phone away, assess the appearance in the kitchen for a moment.
"Collect what you can, we leave." He says.
"I..." He shuts me by raising his index finger.
"I don't have time to argue, for once stop being stubborn." He shakes his head.
"Under one condition and you have to promise." I haughtily say.
He stays silent, thinking. He clenches his jaw. He stare down at me and i maintain eye contact. He won't intimidate me anymore.
He breaks our contact, "Fine. I promise. What is it?"
"You be honest and tell me what is going on."
"I promise. Now move."
****
Quinn takes me to his penthouse, the same one he took me some days ago.
It looks the same as before. After i have showered and changed into sweats. I find Quinn on the coach, with his laptop. He still wearing what he had before. He places the laptop on the table. It is an articles from the wall street about his family's firm and the scandal surrounding it. A part of me feels fulfilled to see the impact of what Andre and I did. The other remains unchanged...numb.
I pretend not to have seen the article, and turn to face Quinn. He looks tired and lost. I want to feel victorious seeing him like this. His family made my brother and i to live in the streets for months. Fight for garbage food with other homeless kid for survival. We lived in fear, felt worst, we lost everything. I remind myself. I blink several before my tears spills. I always never want to remember those years.
"You will be safe here." He places his hand on mine. I pull it back. I have gone down this road. Being his booty call, only made me procrastinate my vegence, not again.
"You owe me an explanation." I remind him.
"I do. " He nods, "The guys that are after me, are the same ones that stabbed me. The time i showed up at your apartment."
I remember Oliver's words, "He will bring trouble to your doorstep." Which he did.
"Why are they after you?" I ask him.
"Am involved in underground street fighting. It is a deal gone wrong." He says and stares down at his laptop.
I want to enquire more on the deal gone wrong, but i know Quinn. That is his version of 100% truth.
His phone starts to ring, his body relaxes when he sees the caller.
"Hi buddy?" He answers.
He chuckles to whatever Theo says.
"I will be there to put you to bed." He promises before ending the call.
He unceremoniously stands, "I have to be on my way." He says apologetically.
"Don't you live here?" I ask.
"I live at the manor, i come here once or twice a month." He says.
I knit my eyebrows in confusion, "I thought you said, i was going to live with you."
"Just wanted to sweetened the deal." He smirks. "And am taken." He adds.
I want to smack him across his face. I watch him pack his laptop and a novel i don't get to see the name.
"So..." I take a long pause, "I will be living here alone and for how long?"
"I will be visiting occasionally and for as long as am done with those SOB"
I lean back to relax.
"I will pick you up tomorrow for school." He says before walking out.