A little girl with a head full of black ringlets that bounced gleefully as she moved was doing lopsided little pirouettes around the vampire pile. Quinn couldn’t be sure, because he was certainly no expert in what little girls were wearing these days, but the girl’s outfit…well, it couldn’t possibly be normal. She seemed to be wearing a Wonder Woman outfit, but with Superman’s cape draped over the whole thing, paired with a fluffy pink ballet tutu and tights that had SpongeBob characters all over them.
Harper was out of the car and sprinting to the little girl (who must be Haven, he thought) before Quinn had a chance to even stop the car.
Haven squealed with glee and leapt into Harper’s arms immediately. “Momma, I’m so glad you’re here! But you have to let me go because you’re hugging me too hard and I can’t breathe,” she wheezed.
Harper took a deep breath and let her daughter go with visible reluctance. She shot second-most-beautiful-woman-in-the-world Seven a sharp look. “What the ever-loving fuck happened?”
Seven shrugged a shoulder and pulled her knees up, resting her chin on them. “We came out of class and there were four vampires waiting for us. These three,” she paused to give the vampire she was sitting on a sharp elbow between the shoulder blades, “came at me. The other one tried to grab Haven.”
Harper looked like she had more questions, but whatever she was going to say was drowned out by the roaring engine of a Harley that screeched to a halt at the curb. A wild-eyed man leapt off the bike and had Haven and Harper in a bone-crushing bear hug before Quinn could even blink.
The husband/father, Riddick, Quinn figured.
When Harper and Haven both grumbled about not being able to breathe with their faces squished into Riddick’s chest, he let them go and gave Seven—who, as it turned out, was Riddick’s sister—the same treatment.
“Jesus,” he muttered when Seven had apparently had enough affection and shoved him off her. “I don’t know what the fuck I would’ve done if anything had happened to any of you.”
“We were never in any real danger,” Seven said, remarkably calm. “There were only four of them.”
Said as if fighting off four vampires was as easy as, say, subduing a toddler. Quinn didn’t know Seven, had never even officially met her, and he could honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that he adored her. She had style.
Haven tugged on the sleeve of Riddick’s leather jacket. “Daddy, I kicked the bad man in the ‘nads, just like you told me to.”
He knelt down and beamed at her. “You did? Baby, that’s awesome! Great job! After that, did you knee him in the nose and put the boots to him when he went down?”
“I did!”
Harper made a choking sound as father and daughter high-fived. “Why does my five-year-old know anything about ‘nads?”
“Well,” Riddick began reasonably, “I normally would have taught her to hit the guy in the stomach, then knee him in the nose when he doubled over, then put the boots to him when he went down. But she’s short, so I figured for her, a punch to the guy’s ‘nads would be more effective than a punch to the stomach.”
Made perfect sense to Quinn. Sound advice, as far he was concerned.
Seven nodded. “It was highly effective. He screamed like a girl before he got up and ran off.”
“She’s five!” Harper said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “She shouldn’t know anything about ‘nads!”
“Don’t worry, Momma,” Haven said, giving her mother a comforting pat on the arm. “I gave him the driving finger while he was running away, too. Just like you do.”
Harper bit her bottom lip and glanced over at Riddick, who smirked at her before asking Haven, “Which finger is that, baby?”
And with that, sweet little Haven who had the face of a cherub and a smile that could light up a room, held her middle finger high.
Quinn’s lip twitched as he fought desperately to contain a smile. Something told him his new employer wouldn’t appreciate his amusement at her expense.
Harper’s chin hit her chest as Riddick’s smirk grew. “She’s five,” he said, sounding all kinds of smug. “How does she know anything about the driving finger?”
“Momma gives it to bad drivers while we’re on our way to school,” Haven said helpfully.
“Well,” Harper said primly after a pregnant pause, “I hardly see how that’s relevant at the moment.”
“Of course not,” Riddick added solemnly.
“What’s really important is that we figure out who tried to grab Haven,” she went on. “Riddick, do you recognize any of them?”
Riddick approached the pile and gave each unconscious vampire a sound kick or two before saying, “No. They don’t look familiar to me. Seven?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t know them.”
Haven poked her little index finger into Quinn’s belly. “Who’re you, mister?”
“I’m Quinn. I, uh, work for your mommy now.”
Riddick gave him a quick once-over. “Lemme guess. Ex-convict, former Sentry slayer, right? Dhampyre?”
Quinn didn’t really want to own up to any of those things, but he supposed since he already had the job, it couldn’t hurt too much. “Yes on all counts, mate.”
Riddick shook his head and smiled fondly at his wife. “You collect ex-convict dhampyres like some women collect shoes and handbags.”
She shrugged. “Everyone needs a hobby. And I already have plenty of shoes and handbags.”
Quinn was distracted from whatever Riddick’s reply was when Haven grabbed his hand and pressed it between both of hers. A little frown line creased her brow as she appeared to be using every ounce of focus in her tiny little body to do…something.
Strange kid, he thought. Cute as a button, but strange. He supposed that was to be expected for the daughter of a dhampyre and a psychic.
When she let go of his hand and looked up at him, the smile on her face made him decidedly uneasy.
“You kissed Auntie Mare,” she said sweetly. “Are you gonna marry her and make babies so that I can have cousins?”
Quinn’s heartrate kicked up a notch at the mention of “Auntie Mare.”
Marina.
His angel, Marina, was Haven’s aunt?
And now that he looked at Harper—really looked at her—he could see a little resemblance there. In the eyes, maybe. In the shape of the face, definitely.
Jesus, he’d kissed the fuck out of his new boss’s sister. This was awkward.
“Whoa,” Harper interjected as Quinn stared down at the kid in stunned silence. “First of all, it’s rude to read people without their permission, honey.”
Quinn face-palmed. Christ, it kept getting worse! He’d been so caught up in thinking about Marina being Harper’s sister that it’d escaped his attention that the kid was a psychic, too. He could only hope her visions ended with the kiss. He certainly didn’t need a five-year-old knowing he’d wanked off to the memory of her aunt in his arms that very morning.
“You read people without their permission all the time,” Seven said.
“I know,” Harper said defensively. “I didn’t tell her she was wrong to do it or that she shouldn’t. I reminded her that it’s rude. Some people don’t care for it. She needs to remember that.”
Riddick snorted, but Harper ignored him, adding, “And secondly, are you sure that kiss already happened, honey? I thought I was seeing the future when I shook his hand. Why didn’t Mare tell me about it?”
Haven shrugged. “I dunno. It was last night, though.”
“Huh. Good job, kiddo.”
And with that, mother and daughter fist-bumped, leaving Quinn to piece together this new complication by himself. “Marina is…your sister?” he finally asked, though he already knew the answer without a shadow of a doubt.
“Duh,” she answered, making Haven giggle.
Haven burst into a verse or two of Quinn-and-Auntie-Mare-sitting-in-a-tree, but Quinn ignored her.
God, he had
so many questions he wasn’t sure where to start. But he supposed the most obvious was, “So, she didn’t tell you about the kiss, but did she tell you about the mugging?”
But, of course, in light of what had just happened with Haven, Quinn wasn’t sure it had been a mugging at all. Was it possible that someone—for some reason—was targeting Harper’s family?
Harper must have come to the same conclusion, because her expression turned nothing short of terrifying as she leaned in and hissed, “What mugging?”
Quinn was saved from making an immediate comment by the squeal of a truck’s tires as it jumped the curb and skidded to a stop a few feet from Seven’s vampire pile. Another wild-eyed man, this one blond, jumped out, rushed over to Seven, and yanked her into his arms.
Riddick rolled his eyes. “That’s her husband Lucas,” he told Quinn, his tone conveying that he was not exactly part of the Lucas and Seven fan club.
“Jesus, I was so worried. Are you all right?” Lucas asked his wife.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Seven replied, her voice muffled against his shirt. “I told you all, there were only four of them!”
Chapter Six
Everything that happened after that was kind of a blur.
Riddick left to take Haven home, and Lucas took off with Seven. The head of the Vampire Council, Hunter, who wielded an ungodly amount of power, and his equally terrifying wife, Mischa, showed up to collect the vampires Seven had bested for questioning.
Quinn shuddered to think what it would be like to have those two question him about anything. He imagined there was more torture than actual questioning involved. He’d only had to speak to them for a moment or two to be granted his parole from Midvale, and if he never spoke to them again it would be too soon.
Harper had spent the entire car ride from the dance school to her office on the phone with Marina. From what Quinn heard, it was a very one-sided conversation. Harper ranted at Marina for not telling her what had happened the previous night; Marina apologized and tried to explain why she’d kept quiet. That was followed by more ranting from Harper, and further apologies from Marina. It went on like that for a solid five minutes before Quinn interrupted, unable to take it anymore.
“Look,” he said, “it’s not Marina’s fault. I asked her to keep my involvement from the cops because I’m on probation. She was only doing me a favor. If you need to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”
Harper gave him a look that could’ve reduced a bomb bunker to rubble and asked Marina to hold on a moment. “Oh, I am mad at you for encouraging a woman who was attacked to keep details of the attack to herself in order to protect you.”
He frowned. “Well, when you say it like that, I sound like—”
“A selfish douchenozzle who deserves a kick to the ‘nads?”
Well, he was going to say arsehole, but, yeah, he supposed a solid kick to the ‘nads wasn’t entirely uncalled for, given the circumstances.
He swallowed hard, wondering if anyone had been hired, fired, and kicked in the ‘nads by their boss all on their first day before. “Harper, I’m sorry. I never considered that what happened to Marina was anything other than a standard mugging. And since both guys were caught…” he trailed off with a shrug. “I certainly never meant her—or your family—any harm.”
She rolled her eyes and let out a disgruntled sigh. “Well, I know that. If I didn’t, I would’ve already fired you and dumped you off with the Vampire Council for violating your parole.”
Visually dismissing him, Harper jumped back into her call with Marina, pausing only briefly—very, very briefly—to listen to whatever Marina was attempting to say. “Look,” Harper said, “You don’t have to defend him like that. I’m not ungrateful. I realize he helped you—maybe even saved your life—and I appreciate it.”
Quinn wasn’t at all comfortable with the warm tingle that chased through his blood at the thought of Marina defending the likes of him. He was the last person in the world who deserved that kind of loyalty.
But damned if he didn’t want to be the kind of person who deserved it. Who deserved someone like her.
And honestly, he wasn’t sure he should be credited for saving her life. She’d been doing pretty well on her own. Her self-defense techniques were way above average. If he hadn’t happened along, she certainly wouldn’t have gone quietly with the vamps. And damned if that didn’t make her even more attractive than she already was.
She’s your boss’s sister, his brain reminded him.
I don’t fucking care, his dick answered. I want what I want, and I want her.
Quinn shook his head. Stupid, stupid dick.
“I’m just saying, I wish he wouldn’t have encouraged you to lie—even if it was only by omission— to the cops,” Harper went on. “If he hadn’t, maybe I would’ve found out about it sooner, then we could have had the investigation expedited with the Vampire Council. If Mischa and Hunter had heard right away—from me, and not from the dumbfuck Whispering Hope PD—that you were involved, they would’ve put your case on the front burner. But because you kept your mouth shut, they didn’t even hear anything about it until today, after Haven was nearly killed.”
Quinn knew he was in no position to argue with Harper’s statement, but Haven certainly hadn’t been nearly killed. Seven—and even Haven herself—had certainly handled the situation with relative ease.
But he understood where she was coming from, and he felt like shit about it. He should have stuck around with Marina and talked to the damn police himself. If he had, maybe the whole thing could’ve been resolved before those vampires ever got near Haven to begin with—assuming Marina’s attack and the attack on Seven and Haven were related, of course.
And honestly, what were the odds that they weren’t? Pretty fucking anorexic from where Quinn was sitting.
Marina must have been speaking again, because Harper was quiet for a moment, then she said, “Oh, I’m not going to fire him. In fact, I’m putting him to work faster than I planned to.”
And there was something about the evil, Grinch-y smile she gave him that shriveled his balls like skinny-dipping in an Irish spring in the dead of winter.
Fuuuuccccckkkkk.
Chapter Seven
Marina knew better than to argue with Harper. On a good day, her sister was as stubborn as an ill-tempered mule.
And today wasn’t a good day.
So, when Harper dumped Quinn off on Marina’s doorstep like a sack of dirty laundry and ordered him to stay (like a dog), she didn’t argue. Telling her sister that she didn’t need a guard dog and could take care of herself was pointless. Harper had spoken, and that was that. End of story.
To Quinn’s credit, he didn’t so much as cringe when Harper told him she’d pull his balls off and shove them up his nose if he let anything happen to her sister. He just calmly agreed that he wouldn’t let Marina out of his sight until Harper had resolved what she called “this whole dumpster fire of dumbfuckery.”
Marina wasn’t sure if it was her dumbfuckery that angered Harper the most, or Quinn’s.
Regardless, it looked like Marina was going to have a houseguest for a while. A giant, hulking dhampyre who’d rescued her, kissed the crap out of her, then left her, never to be seen again.
Or so he’d thought.
Or, maybe, so he’d hoped.
Since the men in her life had been pretty much useless up until this point, Marina wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Quinn was just the type of guy who would knowingly give a girl the best kiss of her life, then bail, leaving her ruined for all other kisses.
Bastard.
Visually dismissing the bastard—who looked every bit as good as he had the previous evening, damn him—she asked her sister, “What should I do about the charity gala? Should I skip it?”
Harper gave her a look that labeled her the dumbest creature on the planet. “Why would you skip it? As promised, I’ve given you the perfect date for this thing.” She gesture
d to Quinn like Vanna White gestured to prizes on Wheel of Fortune. “He’ll stick by your side all night, keeping you safe and attending to your every need, all while keeping your coworkers from pitying you and making that ass-clown Dex piss himself with envy.” She lifted her palms in a what-the-hell gesture. “How is this not a win on all counts?”
Because he’s a kiss-and-run jerkwad who ruined me for all other men because his lips on mine made me feel tingles in places I didn’t even think could tingle, then said goodbye and ran away like it hadn’t meant a damn thing? “I’m just…not sure it’s a good idea.”
Marina steadfastly refused to look at Quinn, but she could feel the weight of his gaze on her. Harper, on the other hand, had no problem raking her gaze over him from top to bottom before saying, “I think you’d be stupid to not take him as your date. He might be a dumbfuck who encouraged you to lie to the police, but he’s a damn-sight prettier than Dex. For a revenge date, you could definitely do worse.”
“Um…thanks?” Quinn muttered.
Harper shrugged. “Whatever. Frankly, if you were ugly and unrepentant about your mistakes, I would’ve fired you already. Consider yourself lucky.” Her gaze flicked over him once more. “And genetically blessed,” she added dispassionately.
Great, Marina thought. Harper had actually hired a man to take her to the charity gala. Her love life was officially so barren and sad that she’d turned her sister into a pimp.
Maybe it was time to give up on men permanently and get a cat. Instead of going to the gala, she could curl up with her cat, a bottle of Jack and a pint of Chunky Monkey, and binge-watch Top Chef on Hulu. That didn’t seem so bad. It was, at least, less shameful than putting on a fancy dress and going out with a kiss-and-run jerkwad her sister had paid to date her.
While Marina started considering maybe adopting a cat and a dog, Harper went on to say, “Anyhoo, I’m going to go home now and hug my kid, who didn’t die today, no thanks to the both of you.”
Marina stifled an eye roll. Her sister had a great many wonderful qualities. Her propensity to exaggerate and over-dramatize a situation wasn’t one of them. But since it was Haven they were talking about, she said, “I’m sorry those bastards ever got near Haven, and I really regret my part in that.”
Semi-Obsessed Page 4
