Quin's Dilemma

Ch. 14 - Beat It Upright

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"I may fuck around,
but that doesn't mean I'm opposed to settling down."

- James
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Chapter 14 - Beat It Upright

▪️Q U I N T I N▪️

Today was my birthday.

Even though it had been just under a week since the pool incident with Vincent, I still could not get the image of his beautiful naked body out of my mind.

Shit! Could you blame me?

Not to mention that I was still feeling the after effects of saving him from that hanging beam. I honestly did not know what I would have done had he gotten hurt. It was not like Vincent to be so unaware of his surroundings and I could not even begin to imagine what had been on his mind at the time.

Either way, I was glad that I was there to save him.

With each birthday that passed, Jade and I always gave our thanks to Vincent and Dominic, as without them, who knew where we, along with other rescued children may have ended up.

I was now twenty-two, and for as long as I could remember, Vincent had been there for me, Jade, and everyone else. He was the glue that held the Calvetti mafia together and the entire alliance on a whole for that matter.

Things between us were still relatively normal, which was surprising given how much had happened between us over the past months.

It was as if an unspoken rule had been formed. He was aware of my feelings for him, but we did not speak about them, while I got the impression that maybe he felt something for me as well. Although, from the way he acted at times, it was clear that even he himself did not understand what was going on.

After all, he did purposefully stand naked in front of me.

I would have to be a complete and utter idiot not to realise that it meant something. Which was why I had yet to tell Jade about the encounter.

This was definitely something that I would keep a secret, at least for now.

Honestly, I did not need her reading too much into the situation and getting overly excited. As this would only prompt her to harass me even more about making a move on Vincent, something that I had no intentions of doing.

I figured that if we were meant to be together, then we would be. For as long as my feelings for him existed, I would patiently wait on him.

Besides, I needed to focus on getting my Calvetti insignia.

Although, as much as I continued to bury myself in work, I allowed myself to indulge in the memory of his body.

Like now, even while I was in a warehouse near the docks helping the men load the crates with Irish whiskey. We had been here since early this morning and every chance that I got, I found myself stealing glances at Vincent. At the moment, he had his usual stoic expression on his face while he conversed with James. He always looked so sexy no matter what he was doing, and I had to force myself not to stare so openly at him.

James had turned to talk to Nigel, who had brought him a chart to look at.

Vincent then glanced over to me and he caught me staring before I could look away. My breathing hitched as his eyes pierced mine before he slowly raised his right brow in what appeared to be slight amusement.

If I was not mistaken, I could have sworn that I saw the corner of his lip twitch and I could feel the skin of my cheeks burn. After a few seconds of staring at each other, he turned back to talk to James who was now free again.