Quinn missed her afternoon class and emailed her teacher on her way home. She didn't want Marcus following her around the campus, so she tried to figure out how to make him go away without chance of him following her at a distance. If he knew which building she had each class in, it was only a matter of time before he would figure out which classroom.
Or worse—try to wait outside for her and accost her between classes.
And Adam was insistent they head home so they could have a talk. Quinn could already tell he was thinking up ideas that she would hate, and could barely manage to eke out a smile at Viv, who said she would get together with another friend of theirs to get any work she needed to have for her afternoon lab. She wasn't happy, but at least she had a good attendance record before this and a quick email and promise to get caught up would suffice until she figured out how to avoid a very troubling matter.
The ride back home was quiet, neither of them speaking with the radio on low. Some soft rock and pop songs played, and Quinn watched the scenery along the road instead of ahead or over at Adam. She was a bit miffed that she had to miss class in order to talk about an unpleasant topic that should have been all the way on the other side of the country.
As he drove, he made her a promise. "I'll have Michael and Delia drive your car home from the school on their way from work. They're heading over to pick up something my dad left for him, so it's actually not out of his way." He paused, looking over at her and laying a hand on her knee. She stiffened, and he took it away before she could brush him off. He knew she wasn't very pleased with him. "Quinn, sweetheart, Marc is dangerous. You saw what he was like. He had a crazed look in his eyes until that campus police officer walked by. Then he was all smiles and acting like he wasn't a lunatic. He's sly. Sneaky. He didn't transfer to UCLA just to give up after one interaction with you. He is the kind that will—"
He hated to think about it, because ten months ago, he'd been just as desperate and had made a horrible, grievous error.
"He's just the type of man who would kidnap to do you harm." He talked more quickly. "I mean, I kidnapped you, but I didn't mean you any harm and never had. I made a mistake out of the bond fucking with my head. He's making one out of jealousy or his idea of possession. If he thinks you belong to him, me coming to your rescue once isn't going to deter him. He'll just be wilier the next time you see him and you probably won't even see him until he has you in the trunk of his car."
His voice had risen, a clear sign that he was getting highly agitated. Adam remembered hearing about his mother's abduction from his parents, but it had almost been like an old wives' tale having been passed down from generation to generation. He hadn't really thought of it as something that could happen to him nor to his mate. It made him irascible and edgy, and he didn't like feeling nearly helpless.
Quinn, for her part, scoffed like she didn't believe him. "I doubt he'll go that far." She hoped not anyway. "This may be his last desperate grasp, and he may just fade away into the background. You never know."
Adam made a sound that rippled up his throat and was bit off abruptly when he scowled. "That's foolish and dangerous to think, Quinn. He's a predator. You can tell by his demeanor. Like a viper, but much sneakier. He has brains. He's going to be a lawyer and will be thinking outside the box. You think that you can merely tell him to go away and he will? Not a chance. He thinks you two are destined. He is quite wrong in that."
They were starting to travel up the hills to home by this time, and Quinn got quiet, trying to think of some way to reason with Adam about Marc. She didn't really believe Marc was capable of anything illicit, though she had to agree that his attitude was startling and disturbing.
Maybe she just didn't want to believe the worst in someone she cared so much for at some point in her life. Maybe she always tried to see the good in people, even if they were sorely lacking. Quinn never hated a person before. She just sometimes didn't trust them fully.
"I think we should change you before next semester. We can always postpone your last semester for a year."
They had been pulling up to the gates of their home, and Quinn had to keep herself from bolting out of the car until it was parked in the garage. Once the light inside flickered on at the first sign of darkness as the automatic garage door closed, she was opening the door and walking out into the fluorescent lighting.
No. She leaped out of the car, walking to the door that led from the garage to the back room. It was where they did laundry, and she was ignoring Adam—mostly for her own sanity. She knew where this was going.
"No!" she yelled out when he told her to wait up so they could discuss this. She didn't want to hear anymore about making the change until after she was graduated. It would be hard enough to get a job after she took a year's break, and she wasn't about to pause her schooling a second time because Adam was being unreasonable.
"Sweetheart, I—"
"There has to be another way," she cut out. "I'm not going to stop schooling because of him. That's like letting him win. He won't. I won't allow it."
She was stubborn, and Adam was started to lose patience.
"Quinn, it's what's best." She stopped halfway through the door to their bedroom and turned back, face shocked and mouth agape.
"Security," she blurted out. Adam stared at her like he didn't know where her mind had gone. Then his eyebrows creased when he thought of her walking around with armed guards who had to escort her everywhere when she was not with him. He hated the idea that she needed it more than the thought of a strange man being near her so often. Then he came up with a way to make it easy on him. Give her someone as security that he thought of as a second father, one who was already mated.
"Michael." His voice held an edge. "I'll get him to do it when you're at school. He's the only one I completely trust for the task of keeping you safe." When Quinn went to protest because she knew the man was busy, he held up a hand. "His current job is almost done, and if not, I can pay for the others to do a little overtime if needed. Besides, he has enough seniority that he can take an unpaid hiatus and still come back." He paused. "Plus, if they don't give him his job back, I'll simply employ him at PMM myself. I'd be okay with that, and the work is easy. I can make it pay better as well."
Quinn closed her eyes slowly. It was the best she was probably going to get from Adam since it was either this or putting off her schooling again. "Fine," she ground out. "But I don't want him sitting in on my classes. It'll be a total fucking distraction. He can stand outside the building or the classroom, I don't care. I like Michael, but having him around feels like my dad chaperoning my date when I was 15 years old."
She groaned internally. She'd just remembered the first time she'd gone on a date with a boy a year older than her. He was 16 and had just gotten his driver's license, but her father had insisted he drive them to the movies. He stayed in the back of the theater out of some deference to their date, but Quinn could feel lasers on the back of her skull the whole time she was watching the movie. Jason, her date, had been too nervous by her father being there to even touch her hand, and they took turns eating their shared popcorn.
It had been awful.
"That's fine, love. He can stay outside the room, but not further, just in case." It was obvious he was standing firm on that, so she huffed her disagreement only, but spoke in the affirmative.
"Fine," she spat out before turning and moving completely into the bedroom and whipping off her blouse. She wanted to get comfortable in some yoga pants and a t-shirt. Where some ate their emotions, Quinn used hers as either a catalyst to exercise or get comfy and watch movies or TV with the sound on low. Binging on stories that took her out of herself was her idea of escaping the harsh realities of the world, and she was ready to open up her Netflix and get lost in other worlds.
Tossing her clothing into the laundry basket and scurrying over to her dresser, she nearly ripped open the drawer that held her sweats and yoga pants before nabbing a clean t-shirt from the drawer above it. She made quick work getting dressed and pulled her hair into a messy bun atop her head.
After walking down to the living room, they both sat on the couch, Adam settling close to her because he hated the distance their disagreement gave them. They had quarreled in the past, but they always talked it over. This was to be no different, and he pulled her near, breathing into her hair as he wound an arm around her. As a vampire, he had no need for breath except for the conveyance of feelings and to drink in the aromas around him, so when he took in air, it was usually with a purpose. The purpose this time was to calm Quinn, who was still bitter enough about the issue to have her heart racing and her mind spinning out of her head. It made it difficult for her to calm herself, so he aided it with the bond. In a few minutes, she was relaxed, sinking into his cooler skin and breathing in the nuances of his skin. It was a mix of his cologne and something that was all him, all Adam. The crispness of manmade fragrances and the mint tones of his flesh.
She breathed in deep and closed her eyes. The TV was on in the background, a daytime talk show of some sort interviewing a guest star. An up-and-coming writer, from the sounds of it, and one that had just had a best seller in the New York Times. They only half-listened, and then Adam was pulling her onto his lap, almost desperate to get closer. She didn't put up a struggle, because even if they didn't see eye to eye, they were still bound by something deeper than blood or mutual affection. They were soul-bonded, and that fact spoke in the easy way they molded to each other. It was like finding the one puzzle piece that fit you and only you.
That in itself was most magical of all.
Kissing her over one soft brow, he felt the rhythm of her heart as it beat against his silent chest and wondered what it was like to be alive—to have a heartbeat and blood running through your veins, or nerve endings that actually felt pain. Instead, he was none of that, though he had the capacity to feel and think and breathe. That too was a miracle he would never understand. It was just accepted.
"Adam?" Quinn murmured. He shifted her weight and looked down. Her eyes were still closed.
"Yes, love?"
"I just want you to know I'm not putting it off because I don't want this—don't want you. I do. So, so much. But I can't keep putting off the inevitable when I want to see my dreams come true." She paused, taking in another soothing, calming breath of Adam. "I want to start forever on a good note, not out of fear. They call graduation commencement because it's a new beginning. I want all my beginnings to start then. To begin and end with you."
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