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The sound of his voice washed through me, settling something deep inside me that had been unnerved by my stupid jealousy and insecurities. Quinton was mine, all mine, and he wasn't going anywhere no matter how many female witches were unearthed.
"No," I said honestly. "I am not okay. We have a problem and I think I need you."
I heard things rustling and knew he was on the move. "I'm on my way over now."
I closed my eyes for a second, not allowing myself to take longer than that, not when there were things I needed to be on the lookout for.
"I'm not next door anymore," I told him.
Quinton swore harshly under his breath, impressing me with the creative curse words he'd come up with.
"Of course you're not next door," he growled. "Marcus is smart enough to keep you out of trouble. Where are you?"
"Sitting in a Suburban I had no idea Marcus owned, across the street from the shop. And I'm not alone because Ty came with me. Though," I mused thoughtfully, "I'm betting he's wishing very much right now that he'd stayed home and far, far away from me and I can't even say I blame him."
"Ariel," he groaned. "What have you done now?"
Please, like everything was always my fault? Good grief. This kind of shit never happened to me before I'd met these guys. They were more to blame than I was and that's what I was sticking with.
"I've done nothing," I replied in a snotty voice. "We are parked in front of the shop and I thought things were weird because there's these black vans parked out front. And then I saw someone moving around inside. Normally, I wouldn't freak about that because I would assume it was Rain in there, but Rain is still at the big house with you, right?"
Quinton grunted and I assumed that meant yes.
"Emergency," I heard him bark from a distance and knew he'd moved the phone away from his face and was talking to someone else. "Intruders at the shop. Ariel and Ty are already there and we gottago."
I heard the murmur of male voices on the other end of the phone.
"I want you to stay on the line with me, baby, alright?" he requested in a soft, sweet voice.
I knew he had to be freaking out on the inside but he was keeping it together. For me, he was keeping it together and it just made me love him all the more because if he freaked out then I would freak out and this situation would be made a whole lot worse.
"I'll stay on the line," I murmured quietly as I watched out the window. "Just so you know, you're on speakerphone and Ty can hear you too."
"Good girl," he said in that same voice.
"I didn't see it," Tyson admitted in a small voice. "I didn't even notice there was anything wrong."
I winced at that, knowing it was my fault he felt like crap and was being down on himself. I wanted to look at him but couldn't afford to take my eyes off of the shop for even a second. Instead, I placed the phone on my lap and reached for the hand he still had wrapped around my thigh. I squeezed his hand. He didn't give my thigh a squeeze back.
"Not your fault, Tyson," I said. "I'm an asshole and that conversation didn't go very well because of it."
"Why is she swearing?" Quinton asked, and I knew he was speaking to his nephew and not me. I answered him anyway, before Tyson had the chance to.
"Marcus gave me this picture," I explained, even though I knew I shouldn't be sharing with them when Marcus was even afraid to send a text message to Rain about it, "and a phone number today. It's for a lady he thinks is a witch in hiding. He found it in Adrian's office and made copies. Dangerous, I know, but so damn ballsy. I'm really impressed with the effort he's putting into this farce with the Council. Anyway, he's being extra cautious and careful with everything, so he didn't want to text it to Rain and asked me to give it to him instead."
"Why would he give it to Rain?" Quinton inquired carefully.
"Are you on the road yet?" Ty asked his uncle.
"Yeah," Quinton said, answering his nephew. "We are all on our way. We'll be there in less than ten minutes. You just need to keep her safe until then. You've got this."
I ignored that and shared, "He knows what Rain's family has always done. I don't know how he knows, just that he does. I didn't question it, although I probably should have. I trust him, even with Rain's secrets, and because he's my father, mine. I think he made the right call with asking me to give it to Rain so I headed toward the shop and was going to leave the folders in his apartment."
"Hmmm..." He muttered noncommittally. "And what did you do to Ty?"
I sighed, not wanting to answer him, but knew I had to because he would never drop it if I didn't. Quinton never knew when to leave well enough alone. It used to bother me, but was something I was now accustomed to and didn't fight it often anymore.
"He called the woman in the picture pretty." I gave him the honesty Tyson hadn't seemed to appreciate much. "And I let my insecurities out to play."
