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My blind gaze traveled up his crisp white shirtfront, over the neat knot of his dark blue tie, the column of his throat, his strong chin, and then finally found his eyes. The gold flecks floated through his light green pupils. Such an unusual color–not identical to Renee’s, which tended more toward hazel. I focused on them almost frantically. I didn’t want to think about how we’d figure it out. I wanted to stop thinking at all.
“Maybe I should just do the third album.” That would end it, wouldn’t it? He’d still pressure me to do those parties, but I wasn’t contractually obligated.
Callum’s frown deepened. His hands were still wrapped around mine. “I don’t want you anywhere near him, Quinn. He’s dangerous. He–” Callum broke off, but I could more or less fill in the blanks myself. He’d threatened to do something horrible to either Callum or myself or both.
“His back is against a wall,” I agreed, thinking about what Nancy had said. I flexed my fingers a little. The weight and warmth of his hands on the outside of mine was comforting, but the contents of the mug were starting to burn through the porcelain and into my palms.
Callum let go of my hands, taking the mug from my grip and setting it on the coffee table. His eyes had sharpened at my words. “How do you mean?”
I’d forgotten that he wasn’t there for the phone call. I sank down onto the couch and explained. Callum paced, the way he always did when he was trying to figure something out.
“Christ,” he muttered, skidding his fingers through his hair. It was rumpled up in a way I’d never seen before–completely at odds with his neat suit and polished shoes. I had the completely irrational urge to stand up, get in his way, and put my hands on him. I tucked them under my thighs, just in case my body tried to go rogue.Maybewe could distract each other from the shit show I’d produced later, but not right now. Not on the carpet that had been there for as long as I could remember, and definitely not on Renee’s new couch.
“I need time to figure this out,” Callum announced, coming to a stop at the end of the couch.
He was looking at me so intently that for a second, I thought he’d read my mind. Then he went on. “I want to get a second opinion on your options, but that’s going to take a few days.”
My stomach twisted. A few days was a long time when Jason wanted something from you.
“But you can’t stay here.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no security.” Callum reached over and tugged at one of the windows. It slid up a few inches, even though it was supposed to be latched. It stopped when it hit the safety latches. Not even a child could have crawled through, but I saw his point.
“My place in the city has a security system,” I said slowly. “I guess I could–”
He shook his head. “No. No fucking way. I don’t care if you have Dobermans and sharp shooters on the roof.”
I huffed out a laugh. “That’s a little much.”
“He said the only way out of this contract was if you were dead.”
I searched Callum’s face for a sign he was exaggerating. Joking. Something that would undercut the bluntness of his words. Something to staunch the raw fear that was spurting like a cut artery, filling my body with adrenaline and cortisol.
“His exact words were:Tell that bitch that there’s only one way out of this contract. And that’s in a body bag,” Callum said brutally.
My fingertips were numb, like all the blood in my body had retreated to my core, the way blood did when you got a mortal wound. That’s how deeply Callum’s words sunk. My mind racedlike a rat in a maze, trying to find its way back to safety. But every corner I turned led to another set of impossible choices, all of which led to dead ends.
“Where do I go?” I murmured. I wasn’t asking Callum so much as thinking out loud, trying to self soothe with the sound of my own voice. But to my surprise, Callum answered.
“With me.”
CHAPTER 8
CALLUM
Quinn’s slim shoulders jerked in surprise. Her wide eyes were slate gray with distress now, but her wide, mobile mouth curved, like she thought I was joking. “Yeahright.”
“I’m serious.” And I was. I hadn’t come to this conclusion lightly or easily. I’d cycled through every possibility first before I realized this was the only one that made sense. Quinn needed a safe house, but the police weren’t going to provide one. The best they’d do was a restraining order, and I didn’t have to be a criminal lawyer to see how ineffective those things were. You couldn’t restrain a man like Jason Cain. She couldn’t stay at Renee’s because it was too obvious. A return to her childhood home? Anyone who knew her could guess it. Jason would find her in a day if he tried.
And hell, maybe he’d guess she was with me after our interaction at the nightclub, but he’d have a hard time finding me. Like anyone who worked with the celebrity clientele I did, I’d spent good money to have my name and address removed from the public property records. I’d taken it a step further and hadmy information cloaked. Even if he did figure out where I lived, there was a manned guard shack at the entrance to my neighborhood, and I would let them know to be extra vigilant. If he got past them, well I didn’t have sharpshooters on the roof, but I had a damn good security system. I walked her through all this.
“Sure, you have a security system, but you also have akid,” Quinn said faintly, sinking down onto the sofa when I was done. “Callum, if you really think I’m in danger, don’t you think it’s a bad idea to stick me in the room next to Noah?”
Noah was the most important thing in the world to me. But far from being a deterrent to taking Quinn in, he was the reason. After Emma’s death, I’d taken every precaution in the world to make the house as safe as possible. It went beyond the standard baby gates and outlet protectors. I had motion detector lights installed around the perimeter. Glass break sensors on every windowpane. Top of the line security. No one was going to take my son away from me the way fate had taken my wife. And that meant my place was the next safest thing to Fort Knox.
The only place I’d trust that Quinn would be safe.
