Quinn (The Beck Brothers #3) (2 page)

Even in the short amount of time that she spent with them,
she realized that Quinn was very different from his brothers. The rest of them
seemed fairly outgoing, while he was quiet and reserved. His one brother,
Christian, seemed a little shy. There was a difference between being mildly shy
and being intentionally reticent though. Margot has worked with Quinn for close
to a year now, and he never said one word about having brothers. Really, she
knew nothing about him. He never talked about himself. Maybe this little trip
will open him up a bit.

~~~~~

Quinn was
not
a morning person, so getting up at 5:00 am to catch a plane made him
extraordinarily cranky. It definitely didn’t help that Margot was her bright
chirpy self. She was wide-eyed and full of smiles.
Jesus Christ
. Quinn could barely keep his eyes open
and they had only gotten to the check-in desk.

They checked their bags, making their way through
Philadelphia International Airport to their gate. First stop was the security
check. Quinn was only carrying on his laptop. Margot had her purse and one
other small bag. They both checked in a suitcase and garment bag that carried
their dress clothes. Quinn was glad she wasn’t one of those women who needed to
bring their whole closet when they went on a trip. He had an ex-girlfriend once
who brought four bags on a three-day trip to New York.
Four. Bags.
That’s insane! Shortly after they got
home from New York, he dumped her. He didn’t do high-maintenance women.

Margot went through the metal detector first. She cleared it
and went to the end of the conveyor belt to grab her stuff. Quinn walked
through next without a problem. He was just grabbing his laptop bag when a TSA
member approached him.

“Sir, we need you to step aside for a random pat down,” said
the man who looked like freaking Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Quinn stared at him. At least they were about the same
height. Stone Cold had probably about fifty more pounds of muscle over Quinn,
though, and Quinn wasn’t a small guy by any means. He was a bit of a fitness
and health nut and liked to keep his body in shape.

“Seriously? Do I look like a terrorist to you?” Quinn
snapped before he could think better of it.

Stone Cold’s eyes narrowed threateningly. “Sir, come with me
please,” he said firmly.

“Man, I’m not going anywhere. I have a plane to catch, I
don’t need this shit,” Quinn grumbled, slipping back on his shoes.

Margot came over and touched his arm. “Quinn, just do as the
man says,” she pleaded, her hazel eyes darting cautiously between him and Stone
Cold.

“Sir, if you
don’t
follow me, I
will
make sure you miss your flight,” Stone Cold threatened.

Quinn gritted his teeth and glared at the man for a minute.
“Fine,” he ground out. The only reason he gave in so easily was that Margot was
with him. If he had been by himself, he would have argued more.

“Ma’am, please grab your bags and follow us,” Stone Cold
said to Margot then took Quinn’s elbow in his beefy grasp.

Quinn glared down at the hand holding his elbow. “You better
get your damn hand off me,” he growled.

Quinn could not believe this was happening. He was blaming
Peter for this. Stone Cold tugged Quinn forward, obviously not giving a shit about
his threat. Beefy-beeferson led Margot and him through a coded door and down a
short hallway. He opened a door on the right and led them inside. The room was
small with bright overhead lights. There was a metal table pushed up against
the back wall, with a plastic folding chair against the wall, next to the
table.

“Ma’am, have a seat please,” said Beefcake.

Margot did as she was told.
 
Just as she sat, another male agent entered the room and
shut the door behind him.
 

“Sir, please place your bag on the table, empty your pockets
and step back,” the new guy said. This one was older and had an air of
superiority about him. He must be a supervisor or something.

Quinn did as he was told. When he was finished, he stepped
back and let them search his things. He crossed his arms over his chest and
cocked a hip while he waited. He glanced at Margot who was looking anxiously
between him and the agents. This pissed Quinn off even more. Neither of them
should have to be subjected to this. After the agents finished tearing his shit
apart, they moved to stand in front of him.

“Sir, we’re going to ask you to remove your clothing,” the
new guy said.

Quinn heard Margot gasp while his jaw dropped. “What? You’re
fucking kidding me, right?
 
I
thought you were just doing a pat down!” he choked in disbelief.

“We have reason to believe you’re hiding something on your
person,” Stone Cold said seriously.

“Excuse me?” Quinn blinked in utter shock.

“Sir, you might want to just comply if you want to make your
flight,” the older man added.

Quinn laughed bitterly and shook his head.
“Un-fucking-believable,” he muttered. He took off his coat and dropped it to
the floor, and yanked his red and black striped polo shirt over his head.

~~~~~

Margot’s eyes widened as Quinn angrily yanked his shirt over
his head and tossed it to the floor. One of the agents picked up his coat and
shirt and started feeling through them. She stared at Quinn’s broad back. She
could see his muscles rippling under his lightly bronzed skin. He had a tattoo
on his back in between his shoulder blades at the base of his neck. It looked
like a Chinese symbol of some sort. She would have to ask him about it later.

Next, Quinn removed his shoes and socks then shed his jeans,
which left him standing in black boxer-briefs. The agents went through each
article of clothing, feeling around to see if there was anything in them that
shouldn’t be. Margot’s eyes wandered down his broad back, over his tight rear
end, thickly muscled thighs, and nicely shaped calves. Her heart thumped in her
chest; in her entire life, she has never seen such a finer specimen in person.
Her body thrummed with awareness, wondering what all that hard ropey muscle
would feel like under her hands or against her own body.

“Underwear, too, Sir,” said the older man that had come in
later.

“Seriously? You want me to get completely naked in front of
my coworker?” Quinn muttered dryly.

Quinn might have sounded calm and collected but Margot knew
better. She saw the way his shoulders bunched, and the way his fists kept
opening and closing. She might not know much about his life outside of work,
but she knew from the set of his body, that he was absolutely livid.

“I’m sure she can avert her eyes,” said the younger agent as
he glanced at her.

Quinn peeked over his shoulder at her. Margot will never
forget the humiliated look in his eyes. His jaw clenched tight, and his
normally lush mouth was a thin angry line. Margot stood; her eyes locked on
his, and turned the chair to face the wall before sitting back down in it. She
stared at the wall. She was tempted to peek when she heard him remove his
underwear, but she did not dare. She silently gave her word that she would not
look.

“Lift your scrotum. Alright. Now turn, bend over and spread
your buttocks.” Margot heard the older man say.

Margot had to stifle a groan. She covered her face with her
hands and shook her head.
How degrading! Poor Quinn!
What a horrible way to start a trip. No
doubt, Peter would be getting an earful about this and Margot would not blame Quinn
for chewing Peter’s ear off.
 
They
did not ask to go on this trip.

“Are you fucking satisfied now?” Quinn growled.

“Yes, you may get dressed and go to your gate.”

“Thanks a-fucking-lot,” Quinn snarled.

Margot listened to Quinn’s hasty movements to put his
clothes and gray pea coat back on. Margot started when he suddenly appeared at
the table to grab his things. He shoved his wallet and phone into his back
pockets, and grabbed his laptop bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

“Let’s go, Margot,” he said quietly.

Margot got up and followed him to the door. The younger
agent led them back out to the security check where he let them go. Quinn
pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. After he shoved it back
into his pocket, he reached over and grabbed her hand.

“We have ten minutes to get to the gate,” he muttered,
pulling her along quickly.

Thankfully, she wore flats today; otherwise, it would have
been very difficult to keep up with his long strides. They made it to the gate
with a minute to spare. Once onboard, they found their seats and settled in.
Quinn put Margot’s carryon in the overhead compartment before sitting down next
to her. She took the middle seat, while he had the aisle.

Margot glanced over at Quinn, who has not looked at her
since they left that room. She hated that he went through that, and even more
so, she hated that he went through that in front of her. If it were just him,
he probably would not have been so humiliated because there would have been no
one to witness it. Quinn was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest and
his head back against the headrest with his eyes closed.

“Quinn...”
 
Margot started softly.

“Don’t, Margot. Just don’t,” he rasped without moving,
effectively cutting her off.

Margot sighed and kept her mouth shut. They had a seven-hour
flight, and she did not want to upset him any more than he already was. If he
did not want to talk about it, then fine, she would just let it go. This trip
was not starting out well at all. She hoped that the rest would go better.

Chapter
2

Quinn has never been so humiliated and degraded in his life.
No, that was a lie
.
He absolutely was humiliated and degraded once before. He was much younger and
unable to defend himself. Quinn remembered that day as if it was yesterday...

Quinn lay crying silently on his bed. His face was being
pressed against his pillow by a big heavy hand. His pants and underwear tangled
around his ankles and his arms were locked behind his back, being held by the
other big hand. The pain was like a searing hot knife. He’d never felt anything
like it before, not even when he broke his arm last summer.

“You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you
Quinn?”

Quinn whimpered.

“No one would ever believe you even if you did.”

Finally, it was over. Quinn squeezed his eyes shut and
prayed that he would just leave. Quinn just wanted him to leave and never come
back.

“I’m telling you now, Quinn. You try to tell anyone about
this, I will come back for you and I won’t be as nice the second time around.
Do you understand me?”

Quinn nodded. He would never tell a soul. Never.