Sworn to Protect (6 page)

Quinn frowned at the mention of the tattoo. Glenn hadn’t had a tattoo back when he’d been in law enforcement, but things could have changed in prison. Quinn pulled out his cell phone and pulled up an old article about Glenn. It was a picture of him in his uniform—because the media had loved the idea of a bad cop, fucking vultures—next to the article about his trial. After zooming in on the face, Quinn handed his phone to her. “This him?”

Leaning closer as she took it, her eyes widened a fraction as she looked at the screen. “Oh my gosh, yeah, this is him. He’s a little younger here, but yes, this is definitely him. Wait a minute, he’s wearing… Is he a cop?” She whispered the last part, clearly horrified by the idea.

“Used to be. Not anymore. He just got out of prison a couple months ago.”

Athena leaned back in her chair, her expression understanding. “You helped put him there, didn’t you?”

Quinn nodded. He’d explain everything to her once they got out of here, but now wasn’t the time for that story. He wanted her somewhere safer, where he could watch out for any potential threat. “Yeah. Listen, I’d feel a lot better if I could drive you home. I’ll contact Grant and have him come get your car and—”

“Okay.”

His eyes widened. “No arguments?”

She let out a shaky laugh. “Are you freaking kidding me? That guy scared the hell out of me. If you want to drive me home, I’m on board. What I don’t get is, why would he have followed me here—and I’m assuming he must have. This obviously wasn’t random.”

Definitely not random. Which meant that fucker had been watching Quinn and had guessed that Athena meant something to him. Something he should have considered. But coming after Quinn was stupid. Beyond it in fact. It wasn’t like he was the only one who’d had a hand in Glenn’s arrest and prosecution. “He must have seen us at lunch today.”

She shrugged. “So?”

“Honestly I don’t know what his reasoning is. You’re a beautiful woman and since he saw us together he might have thought you’re important to me.” Which she was.

“But…you said he got out of prison a couple months ago. Has he bothered any other women you’ve gone out with?”

Quinn snorted. “I haven’t been out with anyone since you.” Let her make of that what she wanted. Her lips parted in an adorably sexy way he’d seen her do a couple times when surprised but he didn’t have time to dwell on that. Not now. “I need to talk to Stephanos about his security before we go and—”

“It’s not working.” She bit her bottom lip at his frown, but continued. “It’s been on the fritz for about a week so they’ve got someone coming out Thursday to look at it. They’ve never had a problem here in the past since all the employees are either family or go to Steven and Stephanos’ church so they didn’t put a rush on it.”

Quinn let out a growl of frustration.

“He’s feels terrible,” she whispered, leaning closer to him, moving so that their knees were touching. “And you’re not going to make him feel worse.”

A ghost of a grin tugged at his lips at her demanding tone. “Yes, ma’am,” he murmured.

Her cheeks flushed pink. “Sorry, not trying to order you around.”

“It’s hot.”

Now her cheeks went full-on crimson. But then she shook her head, as if dismissing his words. “Don’t try to distract me.”

He wasn’t, but he didn’t correct her, just stood. “Come on. I want to talk to the owner before we get out of here. Did you want to get your groceries?” She’d come here for a reason and he didn’t want her leaving empty-handed.

“Steven already bagged them up for me. Said everything was on them, which is silly, but I think they just feel bad about the security situation. I tried to argue, but I know when I’m going to lose.”

Quinn nodded his approval. He liked Stephanos and his son already. After talking to them and calling Grant to see if he could either pick up Athena’s car or send someone else to get it, Quinn was getting Athena the hell out of here.

She might not realize it yet, but he was staying at her place tonight too. No way was he letting her out of his sight. She’d probably argue about that, but he’d face that when the time came. It was an argument Quinn wasn’t losing.

Glenn White had regularly roughed up his wife, a woman he claimed to have loved. He wouldn’t have a problem hurting a woman who meant nothing to him. And if Glenn thought it would hurt Quinn, yeah, he’d definitely come after Athena.

That thought was enough to send another frisson of raw fear punching through Quinn. Let White try. That fucker was going down if he came at Athena or anyone else in Quinn’s life.

* * *

From the parking lot next door to the grocery store, Glenn remained hidden in the shadows as he watched Quinn exit with that smart-mouthed bitch. She was pretty, but that mouth of hers, the disrespectful way she’d talked to him… Glenn had wanted to backhand her just to wipe that look off her face.

Approaching her like that had been a test. Hell, he hadn’t been sure if he would talk to her at all tonight, but when she’d gotten up in his face he’d wanted to scare her. He’d wanted to see terror in her eyes.

Now Glenn was glad he had because she clearly mattered to Quinn. He hadn’t been certain if she meant anything to that bastard. She could have just been a co-worker. Today Glenn had seen them having lunch together, but that could have been a work thing. Sure, they seemed to have chemistry but there hadn’t been any hand-holding or any other little signs they’d been a couple.

So Glenn had planned to tail her for a few days, to see where she went and who she visited. Following her would be a lot easier than keeping up with Quinn. Quinn was trained and would see a tail a lot quicker. Not the dark-haired woman whose name he was going to find out very soon. She’d been completely oblivious that he’d followed her from work. She’d stopped a couple places before hitting the grocery store.

Soon he’d find out her name and where she lived. He still had some contacts he could use, one in particular. Because following her tonight would be stupid, especially when it appeared Quinn was taking her home. Either to her place or Quinn’s, it didn’t matter to Glenn.

Now that he’d made contact, had let Quinn know he wasn’t safe, it was time to play. Glenn hadn’t done anything illegal and it was his word against some woman’s if she said anything to the police. He was well within following the rules of his parole requirements.

He’d keep doing so for a while. At least until it suited him. He needed to buy a new ID and papers just in case he had to run later. He wasn’t going back to prison but he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he might not get caught going after Quinn. The new ID would be his backup. Though he still needed to lay his exact plans out, figure out his best plan of attack. That meant he’d have to watch this bitch, learn more about who she was, her habits, everything.

So if he had to flee, he’d be ready this time. No matter what happened, Quinn was going to get exactly what was coming to him and Glenn wasn’t going back to prison. Never again.

Chapter 5

Athena caught Quinn’s look of surprise as she gave him her address. He’d been about to plug it into his GPS until he clearly recognized the name of the street.

“You live next door to Belle and Grant?” he asked, glancing in the rearview mirror before reversing.

“Yeah, moved in a few weeks ago. She still hasn’t let go of her old place and it makes more sense to rent it than letting it sit empty.”

“I’m surprised they haven’t rented it before now.”

Athena shrugged. Since marrying Grant, Belle had been trying to decide if she should rent or sell and Athena moving back had given her an excuse to prolong making the decision to sell. “You don’t want to talk about my living situation any more than I do.”

Quinn let out a short laugh. “Not really. I need to make some calls, then we’re talking. Okay?”

She nodded, letting him do what he needed to. Being with Quinn after that strange confrontation soothed most of the jagged edges of her nerves. Not completely, because that guy, Glenn White, had seriously scared her. Now that she knew he was a former cop the whole thing was even more worrisome. She was so thankful that Quinn was taking her home too because she didn’t trust herself to drive. She was too shaky and for all she knew, the guy could have tried to follow her. At that sudden thought, she turned around in her seat.

Quinn, who was on the phone, she’d surmised with Grant, shook his head and held the phone away from his mouth. “I’ll know if we have a tail,” he murmured.

Okay then. She sat back against the comfortable leather seat and didn’t wonder why he was taking all sorts of random turns. If someone was following them, Quinn would figure it out soon enough. It relieved a bit of pressure in her chest to know that he was trained.

She didn’t live far from the grocery store, roughly about ten minutes, but Quinn had made enough turns that it took double that. By the time they pulled into the driveway, Quinn was getting off the phone with Grant—and Grant and Belle were waiting in the driveway.

Belle practically had the passenger side door open before they’d parked or Athena had unstrapped her seatbelt.

“Athena!” Her cousin dragged her into a surprisingly tight hug.

“You’re squeezing really tight,” she rasped out.

Belle immediately loosened her grip and stepped back, but not by much. She grasped onto Athena’s shoulders and looked her up and down, as if looking for injury.

“What exactly did Grant tell you happened? I’m fine.” Jeez, Belle had been through a heck of a lot worse over a year ago, being kidnapped by a crazed maniac who turned out to be a serial killer. Athena getting approached by a jerk in a grocery store wasn’t on the same scale.

“I know, I just worry about you.”

Athena just smiled, knowing it was their family way. Belle was only a few years older, but older cousins and sisters or brothers always looked out for the younger relatives. It was just the way it was, and something Athena was grateful for. “Thank you, seriously. But I swear I’m fine.” She turned to look at Grant and Quinn, who both stood there like formidable warriors near the closed garage door.

“I’ve already swept the house,” Grant started. Of course he would have. They had the security code and an extra key. “And I called in one of our guys to pick up your car. He said he’d call me if Stephanos gave him an issue, but I doubt he will. Stephanos and Steven were worried, so they’ll be happy to help.”

Athena simply nodded. They’d left her car keys with Stephanos and Quinn had said he’d contact the man when they’d figured out what they planned to do about her vehicle. “Is your guy bringing it here?”

Grant shook his head. “No, he’s taking it to Red Stone where it will remain in secure parking overnight. I’m going to have it swept for bugs or trackers.”

“Wait…what?” She stepped closer to Quinn and Grant, staring at her cousin-in-law as if he’d lost his mind. “This guy just approached me in a grocery store. Don’t get me wrong, it was creepy, but sweeping my car for bugs, seriously? That’s overkill.” She figured that if he wanted to find her, he could just use her license plate number and attempt to track her that way. Thankfully she hadn’t updated her address yet.

But of course the man just shrugged as if what he was doing was no big deal. Worse, Quinn didn’t seem fazed by it either.

“I don’t care if it’s overkill,” Grant said, his tone resolute. “I almost lost my wife to a serial killer. You’re family and we look out for our own. Deal with it.”

Athena blinked, realizing that even if she argued it would be pointless. There were certainly worse things than an overprotective family. “Okay, thank you.”

Grant’s eyes narrowed a fraction, as if he didn’t quite believe Athena’s acquiescence. Belle slipped her arm through Athena’s, tugging her closer. “We’re just worried about you.”

Athena nudged Belle with her hip. “I know, it’s why I’m not going to argue. As long as you don’t tell my mom. Or your mom,” she rushed on. If her mother or pretty much anyone in the family found out about this, they’d rush over to her house like madwomen with covered dishes and desserts. As if someone had died. She’d just started a new job and had a stressful day; she couldn’t handle her family descending upon her.

“Well,
we
won’t,” Grant said before Belle could respond. “But you know Stephanos—”

“Oh, hell, I wasn’t thinking,” she groaned, wondering which of her family members would now show up tomorrow morning before she had to leave for work. Because she knew it was happening. There would be a little army of them. Her mom for sure. Not her sisters because they’d all be in school. But her mom, likely two of her aunts, and—

“Grant.” Quinn’s voice cut off her train of thought and internal pity party.

Athena looked between the two men as they seemed to have a telepathic conversation. Which she knew was ridiculous, but
something
passed between them as they stared at each other. Finally Grant nodded and they both turned back to her and Belle.

“I’m going to grab my bag from the truck and I think it wouldn’t hurt to park in your garage. If you have the room.” Quinn’s first words since they’d gotten out of his truck could have knocked her over.

She knew she wasn’t misunderstanding either. “You want to stay with me?”

“Either he stays over—in your guest room—or you stay with Belle and me…or I call your mother. If you let Quinn stay I’ll call Stephanos right now and tell him to hold off on contacting your family.” Grant gave her an easy smile that she wanted to knock right off his smug face.