Page 115 of Hard Hitter

Raelyn nodded, smiling. “Yeah, that could be. Money, abs, anger issues…that vigilante urge to carry out justice on his own terms.”

“See? The bat signal apparently comes before whatever weird sex plans you had tonight,” Jett said with a shrug, attempting to conceal his own amusement with himself.

“There’s nothing weird about buying nylon rope in bulk and-”

“OhGod, no! What?” Jett’s look of horror made Raelyn laugh even harder.

“Aw, poor little virgin ears can’t handle that,” she pouted mockingly.

“I’mnota virgin!” Jett insisted through gritted teeth.

“Sure you’re not, Flower,” Raelyn reached up and ruffled his curly hair and he ducked away from her. “Better hold onto that towel.” Raelyn smirked and made her way to the door to back down to the alley.

“Wait, Rae,” Jett grabbed her by the bicep and turned her around. “You can’t go down to the alley by yourself. It’s almost eleven o’clock. I’ll get dressed and walk you out.”

“It’s fine, that’s how I came up.”

“Well, that was dumb. Just give me a minute.” With that, he turned down the hallway to his bedroom. It did only take one minute for him to get on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He slid on some shoes at the door and walked Raelyn out to the car.

“Let me know when you find him, okay?” Jett said, holding the door open as Raelyn slid into the front seat.

“Will do, Flower,” Raelyn teased and gave a wink. Jett shook his head, exasperated, and shut the driver’s side door.

It wasn’t a long drive back to the hotel. Quinn was still staying at Hotel Indigo because they had the best safety measures around for guests. Some false leaks had been made that he was staying in other hotels, which at least kept the cameras from all congregating outside one building. Raelyn managed to duck into the lobby unnoticed and get the elevator to herself. She pushed the button for the fourth floor and waited.

Room four-oh-two, right? Four-twenty-two? Two-twenty-four? Shit.

She specifically remembered hearing the number four-oh-two, but she could’ve sworn that the room number Quinn had given her had a twenty in it somewhere. Oh well. Quinn hadn’t texted her yet asking her to show up, so she wasn’t in too big of a hurry. She could checkthose different rooms with the hope that the occupants weren’t complete weirdos.

Stepping out of the elevator on the fourth floor, she spotted the sign that directed which way to go for rooms 400-412, and the other way for rooms 413-424. It looked like the floor did a full circle, or rectangle, rather, so she supposed it didn’t matter which way she went first. Since rooms were equally close, she opted to start with room 402.

She knocked. Waited. Nothing. Knocked again. Still nothing.

Raelyn whispered a brief, “Sorry if you’re sleeping in there…” and continued down the hall to find room 422. As she passed the little nook to get ice and other beverages, she heard a door open and looked up at the sound of Quinn’s familiar voice. The excitement she felt was stopped short at the sound of a female voice, and the sight of a woman exiting his room in front of him.

Panicking, Raelyn slipped inside the nook and peered around the corner.

No. Fucking. Way.

No.

This is not fucking happening.

Quinn was standing just outside the doorway in a t-shirt and boxer briefs. He was wearing his fucking underwear and a t-shirt. In front of some woman. A woman in his hotel room. She was beautiful, of course. She was petite with dark brown hair that fell in waves down her back, and was wearing black pump heels, a pencil skirt, and an emerald green sleeveless blouse, with her blazer tucked under one arm.

Raelyn’s stomach was an empty pit. It felt like her stomach was falling and falling into endless blackness. Her heart clenched. It physically hurt. The lump in her throat grew in seconds, and the harder she tried to swallow it down, the larger it seemed to get. Her eyes burned with tears begging to pour out.

No, no, no, this was not happening again.

Not with him. Not Quinn.

He loves me. I know he does.

So what the fuck...is he doing here? With someone else?

She strained to hear past the rushing in her ears and listened for the words being exchanged that had to,absolutely had to, provide some explanation other than what it clearly looked like.

“...sogood,” the woman’s voice came to Raelyn’s ears. Her voice was velvety and warm, smooth and sexy.Of course it was.

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