Page 3 of Against the Clock

“Let’s go ask your mom,” I offered, gently leading her that way with my hand on her lower back.

The party was still going with people packed into the small backyard.We wedged our way through until we reached Sandra.

“Mom, where’s Rosie?”Quinn asked, grabbing her arm to spin her away from the older man she was talking to.

“She’s inside using the restroom,” her mom answered, her brow furrowed in response to Quinn’s tone.

“By herself?”Quinn muttered angrily before rushing inside.

I followed behind her, ready to help with whatever was upsetting her.

She rushed through the kitchen, bumping shoulders with a few people before she started pounding on the bathroom door.

“Rosie!Open the door,” she yelled.

A few minutes passed before she pounded again.

“Rosie—” she started but was cut off when Rosie came out of a bedroom with a man behind her.

“I’m right here, Mom,” she said.

Quinn’s eyes widened as she looked between the two of them.

“What were you doing?”Quinn asked, reaching for her daughter and pulling her out of the man’s grip as he rested his hand on her shoulder.She squatted in front of her and held her hands.

“I needed the bathroom, but someone was in it.So then I went to Grandma’s, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the door to close because it was stuck.Uncle Saul heard me and came to help me.”

Quinn stood up and tucked Rosie into her side, facing me instead of the man she was calling Uncle Saul.

“You only have one uncle, Rosie, and that’s Uncle Mike.We don’t go anywhere with someone we don’t know, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rosie replied quietly, tucking her chin.

“It wasn’t a big deal,”Uncle Saulsaid.“I didn’t want her wandering around by herself, so I popped in to check on her.”

“Thank you,” Quinn said through clenched teeth.“In the future, she needs to come find me instead.”

“Hey, no harm, no foul,” he laughed and held his hands up while Quinn shot daggers through her eyes.He walked by and patted Rosie’s head before getting lost in the crowd.

“Mom, can I go outside again?”Rosie asked, tugging on her arm.“Uncle Mike is right there.”

Quinn turned her head and nodded as Mike gave her a quizzical look.He reached his hand out and waited until Rosie took it before leading her outside.

I stood by Quinn and noticed how her fingers trembled while she closed her eyes and let out the shaky breath she had been holding.

“What’s going on, Quinn?”I asked, gently touching her arm.

She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and avoided looking at me.

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Bullshit,” I hissed out quietly to avoid drawing attention to us.

Her brow raised.

I folded my arms over my chest, matching her, aside from my chest being much broader and more muscular than her feminine one that I was trying hard not to stare at.

“It’s my job to read people, and I can tell that you’re lying.”

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