Page 64 of How to Hack a Hellhound
“Fuck you,” Emmett hissed.
Quinton shrugged. “You have the choice, Em. They’ll torture it out of you one way or another.”
“I’m not telling you shit, assholes,” he hissed.
Quinton sighed and looked at Dexter. “Can you take care of this?” He looked at me then. “As long as you don’t mind?”
“Of course not, my love,” I answered. If he wanted our hands clean of his former friend, then Dexter would be happy to take care of things. I was so proud of Quinton for doing what was right for him.
Dexter nodded his head. “I’ll find out everything you need to know. Don’t worry,” he assured us.
Quinton came to me then. He took one last look at Emmett, saying, “Goodbye, Em.”
Then he led me from the room, shutting the door firmly behind us.
We were silent as we made our way back to his house. I knew he would need to check in on Aiden, and I thought he needed a true friend right now. He had been betrayed by someone he had counted as a friend, and he needed to know that everyone wasn’t like that.
When we got into the house, Aiden just came over and hugged Quinton. Quinton hugged him tightly back, and it made something in my chest lighten.
“I love you, you asshole, and you better not get kidnapped a third time. I can’t take that,” Aiden mumbled.
Quinton laughed, then he murmured, “I love you, too, Aiden.”
They both got a little leaky at that. I was standing and watching them, smiling, and Quinton looked over at me. “Stopgrinning like a psycho, Sexy Stalker. You’re supposed to be all jealous or something.”
“Why would I be jealous of your best friend?” I asked, perplexed.
Quinton made a grumpy face, but Aiden just laughed.
“He’s totally a keeper, Q,” he said. “You two go shower or whatever—I’m sure you need to unwind. I’ll make a light dinner, because I’m sure you’re hungry too.”
As if on cue, Quinton’s stomach growled. They both laughed a little, and I dragged Quinton with me into the bathroom.
I turned the water on to get hot, and we both stripped. When we got under the spray, I just held Quinton close to me, letting the hot water rain down on him. It was like I could feel the tension slowly leaking from his body.
“Are you disappointed?” he asked me.
I was utterly confused. “About what, my hellcat?”
“That I wasn’t your hellcat. I went all soft and didn’t even want to torture Emmett,” he said.
I laughed and kissed the top of his head. “You arealwaysmy hellcat, Quinton. You are ferocious and have claws and attack when necessary, but you also enjoy cuddling up—when the mood strikes you—and you can be incredibly sweet. But only sometimes, and it’s better not to call attention to it or someone will get swatted.”
Quinton laughed against my chest.
“You did the right thing,” I assured him. “Emmet is evil, and he’ll get the punishment he deserves, but he wasn’t just someone who took advantage of you. You had fond memories of him, too. That’s what makes the two of you so very different. Torturing him wouldn’t have made him change, but it would have darkened your memories. Sometimes it’s better to grieve someone than to punish them. Grieve the man you thought he was. It’s ok.”
Quinton hugged me tighter, and I kissed his head.
After a few more minutes, he spoke again. “You found me more quickly than I expected. Did you airtag me?” he joked.
“Ah, not exactly,” I murmured. It looked like now might be the time to explain things.
He pulled back and looked at me, and his fire was back. “Sexy Stalker, what does ‘not exactly’ mean? Because that’s a loaded phrase.”
“So, ah, yes, well…” I started, but then I didn’t really know where to go from there.
“Spit it out, Liam. What did you do? Did you microchip me while I was sleeping? Do my sneakers have trackers?” he asked.
