Give Me Strength (25 page)

The light switch came on inside my room and I
froze. The wardrobe door flew open, and Mac’s eyes found me on the
floor in my underwear, my suitcase and a pile of shirts at my feet
and textbooks splattered open everywhere. Dressed in only a tiny
satin slip herself, she took in the entire scene with pursed
lips.

I cleared my throat. “I was just uh…”

“Save it,” she hissed and started pushing
buttons on the phone in her hand. I heard someone answer the phone.
“You were absolutely right. You better get your butt over here
pronto... Uh huh... You better believe I’m gonna sit on her.”

The call ended, Mac tossed the phone over her
shoulder, and my eyes followed its descent onto the carefully
placed pillow, watching it bounce off and fall to the floor. My
eyes flew back to Mac. Her arms were folded, anger almost steaming
from her skin. And then the yelling started.

“What the fuck, Quinn? I mean, What. The.
Fuck?”

I stood up. “I have no idea what you’re talking
about.” I waved at the books. “I was just trying to tidy up.” I
nodded at her phone on the floor. “So uh…who was on the phone?”

She arched a brow, ignoring my question.
“Tidying up? At three am?”

I forced a chuckle. “Is that the time? It feels
so early.”

Henry appeared by Mac’s side, clad in only a
pair of aqua blue boxer-briefs. My eyes went wide at how
beautifully his underwear matched his eyes. Then I realised I was
wearing hardly anything myself and his eyes were busy.

“Well damn. This is what I’m talking about,” he
joked with a grin.

“Sister, asshead,” Mac snapped out.

His eyes fell on my suitcase and the dregs of
clothes hanging out the sides with a frown. Confused, his eyes
returned to mine. “Quinn? What’s going on?”

“Quinn’s doing a runner.”

I glared. “I was cleaning.”

Henry raised his brows, starting to look a
little hurt. “In the middle of the night?”

I scratched at the back of my head, wincing. His
eyes fell on my chest, and I hastily folded my arms over my bra.
“Yes. In the middle of the night. You should both go because I’m
not dressed.”

“I’ve seen it all before,” Mac said.

“Well me too now,” Henry offered.

“Sister!” Mac snapped at Henry.

“Christ, Mac!” he yelled. “I may hold some kind
of manwhore status in your eyes, but I’m not a goddamn letch.”

I cleared my throat. “That wasn’t Travis on the
phone, was it?”

“No, it was Lucy.”

My eyes shifted to her phone, and narrowing her
gaze, she followed my line of sight. Pursing her lips, she lunged
for the phone, and I found myself diving after her.

“Ooomph.” Mac fell to the floor with a thud
beneath me, and her arm stretched out for the phone.

“No!” I yelled, clawing my way over her to reach
for the phone.

“Arrghhh,” she squealed when my elbow caught her
in the eye.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. My hand clutched around the
phone, and my shout of relief was short-lived when I was rolled and
Mac was breathing heavy in my face.

“What the hell is going on here?” came Jake’s
growl from the bedroom door.

We both froze and turned. Jake was standing
there, bare chest heaving as though he’d run a marathon. I was
thinking that maybe our yelling might have woken up the entire
duplex when I heard Cooper from beside him say, “Shut up, idiot.
Naked chicks wrestling.”

Ignoring all of them, Mac got in my face and
growled, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t ring Travis right
now.”

Panting, my arm outstretched to hold the phone
from Mac’s grasp, I closed my eyes against the tears, but I felt
one roll out the side and down my cheek as I whispered softly so
that only she could hear, “Because if he knows, they’ll shoot
him.”

The lovely golden shade of Mac’s face paled, and
she scrabbled backwards off me in shock.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out. My eyes blurred as
they took in all of them standing there, feeling utterly horrified
I’d brought this hell into their lives. “I’m so sorry.”

Mac nodded towards the door. “Everyone out.”

No one moved.

She arched a brow. “Did I just speak Klingon?
Out. Now.”

All three of them left the room with reluctant
frowns, and scrambling to my feet, I grabbed a shirt from the floor
and shrugged it on. Bracing myself, I lifted my chin and faced
Mac.

“Right.” She jabbed a finger in my chest. “Time
for a chat.”

***

Standing off the side
of the open stage behind the bulky width of Travis, I peeked around
his shoulder, carefully eyeing the Melbourne festival crowd. Was he
out there somewhere—watching me? Travis said the first rule was to
trust your gut, but mine was so busy doing gold medal winning
backflips that it was unreliable. My deadline was up in two days,
and Mac, Lucy, and now Evie who’d been apprised of recent events,
hadn’t been able to agree on a solution.

Even though Travis was working, I slipped my
hands into the waistband of his pants and held on. He didn’t unfold
his arms but he tilted his head and leaned back slightly, his body
shielding me from the brisk wind. I shivered at the protective
gesture.

“Cold?” he asked.

I nodded. “A little,” I replied, because I was.
Melbourne was chilly and I hadn’t packed accordingly. My mind had
been focused on more pressing matters.

“Where’s your jacket?”

“I left it in the hotel room.”

Travis unfolded his arms and peeled his work
jacket off. “Put this on.”

I slipped it on and he turned patiently and
started rolling up the sleeves. The warmth of his scent wrapped
around me, and I bit down on my lip as I breathed it in.

“Quinn,” he said.

At the warning tone in his voice, I looked up
from watching his hands work to see his eyes on my lips. He turned
back, the hard edge returning to his eyes as he once again folded
his arms and glared at the crowd.

After my escape plan went south, not even
managing to even get dressed or make it out of the wardrobe, Mac
had taken me hostage. We’d waited for Lucy in tense silence because
every time I opened my mouth to speak, Mac glared at me.

“Quinn. Did you think running would stop them
looking for you?” Mac had asked.

“Of course not,” I replied, “but it would stop
them going for any of you.”

Lucy growled her anger. “Fuck me sideways.
That’s dumb. You’re being dumb. Dumb as dog shit.” Her look had
been one of utter disappointment. “After everything, you still
couldn’t ask for anyone to help you?”

My body bristled in the face of her
disappointment. “And risk any of you getting hurt because of
me?”

“How would they even know you spoke to us?”

“I have no idea. What if my phone’s bugged? Or
my bag? These are the kind of people that have people in their
pockets—like the police.”

“Oh, that is it. I’m ringing Travis,” Mac ground
out.

“Wait.” I grabbed her arm. “There’s got to be
another way out of this.”

Both of them folded their arms and faced me,
waiting for me to tell them what it is.

“I just haven’t worked out what it is yet,” I
hedged.

Mac grabbed for her phone.

“You can’t,” I burst out. “I don’t want anyone
involved. Not any of you, not Travis. I didn’t want this touching
anyone. It’s my mess. Mine. I’ll fix it.”

“That’s not how we roll, Quinn.”

“It’s how
I
roll,” I told Mac. “I have no
idea what David is dealing with, but you know the person he is.
These people he owes money to have guns, and all of you, you’re
high profile people. Evie stands out in the middle of a stage,” I
whispered furiously, “and Travis and Jared stand right off the
edge, in full view of everyone. He threatened to shoot people if I
talked or if I didn’t get the money.”

Lucy sank heavily onto the bed. “We need to get
the money. Rick and I have savings.”

“Are you kidding? We need to take these bastards
down,” came Mac’s solution.

“No. I need to talk to them. That’s all. I’ll
just explain I don’t have the money and that it’s got nothing to do
with me.”

“You think they’ll be happy with that?”

“Maybe,” I muttered.

Evie yelled, “Last song!” and it brought me back
to the present.

I glanced sideways at Mac. I knew what was
churning through her mind. It was the same thing as me. The
deadline was getting closer and my idea to just explain I didn’t
have any money was sounding like a really shitty one. She returned
my look with a glare and a nod at Travis, her actions informing me
that if I didn’t tell Travis, and soon, she was going to.

My lips pressed tightly together, and I returned
her nod. It was then I realised Travis had caught our silent
exchange, and his brows were pinched together in a frown.

He looked between the both of us. “What’s going
on?”

Travis waited for one of us to speak.

Mac cleared her throat pointedly.

“I was going to let you go,” I blurted out. “I
wanted you to be safe, but none of you are because I can’t get
anything right.”

Travis looked from me to Mac and back again.
“Who’s not safe?”

“No one if I don’t get them the money.”

He grabbed hold of my arm, frustration oozing
from his body. I could actually see the vein pulsing angrily in his
neck. I focused on it because it was either that or the anger in
his eyes. “Get who the money? Can one of you start talking some
goddamn sense?”

“You can’t tell anyone, Travis,” I replied.

Travis let go of my arm and pinched the bridge
of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Tell anyone what,
dammit?”

His voice had kicked up a level, and I was
starting to sense some impatience. “About the bad guys.”

Travis flared his nostrils dangerously, and Mac
shrugged at me when I glanced at her. After drawing in several deep
breaths, Travis spoke.

“You...” he pointed at me “...and you...” he
pointed at Mac “...back to the hotel room right now.” Mac started
protesting and he simply raised his voice over hers. “I will make
sure the show is wrapped up and everything is packed away and dealt
with.” Then he spoke into his speaker. “Sean, need you here right
now. Mac and Quinn need an escort back to the hotel.”

My brows flew up because Sean and Travis were
not best friends, and I somehow felt responsible for that. It seems
that Sean, aka Wolverine from the Florence Bar, had quit his job
and started working for Jamieson and Valentine Consulting. I had no
idea, and really, why would I? It had nothing to do with me, at
least until Sean met us at the airport for our Melbourne flight to
form part of the security detail. I’d been busy throwing up in the
airport toilet. Seems I wasn’t a good flyer and that was before
we’d even boarded the plane. Lucy said it was a good idea for me to
take a couple of sleeping pills to relax the nerves, but they just
rolled around in my stomach, finding a friend in the nerves that
were already there. Then the nerves and pills combined forces and
there I was over the toilet bowl, making a drama out of an hour
long flight.

When I made my way out of the public restroom,
pale and shaky, I found Sean forming part of the Jamieson huddle.
When his eyes caught hold of me, they rounded in surprise. Then he
picked me up, hugging me as he spun me around, saying he’d been
keeping an eye out for me and was disappointed I’d never returned
to the bar. I must have paled further from being launched upwards
in his big arms because he set me down hastily. When I teetered,
Sean reached out in concern and I hung on.

Travis reached my side about the time Sean
decided to ask why I never rang him. Travis slid his arm around my
waist, tugging me close, at the same time glaring at Sean. My body
leaned into Travis, and I simply told Sean it was because I wasn’t
dating. His eyes glanced pointedly at the arm around me, and Travis
glaring daggers at him, and I hastily tacked on that I was dating
now. Dating Travis. Against all my better judgement, but I didn’t
add that part. It didn’t seem the right time.

Not to mention my main focus was on my troubles.
Now it seemed my troubles were going to become Travis’s troubles. I
didn’t like that at all. It left the blood in my veins feeling ice
cold.

Sean arrived and Travis let my arm go. “Take
Quinn and Mac back to the hotel.” He faced the both of us. “You get
there you do
not
leave that room. If I find you have taken
one step outside that door before I get back and deal with this, so
help me God, both of you will be fucking sorry.”

I flinched at the whiplash in his voice and the
anger in his beautiful eyes. Taking a step back, I pulled out my
phone.

“I just need to message Lucy so she can come
with us.” There had been no holding Lucy back from coming to
Melbourne with us after our little chat.