“Darcy said that this wasn’t over,” I blurted, before I could let myself feel any more embarrassment. “She’s going to go after Charlie again.”
Quinn nodded, his face still unreadable. “I’ve got two vampires guarding the entrances to your brother-in-law’s house, both of them stronger than Darcy. Your niece is definitely safe for the night.”
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it.
“We still need to talk, though.”
I glanced down at my backward shirt. “Simon’s sister Lily is here taking my stitches out.”
“Can I come in and wait?”
“Sure.” I opened the door wider, but Quinn just stood there, cocking an eyebrow at me.
“Oh, right,” I said, the blush returning. Apparently it was true. “Uh, please come in?” I felt so silly.
As soon as he was inside, I pointed to the kitchen. “After you,” I said firmly.
Quinn stepped into the kitchen only a heartbeat ahead of me, so I still saw Lily’s face when he entered: a fleeting look of embarrassment, followed by irritation. “Quinn,” she said stiffly.
“Lilith.” Quinn’s voice was equally cool.
“I’ll be done in a second,” she said. “And then she’s all yours.”
I immediately decided that whatever was going on between them was none of my business.
Lily went back to work on my stitches, keeping silent now. While he waited, Quinn wandered over to the bookshelves by the entertainment center, perusing the titles with his hands in his pockets. “Damn, that’s a lot of kids’ movies,” he said about my shelf of DVDs.
“Yeah, but they’re all good ones,” I said, a little defensive. I don’t have many movies, and most of them either are animated or were made before 1960. “And I have a lot of cousins with kids. They come over sometimes.”
If Quinn heard me, he chose not to respond. “Hey, The Best Years of Our Lives,” he said, grabbing a movie off the shelf and scanning the back of the case. “I love this movie. Haven’t seen it in ages.”
“Yeah, it’s great.”
“I haven’t heard of that one,” Lily said, gently tugging at another stitch with the tweezers. “What’s it about?”
“These three veterans come back from World War II, and they all have trouble adjusting,” Quinn told her. “It won a bunch of Oscars.”
“Were they in the army, like you?” Lily asked me, her tone casual.
“Different divisions,” Quinn answered absently, still examining the back of the box. I realized he must have recognized the shield on my tattoo. Interesting.
As that thought ran through my mind, Quinn looked up and met my eyes, changing the subject. “You have a lot of textbooks here for someone who didn’t go to college,” he pointed out, gesturing at the bookshelf in the corner.
“Really?” I said innocently. “How many textbooks does someone who went to college have?”
“Not nearly as many as someone who went to medical school,” Lily grumbled.
“What about photography school?” Quinn offered, giving her a sly look. “Or education majors? You must have rooms full of books.”
The witch glared at him sourly. “At least I can read, parasite. Do they even have textbooks at the police academy, or do you have to look at pictures of traffic tickets?” She jerked hard with the tweezers.
Ow. “If you’re going to piss her off, Quinn, at least wait until she’s done with my back,” I said, keeping my voice as mild as possible.
Quinn wandered over to stand in front of me, hands in his pockets. “How much longer?” he asked Lily.
“I’m done,” she announced, stripping off her gloves. “You should clean the wounds with alcohol at least twice a day,” she told me, tossing things back into her hemp bag. “Let them get some air when you can, and I’d forgo a bra for the next couple of days. Call me if it starts hurting or itching again.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I got off the stool, turned around, and fixed my shirt with my back to Quinn, holding it shut with my hand. If he wanted to stare at my scarred back for the few seconds it took me to take the shirt off and pull it back on, let him. “I’ll walk you out.”
“I can find my own way,” Lily said sullenly. Then she caught herself and met my eyes. “Um, it was really nice to meet you, Lex. Si said you weren’t interested in training, but we should grab a drink sometime. I don’t know many people in the Old World outside of my clan. Or vampires.” She said the last with exaggerated distaste before shooting a final glare at Quinn and flouncing out. I heard the front door close a moment later.
“What the hell was that about?” I said, turning to face him as I buttoned the shirt.
“Lily and I have this problem where when we’re around each other, we accidentally start bickering like . . .” He drifted off as—to my surprise—his gaze brushed down my front, stopping where my flannel shirt still gaped. Annoyed, I stubbornly resisted the impulse to glance down and make sure I was covered. Instead I let out a little whistle, a high note followed by a low one, to get his attention. Quinn met my eyes and looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “Like teenagers,” he finished in a mumble. “Sorry, didn’t mean to stare.”
That took me aback. I had expected him to play innocent, or maybe make some lewd comment, not actually apologize. I was suddenly very aware that there were only a couple of feet between us. And that he looked like a Scandinavian Indiana Jones in that jacket. I cleared my throat. “You were saying something about the situation changing?”