I could either lie and hope that it didn’t ruin our friendship, or I could tell the truth and pray that it didn’t ruin the new one I felt was forming between Quinn and me.
“Just spit it out,” he said, noticing that I was struggling.
I tilted my head back and looked at the ceiling.
“Fine.Quinn came to stay with me Monday night, and we’ve been talking since.”
There, that wasn’t a lie, and it wasn’t overindulging in the little details that I wasn’t sure if I should be sharing.
“Are you two—” he pinned me with a look that felt a little too murdery for my liking.
“Really?That’s what you think she came over for?Rosie was there, for fucks sake, Mike.”I shook my head but didn’t know if I was more frustrated that he had asked or if I was still feeling overly guilty because I had entertained the thought of doing exactly that several times while she was there.
“So if my niece weren’t there, you would have been banging my sister?”
“Is that something you really want to know?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Roman,” he warned.
“Or what?”
“She’s my baby sister, and she’s been through enough already.”
“And I’m not looking for a random hook-up.You should know me better than that, Mike.Besides—that’s not even what it was about.Believe it or not—there are other things to worry about other than whether or not your best friend is doing your sister.”
I knew the moment the words left my mouth that I had said too much.His face softened some, but his shoulders seemed to tense beneath the blue dress shirt he was wearing.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“You already heard about the incident at school with the van.On Monday, Quinn had another meeting that came up at the same time that she needed to pick Rosie up.Your mom went to get her instead, and she sent Quinn a picture of them sitting together on the couch at her house.Quinn knew that it was your mom’s way of putting her at ease to know that Rosie was safe, but when she zoomed in on the picture, the same van was parked outside with someone inside it.”
Mike clenched and unclenched his fists a few times while working his jaw.I could tell he was pissed, and I didn’t blame him.
“Why didn’t she come to me?”
“I asked her the same thing.”I sat on the edge of my desk and crossed my ankles.
“And?”
“She was scared, Mike.Really scared.She hadn’t slept in a few nights and thought that she would sleep better if they stayed with me because she knew that no one would get into my apartment without me hearing them first.”
“I can protect her too,” he countered but lacked the conviction in his tone that said he believed it.
“I know.She knows that too.But we all know that my training was different from you guys.”
He sighed and plopped down into an empty chair by the window.
“So what’s happening now?Why is Rosie really here?”
“It’s true that Quinn had a meeting today.She offered to have your mom pick Rosie up, but I volunteered instead.I felt better knowing that I could keep an eye on her if she were here with me.”
“Have you seen the van since Monday?Should we be filing reports or something?”
I stood up and walked around my desk to my computer.
“We haven’t seen the van since your mom’s house.I went with Quinn to take Rosie to school yesterday morning, and everything looked normal.She hadn’t noticed anything unusual, and Rosie’s teachers are on high alert.They actually had a talk with the kids today about safety and what to do if someone tries to take them.But no, we can’t file any reports because it’s not illegal to have a van parked outside of a school.We don’t have any proof that someone is watching Rosie and nothing to go on.You know better than anyone that all we can do is watch and be alert right now.”
“Were you able to identify the driver?”Mike asked, tapping his foot anxiously.
