I frown.
“Do you need something shoving in your mouth?”
She laughs. She laughs so brightly, tipping her head back, that I damn near trip over my own feet trying to keep her upright on the slippery ground below us.
“Because I haven’t done that enough in the last month, have I?” she eventually says, laughter ebbing off slightly. No, she hasn’t. As far as I’m concerned, she can do it for the rest of my life, regardless of the current shitstorm she’s put us in.
And a month? I turn her towards me, a laugh of my own mirroring hers.
“That could be considered a relationship for me.”
“What?”
“A month.”
“Oh.”
“Hmm.”
I stare at her lips, wondering what the hell I’m doing, and certainly why the hell I just said that. Relationship? It is though, isn’t it? Has been since the day she ran off and left me in Bora. I knew then that I loved her. Not that I’ve said that. The thought makes me frown and feel my own lips tremble slightly, amusement making them want to lift into another smile. I’m here with a diamond thief in the world’s diamond capital, for some reason contemplating buying her one. That’s enough for me to snort and get us walking again, still focused on the restaurant.
“No, hold on. I’ve got somewhere to be first,” she says, dragging me away from the warmth before I can get us there.
“It better be good.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get your warmth,” she says, giggling again as we turn out of the square and start down the back roads. They get narrower as we keep walking, reminding me of London in some ways. The decrepit nature of the buildings harks back to old times, like she says, giving that element of age that the US just doesn’t have.
She stops dead in the middle of the street and I nearly pull her over as I keep moving. “What is it?”
Gabby’s looking through the window of a small cafe near us. “Nothing. I thought I saw someone, that’s all.”
Her comment puts me on high alert. We came here to be safe. If someone is looking for her then how the fuck did they find us here?
“Tell me about Quinn,” she says, tugging us back along as if all is forgotten.
“What about him?” I grumble.
“I don’t know. You have family. I’d like to know about them. Your mother, father?” My brow pinches at the thought of telling her my fucked-up history involving those three people. “I only have Andreas, and well, you know it’s not exactly a loving relationship. Quinn seems to care about you.”
“My father’s dead. Mother is…Mother. And Quinn is my big brother. It’s his job to care.” I slip my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer into me for heat. “Always has been his job.” I look at the floor as we amble onwards, shops passing us by. “Guess he always felt it was his job to protect us. Not that he had much choice.”
“Us?”
I sigh, annoyed at myself for letting that slip. The last thing she needs to know about is the fuck up that was Emily and Josh. “Yeah, the family.” She points over to the right, steering me over to a non-descript doorway tucked away in a corner, then ducks in front of me almost using me as a shield.
“Stay exactly where you are.” She lets go of me and opens a small section of the wall, the brick swinging open to reveal a pad. “Has Quinn got a girlfriend, wife?” What the hell are we doing?
“Yes, fiancée.” I stare at her as she inputs a code, then lowers and says something to the machine in a language I don’t understand.
“She must be something special.”
“What?” She closes the brick again and turns back to me, arms around my neck instantly.
“His fiancée?”
I shake my head, trying to look around her. “What are we doing?”
“You’re not the only one with secrets, Nathan Cane.”
