Chapter <b>253 </b>Journey To The Border
Chapter 253 Journey To The Border
Quinn blinked. “I can handle this myself, Julius. I don’t even know how long I’ll be out there.
“I told you I’ll help you find Rowan, and I meant it,” Julius said. “If that means trekking to the border, <b>then </b>that’s where I’ll be. Or do you really think I’d let my girlfriend wander into danger alone?”
Words failed her.
He lifted her hand and traced a slow circle across her palm. “Unless you believe I can stomach <b>being </b><b>miles </b>away from you?”
Heat crept up Quinn’s cheeks; after all, Laura and Han were still sitting right there.
Laura clicked her tongue. “All right, Quinn–if Julius is going, I can finally rx.”
Han slid two small sses across the table, one to Quinn. “Quinnie, now that we know why Rowan vanished, it won’t be long before we bring him home. That calls for a toast.”
“It certainly does,” she replied with a smile.
She lifted the ss and downed it in a single swallow.
Han raised his tumbler and emptied it in one decisive swallow.
Han refilled the ss and said, “Another toast, everyone, to Quinnie cutting Trent loose with style. A man like that should never have got a ring from her in the first ce.”
Laura added, “Trent looked green today. All this time, he thought Sidonie had saved his life, yet now he knows it was you. What if he shows up again and starts chasing you?”
Julius‘ fingers tightened around Quinn’s hand; Han snapped, “If he dares bother Quinnie again, I will break his legs.”
Julius said, “You don’t need to do that. I will simply make sure he never appears in front of Quinn again.”
A shiver ran through Laura. Both men were soaked in violence. An ordinary woman would never survive their kind of protection.
Quinn said, “You two do not need to go that far.”
“Why?” Julius asked. “You’re feeling sorry for him?”
“Not at all,” Quinn replied. “He may nevere looking. If he does, I will punch him myself. Your fists can stay holstered.”
Lauraughed. “Well said. A man/like Trent has owed a beating for years.” She lifted her ss with gusto.
They kept drinking. For some reason, Han sought Quinn’s ss every round, clinking and draining until she had swallowed far more than usual. What began as a simple celebration drifted into Han’s stories of their time in the barracks.
Han sighed. “Those days with you in the barracks were the best of my life.”
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Chapter 253 Journey To The Border
Quinn, already pleasantly tipsy, smiled. “I used to beat the crap out of you. <b>Don’t </b><b>tell </b><b>me </b><b>you </b>miss this
“Every bit of it,” Han said, swirling his drink before downing it. “I would return in a heartbear, Even if you beat me up every day, I’d still be happy to take it.”
“Laura clicked her tongue.Happy to take beatings? In all of ckthorn Capital, Quinn’s <b>the </b><b>only </b>one who could get him to say something like that. Yet Quinn already had Julius beside her, so Laura felt <b>a </b><b>quiet </b>pang of pity for Han,”
Han poured another measure, raised the ss, and said, “Quinnie, I often wish we could go back to those days.”
Quinn lifted her own ss, and the two crystal rims met with a soft chime.
Bleary–eyed, Han said, “If we ever returned, I would tell you that I-”
“Han!” Laura cut in sharply, stopping him.
Quinn blinked, uprehending. She had missed hisst words through the haze of drink. “What is it?
“It is nothing,” Julius said, sliding the ss from her fingers. “You have had enough for tonight<i>. </i>I will finish this for you.”
He fixed Han with a steady look and drained the wine in one motion.
Han’s eyes narrowed. The two men held each other’s stare, tension thickening the air like <i>steel </i>wires stretched to the point of snapping.