Page 61 of No Cap

The large man beside her, the one who looked vaguely familiar for some reason, pulled her back then placed a hand over her mouth. He said something in her ear that had her melting into him.

The jealousy that speared through me at the sight was surprising.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Long story.”

“I’m here for a long story. You can tell it over dinner. We’re having lasagna.”

My eyebrows went up, and I stared at Quincy. “We’re having lasagna?”

“Mom was trying to decide what to make, and I kind of pointed her in the direction of Italian and she ran with it,” he said.

This man…

What the hell was he doing to me?

I felt the tears start to come, unable to stop them.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Garnett said as she hustled to my side. “He’s just so extra sometimes.”

The tears that were threatening dissipated under her words.

I looked toward her and said, “I mean, he is. He’s currently stalking me.”

Garnett gasped and turned toward her son. “He what?”

Wanted: a tiny dragon to incinerate assholes, shitty drivers, and dumbasses.

—Quincy’s secret thoughts

QUINCY

I grinned at her. “If anyone wants to talk about stalking, it should be you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve yet to be caught, or charged, for stalking.”

“You are the only one with a restraining order in this room, though,” I said before thinking.

She gasped.

“Quincy!” she cried out. “What the hell?”

“Sorry,” I replied sheepishly. “But I’m not stalking you.”

“Then what would you call being there when I walk out of work, or out of my apartment, or out of the coffee shop?” she asked.

“That’s just him showing that he cares,” Quaid replied. “Hi, I’m Quaid.”

He offered his hand to her, and she took it. “Hollis.”

“I know,” he grinned. “I was the one to give him the paper in the beginning stating you had the restraining order.”

Her lips thinned, and I laughed, pulling her into my side. “Come on. Let’s go eat.”

“I’m still working on the bread,” Dad said as we entered the kitchen. “But you’re more than welcome to start on the salads.”

“Salad sucks,” Auden replied as he came into the room behind me. “And don’t worry, Hollis. Quincy isn’t as squeaky clean as he’d like you to believe. There was one time that he got arrested for public indecency when he got caught fucking Madilyn Monroe in the middle of the soccer fields after the park was supposed to be closed.”

“Hey, ass hat!” I turned and punched him in the tit. “Don’t tell her that! I’m trying to get her to like me again.”