Read Quinn for Free Online Page B

tightened, then he slowly released her. “You’re no child. You’re very brave. And I feel honored you let me be here to help you. That’s what friends are for.”
    She met his gaze. “Are you my friend, Joe?”
    “I think we’re on our way.” He pushed back a strand of red-brown hair that had fallen across her forehead. “Don’t you?”
    She didn’t answer for a moment, then nodded. “I believe we may be. It feels very strange for me. I haven’t had time for friends. First, I was fighting my way out of the slums, then there was Bonnie.”
    “I was fighting, too, but not in the same arena.” He started the car. “Come on, let’s find a restaurant and get some dinner. You haven’t eaten all day.”
    “You don’t have to do this,” she said quickly. “I’ve taken enough of your day. You can take me home.”
    “Yes, I could,” he said. “But I’m not. You’re going to eat and we’ll talk, and by the time you go home, you’ll have forgotten that bitch.” He grimaced. “Well, not forgotten, but you’ll have a different perspective on her. Now, where do you want to go to eat?”
    “I don’t care.”
    “I’ll pick someplace close to your place so that you can dump me and walk home if I bore you.”
    She smiled slightly. “That’s a good idea.”
    One step at a time. Just don’t let her close herself away from you, he thought.
    She was looking out the window. “What if that woman was right? Bonnie could be dead. We both know it, Joe.”
    “Yes, but we knew it before we went to see that witch. It was no revelation.”
    “She said Bonnie wasn’t frightened. That was a revelation. I pray every night that Bonnie will be safe and not frightened.”
    “Eve, back away from what happened tonight. She’s crazy. And you’re crazy to let anything she said linger with you.”
    “Am I?” She glanced back at his face. “Is it a sign of our budding friendship to call me insane?”
    “Damned right. I’m being honest. You said that was important to you. It’s important to me, too. Only the best of friends have the guts to tell you the truth.”
    “I can see that,” she said quietly. “But no pity, Joe.”
    “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you there will be moments that I won’t be able to help myself from pitying you. You can only feel what the situation dictates, and this situation pretty much sucks.” He smiled. “But I’m a callous bastard. I’ll have no trouble keeping it to a minimum.”
    “Are you callous, Joe Quinn?” She tilted her head. “You don’t impress me as being … but we don’t know each other. All I know is that you’ve been kind to me.”
    “Plus all the stuff you managed to squeeze out of the Quantico office,” he said. “I’ll let you judge for yourself after I tell you the story of my wicked life over dinner.”
    She smiled. “That will be interesting. It will be good for both of us to think of something besides me and my problems. Are you promising to be honest about that wicked past, too, Joe?”
    He nodded. “Every detail.”
    Being honest about the past would be no problem.
    It was the present that would have giant lapses of truth.
    One step at a time. Protect her. Help her. Never let her see anything beyond what she wanted from him.
    Damn, it was going to be hard.
    *   *   *
    “I LIKE THIS PLACE.” Eve gazed out the window at the Chattahoochee River flowing lazily only yards from the restaurant. “It’s peaceful.”
    “Slindak recommended it.” Joe handed the menus back to the white-jacketed waiter. “You’ve never been here before? He said it was popular, and you’re a native.”
    “I’ve heard of it.” Her gaze shifted back to him. “But it’s not cheap, and I’m a single mom with a daughter to support. A night out for me is a visit to McDonald’s.”
    “Then you should have ordered something besides salad and a sandwich. No wonder you’re thin.”
    “I’m not hungry.” She looked out the window at the river