Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(13)

“The doc says she’ll be good to go in two days.” Clint returned to scrubbing the floor. “I don’t know who’s going to buy the murder bar though,” he muttered as he worked.

Quinn blinked at him and sat back to rest her hands on her thighs. The scrub brush in her hand caused a wet stain to spread across her jeans as she gazed at Clint. “Are they really calling it the murder bar?”

“If they’re not already, they will be,” Clint replied.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I don’t think there will be any stopping it,” Clint said. “I’m thinking maybe I could sell it as haunted. You know like a gimmick type thing or something. People eat that shit up now.”

“It could work,” Chris said. “Maybe you could have Julian haunt it or something. He’s pale enough to be Casper.”

Julian shot him a look. “Easy, Christopher.”

Chris grinned at him before returning to painting the wall. Quinn rose to her feet and dropped her scrub brush into a bucket of red-tinted water. Clint did the same.

Quinn’s eyes were troubled as she strolled over to Julian. She rested her hand against his cheek. “Is everything taken care of?” she asked.

The fresh scent of her cucumber shampoo filled his nose when he bent to kiss the top of her head. “It is.”

Her shoulders slumped with relief. “Thank you.”

He kissed her again before straightening away from her. Clint thrust a paint brush into Julian’s hand as he walked by. “Get to painting, Dennis.”

Julian did a double take at the name, and then his eyes narrowed when he figured out why the man had called him Dennis. Quinn giggled and playfully bumped his hip. Chris didn’t bother to try to stifle his loud laughter. The others all stared at Clint while they tried to puzzle out why Clint had called him Dennis.

“Does he have dementia?” Cassie asked in a hushed whisper that only caused Chris to laugh harder.

“Clint likes to give Julian nicknames,” Quinn explained when Clint walked into the kitchen. “Like Hulk Hogan, Billy Idol, Draco Malfoy, and Eminem. Now Dennis.”

“Dennis who?” Devon asked.

“The Menace,” Julian ground out from between his clamped teeth.

Quinn was unable to suppress her laughter anymore, and the others joined in.

“I like that guy!” Devon announced.

Julian glowered at him, but he couldn’t hold onto his irritation when Quinn’s twinkling eyes met his. It had been so long since he’d seen so much merriment coming from her. He took hold of her hand and lifted it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. He would do everything in his power to make her laugh like this every day for the rest of their lives.

“You kind of deserve it,” Cassie said to him. “You do love tossing around your own nicknames for everyone.”

“That you do,” Quinn agreed.

“But you love it, Dewdrop,” he said.

“Maybe I do, Dennis,” she teased and rose to kiss him.

He brushed back a strand of her silken hair and ran his hand around to cup her nape. “Would you like to own the murder bar?”

Her smile slid away as her brow furrowed. “I could never afford this place.”

“I can,” he said. “And it’s us now. It will be for an eternity. Don’t forget that.”

She hastily brushed away the tears filling her eyes with the back of her hand. “Us,” she murmured.

“Yes.” He turned her away from the others. “We are interwoven, Quinn, mated. It’s a deeper bond than marriage.”

“I know. I understand, but I’ve been taking care of myself for six years now.”

“And now you have me to be here for you, and I’m going to make every single one of your dreams come true. When all of this is done, all you will know is love and security, even if I have to destroy every other vampire to ensure that happens. I swear you will have peace, Quinn.”

Her hands flattened against his chest as she searched his gaze. “We will have peace.”

He drew her a step closer to brush his lips over her full mouth. Lust shot through him when he caught the scent of his blood within her. “I know how much you enjoy working here and this place. If you want it, it’s yours.”

“We can’t stay here. The townspeople would eventually realize we haven’t aged in a while,” she said. “I feel like owning the murder bar, on top of being the eternal youth couple, might have them all lining up outside with pitchforks and torches.”

“In a few years, we’ll have to leave here, but we could return again after a while. We could find someone to run the bar for us while we’re gone.”

“And what if the vampires agree to your plan? Won’t we have to travel often to lead over them?”

“Not necessarily. Like the bar, we’ll recruit others to run certain areas while we’re gone. It could be tricky, but we can figure it all out.”

She glanced around the bar, her brow furrowed. “And what of your search for other Hunters and Guardians?”

“I’m done with searching. If they’re out there, they’ll be more likely to come out of hiding if they feel it’s safer for them. I’ve found everything I was looking for, and more than I ever expected, with you.”