Quinn (The Beck Brothers 3)

Margot sighed heavily and dropped her face into her hands. This trip was not going the way she hoped. Instead of getting closer to Quinn, she seemed to be pushing him away. She raked her hands through her hair then got out of bed. As she was rummaging through her bag for something to wear, Quinn came out of the bathroom. He went to his bag and pulled out what looked like gym shorts and a wife-beater.

“Are you not going to the seminar?” she asked with a frown.

“No. I’m not,” he muttered.

“Where are you going to go?”

“To the gym, I didn’t get to work out yesterday and I need to go,” Quinn insisted, yanking his T-shirt over his head, revealing his magnificent torso before he pulled on the gray wife-beater.

Quinn pushed his sweatpants off, kicked them aside and pulled on his black gym shorts. He went over to his laptop bag and pulled out an iPod Touch, an armband holder, and ear buds. He finished up by putting on his socks and sneakers. Then without a word, he started for the door. He was just going to leave without a word to her?

“Quinn?” Margot called after him.

Quinn stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He turned his head slightly giving her his profile to let her know he was listening. Margot opened her mouth to apologize about last night but something else entirely came out.

“How long will you be gone for?” she asked, feeling stupid.

“Probably a few hours,” he replied. He pulled open the door and walked out, letting it snick shut on its own momentum.

A few hours at the gym? What could he possibly do in the gym for a few hours? Margot huffed and sat down on the end of the bed, crossing her arms over her chest. If Quinn was not going to the seminar, neither was she. Margot decided to go do some sightseeing since she doubted he would want to go with her now that they did not seem to be on friendly terms. Margot took a quick shower, blew dry her hair, got dressed, and headed out onto the streets of London.

~~~~~

Quinn was coming up on his fifth mile on the treadmill, running at a decent clip. He already lifted weights and now he was doing his cardio. The weights helped relieve some of the anger and stress he was holding, and he had Stupified by Disturbed, blasting in his ears. That band always seemed to help, and at the moment, he was trying to run away the rest of his emotions.

Damn Margot. Why did she have to keep pushing his buttons? Why did she want to know about his past so badly? Was she looking for some kind of hold over him or was she just genuinely concerned and curious? Quinn would say the latter. Margot didn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body. Why the hell did she care anyway? He wasn’t anything to her. They only slept together once, he wasn’t her boyfriend.

Quinn’s beater was soaked with sweat, as was his hair. When he was done here, he was calling Peter and telling him to get him a plane ticket home. He wasn’t staying another three days. This trip just kept getting worse and worse, and he really didn’t want to stick around for it to go really down the shitter. Quinn hit five miles, and a two-minute cool down, before hopping off the treadmill. He pulled his beater off and wiped his face and chest with it before slinging it over his shoulder and heading back up to the room.

Quinn just got out of the shower when his cell phone rang. He walked out of the bathroom and over to the bed where he tossed his phone when he walked in. He looked down at the screen and saw that it was Margot. Ugh! He almost didn’t answer but something told him that he should.

“Hello?” Quinn answered.

“Quinn! Dieu merci!” Margot breathed in relief.

“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked, his whole body tensing at the frightened tone in her voice.

“There have been two men following me for about fifteen minutes. I have a bad feeling; I think they might want to...” Margot said quietly, trailing off at the end.

“Where are you?” Quinn asked and started hastily pulling on clothes.

Margot told him where she was. She wasn’t too far from the hotel, which was good.

“Keep heading towards the hotel and stay on the main road, I’ll meet you as fast as I can,” Quinn said quickly and hung up.

He pulled on his shoes without socks, grabbed his room key and wallet, and shoved them both into one of the pockets of his jeans. He grabbed his coat and ran out the door. Quinn went for the stairs as he pulled his pea coat on. He raced down the stairs and through the lobby, something in the pit of his stomach telling him he had to hurry. He asked a bellhop where was the street that Margot had said she was on; the boy gave him directions and then Quinn was out the door. Once outside, he headed as fast as he could to get to Margot.