Rowe flipped him off and Shane’s laughter was only cut off by the door he shut behind him as he left Rowe’s office.
“Fucker,” Rowe mumbled under his breath, but there was no anger behind the word. He sounded amused. He looked up at Quinn and sighed again. “I’m not getting rid of you.”
“You’ve never done the ‘loan’ thing before.”
“True. But Shane’s got a high-profile client. Someone big enough that even I can’t weasel the information out of him,” Rowe said, his lips twisting in a wry smile.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Shane’s a good guy. He and a friend run a solid private investigation company. Nothing shady or underhanded. All aboveboard. They need help with this case, so he came to me at Hollis’s recommendation.”
And now the pieces were starting to fit together. Hollis Banner was engaged to Ian Pierce, who was a very close friend to Rowe. He’d heard that Hollis was no longer a Cincinnati cop but was working for a PI firm. He just hadn’t heard which. Apparently, Hollis was this Shane’s employee.
“But you are hiring another IT person,” Quinn pressed.
“Yes, for added help. Not to replace.”
“Gidget and I are a great team. We’ve got it covered.”
Rowe snorted. “You and Gidget work ridiculous hours. You both need time to have lives. She’s got a son, and you…I’m not even sure you actually sleep. We’re still expanding. We’re getting more and more cases that involve hackers and online privacy. That’s shit big men packing heat can’t protect against. I need more computer geeks like you and Gidget.”
Quinn rolled his eyes and Rowe chuckled. The last of the butterflies in his stomach flew away.
“You’re not going anywhere, Lake. You leave me for Shane and you know that I’ll hunt your ass down.”
Quinn wanted to laugh. There was no way he was ever going to leave Ward Security. He kept his mouth shut and just smiled at his boss.
Rowe glanced down at his desk for a moment, his eyes skimming over something he’d scratched out on a notepad he always kept handy. The man really did hate technology. Well, he loved surveillance and explosive tech, but he didn’t care much for computers.
“Because of the confidential nature of this case, you’re going to be working out of Shane’s office in Oakley.”
Slumping in his chair, Quinn fought down a wave of frustration. Not good news. He was hoping to stay at the Ward Security office and just communicate with Shane via email or phone. This sucked.
“I know you sleep here a lot, Quinn,” Rowe continued, his voice softening. Quinn looked up at his boss to find a half smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. “I wish your situation with your roommates was better, but you know you’re always welcome here. Even if you’re working out of another office.”
Quinn nodded. He wasn’t fond of his boss knowing that he slept in the office. He was less ecstatic about Rowe knowing that his living situation wasn’t great. Rowe paid well…really fucking well, but he needed that money for his mom.
He cut corners where he could, lived off ramen noodles and bought only used video games—his one luxury in life. He’d landed an opening in a small, run-down two-bedroom apartment with two other guys in Norwood. But shortly after moving in, he discovered that his roommates were a pair of hardcore bros who talked only about sports and girls. He had nothing in common with them, and he definitely didn’t feel comfortable telling them that he was gay. At best, he’d find himself homeless. At worst, they’d probably beat him up. It was easier to just crash at the office as often as possible.
“Do you think this job will take the entire month?”
“I honestly have no idea,” Rowe admitted and then sighed. “This job wasn’t meant to be a punishment. I thought you’d be excited to try your hand at something a little different. Get out of the office a little. If you’re that miserable at the thought of working with Shane, I’ll talk to Gidget. See if we can get her to crawl out of her server nonsense to take this.”
“No! It’s okay. I can do it.” Quinn snapped out of his sulk and slid to the edge of his chair. He didn’t want to disappoint Rowe, and he definitely didn’t want any kind of special treatment. Rowe had picked him for this job, and he wasn’t going to let his boss down. “I’m serious. I’m good. I just wasn’t expecting this.”
“Shane’s a good guy,” Rowe repeated. “I wouldn’t loan you out to just any schmuck off the street.”
“I know. I trust you.”
And he meant it. He knew that Rowe didn’t always like to stick to the straight and narrow, but he did it to protect the people that he cared about. He trusted Rowe to have his back because he saw Quinn as a part of the Ward Security family. And he would make Rowe proud by doing this job to the best of his abilities. He was going to prove to Shane that he was just as amazing as the other employees at Ward Security and prove that he’d earned his spot with the company.