“You a pilot too, Lionel?” Dylan asked.
“I am. Quinn and I were stationed together for two years.”
He seemed a nice enough guy. Polite, chatting with Dylan and the others. He wondered what the history was between him and Quinn. By her reaction it wasn’t good.
He didn’t know why he did it, and knew it was like dragging her by the hair into his cave, and yet he still lifted his arm and rested it behind her.
The gesture did not go unnoticed by Lionel. He kept talking, but his eyes went to Luke’s arm.
To his surprise, Quinn leaned into him.
If the man had questions as to why she was jammed in a both with four men, three of whom bore bruises, he didn’t ask them. But his eyes did go from Luke to Quinn as he spoke.
“You got time to come and have a drink?”
“Sorry, not right now, Lionel.”
His smile dimmed a bit. “Okay, well you have my number if you change your mind.”
He was fairly sure she muttered “I won’t,” under her breath.
“Seems a nice guy,” Jack said.
Quinn made a sound that could be a yes or a no, but as Linda was bringing out their food, no one asked her for clarification. But he wanted to.
They ate like a pack of rabid dogs, and Quinn was right there with them. The coconut creme pie was all it was hyped up to be; this Luke knew, as he finished Quinn’s.
He felt every movement she made, as her body was pressed to his, and he was so aware of her that by the end of the meal he was glad it was over. It was getting harder and harder not to show just how aware of her he was.
“I don’t think I can move,” she said when the table was cleared of food, all plates empty.
“We need sleep now, and we’ll be ready to start it all again tomorrow,” Joe said. “Let’s go.”
They walked out into the night and headed back to the motel. He showered and fell onto his bed. Beside him, Joe had the TV on but was already snoring softly.
His body was tired; his mind was not. It raced with the day’s events and Quinn.
Focusing on the TV did nothing to help him sleep, so he shut it off, pulled on his clothes, and stepped outside. Maybe a walk would help. Anything to ease the thoughts tumbling around inside his head.