Quinn's Undying Rose
Page 40

“Aren’t you? Funny, because somebody told me she’s your wife.”
Quinn fumed now. “Consider us divorced. She rejected me after I became a vamp—” He stopped himself, obviously realizing that he’d said too much.
“Well, it very much looks to me like you and Rose have issues. And I’m old enough to know not to get in the middle of it.”
“Come on, Thomas. What’s it to you? You don’t even know her. I thought we were friends,” Quinn tried to cajole him.
“We are. And that’s exactly why I’m not snooping around for you. Because, trust me, it will come to bite you in the ass.”
When he noticed Quinn’s face fall in disappointment, he sighed. But he didn’t cave. “Now get out of here.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I want to get some work done before going over to the party.”
Quinn stopped in his tracks. “What party?”
“Haven’s birthday party, of course. Didn’t you get the invite?”
He shook his head.
Then Thomas realized why his friend hadn’t been invited. “Of course. Those went out last week, and you were supposed to be back in New York already. Guess that’s why Yvette didn’t send you one. But, hey, you should go anyway. You know they would have invited you.”
“I might just do that.”
And maybe it would lift his friend’s spirit. He didn’t look as carefree as he usually did. Apparently Rose’s reappearance had thrown a serious wrench into the playboy’s lifestyle. Maybe it was for the better, or maybe it would all blow up one day.
***
Rose could see Blake perspire as he turned in his test, just like the five fake applicants. She waved at him, motioning him to join her and Oliver. Dutifully, he came to her.
He ran a shaky hand through his dark hair, a gesture that reminded her of Quinn. Odd, how certain things got passed on from generation to generation, even though neither Blake nor any of his ancestors had ever met Quinn and been exposed to his idiosyncrasies.
“I think I did well. But I’m not sure how the others did. They looked pretty confident too.”
Rose smiled. “We’ll just have to wait and see. It shouldn’t take long.” She turned to Oliver. “Right?”
“They’ll just run it through the computer and give the result to Quinn. Let’s go to the lounge to wait for him,” Oliver instructed, winking clandestinely at Rose.
She managed not to chuckle. How a bunch of grown vampires could go through all these gyrations without flinching was just beyond her. Couldn’t they simply have pretended to offer him a job? No, they had to go all Mission Impossible on the kid to make him feel special. Like Blake needed another boost for his ego.
They didn’t have to wait long in the lounge. Quinn arrived fifteen minutes after they had sat down. The look on his face was serious.
Rose noticed how Blake swallowed hard.
“Oh, shit, that doesn’t look good.”
Quinn sat down opposite Blake and took a long look at him. “Well, I have good and bad news.”
“Oh.”
“Good news is, you did extremely well in all the tests.” Then he paused, clearly for effect. “The bad news is, so did one other guy. Basically, it’s a tie.”
“Oh, shit,” Blake let out. “What now?”
Quinn edged forward on his seat. “Here’s the deal. As we speak, my colleague is making an offer to the other guy—”
“Fuck!”
Quinn raised his hand. “Hold it. But I’m making one to you. Whoever accepts all our conditions first gets the job.”
“Conditions? Give ‘em to me. Don’t waste any time.” The urgency in Blake’s voice was undeniable.
“The trainee will live at a place of our choosing, surrounded by other trainees and trainers. You’ll never leave our sight, unless authorized to do so and under supervision. There are others out there who are keen on snatching our recruits from under our noses. We want to prevent that.”
Rose rolled her eyes, which Blake couldn’t see. How much more crap was Quinn going to dish up?
“You will follow all our instructions to a T. All your needs will be taken care of. Your housing is paid for, all your bills will be paid. Your salary is more than generous.”
“How much?” Blake interjected.
“During training you’ll make as much as an attorney in his first year. After that . . . ” Quinn shrugged. “Enough to qualify for a mortgage on a house in Pacific Heights.”