Frog and Quinn: Chapter Sixteen & Character Art Reveal (Patreon)

Gorgeous new Frog and Quinn character art by @lilytea_art!!

Previously on Frog and Quinn…

Luna Hale decided to take a spontaneous summer trip to Panama City Beach, Florida before her first college semester at Manhattan Valley University begins. Naturally, her bodyguards followed her to the Sunshine State. After an intruder mistakenly tried to break into Frog & Quinn’s room thinking it was Luna Hale’s, the bodyguard duo—plus Luna and Donnelly—packed up their things and changed hotels.

In the morning, Frog had a video call with Akara and Ian Wreath to discuss the night before. Good news! Frog is proving herself during this trip and the Epsilon lead is taking note. He thinks if all goes well by the end of the trip, she could become Luna’s primary bodyguard. Bad news! When that happens, Quinn will be shifted off Luna’s detail. His time as Frog’s partner is on the clock. And Frog is…conflicted. She wants him to succeed just as much as she wants to be seen as a worthy bodyguard able to handle primary bodyguard status. Yet, she doesn’t want to say goodbye to Quinn and the partnership they built over the past six months. She’s definitely not ready to end her one-night stand goal. In her mind, it’s what’s keeping her close to Quinn, and if the time she has left with him is limited—she doesn’t want to waste it.

“Quinn.” Frog nudges my side on the bed, and I groggily open my eyes. Light spills into the room, but for a second I wonder if I’m still asleep. I passed out hard last night.

Full body exhaustion.

And it’s not fully computing why Frog is already dressed in a strappy green top and cut-off jean shorts. I linger on her inky-black hair, a crocheted bandana holding the strands back. Pink gloss shimmers her lips.

My dick stirs. MyGod. I do not need morning wood right now. I’m lying on my stomach—a small benefit. But it’d be better if my cock understood she’s not currently in my dreams.

At least, I think this is real, especially when Frog gives me a light jab in the ribs again. My dick twitches into a deeper throb.

“Jesus,” I mutter. “I’m awake.”

“You look like you’re about to close your eyes again.”

Yeah, to pretend that I’m not semi-hard right now. I reach over for my phone on the small end table. “What time is it?” My voice has a rasp from just waking up.

“Early still. Like eight.” Early for Luna and Donnelly, she means. Those two notoriously stay up late and sleep in. “I just wanted to let you know I’m heading out really quick.”

My muscles tighten. Adrenaline surges. Sitting up fast, I gather the sheets over my crotch. “Where?” I grab my phone to see if I missed any calls or texts. None.

“Urgent care,” she says into a huffed sigh. “Akara and Ian are basically forcing me. I have to be medically cleared before I can return to work.” She hikes her purse over her shoulder. Her eyes dip to the sheet bundle at my waist, and her lips hike into an amused smile. “Morning wood?”

She’s going to kill me.

“Something like that,” I mumble, scrolling through my phone to see if I missed an email from Akara or Ian.

“What does ‘something like that’ mean?” Frog asks curiously.

“Nothing,” I say, evasively. Should have just copped to the morning wood and been done with it. Should have known Frog doesn’t drop subjects but digs into them like some freakishly good paleontologist.

“Is there a different type of morning boner I don’t know about?”

I groan. “Yeah, the kind that happens when a pretty girl wakes a guy up out of a deep sleep.” The words exit my mouth way too easily.

Her brows rise, and she wears a bigger grin. “You think I’m pretty.”

Frog doesn’t phrase it like a question. It draws me in more—how she doesn’t play games. She says what’s on her mind. Directness. I’m not actually used to that with women. At least not my past relationship. Nessa loved to give me hints to how she was feeling and made me fill in the blanks. She wanted me to read her mind half the time. It was exhausting.

Frog’s smile reaches her eyes.

I shake my head at her. This is ridiculous. “And you think I’m hot. Look at that, the sky is blue, Kannika.” Before we get too far off track, I wave a hand at her. “Can we go back? You talked to Akara and Ian? When?”

“This morning.”

“You didn’t wake me up then?” That’s not like her.

“I was going to, but they wanted to talk to me alone.”

“Why?” I squint trying to piece apart the puzzle. Frog and I—we’re a team. A packaged pair. It doesn’t make sense why they iced me out of a call.  

She checks her watch. “Can we return to this convo in an hour? I have an appointment at the urgent care, and I want to make it before Luna wakes up.”

“Give me five minutes.” I shrug off the sheets and roll out of bed in nothing but a pair of black boxer-briefs. I make a half-hearted effort to put a hand over my cock. What’s the point? We’re talking about morning wood, and we’ve had a discourse over orgasms. Modesty isn’t really in the room with us anymore. Hell, we almost watched porn together.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Frog calls out when I disappear into the bathroom. “It’s going to be pointless!”

I keep the door open and quickly squeeze toothpaste on my toothbrush. I peer back out to see Frog hasn’t moved a foot from the nightstand.

She’s still here, waiting for me.

I relax.

“I want to go with you,” I tell her as I brush my teeth, standing in the bathroom doorway, my shoulder leaning against the edge.

Her eyes dip slowly to my crotch, and she’s not shy when she stares at the hard outline of my cock. I watch her throat bob in a deep swallow. My blood charges with more arousal. A frustrated groan tries to scrape its way out of my lungs.

I don’t let it. Not with a mouth full of my toothbrush.  

Honestly, I don’t want to take my eyes off Frog, but…I pry myself out of the doorway and stride deeper into the bathroom. Forcing away a rock-solid hard-on.

What am I doing? I spit aggressively into the sink. Annoyed at myself. I know better. She’s my co-worker. She’s Kannika. I don’t need to be flirting with her.

Is this flirting? No, it’s not. It’s really fucking not. She’s just incredibly attractive. She’s said the same about me. That’s always been clear. But attraction—it means nothing in the context of our work relationship. Nothing can happen between us. Anyway, she’s trying to get deflowered by a stranger.

That should be proof enough that this is just baseline attraction.

I don’t go for girls who aren’t into me. Sounds like straight up heartbreak and torture packaged with a fucking bow.

Wiping my mouth with a towel, I take a deeper inhale, and in the mirror, I see Frog slip into the bathroom.

“Are you sure you want to come? This is like a stupid formality thing,” Frog tells me. “It’s even going to be embarrassing when the doc sees I only have some minor bruises and scratches on my knees.”

I turn around to look. Her knees have bandages on them from last night. “Well, if the doctor makes you feel embarrassed, I’ll at least be there to flip them off.”

She smiles but then worry quickly downturns her lips. “What if Luna wakes up while we’re out? Someone should be here.”

“The urgent care can’t be that far away. I can make it back before Luna leaves the hotel.” I swipe on some deodorant. “Just let me jump into a pair of pants and we can go.”

“You sure you don’t want to rock this new look?” Frog waves a hand, studying me like I’ve teleported inside an issue of Vogue.

“Pretty sure there’s a shirt and shorts policy.”

“Yeah, but most people would make an exception if they saw you,” Frog replies. “Then again, you might cause heart palpitations or faintness. Better to at least put on some pants.”

She slips out of the bathroom before I can ask if she’s feeling any heart palpitations around me. Yeah, I dodged that bullet. I shouldn’t be flirting.

I’m not flirting.

Maybe I need to get Donnelly to tattoo it on my fucking eyeballs: Do not flirt with Kannika Kitsuwon.

The fluorescent lights of the urgent care have sufficiently woken me up. I’m seated on the extra chair in the corner of Exam Room Three. Frog lies on the exam table, the paper crinkling underneath her ass every time she shifts.

Her blood pressure and temperature have been taken. We’re just waiting for the doctor.

“Do we have time to talk now?” I wonder. It’s clear she’s been avoiding the conversation about the work meeting this morning. I still can’t figure out why I wasn’t invited to the call. Did they think I needed the sleep? To stay sharp? But that doesn’t make sense. I can run on a couple of hours—and I had almost six.

She unzips her belt bag and digs around. She holds it carefully like the contents might spill. Not a surprise, considering the bag is bloated and she’s broken the zipper off more than one purse before.

When she finds what she’s looking for, she holds it out for me. The small tube of Chapstick looks well-worn, the label rubbed off. “Your lips are cracked.”

“Why do I feel like you’re evading?” I take the Chapstick. I uncap it and rub it over my lips that do feel like arid earth.

“Because I am,” she admits into a defeated sigh.

I rub my lips together, and I can’t tell if the flavor is cherry or strawberry. Inspecting the illegible label, I frown. “How old is this, Kannika?”

She narrows her eyes in too-deep thought. “Umm…actually maybe don’t use that.” She leans over to try and steal it from my hands.

I hold it above my head, out of reach. “I just used it.” My eyes are wide. “Where did you get this?”

Her cheeks are flushed. “Look, we’re at the urgent care. If anything happens to you, we’re in the right place.”

MyGod. “Is this yours? Or did you find it on the ground? Or did you pickpocket some old lady—”

“Whoa, whoa. I would never pickpocket a little old lady. Okay, I just can’t remember where I got it. It’s probably mine.”

“Probably?” I’m now more concerned about the fact that she might be stealing again. Or maybe this is one of her older thefts that she just kept in her bag. I’m about to ask, but her face contorts into real guilt.

“I’m sorry, okay,” she says, her chest falling in a deep exhale. “But maybe this is good.”

“How is giving me a mystery Chapstick good?”

“Because you won’t be around me for much longer. You won’t have to worry about being given months-old stolen Chapstick or mints or candy bars. You will be hundreds of miles away from me back in Philadelphia.”

Her words are a sucker punch in my gut. She might as well have gone for the TKO, and I don’t even have time to respond. A knock sounds on the door, and the doctor enters.

“Hello, hello. I am Dr. Milton.” The tall, slim white woman has a Florida tan and sandy blonde hair tied into a loose braid. She looks young enough that I don’t think she’s much older than me. She glances hesitantly between Frog and me, clearly detecting the thick tension in the room.

I can’t fake nice right now.

I can’t smile.

I can’t offer a friendly hello.

That meeting with Ian and Akara—they must have told Frog I might be moving back to Philly. At least that’s what I’m gathering.

It’s what I want. To prove I can handle a client on my own. To rise in the ranks. To be the best. And being the best isn’t co-chairing this position with Frog. But I didn’t expect this shift to come now.

I don’t know how I feel about it, but I’m scavenging for oxygen.

Dr. Milton eyes me for a longer beat before turning to Frog. “So you’ve got some abrasions on your knees and bruising. The nurse told me you’re in security work.” She studies Frog with greater skepticism. “Seems like you might be a little small to be in that kind of field. How did you get into it?”

“My cousin owns the firm.” Frog twists her bracelets. “How long is this going to take? We really need to get back. Our client might be waking up soon.”

The doctor gives her a soft, warm smile. “Not long, sweetheart.” She turns to me. “Could you give us the room? Just us two?”

I’m about to stand when Frog blurts out, “Why does he need to leave? This is just a quick thing. Give me some Neosporin, Band-Aids, and fill out the report that says I have no internal bleeding. Good to go.” It’s nice to see Kannika doesn’t reserve being pushy just for those she knows. It almost draws a smile from me.

Dr. Milton’s brows furrow. “You told the nurse that you took down an assailant. That seems incredibly dangerous for someone your size.”

“It’s a part of the job description.” Frog shrugs. “I’m tougher than I seem.”

Dr. Milton glances warily at me again, and this time I’m feeling more on edge by these looks. She twists back to Frog. “Do you have something I could use to verify your line of work?”

“Umm…I left my radio in the hotel room…and it’s not like we have business cards…” Frog angles toward me for help.

I’m more confused than anything. “Why does she need to verify that she’s a bodyguard?” I ask.

Dr. Milton clasps her hands together, and her face transforms from friendliness into a steely disposition. “We’re just doing our due diligence.”

Frog lets out a sharp breath. “What are you insinuating? That Quinn…that he…”

My stomach knots.

“Your story seems far-fetched is all,” the doctor explains. “We’re not insinuating anything. We just want to make sure nothing worse happened here.”

“Worse?” I snap. “You think I hit Kannika?” Even saying the words feels like acid corroding my throat.

Frog shakes her head over and over, her eyes on me, guilt compounding. This is not your fault, I want to tell her. But my anger, my frustration, my pain doesn’t allow for comfort right now.

Dr. Milton holds up a hand. “That’s not what I said—”

“I would never fucking hit her,” I sneer. “As someone who was physically abused by my ex-girlfriend, the insinuation is sick.” It might be one of the only times the words have come out of my mouth. Physically abused. I dizzy for a second.

The doctor’s face drops. “I…” She blinks her eyes shut, then opens them and takes a deep breath. “We got off to a bad start—”

“Can you just believe me then?” Frog cuts in heatedly. “I’m a bodyguard. Fucking look up Luna Hale on the internet. She’s my client.”

Dr. Milton nods and backs toward the door. “I’ll do that. I’ll also go get you those Band-Aids and have my nurse write you up the return-to-work note for your job.” She’s quick to leave.

Frog shifts on the exam table, the paper crinkling beneath her. “I’ve never heard you say that out loud.”

“I would never fucking hit you,” I tell her. “I have no problem saying it five million times.”

Frog smiles softly. “I meant the other thing.”

My throat wants to close. I’ve tried to push the bad parts of my past relationship into the ground. But it’s hard to do that when it’s barely been a month since Nessa and I broke up. Frog has been right about a lot of things on this trip. Mainly, I don’t talk about the stuff that hurts. The trauma. All I know how to do is push it down and ignore it as long as I can.

I need to stop, I remind myself. Frog and I promised to talk to each other. And if I can’t open up to her, how the hell do I expect her to open up to me? The last thing I want is for her to go run back to fucking Scooter.

I stare at the Chapstick in my hand and tighten my fingers around it. “I guess I never use those words, physical abuse, because they feel too harsh,” I tell Frog. “Like I’m painting her in an unjust light.”

Frog shakes her head. “I saw the bruises she gave you. It’s not too harsh.”

I nod slowly. That feels better. Having confirmation that maybe it’s not all in my head. There were times I questioned everything. She’s just shoving me because that’s how she communicates. I can handle it. I’m a guy.

The shoving got worse.

Then she started grabbing, slapping, and when she began throwing her fists against my chest—we’d been dating for long enough that I just chalked it up to her being passionate. Fiery. Her personality was never subdued. I didn’t want that.

I could handle her.

Frog rummages through her belt bag and takes out a cannister of mints. “I’m sorry about all of this.” I’m not sure which part she’s apologizing for.

“You don’t have to apologize.” I hold up the tube of Chapstick. “Except for this. I will take all the apologies.”

Her lips lift while she pops a mint into her mouth.

“How old is that mint?” I ask her.

She smiles wider. “Bought them yesterday.”

I hold out my palm, and she shakes one in my outstretched hand. “So I’m going to Philly?” I ask her.

She winces. “Maybe. Apparently, this trip has become a big test to see if I’m capable of handling Luna’s detail as her primary bodyguard. If I do well, Akara and Ian are going to pair me with a meathead—which is not you. Obviously.”

“You don’t think I’m a meathead?” I suck on the mint.

She gives me a look. “You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

I laugh. “Yeah, okay. You do know my brother went to Yale.”

“And I barely graduated high school. Yet, I’m highly intelligent,” Frog says with all the cockiness of a seasoned bodyguard. Honestly, arrogance looks good on her. “I don’t really take formal education as a criterion for smarts.”

I don’t know what to say. Envisioning the future where we’re not side-by-side is difficult, even if having a client all to myself is something I’ve wanted.

“So a meathead…” I mutter.

She nods slowly, chewing on her mint loudly. “A meathead.”

That word lingers in the air between us. I don’t love thinking about someone else being partnered with Frog. She’s worked with temps on Luna’s detail before, but I’ve been the only full-time bodyguard paired up with her.

That role—it’s mine.

It doesn’t feel like it can be anyone else’s.

Frog and Quinn are back!! We're so happy to continue their story and shed more light into their backstories and show growth in their relationship. There's still lots in store for these two, so we hope you're ready for all the summer vibes! And we hope you love the new Frog & Quinn art! It's some of our fav art!! It's exactly how we envisioned these two 💗

One more bonus is around the corner and will be dropping today. It will be from the Burn Bright timeline, so get ready for some more BB content very soon!!

xoxo Krista & Becca

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MUSIC: We listened to "Love Survive by Michael Nau" while writing this chapter.

“Frog and Quinn," Copyright © 2026 by K.B. Ritchie