by Amelia Shaw
Color flashed in the trees, just like in my dream, except this time it was red.
I stopped mid-stride and let out a shuttered breath.
When he realized I’d stopped, he rushed back. “Are you all right?”
I pointed through the trees where I could still see the red flashing in and out of my vision. “Usually, it’s purple.”
He gripped my upper arms and ducked his head down so he could meet my eyes. “What’s purple?”
“Your sister’s dress. This time I see red.”
He shifted to stand right next to me, to get a line on exactly what I saw.
I focused on the color too. Not that I would tell him, but I felt safer with him by my side here. I knew without a doubt, if a sudden fight broke out he would protect me, just as I would protect him.
He stooped low to duck under some tree branches and head off toward the color. I followed only because I didn’t want to be alone as dusk crept closer.
We reached the tree, and Fin plucked a thick red ribbon from its branches. It fluttered in the breeze.
“I’ve never seen that before,” I said.
Fin stared at the ribbon pinched between his fingers. “This was Sol’s.”
“How do you know?”
He held it out toward me, but I shook my head. When I didn’t take it, he rolled it up carefully and stuffed it in his pocket. “When we were children, she always wanted to wear ribbons like this in her hair. Our mother wouldn’t let her, thinking red to be an obscene color for a child to wear. Of course, me being her big brother, I’d bring them to her and help her braid them in her hair. We’d always take them out, before we had to see her mother again, but it was something we shared.”
Another vision jammed into my head, him sitting behind a teenage girl threading a ribbon through her thick braid.
“Do you think she left it here for you?” I asked.
We started off back toward the helicopter. He didn’t answer me until he’d buckled us both in and started the engine.
“I don’t know. It could’ve been her. Or it could’ve been someone who took her memories and used them to try and lure me in.”
Sorrow poured off him in waves as we headed home. Instead of poking and prodding him, trying to cheer him up, I let him be. When we got close to the landing pad near my house, he dipped the helicopter sharply and jerked us around.
I pressed my hand against the seat. “What the fuck was that? Here I am being nice and letting you have your peace, and you pull that shit?”
His chuckle cut through the headset. “That's for making me sleep on your couch.”
The second I got out of the helicopter and finished puking, he was so going to regret that.
We landed quickly, thankfully with no more revenge tricks, and as the air went quiet, I let out a long exhale of relief.
“I’m so happy to be back on the ground, so I think I’ll wait to kill you until tomorrow.”
The captain strode across the landing pad and opened Fin’s door. I jerked at the restraints and groaned in frustration. “No, it’s cool. Help the man who already knows how to get out of this death trap.”
Fin reached over and pushed a few button and clips on my harness and the belt fell away from my shoulders. I threw myself out of the vehicle, this time staying upright.
“I bet she was a peach in the air,” the captain said, as they both came around to my side.
I didn’t even have the energy to flip him off. “Just take me home, please. I want to crawl into bed for a year and never look at another helicopter again.”
We made it down the stairs to ground level and climbed into Fin’s black SUV.
“Any chance you’ll agree to come to my house instead? I would love to sleep in my own bed.” Fin said softly.
I ducked down against the window, closed my eyes, and waved at him. “Fine, but I’m not staying there for good. And tell Holly I want French toast for breakfast.”
At some point, Fin tucked a jacket around me.
I woke bleary-eyed for a moment to tuck it under my chin. “Mr. Wonka’s erratic elevator driver?”
He said, “Go to sleep, Zoey.”
His hand pressed my hair away from my face and then the world stayed dark.
Chapter Nine
I woke up at five am from dreams that were not my own. I lay in the dark, staring up at the ceiling—thankfully, a different ceiling than Fin had given me my previous stay.
In the dream, there had been a wall of windows. So many windows, like a massive greenhouse.
I hadn’t seen one here. To be fair, I hadn’t really explored Fin’s estate. Mostly I’d just seen a couple of bedrooms and the dining room. Something about the dream had felt sad, melancholy, and I sighed, realizing I wasn’t going back to sleep. I threw back the covers, climbed out of bed, and slipped into a pair of sleep shorts lying on a chair near my bed.
I kept thinking about that red ribbon, and how Fin had so carefully rolled it up and tucked it away from my sight. Before I fell asleep, I’d remembered a contact at the local police station who owed me a favor. I knew someone in the crime lab who might be able to do an analysis on the ribbon. The hard part might be getting Fin to part with it.
Seeing as no one in their right mind should be up this early, I exited my room into the hallway. It was still dark. I wandered down a couple of the corridors, some of the lights for security outside shining through the windows. I kept walking until I reached a room with two massive double doors.
I didn’t know how I knew, but Fin slept on the other side. It would be super creepy to go in, I told myself, and yet, that didn’t stop me from cracking one door open. I resolved to peek inside, sate my curiosity, and then get back out.
I scanned for any details I could catch in the darkness until my gaze slid across his bed. His long bare arm hung out over the edge which led up to his equally bare shoulder, and then my eyes clashed with Fin’s crystal cut gaze.
“Busted,” I whispered.
He sat up in the bed and motioned for me to enter. I pushed the door open and wandered in so I could take in as much detail as possible. His room appeared more modern than the rest of the house, with various shades of gray, chrome, and deep, dark wood. I stopped a couple of feet from his bed.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
I climbed up on the end of his bed where the covers were still neatly tucked in and shook my head. “I was thinking about your ribbon. If you let me have it, I can take it to be analyzed by a friend. Maybe she can get something out of it.”
He opened his bedside table drawer and pulled it out. For a moment, I wasn't sure he would hand it over, but then he carefully laid it between us on the semi-mussed covers.
I picked it up. “I'll be careful with it. I promise.”
“I know you will,” he said, his voice rough from sleep. “Try to get some more rest. Who knows what we face tomorrow?”
Psh. I climbed back off his bed and walked toward the door. “The only thing I’m facing tomorrow is a caffeine coma and too much of Holly’s French toast. Night.”
IN THE MORNING, FIN made no indication that I’d snuck into his room or saw him shirtless—thank you, Jesus—and we went to see my friend Tegan at the station together.
She took one look at us and shook her head. “No, not happening. The last time you asked me for a favor, I ended up getting cited for professional misconduct.”
I ducked toward Fin. “It wasn’t my fault she decided to use her taser on an unassuming bystander.”
“The bystander was about to club you with a broken bottle,” Tegan said.
I shrugged. “It happens. Anyway, I saved you from that werewolf that one time. You owe me.”
“You mean that loose dog whose name is Josie and lives with my sister now? Yeah, I don’t owe you shit.”
Fin snorted and hid it behind his hand.
I glared between them, then faced off with her again. “Come on, Teags. It’s nothing dangerous. I need something analyze
d by the lab. Promise, it won’t blow up this time.”
She glared, and I pulled the ribbon from my pocket. Fin seemed to draw closer to follow it as I handed it over to her.
“A ribbon?” she asked, staring between us like we might have the answer to the question she missed.
“Can you do it?” I pressed, ignoring Fin’s hulking presence next to me.
Tegan huffed. “Fine, I’ll call you later if the lab tech gets anything. But, speaking of favors, who’s your friend?”
She hadn’t bothered to moderate her tone, so I didn’t wither.
I jerked my thumb to my right, towards Fin. “This one. My babysitter.”
“How much does he charge an hour? I’ll pay extra for him to put me to bed,” Tegan said with a mischievous grin.
Fin’s eyebrows flickered upwards, but overall he seemed to take our banter well.
We started to leave, but I added over my shoulder, “Tell the tech to be careful with that ribbon, please.”
Back outside the station, Fin stuffed his hands into black suit pants and stared up and down the street as if women offered to jump into his bed on a regular basis. They probably did.
“I could have just compelled her to get the ribbon tested.” Fin said. “You wouldn’t have had to go through that whole song and dance.”
I smiled and walked toward the parking garage where the captain waited for us. “We enjoy that song and dance, trust me. And you being there helped sell it. Nothing Tegan loves more than a pretty face.”
Once we were safely nestled back into the captain’s care in the SUV, he pulled away from the curb, my brain burning with questions. And the desire to call the captain by his first name just to fuck with him.
I shifted in the seat to face Fin and watched him closely. He seemed more real today, almost human. There were lines grooved into his forehead, and his eyes sported slight bags.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
It wasn’t the first question I had for him, but it was the one that sprang out when I opened my mouth.
He gave me a placating smile and mumbled, “Yes, of course,” in that I have more money than Ben Affleck so you have to stop talking to me, sort of way.
“You just look different today.”
He turned to face me more fully, as I had him. “Different, how?”
I studied him and leaned in closer. “You almost look tired, human tired, not the ‘woe is me I’m done with this world’ weary that you sometimes look.”
He cleared his throat and glanced toward the rear view mirror, no doubt locking eyes with the captain up there. “I wasn’t aware you were so well versed in my moods.”
I grinned. “Don’t let it go to your head. People are messy and complicated. Studying their emotional spectrum can help you figure out their patterns, their vices, their comforts. Once you know those things, you can figure out where anyone will be.” I spun toward the front, speaking to the captain. “For example, I bet when you’ve had a long day you work out.”
“So insightful, wow,” the captain said from the driver’s seat, not even deigning to look my way.
“You do it after you consume a whole pint of the fattiest ice cream you can get your hands on, of course. Because that’s what your mother used to do with you when she was upset. Which was always because your father was abusive, am I right?”
His jaw tightened and Fin warned, “Zoey, don’t.”
I sat back and glanced out the window. “It’s not rocket science, or mind-reading—it’s psychology. Study someone long enough and you can get in their heads.”
Fin drew my attention back to him. “What has all this studying told you about me?”
I smiled again, this time, a little sadly, because it was a problem I faced often enough too. “Easy. You’re lonely. Why else start a campaign to rid the world of someone like Esteban? He stole the only person who could love you unconditionally.”
“They could say the same of you,” he whispered.
“Of course. I’ve been lonely for a decade. No matter how many people I meet, no one will ever be able to fill that hole inside me.” I realized what I’d shared a moment too late and glared his way. “Is this bond thing making me say all this stuff?”
“No, it’s called making friends.”
“Sure, you make all your friends by sharing your deep emotional traumas with them in the intimacy of a backseat.”
He grinned at me. “With heated leather, of course. Only the best way to go over deep-rooted emotional scars.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You know what, Fin. I like you.”
He sat back in the seat, staring out the passenger side window. “I like you too, Zoey. I have since the day we met, and you fought me every step of the way.”
“If you two are done jerking each other off back there, can someone tell me where we’re headed?” The captain said.
“Oh, come on, Captain, join us. You look like you could use a chance to get your rocks off.”
He locked eyes with me in the rear-view mirror. “Says the virgin.”
I went rigid in my seat. “Excuse me?”
He pulled up to a red light and spun to face me. “You don’t think I made it my business to learn every single little thing about you before we brought you in to help? I don’t trust anyone, especially a little girl who lives off what’s left of her family’s money and talks a way bigger game than she’s got.”
Before even considering the ramifications, I reared back and punched him right in his perfect nose. Then I shoved out the door as the light shifted to green and crossed onto the sidewalk.
Fin scrambled out after me, and I picked up my pace.
It was a block before he caught up with me. “Zoey, come on, you pushed him too.”
“Of course,” I said, still walking, my arms tucked under my chest to keep myself warm.
He lay his coat over my shoulders and I hugged it around me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m not mad. He pushed back. It’s fine, I expect it, even more so from men who feel threatened by me.”
“Threatened?” Fin asked.
“Come on,” I said, looking up at him while we walked. “The captain has devoted his life to you. The man is in love with you. He thinks somehow I’m moving in on his territory.”
The crystal blue in Fin’s eyes flashed, and then he glanced away toward the sidewalk. “I wouldn’t mention that in front of him. He might try to take your head off.”
“And that’s different from any other day, how?”
He inclined his head. “Fair.”
“You know he’s in love with you?”
Fin shoved his hands into his pockets. A movement I noticed he did when he is trying to seem less. Less beautiful, less assuming, less threatening.
“The captain and I have been together a very long time. We care for one another in our own ways. But yes, I know the depth of his feelings are different than mine.”
“He just not your type, or...?”
Fin snorted. “You love to pry, don’t you?”
“Or I could wait until tonight, see if you have a hot, steamy dream about you both in bed. In fact, let’s go with that plan.”
He halted on the sidewalk so fast I had to turn around to go back to him.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“What’s wrong? I just mentioned you dreaming about it. It was a joke, relax.”
His fingers dug into my shoulders as he gripped me. “What about my dreams? Can you see them?”
“I think so. Last night, I saw something about a greenhouse or windows, maybe. I wasn’t sure what it was. That was it, I promise.”
His forehead scrunched up, and he released me to walk away. The SUV pulled up the second Fin hit the curb. We climbed inside and both the captain and I refused to acknowledge each other.
“Straight home,” Fin told him.
They locked eyes and shared something in the mirror. Something neither of them thought to share with me.
Fine. They could keep their secrets, and so could I.
We made it back to the house in silence, and Fin all but dragged me inside and down a hallway, towards his office. I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to pull away from his hold.
As soon as we stepped into his office, he released me, and I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes at him.
“If you don’t tell me what’s going on, right now, I’m going to start getting out my knives,” I snapped. “I’m not some dog to be led around.”
Fin scanned his bookshelves and removed a red tome from between a complete set of them. On the spine they read, Magecraft.
I staggered toward the shelf. “You have these here and you said nothing?”
Fin scanned the pages. “You are the one who’s been denying the fact you at least possess some mage power. I was simply following your lead until you changed your mind.”
Instead of engaging me further, he ducked to read and then flipped the page.
“You’re scaring me,” I whispered, pulling his coat tighter around me.
When he finished the second page, he snapped the book shut and pressed the end to his chin. “Shit.”
“Shit? Don’t say shit. That can’t be good. Not after we discussed your dreams.”
He placed the book on the edge of his desk and waved at the others. “You’re welcome to look at them.”
I grabbed the one making him spout expletives. “I want to know what’s in this one that has you spooked.”
He faced out the window with his hands on his hips.
I surged around his desk and put myself right in front of him, squeezing between the decorative table back there and his body. “No, tell me what you’re thinking. Don’t shut me out.”
It took a minute for him to finally look down at me and answer. “I think I did something bad, Zoey.”
“Bad? Bad, how? Not pay your parking tickets? Screw your male employee who needs to take some vacation days and find a male stripper to cull his urges? What?”
As my nerves climbed, my rambling increased. He pressed his fingers against my lips, and I fell silent. Then, I cheered myself mentally for not striking out at him for touching me so intimately.