by Lisa Worrall
“Just ‘cause,” Finn mumbled and kissed him again.
Kaylee’s timing was perfect as usual as she flung the door open—without knocking—and rushed into the room. Although her presence itself was like a cold shower, the strategically aimed knee to Aiden’s groin definitely killed the mood. “Breakfast is ready,” she informed them in a sing-song voice and then bounced back out of the room.
Finn winced in sympathy at the pained expression on Aiden’s face and automatic fetal position he’d assumed, gently kissing Aiden’s forehead. “When your balls have come down from the back of your throat, I’ll see you in kitchen.”
Aiden nodded, managing to hiss through gritted teeth, “Save me bacon, Thomas.”
“Well, duh,” Finn replied with a grin on his way out of the door.
After the mind-numbing pain had receded and he’d remembered how to breathe, Aiden clambered reluctantly out of bed and padded across the room to his bag. He pulled out items of clothing and tossed them onto the sofa until he found his sweatpants and vest, then quickly put them on. Aiden glanced at his reflection in the mirror above the dresser and shuddered. One of the drawbacks of having short hair was waking up with bed head of mammoth proportions—just like now. He carded his fingers through his hair, and tried to bring some semblance of order to the bird’s nest on his head. He was debating how much ribbing he would have to take from AJ if he ran some gel through it when the Imperial War march, Finn’s current ringtone of choice, suddenly echoed around the room.
Aiden walked back to the bed and picked up Finn’s cell from where it was vibrating on the nightstand. He pressed the call button to accept it and put the sliver of metal to his ear. “Hello?” All he could hear was the caller’s breathing and static, so he tried again. “Hello? Anyone there?”
“How dare you send your deviant friends here. Haven’t you done enough damage? Brought enough shame on this family?” The voice was icy cold and although he hadn’t heard it in five years, it still sent shivers of inadequacy up his spine. “I told you before. You’ve made your bed and now you and your bastard have to sleep in it. If you or your kind ever come near us again, I will have you arrested.”
Aiden didn’t know how long he listened to dead air for. His mind reeled as he desperately tried to process hearing his mother’s voice for the first time since she’d banished him. Okay, maybe banished was a bit strong, but then his mother would give the wicked Queen from Sleeping Beauty a run for her money. What the hell? Someone had gone to the house? But who would do that? Nobody knew about—Aiden froze, his world tilting violently on its axis.
“He wouldn’t,” Aiden mumbled aloud, his fingers tightening around the phone. He shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t.” He frowned. There had to be a reasonable explanation. Maybe an old friend from high school who didn’t know what happened between him and his family. Yes. That was it. It couldn’t have been Finn. It couldn’t.
Aiden could hear laughter coming from the kitchen as he walked along the hall. Laughter and his daughter’s high-pitched squeal, followed by Molly’s sharp admonishment of AJ who was obviously doing something he shouldn’t. It sounded like every other breakfast he’d been a part of in this house—but it wasn’t. His head felt as though it were filled with pudding, all muddy and sluggish, a million thoughts vying for attention, each bouncing off his skull. And yet he couldn’t grasp a single one. He was aware that when he walked into the kitchen, the laughter stopped and Finn rose to his feet.
“Aiden? What’s wrong?”
“You had a call.” Was that his voice? That dead empty thing?
Finn crossed the room and took his cell from Aiden’s outstretched hand, shoving it into his sweatpants pocket. “From who?”
Aiden knew. The sudden flash of uncertainty in Finn’s eyes and in that split second he knew. But he needed to hear it. “My mother.”
“Oh, God.”
“You son of a bitch.” Aiden turned on his heel and ran for the front door, but he didn’t make it. Finn grabbed his arm and herded him toward their room. “Get off me.” He struggled futilely against Finn’s grip. “Get the fuck off me.”
“Aiden, stop!” Finn’s voice was gruff as he pushed open the bedroom door and shoved him through it, then slammed it behind him. “Kaylee can hear you.”
“I don’t give a shit!” Of course, he didn’t mean it, but he was running solely on betrayal and pain. “What the fuck did you do, Finn? What the fuck did you do?”
“I went to Dallas.”
“How did you even know where to—?” Aiden huffed out a joyless laugh. “Patti. Of course.” He crossed his arms and stared Finn down, his blood boiling. “Why, Finn? Why? Did you think you’d flash that smile and my mother would melt and realize what a hideous mistake she’d made and welcome me back with open arms? I told you what kind of people they were. Why couldn’t you leave it alone? I told you. You and Kaylee are all the family I need—all the family I want.” Aiden clenched his jaw so tightly pain shot through his temples.
“Because I love you!” Finn yelled, holding his arms out to his sides.
All the fight left Aiden and he sank onto the mattress, his shoulders slumped, and put his head in his hands. Finn padded across the carpet and dropped to his knees in front of him.
“Aiden, please, look at me.” Aiden lifted his head and met Finn’s intense gaze. “I’ve never been happier than I am when I’m with you and the Squirt. But I could see the emptiness in you and, I know now I shouldn’t have, but I wanted them to see what they could be a part of. What they should be a part of.” Finn took both of Aiden’s hands in his and lifted them. He brushed his lips across Aiden’s knuckles and then pressed both hands to his chest and Aiden felt the thud of Finn’s heart against his fingertips. “You are the best person I’ve ever met, Aiden. And Kaylee… she’s a great kid, a really great kid—because of you. And me? You make me fall in love with you all over again every damn day. You make me want to be a better man—the man you truly deserve.” Finn’s voice broke and Aiden’s heart ached in his chest. “I just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t want to be a part of our lives, and I had to see for myself.”
Aiden let go of Finn’s hands and cupped his face. “Finn, you are the man I deserve. You have the biggest heart I’ve ever known, and that has a lot to do with the wonderful family you had the fortune to grow up in.” He shook his head sadly. “Not everyone is as fortunate, and you can’t fix everything. Being a Reid meant one thing to my parents—standing. When I decided I was going to raise Kaylee by myself, it was as if all of my mother’s wildest nightmares had come true. I’d dared to sully the Reid name and have people whisper behind their hands at the country club. Throwing me out was her way of saving face. My father’s such a sheep he just went along with whatever she said, as usual.” He swallowed. “I don’t want to be a part of their lives, Finn. I don’t want them to be a part of ours. Everything they touch turns to ashes, and I don’t want them anywhere near us.”
“Baby, I’m so sorry.”
Carding his fingers through Finn’s hair, Aiden nodded. “I know you had the best intentions and I’m not gonna lie, I was jealous the first time I met your family. The way they took to us, made us feel special. It warmed my heart but also saddened me for what Kaylee had never had. But don’t you see? Finn, you and Kaylee give me so much more joy than I could ever put into words. I missed the two of you more when you were gone for a few hours, than I’ve missed my parents in the last five years.”
Finn pulled him against his chest and held on tight. Wrapped in Finn’s arms, his lips on his hair, Aiden felt safe—loved. Which was all he needed. Until Finn said softly, “I spoke to your sister.”
“You did?” Aiden’s heart jumped into his throat. “Is she okay?”
“She’s great. She’s got your feistiness. And your smile.” Finn tilted his head, a frown creasing his brow. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
“It hurt too much,” Aiden said, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“I promised I’d go back for her and I tried, I really did. But they had more money than me and lawyers up to the wahzoo. I even thought about kidnapping her in the dead of night, but I’d have never made it past the gate. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was leave her in that house.” He sighed heavily. “She must hate me.”
“No, baby.” Finn shook his head. “She doesn’t hate you. She misses you.”
“She does?” Adam’s heart swelled. Maybe there was hope for them yet. He kissed Finn tenderly. “Thank you. I shouldn’t have gone off like I did.”
“You had every right to be angry. I’m sorry I went behind your back.”
“It’s okay.”
Finn hugged him and stood up, pulling Aiden up with him. “Let’s go and see if there’s any of that bacon left.”
Aiden shook his head. “Your bacon fixation is startin’ to worry me.” He squeaked, in a manly fashion, of course, when Finn pinched his ass and said with a lascivious grin:
“It ain’t the bacon, honey. It’s the pork.”
“You’re seriously disturbed.”
“Sad, but true. Come on.”
The doorbell rang as they approached the kitchen and Finn ushered Aiden through the door. “You go talk to Kaylee, I’ll answer it. Nana’s trouble radar probably went off and she’s come to see what the fuss is about.”
Aiden took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen where the conversation once again stopped on his entrance. “I’m sorry, everybody,” he said sheepishly, squatting to catch Kaylee as she bolted across the room and into his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“You scared me, Daddy.”
He kissed her cheek over and over, her words ripping at his heart. “I’m so, so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to.”
“Are you mad at Finn?”
“No, honey,” Aiden said, smoothing her hair back from her face. “I was mad for a little while, but I’m not now and not at Finn.”
“Are you gettin’ a vorce?”
“A vorce?”
Kaylee nodded solemnly. “Bobby says when grown-ups get mad they get a vorce.”
A divorce. “No, no,” Aiden said firmly, realizing what she meant. “No, we are not getting a vorce. Everything’s okay, baby. I promise.”
“You’re pretty.”
Aiden frowned at Kaylee’s random statement and followed her gaze over his shoulder. He turned around and frowned, wondering the same thing, as he saw the young woman standing beside Finn inside the doorway. His chest tightened, as though an iron fist had gripped his heart. Her long hair, the color of aged wheat, fell over her shoulders and around her face heart-shaped face in waves. It was darker now. The last time he’d seen her, it had been lighter and in pigtails. But her eyes, her eyes were the same. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and his heart swelled with pride for the beautiful woman she had become.
Aiden stared at her and it was as though the rest of the room and everyone in it fell away. It was just the two of them. He vaguely felt Finn take Kaylee from his arms and then they were moving across the kitchen toward each other at the same time, coming together in the center of the room. Aiden held her to him and buried his face in her hair, saying her name over and over again. “Meredith.” Unable to believe she was actually here. That he was actually holding her in his arms. He pulled back, cupped her face in his hands and wiped at the freefalling tears with the pads of his thumbs, uncaring of the ones running down his own cheeks. “You’re so beautiful.”
“So are you.”
“How?” He asked, shaking his head in wonder. “How?”
“I met this guy with a heart so huge, it made me hope it wasn’t too late to find the missing pieces of mine.” Meredith tossed a smile at Finn. “To tell you the truth, he’s kind of a pain in the ass.”
Aiden grinned and pulled her back into his arms. “Yeah, he is. But he’s all mine.”
PROLOGUE
Finn danced around on stage, hopping from one foot to the other and shaking his ass like a meerkat possessed. The kids laughed loudly and screamed at the top of their voices at his antics. Finn grimaced as he shimmied again. He wondered how hilarious they’d find it if they knew the reason for his over exuberance was the fact that he felt as though he had a million fire ants crawling over his skin—and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why!
There were still two days left before Halloween and Chris had started his annual spate of pranks three days ago. Finn and the rest of the park had had just about enough. It had started with small stuff—classics if you will. Such as cling film on the toilet in the locker room. One leg of Finn’s pants sewn up so he couldn’t get them on. Fake calls for people over the announcement system and, of course, the buzzer in the hand and whoopee cushions on the rollercoaster.
But then he got cocky. Alfie, the hot dog vendor had been taken down a strip or two by his supervisor when the ketchup had been replaced with hot sauce. Katie had spent her entire morning cleaning up the fake blood that had been sprayed all around the medical room. Not to mention the hideous stench in the haunted house, which turned out to be a decomposing trout being held tightly by the vampire in the bed. It had taken Max, the ride operator, two days to find it and another to get rid of the smell.
Now itching powder in his Monty suit? Finn tried to do his final soft paw shuffle without screaming, and then practically fell through the curtain in his haste to get off. This was the last straw. He burst into the locker room to find Chris curled into the fetal position, arms wrapped around his waist as he rocked back and forth at his own hilarity. How he managed to wait until the heavy door had closed behind him before he spoke, Finn would never know; but as soon as it did he let out a stream of profanity that would make Aunt Patti proud.
“Get me out of this, you asshole!”
“Not until you promise not to hurt me,” Chris said, holding up his hands in surrender.
“Hurt you?” Finn shouted so his voice wasn’t muffled by the head he wore. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you!”
“Come on, man,” Chris laughed. “Where’s your sense of humor? It’s Halloween!”
“Not for two days you dipshit, now get this fucking thing off me!”
It took a lot longer to get Finn out of the suit than usual, mostly because Chris was laughing too hard to be of much use. But he eventually stood beneath the warm spray of the shower, scrubbing at his skin with soap in itching places he didn’t even know he had places that could itch. He picked up the shampoo bottle and hesitated before he poured some into his palm. Could he trust that Chris wouldn’t be stupid enough not to have doctored the bottle? He put the bottle back on the shelf. He wasn’t that stupid. Soap would do until he got home. Finn sighed heavily. Chris needed to be taught a lesson. Unfortunately, Chris was so thick-skinned, it would have to be a lesson of mammoth proportions.
What the hell could he do? Killing him would be illegal, albeit extremely satisfying. If he only had himself to think about, he might consider it, but he doubted Aiden would be all that impressed if he was doing twenty-five to life in California State. Finn shook his head against the thought. No, he refused to sink to Chris’ level. He’d threaten him with bodily harm and wait it out. Two days. Two little days and it would be over. He’d come out the bigger person, his dignity intact.
Finn didn’t notice the change in water pressure until it was too late to get out of the way of the suddenly freezing cold water. He squealed like a scalded cat and pressed his body against the tiles behind him—then squealed again as the cold ceramic touched his skin. “Chris!”
Fuck being the bigger person. Fuck taking the mature approach. And fuck Chris Bishop—he was going down.
*
Aiden stared open-mouthed at Finn across the dinner table, his forkful of mashed potato hanging in mid-air on its way to his mouth. He held that position for so long, for a split second Finn was concerned he may be in the middle of a stroke. “Say something,” he said, frowning at Aiden’s rather lackluster reaction to what w
as the best idea ever.
Aiden put his fork down onto his plate and shook his head slowly. “Can’t you just have his car towed?”
“Are you serious?” Finn unintentionally spat potato across the table, drawing a yelp of disgust from Kaylee. “Sorry, Squirt. He’s gone too far this year. Do you honestly think having his car towed would make him consider the consequences of his actions? Alfie almost lost his job! I love Chris, I do, but he’s got to be taught a lesson.” Finn caught Kaylee shoving broccoli in her napkin out of the corner of his eye and stared pointedly at her. He tried not to smile as she sighed dramatically and put the floret back onto her plate.
“I agree, but how are you going to pull it off in two days?” Aiden’s forkful finally made its way to his mouth.
“I’m owed a few favors I can cash in,” Finn said, tapping the side of his nose. “It’s going to take some planning, but I spoke to some of his other victims today and they’re totally ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.”
“But… seriously… zombies?”
Finn sniggered. “I want to scare ten years off him and the only thing that’ll do that are zombies. He’s seen practically every horror film ever made and zombies are the only genre that keeps him awake at night. Trust me. I’ve had to zombie check his bedroom at three am more than once after a late showing of Dawn of the Dead.”
“Won’t he think it’s just a Halloween stunt by the park?”
Finn grinned. “That’s the thing. They won’t be in the park. Which is where you come in.”
“Me?” Aiden choked on a mouthful of his pot roast. “Why me?”