by Lila Kane
He nodded, holding out his hand for my foot. “It is a good start.”
“It was probably just—you know, stress. After what happened yesterday. And last night.”
He bandaged the cut on my heel, his eyes unreadable.
“Finn,” I whispered. “Say something.”
“You’re not going to like what I have to say. And I really need to know what’s going to work for you. What’s going to help get you past this.”
“You,” I said. “You’re helping me get past this. I need to…face it head on. If I talked to John—”
He stood abruptly, the first aid kit falling on the ground and making me wince. “I’m not going to agree to that.”
“Finn—”
“Damn it, Charlotte.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to fight about this. I want to get you out of here. Somewhere safe.”
“Okay,” I said.
His eyes flashed to my face. “What?”
“You heard me. I’ll go. If you want to go to the cabin, or wherever, let’s go.”
His jaw shifted. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. As long as you’re with me and you’re willing to talk about a solution. I want this to be over. So, we leave, take some time. Regroup. And then we get this dealt with.”
“We’ll talk about getting this dealt with,” he said, still cautious. “Talk. Not rush into anything—especially not talking with John.”
I took his hand. “Okay.”
“I still don’t believe you.”
I stood, pressing my lips to his. “Believe this. I trust you and I know you want what’s best for me.”
“Good.” He nodded, looking around the room like he already had a plan. “Good,” he said again, taking my hand. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
We tied up loose ends at work but it made me feel guilty to tell Tucker I wasn’t going to be in for the rest of the week and I’d be out of town for the weekend. As much as I didn’t like it, I was supposed to meet with Tracy about her leasing the last space in the Entertainment Community. It was a good thing, despite the history between Tracy and Finn. I had a list of other things to do as well but Finn was adamant that we leave today so I had to put it all off until next Monday.
Curtis walked back to Housing with us, quiet in the background until we reached the elevators.
Finn squeezed my hand. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay down here.”
“So you can pack up my stuff? Or Curtis?” I smiled at them. “Sorry, but a girl’s gotta pack her own bags.”
Finn’s smile was strained. He rubbed a hand in the middle of his forehead like he was getting a headache. “It’s a really bad idea.”
“Then you go to your place and pack and I’ll go to mine and we’ll be out of here faster,” I reasoned.
“No, I’m going with you.” He sighed, glancing at Curtis. Curtis’s nod was brief. “All right, let’s do this fast.”
We rode the elevator to the tenth floor in silence. I didn’t say anything until we stepped out.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked Finn.
He looked at me passively. “What do you mean?”
“I saw that look you gave each other. What aren’t you telling me?”
Curtis was always so good at easing into the background but this time I turned abruptly to him. “There was something in there, wasn’t there?”
“Ms. Evans,” he said.
“That means yes.” I nodded when his eyes flickered with surprise. “You always call me Ms. Evans when you’re trying to reason with me. Or when you don’t want to tell me something and you’re trying to avoid it. Or—”
“Charlotte,” Finn said, frowning.
“What?” I asked. “It’s true. And I’m betting he’s not saying anything because you asked him not to.”
Finn sighed, pacing away a few steps and then back.
“She’s very astute,” Curtis said, making me smile and Finn roll his eyes.
“And I’m still standing here, waiting for the truth.”
When neither of them said anything, I stalked toward my apartment, pulling out my key card. Finn’s hand closed over mine.
“You have a new one now,” he said, producing another card and passing it over.
I snatched it from his hand. “What happened to the whole truth?”
His jaw hardened. “What happened to the less you know the better? I always thought that was a good motto.”
“Except you’re the one deciding what I should know.”
I pushed open the door, almost expecting to see something waiting for me. Yellow rose petals on the floor, maybe, or another note. But it looked like my apartment. Simple. Quiet.
But that didn’t mean no one else had been in here.
“Charlotte,” Finn said.
I ignored him and walked straight to my bedroom to pack. But my feet froze in the doorway. The room itself looked the same. The bed was made with a few pillows askew because I’d been in a hurry. Very few knick-knacks or pictures. Everything set just where it was supposed to go.
But it smelled different than the rest of the apartment.
Roses.
“He put them in here, too,” I said.
When I turned around, I was surprised to find both Finn and Curtis standing there.
Curtis nodded. “You were right. He was in here, too.”
Finn’s expression didn’t change. He just shoved his hands in his pockets and let Curtis continue.
“He left yellow rose petals.”
“On the bed,” I said, forcing myself to walk into the room.
It was my place—he shouldn’t have been in here. I used to feel comfortable in here. It had felt right—mine—from the beginning. And now…I felt better at Finn’s place.
I wasn’t sure if it was because it seemed safer, because Finn was there, or just because I was getting used to it.
Finn walked to my side and touched my elbow. “Where’s your bag? I’ll help you.”
I looked past him to Curtis. “What did the note say?”
He lifted his eyebrows and glanced to Finn.
“It’s my apartment, my life, my problem. I can handle this,” I told him, keeping my gaze steady. “What did the note say?”
“It said, ‘I wish I were there with you’.”
Finn’s chin dropped. He stared at his shoes, breathing quietly as I processed the information.
“So, he prepared for both scenarios,” I said. “Me coming here or me going there. And he probably wasn’t happy that I picked there. Paige—”
“Is coming with us,” Finn said. “She’ll be okay for now.”
“For now,” I murmured, looking at Curtis again. “Do you think we should talk to him?”
“We don’t even know where John is,” Finn said, his voice hard. “Let’s get you packed.”
I walked to the closet and grabbed my bag, tossing it on the bed. “I want to know,” I said to Curtis. “What if we leave, nothing happens but he gets more upset, or Mark gets in contact with him…and then something does happen? Like, someone gets hurt?”
Finn went for my dresser, opening the top drawer and stopping when he saw my underwear and bras. I didn’t know if he was thinking about John being in there or he just wasn’t sure what to pack but he turned away. “This isn’t right.”
“Then stop for a minute,” I said. “Curtis. Do you think it would be better for me to contact him? I could talk to him—”
“He’s not in a reasonable frame of mind,” Finn said. “He’s sending you notes, breaking into your apartment. You think he’s going to sit down for coffee?”
“Yes!” I blurted out, tapping my finger against my lip in thought. “Or maybe not coffee, but—listen, we don’t know where he is. He’s obviously not going to answer a phone call by either one of you, and that’s if he even has his old number. I imagine he’s been smart enough to ditch anything that could get him caught. Even emailing me—he’d probably make up a new e
mail address each time, right? But what if I emailed him back, asked him to talk?”
Finn shook his head, walking to the window to stare out at the scenery. He mumbled something under his breath, but I ignored it.
“I could ask him about Mark,” I told Curtis. “Maybe it would help catch him—or stop him, I guess, since we already know where he is.”
Curtis pocketed his hands. “The issue with Mark is that we have nothing against him. He called you a few times, that’s it—and from numbers we can’t trace back to him. Everything else has been done through John, which is probably what he intended. Someone else to take the fall if things didn’t go the way he planned.”
“So, it would just be my word against his,” I whispered, dropping to the bed as the realization hit me. “Or John’s word against his—but he’s not credible considering he’s doing the same thing.”
Finn turned around, another silent conversation passing between him and Curtis. After a moment, Curtis left the room and Finn walked to the bed to kneel in front of me.
“There are a lot of components here we’re not equipped to handle. Powell and the police know what they’re doing—so we should let them do their job.”
“But he’s right. I’ve got nothing. I could talk to John but it might not get us anywhere. And there’s nothing I can do about Mark. I don’t have any evidence, now or then, that he’s done anything at all. He could just show up here one day and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“He shows up here and he’s a dead man,” Finn growled, eyes blazing.
“Don’t. Don’t say that. You can’t do anything. Not—”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want. He put his fucking hands on you. He hurt you and there’s no way he’s going to get close enough to try again. That piece of shit tries to even come near you—”
“Finn, stop. Stop. Please.” I stood from the bed, shaking my head. He got up as well, following me to the dresser. “You won’t do anything. You can’t or you’re just as bad as he is.” I turned around, placing my hands on his chest. “Listen to me.”
“I am.”
“No, really. Listen. This is…a bad situation.”
He snorted, and I glared at him.
“An understatement, I know,” I said. “But really, we can’t make it worse for either of us. If we don’t do the right thing, if we play by his rules, it’s going to be worse. For you or me. If you do something to him, if you hurt him, then what? We’re screwed anyway because you’re in jail and I’m telling you, I’ll be a mess without you here.”
“I’d be a mess without you,” he murmured, cupping my cheek with one hand.
“So, promise me you won’t do anything.”
His jaw twitched. “I can’t promise you that.”
I stood like that, for a long moment, letting his words sink in. Trying to put myself in his position. If he were in danger, could I just stand there? No. But there was a big difference between going after danger and finding yourself knee-deep in it.
Blowing out a breath, I said, “Okay, let’s revise that. You won’t go after Mark. You won’t put yourself in a situation with him that he didn’t already cause. If he does anything—”
“I’ll break his fingers.”
“Finn,” I said on a frustrated sigh.
The anger of his words didn’t match his tenderness when he brushed his thumb on my cheek. “That’s all I can give you.”
I kissed him full on the mouth, my body pressed against his. “All right. I’m on board with that.”
He squeezed my ass. “Good. Now, let’s pack.”
“Wait.”
His shoulders tensed. “What?”
“One more thing. I need you to give me one more thing.”
Finn grinned. “Right now? Because we’ll have a lot of time at the cabin.”
“Not that.”
He frowned.
“Not now, I mean. Finn, really. This is serious.”
He turned and unzipped my bag. “Okay, what else?”
“The whole truth. You said you would. I’ve been honest with you. I need you to do the same with me.”
“I am. I have been.”
“The note,” I said quietly. “Did it say anything else?”
His face went blank for a minute like he wasn’t sure what I was talking about. Then his features closed off and he turned to the dresser again. “Socks? Underwear—although you don’t really need that—”
“Finn.”
“God, Charlotte, why do you have to know every damn thing?” he said, though there was no anger or blame in his voice. He shoved a hand through his hair. “Why?”
“I can ask Curtis,” I said.
He glared at me. “That was low.”
“Tell me.”
His jaw hardened. “Yes, the note said something else. And it’s not—”
“Tell me.”
His voice was low when he answered but I heard each word. “It also said, ‘I love you.’”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“It’s beautiful,” Paige said, stepping out of the car when we reached the cabin. The air was sharp with an early evening chill but she breathed in deep and smiled at me. “This is totally worth ditching work for.”
“Aren’t you the boss?” Jake glanced over from the trunk where he was hauling bags out with effortless grace. “It’s not ditching, it’s delegating. Makes you feel less guilty.”
She grinned at him, blue eyes sparkling. “It does ease the guilt some.”
Paige reached for her bag but Jake shook his head. “I’ve got it.”
He and Finn carried the luggage inside, leaving Paige to hook her arm through mine. “Oh my God, he’s hot.”
I laughed and nodded. “They don’t look like brothers, do they?”
“Not really. Quite the gene pool, though.”
Turning, I looked out over the lawn to the rise of low hills and then the trees climbing the larger slopes behind them. “You ever been to Colorado before?”
“Once. Skiing when I was a kid. I hated it.”
“Did you fall?”
She nodded, brushing her hair back from her face. “A lot. And it was cold. Too cold for me.”
“It’ll get cold here in the evenings and at night, too,” I warned her. Then smiled. “But maybe you can find something to warm you up.”
She nudged my arm. “You’re a very bad girl. I hope Finn gets to enjoy some of that.”
We walked up the stairs to the porch where Paige admired the rocking chairs and glanced at the mountains again. “I can’t go inside, this is too beautiful.”
“You might need a heavier jacket, then.”
She smiled. “I’d settle for some wine.”
The crack of a branch startled me and I whipped around, my fingers curling into my palms.
“Deer,” Paige said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “See?”
She was right. Five of them ran through the trees on the side of the property and froze when they saw us. They stood and listened as we watched them for several minutes.
“You okay?” Paige asked softly.
I nodded, relaxing my hands and then my shoulders. “Just…tense, still. I’m kind of nervous without Dustin or Curtis here.”
“Didn’t Finn say Curtis was coming tomorrow?”
I led her inside and nodded. “He is. And that’s fine—in fact, we’re fine here. He doesn’t need to come at all.”
“But it’ll make you feel better,” Paige said gently.
I swallowed my nerves, trying to forget the things I couldn’t do anything about right now.
Jake appeared at the top of the stairs. He pointed down the hall. “The lovebirds stole the suite, which I think is just wrong since they’ve got other things besides the room and the view to occupy them—”
“Hey,” I said. “Finn picked the room, not me.”
“True.” He smiled at Paige and jerked his thumb behind him. “You can choose between the blue room or the green room.”
She clasped her hands together and grinned at me. “This is just too much. I’m getting spoiled.”
“Get spoiled,” I said. “It’s good for you. I’m going to the wine cellar and pulling out something that’ll work for this evening. Okay, Jake?”
He waved a hand. “Sure. Grab whatever. You know Mom keeps that thing stocked like she’s preparing for the apocalypse.”
Paige’s eyes turned dreamy. “A wine cellar, too? Do I look at that first or the room?”
Nudging her toward the stairs, I said, “Go pick your room. I’ll get the wine.”
Leaving her with Jake, I walked to the other side of the house and down the back stairs. It wasn’t a cabin so much as a retreat. The first time I’d been here, I’d been wowed just like Paige. It had been hard to equate the Finn I knew from school with the wealth he was surrounded by. The same with Jake. But I’d gotten used to it—and it appeared I’d have to again if things kept moving forward with Finn.
I flipped on the lights as I went downstairs, comfortable with the layout. It might have been several years, but I still knew my way around this place. The wine cellar could fit the kitchen from my apartment inside of it. Jake was right, it was fully stocked.
I wasn’t even sure where to start. When I heard a creak on the stairs, I spun around just like I’d done on the porch. My hand closed over one of the bottles of wine as a figure appeared in the doorway.
“God, Finn,” I breathed. “I thought you were upstairs.”
He eyed the wine I’d pulled partly from the shelf. “I was. Were you going to hit me with that?”
“If I had to.”
Finn walked over, prying my hand from the bottle and shaking his head. “An okay choice, but”—he pulled another bottle of red from the shelf above it—“I’d recommend this one to start. And it’ll go well with dinner.”
“What’s for dinner?” I asked.
“I’m grilling. Or Jake is. Steak.”
I flashed a smile. “Sounds good.”
He propped his free hand on the shelf next to my head, making it look relaxed and natural. He fit this place so perfectly, with his dark jeans and cashmere sweater. With ease in his stride as he moved around the place. He had a little stubble on his chin and made me want to lean in and kiss his jaw.