Game(30)

A car sped up to the cabin. And the guy behind the wheel looked big and pissed off.



~



Finn did nothing to protect me as the guy entered the cabin. In fact, Finn walked to the guy and not only hugged him tight, but then took the gun from his back pocket and gave it to the guy.

They then both walked into the kitchen.

For a second, the guy looked familiar.

“Shayna, this is Cormac,” Finn said. “My best brother.”

Finn put a fist out and Cormac smacked it with a fist of his own.

“Cormac,” I whispered.

“I was at the fight,” Cormac said. “All this is sort of my fault.”

“Thanks for that,” I said.

“I have to go somewhere,” Finn said. “Cormac is going to keep an eye on things.”

“Are you serious?” I asked.

Finn eyed me and curled his lip. He didn’t respond.

“You’ll be safe,” Cormac said.

“You know that for sure?” I asked.

“Hey,” Finn said. “I trust Cormac with my life. He’s the best f*cking fighter in the world.”

“A fighter?”

“Legal,” Finn said. “He’s amazing. Going to own the world someday.”

“You could too, bro,” Cormac said. “If you’d dig out of your grave and these messes.”

I smirked. Cormac was big, tough, and bold. It was obvious Finn and Cormac knew each other for a while. Cormac had lighter skin and short ginger hair with tight curls. He had tattoos on both arms and his shoulders ripped against his t-shirt as much as Finn did. Christ, strip away the reality of my life, and these were probably two of the hottest guys I’d ever met standing inches from me.

Cormac had a scruffy ginger beard and well cut dimples when he smiled.

“Don’t worry about my grave,” Finn said.

“Yeah, take it easy, brother,” Cormac said.

When Cormac said brother is sounded more like ‘brudder’… a hint at an Irish accent?

Finn and Cormac hugged again, smacking each other’s backs with tight fists.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Finn said, to both me and Cormac. He then pointed to the gun. “If she does anything out of line, shoot her.”

And that was my goodbye.

Finn walked away and Cormac leaned against the kitchen doorway, grinning. The gun in his hand.

If she does anything out of line, shoot her.

Maybe it was a joke, but the way Finn said it and the way Cormac looked at me, it wasn’t a joke.

I was a goddamn hostage.





21.


(Finn)



It’d been too long.

Way too f*cking long.

If I had been the one to make dumb promises for everlasting romance and bullshit, I would have made it known that I’d always visit. I never made that kind of promise because I never got the chance. We weren’t in that part of our lives.

It all happened so fast.

Funny how Cormac always told me I’d fallen into my own grave. From the legal, straight fights to the underground world. I didn’t do it for money or fame or even to just disappear. I did it because of the hunger to kill. Never before had I wanted to kill… and I needed to get away from anything legal. Because if I killed someone, I’d be punished. With Fiore, if I killed someone, it would be swept under the rug. Or better yet, he could set up bets for death fights and we could make money off it.

I never did that though.

I never killed anyone during a fight.

I slowed my truck down and pulled to the side of the road. I couldn’t look left.

Someone once told me that looking side to side or back was a waste of time. Life was about looking forward, moving forward.

If it were only that f*cking easy.

This thing with Shayna was bad. Very bad.

I never expected Fiore to do what he did. To just barge into the cabin and put a gun to my head. The look in his eyes told me either he wasn’t sleeping or he was snorting powder up his nose. Watching him go into the bedroom left my heart pounding and my nerves shaking. I feared he was going to do something bad to Shayna.

Then he wanted me to f*ck her while he watched.

It didn’t bother me… but Shayna deserved more than that. Better than that.

My mindset in the situation was what scared me. Because I cared.

I drove forward and then turned left. Yeah, I needed to go forward, but I needed to visit her. My Carrie. I passed through the cemetery gates and felt the anger and emotion rise up in my chest and throat.

My Carrie. Gone. All gone.





22.


(Shayna)



“So, are we going to break the ice or what?” I asked.

“You can start by getting naked,” Cormac said without hesitation.

“I can see why you and Finn are friends.”

“Aye. More than friends, Shayna. Brothers.”

“Real brothers?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you blood related?”

“No,” Cormac said. “Blood ain’t family.”

“I’m not going to try and run away or anything,” I said. I pointed to the gun. “You don’t look comfortable holding that.”