Game(49)

I should have made up an answer. I should have told her anything she wanted and needed to hear to calm herself a little. What had just happened was beyond devastating. Not to mention before that she had been forced to piss on a pregnancy test.

“I love you,” I said.

The words just slipped out.

I reached for her and she accepted me. I put my left hand to her face. My right hand touched over her towel, at her stomach.

“I f*cking love you,” I said.

“Finn, I love you too,” Shayna said. “But how do we survive this?”

I put my head to hers. I couldn’t lie to her. Ever.

So I told her the truth.

“I don’t know.”



~



“The cabin is secure,” Fiore said into the phone.

I looked out the front window and wanted to scream. “I’m not f*cking doing this anymore, Fiore. You crossed the line.”

“Remember who the f*ck you are,” he warned. “You scum fighter.”

“What are you going to do? Force me? You want me to do it to her… because of your daughter…”

“Watch your mouth,” Fiore warned.

“Fuck you, Fiore.”

There was silence.

“Fuck me is right,” Fiore said. “Remember everything I’ve done for you, son.”

“Son? You’ve never called me that before.”

“That’s how I’ve treated you. The best I could, considering your blood.”

“You let one of your guys attack me. Then try to… go after Shayna.”

“And you all but killed that man,” Fiore said. “Which confirms something.”

“What?”

“You’re in love with Shayna. I didn’t ask you to fall for her, Finn. Just get her pregnant. But maybe this will ease the situation. I’d rather not have to kill her when I take the baby. But I will if I need to. My family comes first. So take good care of her, Finn. Oh, and don’t forget about that fight.”

“Two on one,” I said. “Against all odds.”

How f*cking fitting.

“It’s also a bit of a ploy to lure Zander close again,” Fiore said. “So don’t f*ck anything up. I wouldn’t want anything to explode, you know?”

I just shook my head even though Fiore couldn’t see. “I’ll be there.”

“Finn, this isn’t personal,” Fiore said. “This is all business. And let’s not forget how it really started. You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong. Now I’m trying to clean up the mess.”

The call went dead before I could rebut. Not that I had a real argument; Fiore was right. I had gone to that fight on my own, hadn’t I? I had looked up at Shayna and instantly wanted her more than any other woman I’d ever met.

I felt something touch me and looked down to see two hands sliding around the front of my body. Carrie used to do it to me. She’d interlock her fingers and pull at me.

But it wasn’t Carrie.

Carrie was dead.

It was Shayna. And she didn’t interlock her fingers.

“Finn,” she whispered.

“Sweetie,” I said.

“It’s going to get bad, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It is. But we’re going to be together, Shayna. I promise you. No matter what happens, we will be together. I promise.”

“I like hearing that,” Shayna said.

“I like…”

I saw a pickup truck appear out of nowhere in the distance. It was going way too damn fast for its own good. I pushed back from the railing and turned, grabbing Shayna.

The truck swerved to the left, to the right, and sped toward the cabin.

“Finn,” Shayna said.

“Get inside,” I ordered. “That truck is going to crash into the f*cking cabin.”





36.


(Shayna)



I didn’t go inside.

And the truck didn’t crash into the cabin.

It came flying toward the cabin and at the last second it turned and kept going, right along the side of it. I heard the sound of sticks snapping and popping, the roaring of the engine, and I felt the anticipation of an accident.

“Oh, f*ck,” Finn said. “That was goddamn Cormac!”

Finn ran to the side of the porch and jumped over it. I should have gone back inside, but I ran off the porch and tried to chase after Finn. I made it around the house and watched him barrel deep into the woods. I heard the sound of Cormac’s truck engine still yelling. Then came a wild thud sound, following by even more crunching and grinding.

Then silence. The kind of silence Finn and I had gotten to know all too well.

Cormac had crashed his truck.

I couldn’t keep up with Finn so I just ran where I hoped he was going. Then again, it wasn’t all that hard to look for the smoking heap of metal that was Cormac’s truck. The front of the truck was crunched up. The back looked beat up. The windows were all shattered.

Finn tore open the driver’s door and Cormac toppled out and down to the ground. He was on his hands and knees, coughing and gagging. I thought for a second he was dying. But then Cormac popped up and leaned against the truck. The moment his head swayed, I knew he was drunk.