Game(55)

I made fists and put them to the ground. I pushed hard, lifting myself up a little. Small rocks tore into my knuckles. I wanted to rush out from under the truck and attack. Someone had killed my best friend. My brother. The only man I knew that would give his life for me.

And he just did.

Because the two men walked away from the remains of my cabin.

I slowly turned so I could see out from under the truck. I had to be careful not to push my luck and get caught.

I saw someone with Shayna.

She was at a big black SUV and was forced into the vehicle. The other men climbed inside and the vehicle started to leave.

Watching that SUV drive away was hard.

Who had Shayna? Who would do this to my cabin?

There were only two people.

Zander. Or Fiore.

I got out from under the truck and stood up. I brushed myself off of the dirt and dust. I didn’t want to look back at what used to be my cabin. My hands were tight into fists and I stared. I thought. I tried to seek logic.

You know the logic, Finn. You f*cking know it…

“Fiore,” I whispered.

That’s the only thing that made sense.

Was it coincidence that Shayna was out of the cabin when it blew up? It felt too planned. Like someone wanted Shayna out and me inside. Whoever blew it up thought I was still inside. They saw Shayna standing at the tree. They didn’t see me because I was under the truck, checking it for a bomb.

Why would Zander want Shayna alive?

Maybe he wanted to take her and punish her. Torture her.

But why kill me so fast? Why not take me and torture me too? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to keep me and Shayna alive? Zander could then go after Fiore using me and Shayna.

Shayna was saved. On purpose.

Why?

Simple.

The baby.

Fiore thought Shayna was pregnant. So he killed me and took her. He knew I loved her. He was mad at me for his daughter having some kind of crush or something on me. The guy was insane. Completely insane.

And now he had the woman I loved. The woman who could really be carrying a life inside her.

I took one step and stopped.

That’s when I looked back.

My eyes filled with tears.



~



The contractor tells me I’m crazy. The permits have been wildly expensive. Digging out dirt roads and clearing the trees has been a big pain in the ass. Only a crazy person would spend what I’m spending on a cabin in the middle of the woods. Yeah, there are tons of spots to build cabins. Easier spots.

But this is the spot.

This is the spot for me and Carrie to build a cabin and build a life.

End of discussion.

Nothing can change it. Nothing can ever take that away.

I didn’t want to see Cormac - or what was left of him. I didn’t dare get too close to the rubble. The pain, the anger, the guilt, it all rushed freely through my body. Cormac was a straight shooter. A good man. A great brother to me.

As the anger built and built, creating a tower big enough that I wasn’t sure even I could hold, I realized that this was what Cormac secretly waited for. His own fate. Just like the fate of his sister. Carrie had been killed in a senseless tragedy. A random car accident that maybe could have been prevented. Same right now. Cormac didn’t need to be in the cabin when it exploded. He shouldn’t have been in there.

When Carrie went, I was told she felt nothing. There was no suffering. Meaning she was here, then gone, instantly.

Just like Cormac.

He had been half drunk, hopped up on aspirin, snoring like a wild animal.

Yeah, maybe it did comfort me a sliver that he didn’t feel any pain when he went, but it didn’t make it right. Yeah, he had given his blessing for me to love Shayna. He understood I was moving forward, even if I didn’t realize it.

Christ, it was so much to handle.

I put my back to the truck and started to feel ill. I took breaths but there wasn’t enough air. I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something, someone. I knew there were pieces - literally - of Cormac just feet away.

The son of a bitch would never step into a ring again and fight. He would never knock some dude’s jaw backwards. He would never feel that rush of victory. He would never make tons of money and get drunk and laugh, fight, cry, and hug.

I started to slide down the truck.

My ass hit the ground and I lost it.

Cormac and the cabin were the last ties I had to Carrie. I built the damn cabin for her and she never got to see it. And Cormac was her brother by blood and my brother by fight.

They were gone.

It was all gone.

Except Shayna.

Fiore had her now. I couldn’t go up against a boss. My boss. A guy who had rich Italian blood with connections that were sick. For f*ck’s sake, he had somehow managed to rig up my cabin and make it implode!

But that didn’t mean the game was over. The fight wasn’t over.

I just needed…

I picked my head up from between my knees and I saw legs. Beautiful, dark legs. Blood red heels. A black skirt. My eyes kept going and going and going.

“Finn. I hope you’re not quitting on me now. If you want to see Shayna again alive… and get out of this… stand up and be ready to fight.”

I blinked a few times to make sense of what I was seeing.

It was Fiore’s daughter - Mara.