Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (Finlay Donovan, #3)(76)

“They don’t know anything about you, do they?” he said, his voice filled with venom as he grabbed the kids’ bags. His eyes skated to Roddy over her shoulder as he leaned close to her ear. “Give me one reason. Just one good reason to tell them about your little problem in Maryland. I’m begging you.”

Vero’s grin fell away. She cast an anxious look at the cops across the lobby, paling when I slipped the diaper bag off her shoulder. “We’ll talk about it later,” I whispered. She stared at the floor as I took the children’s hands and nudged Steven through the vestibule. By the time I’d buckled the kids into his truck and hurried back inside, Vero was nowhere in sight.

“What was all that about?” Nick asked, catching me by the elbow as I rushed past him through the lobby.

I rose up on my toes, searching for her head over the growing crowd of students who were filing out of their afternoon sessions. “Nothing. Did you see where Vero went?”

He pointed to an emergency exit at the end of the hall as Ty came up behind him. “Sir, Commander Ortega’s here asking for you.”

Nick did a double take at the faint lines radiating from Ty’s eyes and the lingering red scribble around his lips. “Tell him I’ll be right there,” he said, shaking his head as if he didn’t have the capacity to wrap it around one more thing.

“You going to be okay?” he asked me. When I nodded, he checked his watch. “The mess hall’s opening in a few minutes. Why don’t you and Vero grab something to eat. I’ll find you after dinner.” His eyes flicked over my shoulder. “There are some things we need to talk about.”

I turned in time to see Julian and Parker carrying their messenger bags toward the lobby. By the time I turned back to Nick, he was gone.



* * *



I burst through the emergency exit, searching the walkways for Vero, pivoting when I heard the door sling open again behind me. Julian called out to me as he jogged to catch up.

“Now’s not a good time,” I said, agitated and hurried.

“I know.” He stopped in my path before I could run off. “I know you have a lot on your plate right now. I just wanted…” He raked his curls back from his forehead, the dusky light of the sunset casting shadows over his cheeks. “I wanted to apologize for what happened in the mock trial. Parker’s boss asked her to volunteer, and she didn’t want to do it alone, so I offered to come. Neither of us realized you or Nick would be here. If I’d known, I never would have let her sign us up. She had no idea what she was doing, Finn.”

I hated that he was defending her. It was one thing to see the good in people; it was entirely another to be ignorant about who they were once they showed you. “She knew exactly what she was doing, Julian. She’s in love with you, and she was trying to make me look like a liar to prove I’m not good enough for you. She obviously didn’t get the memo that we’re not seeing each other anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

I blew out a sigh. “It’s not your fault.” The fact that I was guilty of the same—that I had given Vero the benefit of the doubt, knowing she hadn’t been honest—wasn’t lost on me. “You and Parker are friends, I get it. She was only trying to protect you. But you should probably make it clear to her that you and I have moved on.”

“Have you? Moved on?” The fact that he’d never told Parker we’d broken things off made me wonder if he was asking something else, if there was still hope for us. I thought I caught a flash of regret in his eyes as he turned away. “You don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business.”

“I have to go,” I said softly as a streetlamp flickered on. Vero was alone and scared. And the secret she’d been keeping from me probably weighed a million pounds on her conscience by now. Vero and I may have had a lot of problems, but we were invested in each other. We were raising my kids together. Burying bodies for each other. And I had to believe that counted for something.

“Wait.” Julian reached for me, drawing back before he could touch me. He jammed his hands in his coat pockets as he wrestled with what to say. “I know you probably don’t want my advice, and I’m probably the last person who should be giving it, but there are some questions you shouldn’t answer, Finn. It’s okay to hold back. You don’t have to tell Nick everything. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Julian and I looked at each other for a long time. It felt like we’d come to the end of a chapter, and there were so many things about our story I wished I could have rewritten. His smile was bittersweet, as if he knew.

“Be careful,” he said, the sun slipping below the horizon as he walked away.





CHAPTER 29


I took the steps to our dorm room two at a time, relieved to find Vero’s luggage was still there. I’d called her cell no less than a dozen times, but all my calls had rolled to voice mail. She wasn’t with all the other academy students in the cafeteria. All the classrooms were being locked for the night, and the shooting range was closed. The only building I hadn’t tried was the gym.

I called her name as I drew open the gymnasium doors. The basketball courts were dark. So were the training and mat rooms. I cracked open the door to the women’s locker room. The lights were off and the changing room was empty. I was just turning to go when I heard a sniffle.