Adam picked up the phone, and as his muffled hello came through the line, I spoke to cover the sound. “I’m leaving, Finn. My brother’s already waiting outside.”
Sure that Adam had heard me, I decided I was done hiding. Done cowering. And as I stood, I spoke directly into my phone while turning around to face Finn.
“If I don’t walk out the door in the next two minutes, he calls the cops.” When Finn rolled the strap of my backpack over his tattooed fingers, I swallowed. “So, just let me go.”
He strangled the strap in his grip, and I dragged my gaze to his face, locking it there and avoiding the show of power he made with his hands.
Hands that used to show me unimaginable heights. Hands that had turned into tools to hurt me. Hands that dragged me to the ground. That suffocated me far worse than I’d felt when I’d been unseen, unchosen, and unloved.
Finn had always wielded words like weapons. I’d loved that about him.
Until he’d turned them on me.
And the strike of his palm across my cheek had been the final blow.
Staring into his brown, watery eyes, I recalled the night we met. How I’d compared the hue to the color of his whiskey without knowing. It had been a harbinger for alcohol-fueled rage to come.
When his eyes darkened from amber to umber, his bloodshot stare filled me with fear.
My pulse pounded in my ears, blood rushing past as he threw my bag on the ground.
He stomped on it.
“You want it?” He sneered, jerking his chin at the floor in front of him. “Come get it.”
I didn’t move.
“Yeah,” he scoffed. “That’s what I thought. Just a scared bitch acting tough.”
Ignoring his bait, I checked the clock on my phone. “Thirty seconds.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Addie. Your brother isn’t out there. Even if he was coming to clean up your mess, he shows his face, and I’ll show him what I do to people who stick their noses in my business. When they interfere with what doesn’t belong to them.”
I narrowed my gaze, my jaw clenching as I lifted my chin.
He laughed and stared pointedly at my cheek. “Did you not learn that the first time?”
My hand flew to my face before I could stop it, a defensive reflex giving away the power he’d held over me.
Once.
That was all he got. I reminded myself of that promise I’d made, the way I had every night as I planned my exit. He’d hit me once, and he wouldn’t get the chance to do it again.
I’d be no man’s fool twice.
But his size compared to mine, the intensity of his drunken rage, it scared me.
I stepped forward cautiously, coming closer to Finn and the front door. I needed to wait, but the desperation to escape kept me easing toward him.
When the muted sound of a car door slamming came from outside, a wave of courage rushed through me, and I held steady, knowing my fiercest protector raced toward my side.
Adam wouldn’t let him touch me again.
I progressed close enough to stop right in front of my bag, far enough so Finn couldn’t grab me easily. Bending at the knee, I dipped low. I kept my eyes on the threat in front of me as I knelt, reaching for the strap to yank my bag closer.
Fumbling around, canvas brushed my fingers, and I grabbed for it. Finn’s expression morphed to fury as I secured the strap. I scooped up the bag, anyway.
As I got to my feet, the door kicked in behind Finn.
