Page 36 of Finn's Future

Heat rushed into my cheeks.

Finn muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, “Jesus Christ.”

The woman wandered off, smiling to herself.

I turned away quickly, pretending to study formula because suddenly looking at Finn felt scary. Even though I liked hearing it and liked standing there beside him while strangers assumed we belonged together. Judging by the way Finn kept Noah tucked securely on his hip the entire time we walked through the store, maybe I wasn’t the only one.

Finn wandered towards the end of the aisle still holding Noah while I stared at the wall of formula pretending I understood any of the labels.

I heard them before I saw them. A couple of younger guys turned into the aisle laughing loudly between themselves. One of them noticed me almost immediately and slowed slightly.

“Well, damn,” he muttered, nudging his friend. “Didn’t expect to find someone so gorgeous alone in a grocery store.”

Heat crawled up my neck, and I kept my eyes fixed firmly on the shelves.

The second guy grinned. “You shopping alone, sweetheart?”

I shifted uncomfortably, tightening my grip on the formula tin.

“C’mon,” the first one said, stepping a little closer. “Lemme get your number. Maybe I’ll buy you dinner instead of baby formula.”

His friend laughed. “Pretty girls always got expensive taste.”

Before I could answer, Finn stepped back around the end of the aisle. Noah rested calmly against his chest.

The younger men saw him at the same moment they saw the patch on his chest. Both of them went silent.

Finn’s expression didn’t change, but the warmth disappeared from his face completely. His eyes moved from them to me, then back again.

One slow step forward. “She’s with us,” Finn said calmly.

The taller guy swallowed hard, hands lifting slightly. “Shit, man, we didn’t know?—”

Finn stared at him for a long second before adjusting Noah higher against his chest. “Now you do.”

The second guy grabbed his friend’s arm immediately. “Yeah. Sorry, man.”

They disappeared from the aisle almost fast enough to trip over themselves.

I looked over at Finn, my pulse still racing.

Noah blinked sleepily against his chest completely unbothered while Finn reached over, took the formula from my hands, and dropped it into the trolley.

“You done here?” he asked.

I nodded and followed him. I didn’t know what scared me more—how dangerous Finn suddenly looked, or how safe I felt standing beside him.

Chapter 15

Kate

Iwoke to the sound of something hitting the wall.

For a few moments, I lay still in the darkness, disoriented. Noah was asleep in his cot and my heart was already beginning to race.

What if they had found us? Where was Finn?

Another noise, that time it was a strangled sound.