Page 48 of Finn's Future

A broken sound caught in my throat. Now all I could hear was,“She means nothing.”

A soft knock sounded before the door opened. Lucy leaned against the frame, taking one look at me before her expression softened.

“Well,” she said gently, “you look like you’re having one hell of a time up here.”

I huffed out something that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Was it that obvious?”

Lucy stepped inside and crouched beside Noah’s cot.

“He asleep?”

“Yeah.”

She smiled faintly at him before glancing back at me. “You heard, didn’t you?”

I looked down at my hands. “Hard not to.”

Lucy sighed. “Kate?—”

“He said I was nothing to him.” My voice sounded small even to me. “Kind of hard to misunderstand that.”

Lucy’s jaw tightened slightly. “Men say stupid things when Reaper’s in their face.”

I gave a weak shrug. “Still said it.”

She didn’t argue. Instead, she stood and held her hand out to me. “Come on.”

I blinked up at her. “Where?”

“Downstairs.” She gave me a pointed look. “Maria’s threatening to throw somebody through a wall, and honestly, I think watching that might cheer you up.”

Despite everything, a weak smile tugged at my mouth.

Lucy smiled back immediately, like she’d won something. “There she is.”

I hesitated, glancing over at Noah. “What if he wakes up?”

“Baby monitor’s on,” Lucy said gently. “And I swear, nobody gets near this room without going through me first.”

I stared at her hand another second before finally taking it.

Lucy squeezed gently. “C’mon. You’ve been hiding long enough.”

Lucy didn’t let go of my arm until we reached the bar downstairs.

The clubhouse felt quieter than usual. A few brothers played pool near the back while Maria wiped down the counter, muttering threats under her breath about grease stains and lazy men.

For a while I let Lucy and Maria carry the conversation. I nodded when expected, smiled when I had to, but every quiet moment dragged me right back to Finn.

“She means nothing.”

The humiliation sat like acid in my stomach, because somehow the worst part wasn’t that he’d rejected me. It was that for a little while, I’d believed him when he touched me.

Eventually, the walls started closing in around me again.

“I’m just gonna get some air,” I murmured.

Lucy looked up immediately. “You okay?”