Page 52 of Finn's Future

Then another thought hit me hard enough to turn my stomach.

I’d hurt her too. Not like them, not physically, but still . . .

My mind dragged me straight back to Reaper’s office.

“She means nothing.”

And the look on her face when she heard me say it.

“Fuck.”

I scrubbed both hands down my face hard enough to hurt. I’d seen what had been done to her. Seen how badly words could cut her down and I still found a way to hurt her anyway because I thought it was easier, safer. The club came first.

She was supposed to be a responsibility, a job. But somewhere along the line, she stopped being either of those things.

That was the real problem. She mattered way too fucking much.

My fist slammed into the wall beside me before I could stop it and pain shot through my knuckles, but I barely felt it.

Kate heard me tell another man she meant nothing. After touching her. After kissing her. After making her believe I wanted her. The memory made me sick. I forced in a long breath. Then another. None of it changed anything. What I felt didn't matter. What I wanted didn't matter. The club always came first.

“Finn.” Reaper’s voice cut through my thoughts.

I pushed to my feet slowly, shoving everything back down where it belonged. Locked tight and buried deep.

Reaper watched me carefully when I rounded the corner. “Church,” he said. “Now.”

I gave a short nod. “Yeah.”

We headed back towards the clubhouse together.

The noise from the bar bled through the hallway as we stepped inside.

Chapter 23

Kate

Isat between Lucy and Maria at the bar, but my mind was still outside. My mother’s face kept flashing through my head.

The threats were normal, but the fear wasn’t. I’d never seen her back down from anything before, but the second Finn came storming out of the clubhouse, she’d practically thrown herself back into the car.

Lucy and Maria exchanged a look over my head, both too calm for what had just happened. Neither seemed willing to explain anything.

Not that I needed anyone to tell me why Finn had gone outside.

Somehow, he’d known my parents were there. The question wasn’t why he’d gone after them.

It was why he looked ready to kill them.

My mother had threatened me and Noah before, Finn knew that, but the fury on his face had looked personal. Like he wanted to hurt them for touching me.

The thought should have terrified me. Instead, it left me confused and aching all over again. Men didn’t get angry for me.And Finn had already made it very clear exactly what I meant to him.

Nothing.

My chest tightened painfully. Maybe I’d imagined all of it. The way he looked at me, the way he touched me and the way he held Noah like he already belonged to him. Maybe I’d been stupid enough to mistake protection for something more.

Minutes dragged by until the front doors slammed open hard enough to make me jump.