Page 53 of Finn's Future

Boots thundered across the wooden floor and into the back room without even a glance at me. But not Finn.

My stomach twisted.

Music drifted through the clubhouse around us while people talked and laughed like the world hadn’t almost exploded outside twenty minutes earlier.

I couldn’t settle. Every time the front door opened, my eyes lifted automatically, looking for Finn.

Maria nudged a glass of water towards me. “Drink.”

I obeyed, mostly because arguing felt impossible.

Lucy leaned against the bar beside me, watching the crowd carefully. “He’ll calm down,” she said quietly.

I looked at her. “Does he always get that angry?”

Lucy and Maria exchanged another look.

“That depends,” Maria answered carefully.

“On what?”

“Whether someone deserves it.”

That didn’t really answer anything.

The clubhouse door opened again. This time, Finn walked in, followed by Reaper, Riot, Keno, and Spider.

Conversation around the room lowered slightly when people noticed him. Like everyone was checking his mood before deciding how loud they were allowed to be.

Finn barely looked at anyone as he crossed the room.

Then his eyes landed on me, and everything else seemed to disappear for a second. He changed direction immediately and headed to the bar.

Lucy slid off her stool beside me. “I’m gonna go check on Noah.” Maria followed her without another word.

Cowards.

Finn stopped beside me. Up close, he still looked furious. Not wild like before but controlled. “You okay?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard after everything that had happened. “I should probably be asking you that.”

One corner of his mouth moved slightly, but it wasn’t really a smile. “They touch you?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Outside,” he clarified. “Did they put their hands on you?” The way he asked made it obvious there was only one acceptable answer.

“No,” I said carefully, “they didn’t.”

Some of the tension left him. Just enough that he looked less like he might put someone through a wall.

I studied him quietly. “You scared my mother.”

Finn leaned one shoulder against the bar. “Good.”

The answer came so fast, I almost laughed. “You’re not supposed to say that.”

“She threatened you.”