Page 54 of Finn's Future

“That doesn’t mean you should terrify her.”

His eyes met mine fully then. “Kate,” he said quietly, “your mother stopped being somebody worth protecting the second she helped people hurt you.”

I looked away first. Nobody had ever said something like that to me before.

Finn exhaled slowly beside me.

“Finn, church, now,” Reaper thundered.

They disappeared straight into the back room and the door slammed shut behind them.

Maria and Lucy appeared from the back corridor looking sheepish.

The shouting started almost immediately.

I froze and my breathing turned shallow as voices rose through the walls followed by a loud bang that made me flinch so hard Lucy noticed.

I hated yelling. Raised voices always meant someone was about to get hurt. I’d learned that young. Hide. Stay quiet. Don’t make it worse.

My hands started shaking beneath the table, so I tucked them underneath my thighs, trying to stop it.

“Don’t worry,Mija,” Maria asked, reaching over to squeeze my arm. “That is just how they work through things.”

Another crash sounded from the back room, and I swallowed hard. Maybe it was normal for them, but it wasn’t normal for me. Paranoia had kept Noah and me alive this long and now they knew where we were.

My mother had stood outside the gates. Watching. Which meant none of it was over.

The worst part?

A horrible thought kept crawling through my head. What if Finn regretted helping us now? What if I’d brought danger straight to their door and this was the moment they decided me and Noah weren’t worth it anymore?

I looked towards the hallway leading to the back room, heart pounding harder with every raised voice behind the door.

Despite everything he’d said, all I could think about was Finn.

Chapter 24

Finn

The moment the door slammed behind us, Reaper turned on me. “What the hell was that?” he roared.

I didn’t answer fast enough which was a big mistake.

Reaper closed the distance in two strides and grabbed a fistful of my kutte, yanking me forward hard enough my boots scraped across the floor.

“You don’t leave my table,” he bit out. “You don’t run past my gate, and you sure as hell don’t charge into unknown territory like a goddamn prospect with something to prove.”

“I saw them,” I started.

His fist connected with my jaw. My head snapped to the side, a sharp crack ringing in my ears as I staggered back a step.

No one moved or spoke as I fought down the memories coming back. Me cowering in the corner as punches rained down. My mother screaming for him to stop but never stepping in or doing anything to help.

Reaper stepped in again, crowding my space. “You think I didn’t see them?” he said.

My muscles tensed, the blood tangy on my tongue, but I held his stare.

“They hurt her,” I said, opening and closing my jaw to try to work off the pain.