Page 56 of Finn's Future

Her chin lifted, but her hands were trembling. “Then I’m not going.”

“You think this is optional?” Reaper asked, voice dropping in warning.

I stepped forward before I could think better of it. “She’s scared.”

Reaper’s head turned slowly. “And you’re proving my point.”

That shut me up.

Kate looked between us, panic rising sharper now. “Please,” she said, softer this time, breaking a little. “I just . . . I need someone I know. Someone I trust. Finn . . . please.”

That word cut me to my core. Please.

Reaper watched her for a long second, his eyes darting between us, seeing what we weren’t saying out loud. “Fine. Keno goes with them,” he said.

Kate blinked. “What?”

“He’s senior,” Reaper continued. “You know him.”

Her breathing was still uneven. “And Finn?”

Reaper didn’t even look at me. “He stays here. I’ve got work here for him.”

Kate’s shoulders dropped slightly, like something inside her had just given way. Not acceptance, just no fight left.

“Pack what you need,” Reaper said. “You leave in ten.”

Kate didn’t move. Her eyes flicked back to me again, catching on something this time. Her expression tightened.

“You’re bleeding.”

The room went quiet in that sharp, loaded way club rooms did when everyone noticed something they weren’t supposed to comment on.

I swiped my thumb across my mouth and looked down at the smear of blood like it didn’t matter. My jaw already ached where Reaper had landed the punch.

“Caught an elbow,” I muttered.

Kate stared at me like she knew I was lying. Her gaze shifted slowly to Reaper, then back to me again, something understanding and unsettled passing over her face all at once.

Reaper just leaned back in his chair like none of it concerned him. “Ten minutes,” he repeated.

Chapter 25

Finn

Ididn’t go with them back to my place for her to grab her stuff.

I couldn’t watch them leave. Couldn’t stand there and see Kate climb into the truck, Noah in her arms, knowing it wasn’t me taking them. Like a coward, I stayed at the clubhouse in the back room until the engine faded and the sound of tyres on gravel disappeared.

Heading out to the gym we used in the back, I set about the punching bag. Instead of helping with the anger, each punch fuelled it.

Kate and Noah trusted me to keep them safe. Kate had trusted me enough to let me in, allowed me to touch her, and I’d fucked it up.

Though I’d never be able, nor would I want, to take Caleb’s place in their lives, having them leave without me had made me realise just how I felt for her . . . for them both.

I wanted them in my life.

Wanted to be there when Noah woke from nightmares. Wanted to hear Kate laugh in my kitchen again. Wanted to make damn sure nobody ever hurt either of them again.