Page 58 of Finn's Future

Lucy’s expression hardened.

Everyone in the club knew why Reaper was stressed. Kate’s parents being so close had put the whole club on edge, especially with Kate and Noah under club protection now.

Riley knew exactly what she was doing bringing it up.

“You wanna be real careful right now,” Lucy warned.

Riley shrugged like she didn’t care, but I caught the flicker in her eyes. “Just saying,” she murmured. “Men under pressure usually look for ways to blow off steam.”

Lucy lunged, catching Riley by the hair and dragging her forward hard enough that Riley yelped. Chairs scraped loudly across the floor as a couple of club girls rushed in, grabbing Lucy’s arms before she could do more damage.

“Say something like that again,” Lucy snapped, fury blazing in her eyes, “and see what happens.”

“Lucy—”

I grabbed her arms, pulling her back before the whole thing exploded further.

Her chest heaved, her entire body tight with adrenaline.

“Not worth it,” I muttered.

Riley straightened slowly, fixing her hair with shaking hands, though her smirk had slipped some.

The other club girls were already dragging her backwards, muttering warnings under their breath about pushing Lucy too far. Riley never listened.

Lucy yanked herself free from my grip and pointed towards the bar. “Get her out of my sight.”

Nobody argued. A prospect got up, followed by Keno, and dragged a sullen Riley out the door. The room slowly settled again, though I could still feel eyes on us.

On me.

Lucy smoothed a hand through her hair before finally looking back at me properly. And she saw it.

The exhaustion. The guilt. The fact I hadn’t slept properly in days.

Her shoulders dropped slightly, some of the fight leaving her.

“She sleeping?” I asked. “Are they settling okay?”

The question came out rougher than I intended.

The house had been too quiet without them. I’d moved out of the clubhouse years ago for peace, but after Kate and Noah left, I’d started sleeping back here some nights just to avoid sitting alone with my own head.

Lucy studied me carefully. “You care about her,” she said finally.

I dragged a hand across the back of my neck and glanced around the room, suddenly aware of who might still be listening.

Then I gave a small nod. “Yeah.”

Lucy exhaled slowly, something almost like relief flickering across her face.

“Thought so.” She leaned back against the table beside me. “You know how this works, Finn.”

I nodded again. “Yeah.”

“You screwed up,” she said bluntly. “So, now, you do your time. Keep your head down. Don’t give Reaper another reason to doubt you.”

My jaw clenched.