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“Okay, see you soon.”
I swipe my watery eyes with the back of my hand and inspect my nose bleed, which has mostly stopped, wiping the tip of my nose before cleaning up the shredded remains of my sketches and tightening the light bulbs.
As I crack the powder room door open, I listen for my father, trying to place his whereabouts in the big house. Luckily, I can hear him down the hall in the kitchen shouting at someone on the phone. Even though I can hear exactly how far away he is, I still race to the front door with a beating heart as if he’s going to jump out at any second.
My brothers are in the driveway, smoking by their cars. “Hey, where you going?” Gianni shouts and flicks his cigarette butt to the ground.
“Out.” I raise my brow and give him an impatient look.
“Yeah, okay, don’t tell me.” He laughs. “Dad know?”
“He’ll be happy I’m out of his sight, trust me.”
“Whatever,” he waves his hand and returns to his conversation with Renzo. Not that I’d expect them to care given the sum total of zero times they’ve stood up for me.
Once I’m out of their sight, I climb the iron fence surrounding our property so I don’t have to deal with the guards at the gate, and run the rest of the way down the sidewalk. I don’t need to run, no one’s coming after me, but there’s always a nervous giddiness I get when I’m seeing Finn.
Like I’m buzzing with energy and justneedto sprint to get it out.
I can hear his old truck rumbling before I see it. He’s the only guy I know who doesn’t have a luxury car worth at least a quarter-million. He says it’s because new cars don’t have enough problems. He likes tinkering under the hood and fixing the parts that are always breaking on an old car. I don’t get the appeal, but I can’t say I hate the way he looks in grease-stained overalls and no shirt underneath.
I bite my cheek, trying to get the image out of my head as I climb into the cab so I’m not blushing. He leans across the wide bench seat to offer me his hand and pull me in.
“Hi.” I say, slightly breathless and quickly add, “I ran,” with a shrug to explain why I’m out of breath. Because it’smost definitelynotbecause of the way his dark hair brushes across his lashes and the way my lungs squeeze when I meet his forest-green eyes.
“Hey—” His smile morphs into a frown, “You’re bleeding.” His brows pinch in concern, and I quickly turn toward the window and wipe at my nose with my sleeve.Crap.
“Your father?” There’s a black shadow to Finn’s growl that’s cold and vengeful and it equal parts scares me and thrills me. “This is the last fucking time.” He veers away from the curb and slams on the gas.
“Finn, he’s not worth it,” I plead as he approaches my gate. Because the reality is, no matter how satisfying I find the image of Finn making my father’s nose bleed instead of mine, this wasn’t the first time and it’s far from the last.
“Butyou’reworth it.” He cuts me with a deep stare, and it strikes a part of me that has been told my whole life I amnotworth it. Not worth respect and standing because I wasn’t born a son. Not worth a voice or say because I’m just a pawn.
He pauses in the road when I put my hand on his arm and urge him to look at me. I can see my father’s men at the gate start to walk toward us, curious. “What’s there to do? He’s the Don. You storm in there and try to tell him how to run his family and he’ll take a finger or bust a kneecap just because he can. If you even make it that far.”
His knuckles whiten around the steering wheel, and he presses his lips into a firm line as he stares straight ahead at the men closing the distance and pointedly reaching into their jackets where we both know they are carrying.
“Let’s go, okay?”
He works his jaw like he’s chewing on words unsaid. His foot stalls on the brake for a long, heavy pause. Finally, he puts the truck in reverse and looks at me. “Promise me one thing.”
“Okay.” I nod and he removes one hand from the wheel to cover mine on his arm.
“Next time, you call me, and I’ll be there.”
1.Something to Someone by Dermot Kennedy |
Chapter 10
Only Yourself to Blame
Finn
Present
After receiving an anonymous complaint, we sent a city inspector who determined that the brick facade of your building has lost a substantial depth of mortar. To avoid a building code violation a licensed contractor must be used to repoint all brick with a mortar depth at or above 1/4” of depth within 30 days to avoid resulting fines of no less than $5,000.
I read the letter from the city’s code enforcement office again and can’t deny the smirk that plays on my lips.
