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He drops his hands and storms out, my heart sinking like lead.
I tentatively poke my head out, and I see Finn taking a pocketknife to the bed sheets. “Finn—”
“They’re just things, Effie.” He cuts into the fabric, then rips a long tear down it. The second set of sheets ruined in as many days. Next, he picks up a lamp off the nightstand. “Just. Fucking. Things.” He throws it at the wall, and I gasp as the shade is knocked off and the glass stand shatters.
“Shall I keep going?” he asks, and I’m momentarily paralyzed. It makes it hard to breathe picturing all that broken glass. He stalks toward the mirror with a testing look.
“No, Finn, I get it.” I step in between him and the mirror, hands on his chest.
“Do you?”
“Yes, they’re just things.” I repeat his words back to him with not nearly as much conviction, then add, “And I like this mirror…I want to keep the memory of us.” I like the way his eyes light up when I sayus.
He sits at the foot of the bed and pulls me in between his legs, holding the back of my thighs. “I’m not him, Effie. I’m not your father. You won’t be punished for being human.” His words make a gnarly knot twist in my throat. “Honesty and loyalty are all I want from you. Not some Stepford-wives shit, okay?”
I swipe my knuckle at the corner of my eye. “Okay.”
“Now, tell me, princess, and be honest.” He looks at me earnestly, and I nod. “Are those scared tears or those other types of tears like when I gave you the easel?”
I can’t help but bark out a laugh at his preciousness. The smile that spreads on my face feels warm and right. “They’re the sunflower type of tears.”
He sighs and folds forward, resting his forehead on my stomach like he’s never been more relieved in his life. “Thank fuck.”
More and more people keep arriving. Okay, only four more, but it feels like ten when I only vaguely remember who they are from the surveillance we did withLes Arnaqueuses.Finn helps me set up a fold-out table that he dug out of the big house—along with more than enough cups.
Cash is helping Lochlan set up a badminton net in the lawn after he unearthed it in “all that old people stuff.” I absolutely can’t picture the most dangerous gangsters on the East Coast playing badminton. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I throw an orange, purple, and green tablecloth straight out of the ’80s over it. I scoot closer to Finn and whisper, “So, who are all these people?”
He loops his arms around my lower back, and I mirror him. He pulls me tight, and it looks like we are just having a cute, couple conversation. “The two men who just arrived are Roman and Alfie. Roman is the man who makes sure we don’t get ourselves killed, and the twig with him, Alfie…” He narrows his eyes in thought. “Honestly, I have no idea how he made it this far, but he’s loyal as hell.”
“Okay, and I recognize Harlow. She was in the news a ton a few months back.”
“Yeah, she’s a real one. She certainly matches Cash’s crazy, and she’s proven she deserves her spot at his side.” I nod along, trying to imagine someone equally as crazy as Cash and thinking only his brothers compare.
“And this is Stella.” Finn gestures over my shoulder and I turn, greeted by a woman I’ve seen many times across the street at the Den.
“Hi, thank you for bringing the food.” I shake her hand, and she gives me an approving smile.
“Giving her the run down on everyone?” She looks at Finn. When he only lifts a brow, I’m reminded of how shuttered he is in the public eye and feel a swell of honor that he’s shown me so much more the last few days than most people ever get.
“He probably told you I’m the manager at the Den, but most of the time I’m just managing these four numb-nuts and making sure they don’t kill each other.”
I laugh at the picture she paints and quickly realize she must be very important to the Foxes if she can talk about them like that. “Didn’t you say Roman was the person making sure y’all didn’t get killed?”
“Yes,” Finn says gruffly, then gives me a mischievous smirk. “He stops other people from killing us, Stella keeps us from killingeach other.”
“Exactly, and they’re damn lucky.” Stella gives Finn a nudge in the shoulder and walks away.
“He’ll never admit it in this lifetime or the next, but Stella is Cash’s best friend. She’s family.”
“Best friend?” I bite back a laugh. Men like Cash don’t havefriends. They have associates, acquaintances, mutually beneficial relationships, but not friends.
“Like I said, he’ll never admit it, and you didn’t hear it from me.” He brushes a piece of hair behind my ear, and his jovial expression shifts to something more serious. My stomach twists for whatever he’s going to say next. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
My cheeks warm and my heart skips. Words get twisted on my tongue, so I just rise on my toes to kiss his nose. “I’m going to help get the food plated.” I turn away, a smile on my lips.
He grabs my hand as I walk away. “I like when you kiss me there.”
