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When she started shaking and white stuff started frothing at her mouth, I didn’t know what to do. I ran outside and banged on the neighbor’s door. The old man that lived there before Jermaine and Zeke moved in saw it was me and didn’t take me seriously when I told him my momma was hurt. He just slammed the door. I had to run down the street until I found a passing cop. He thought I was being a trouble making kid. The only reason he found her at all is because he wanted to talk to her about letting me wander around the streets.
I tell Finn all this and he squeezes me tightly. “I’m so sorry, Rax. That’s … that’s just awful. Makes me even more thankful to Jermaine. I wish I could have met him.”
Chuckling, I kiss the top of his head. “I don’t. He no doubt would have tried to get in your pants and I would have hated to fight my old man.”
Finn laughs. “You didn’t mind with Zeke.”
“Because Zeke ain’t my dad. That’s just more than I should have known about Jermaine.”
From there, I tell Finn about how I grew up, how different it was being raised by a burly Black guy and that burly Black guy being a Sergeant at Arms for a feared motorcycle club. There were a lot of things we weren’t privy to, but there was a lot of shit Jermaine taught us. I’m still pissed that I allowed myself to be locked up and missed his funeral.
We’re quiet for a beat, then I say, “Tell me about your dad.”
I hear the smile in Finn’s voice as he starts speaking. “He was the best. When I came out, his only question was, ‘Do you really like cars or were ya just pullin’ my chain?’ It broke the tension and I remember both of us laughing for a long while. He accepted me without question. He was just worried I wouldn’t want to work with him anymore. He didn’t give a shit if I liked men or women. As long as I was happy.” He blows out a slow breath. “I miss him. He was my biggest supporter in everything I’ve wanted to do. Heart attacks fucking suck.” Pulling in a deep breath, Finn blows it out and asks, “What happens to me tomorrow? What’s the plan?”
Rubbing his back soothingly, I say, “Tomorrow night, Zeke will stop at a gas station between here and Texas. It’s already prearranged. We plan to have one of the brothers call in a tip, saying you were spotted and let you be rescued. We’ll be long gone by that time.”
I hear the sadness in his voice when he says, “I’ll miss you.”
I start to comfort him when my phone rings. We both jump since my phone hasn’t rung since the day after we got here. I almost forgot what it sounded like. I don’t answer. Probably Zeke, asking if I’m ready to leave.
When it rings a second time, I tap Finn so I can get up and grab it. I was right, it is Zeke.
“Hey man. I was just—”
“Someone fucked you over, man. They’re coming,” Zeke says in a frantic voice that’s out of character for him.
My stomach plummets to my feet as I sit forward on the couch. “Who fucked me over? Who’s coming?”
Finn scrambles up, eyes wide with fear.
Quickly, Zeke says, “Got a call from our contact in the precinct. There was an anonymous tip called in from the neighboring town, giving them the location of the cabin. They’re chasing down all leads, since the one for New York has fizzled out. We don’t know too much, just that they’re sending someone. And it’s too late to leave unless you want a high-speed chase. They assembled a SWAT task force to come for you.”
Just as he’s saying that I see the red and blue lights illuminating the night, flashing across the tree line.
Hanging up and smashing the phone with a heavy vase on the coffee table, I grab a scared Finn, dragging up the stairs. When we get to my room, I pull him into me. “I have to cuff you to the bed.”
“What? No. Just say—”
“Listen to me,” I tell him quickly. “They need to think you were a prisoner this whole time. You can’t be seen without some kind of restraints. You have to. It’s the only way I can protect you.”
Dropping his head, Finn starts to cry softly, but does what I say, walking to the bed, lying on his back, and raising his arms above his head. I clamp the cuffs on, looking in his stunning, but wet green eyes, angry that I put those tears there.
“Hey,” I mutter, kneeling beside the bed. “It’s okay. I knew this was a possibility. You did nothing wrong. You were the best thing to happen to me since Jermaine took me in.” Finn’s tears leak faster and I use my thumb to wipe them away.
“Rax, I’m so sorry,” he whispers. “I … I love you. I’m so sorry.”
I smile sadly at him. The lights are closer, the large windows of the house making it easy to make them out, even from a distance.
For the first time in my life, I say, “Love you too, sweet pea.” His breath catches and I smile at him again. “I always planned to let you go.”
He bites his bottom lip hard enough to leave marks in it. “I know. I trusted you, even when you scared me.”
Surging up, I kiss him, getting one last taste, just as I hear the front door splinter. Reluctantly, I pull my mouth away. Placing one last, lingering kiss on his forehead, I push off the floor and step into the hallway.
Flashlights are aimed at me and shouts ring out. I put my hands in the air, threading them behind my head. I’m roughly thrown to the ground, a knee placed in the middle of my back as cuffs are clamped on his wrists.
“Stay down, motherfucker!” one of the SWAT officers shouts at me. “Where is he, you piece of shit? Where’s Finnegan?!”
