“What? I didn’t see you stopping…”
Finn turned and kicked the end table next to the couch. It flipped upside down and the lamp on it hit the floor, shattering.
He charged to the door and disappeared a second later, leaving the door wide open.
I was alone, again.
What had just happened?
~
It took me a few minutes to finally move. It was pretty obvious Finn wasn’t going to come rushing back inside to finish the job. To grab me, hold me down, and fuck me. He had given me the fuck me eyes before, but now it was more like get the fuck away from me.
I moved from the couch and grabbed the table. I picked it back up. The lamp was a total loss. There were two dozen pieces of it on the floor. The light bulb didn’t shatter, but it didn’t work anymore. I grabbed at the cord and unplugged it.
Then I saw the broken frame on the floor.
It was a picture of the woods during a beautiful sunset. It looked like the kind of picture that was in picture frames when you bought them at the store. When I turned the frame, glass shards fell to the floor, along with the picture of the sunset.
Behind that picture was another one. A folded up picture. I peeled it out of the broken frame and dropped the frame. As I opened the picture, I glanced to the door, wondering if and when Finn was going to come back.
Finn didn’t come back.
I opened the picture and fell back to my ass.
It was a picture of Finn with a woman. A beautiful woman with blonde hair pulled back. She had sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. Her eyes were a wildly crystal blue color. She had pieces of hair that were messy and sticking out of her ponytail but it made her look even prettier. Attached to her cheek was Finn. He had scruff on his face, a smile that was genuine, and his eyes were a beautiful brown color. Nothing like the man I had been with. Nothing like the angry fighter, fists curled up, ready to unleash.
They were in the woods somewhere for the picture, the woman sitting on his lap. Their arms were entangled together as they held each other. One thing was pretty evident - this was a woman Finn loved. Yet the picture was folded up and hidden behind some other picture.
Why?
Who was this woman?
I folded up the picture and climbed to my feet. I looked around the cabin and the questions kept flooding me. Finn had been a sexy, mysterious man the second I met eyes with him at that fight.
Now, he was even more mysterious. He was even more sexy.
I needed him more than ever. Not just for the answers to all the questions, but for a chance to survive.
I took one step toward the door and I heard the slam of a door.
The truck.
The truck then started and I started to run.
Finn was trying to leave me.
17.
(Finn)
I got into the truck and slammed the door.
What the fuck are you doing, Finn?
I had no purpose touching her face, her hair, none of that shit. Especially doing it in the cabin. Not the goddamn cabin. Never. That wasn’t what the cabin was for.
Shayna needed to get pregnant? Yeah, sure, I could figure that out. Just take her outside or toss her in the bed of the truck and go at it. That I could do. That I could enjoy.
But inside the cabin?
Christ, bad enough I had already touched her in the bedroom. Put her against the bathroom door and…
“Fuck,” I growled.
The living room. The fireplace. A fire behind me. Her in front of me.
None of it was supposed to go down like it did. It was me and Cormac together. We were the biggest and best fighters around. For each match he won, I won. We fought through everyone and everything, together. Rumors had been spreading like wildfire about me and him going at it. The ultimate main event. Two best friends, training together for years, finally fighting.
We agreed to hold off on it.
We had good reason because we were goddamn family. Close as brothers and damn near ready to be that. There was a plan in place for everything, too. Always a plan. Cormac loved to plan things. He loved to piece it all together and feel good about it. Then I watched all those pieces fall apart. One by fucking one.
I grabbed the keys and started the truck.
Now what?
What was I going to do? Drive away? Leave Shayna to herself?
We were stuck together. We were supposed to just crash for the night and game plan tomorrow.
I thought about leaving until I saw Shayna rushing toward the truck.
Her silhouette danced in the headlights and then I saw her getting closer. Her hair danced out behind her. Wearing a t-shirt. Wearing those damn jeans that held perfectly at her hips. She got to the truck and I rolled down the window.
“I’m not leaving,” I said. “I just…”
“It is because of this?” she asked.
A second later, something hit my lap. When I looked down I knew what it was. I didn’t need to fucking see it.
“Where did you find that?” I asked.