“Okay. That makes sense.”
“Our mother died young. In her early forties. Her heart gave out. We were just teenagers when it happened and we managed to keep ourselves alive without anyone knowing it. Then Sasha had this party one night and the neighbors called the police. Next thing I knew, we were being taken in and thrown into the system. Sasha got out and went to the street. She started doing anything for money. That’s how she met Zander’s crew.”
“And you?”
“I was in foster care until eighteen. Not many people give a shit about sixteen year olds. And the one who did wanted a check from the state and to proposition me. For… stuff…”
Finn curled his lip. “Stuff?”
“Stuff.”
“Did anything…”
“No,” I said. “I learned how to fight back.” I swallowed hard. “But I got hit a lot. I ran away and never went back. I found Sasha and I thought we could go back to the way it was. But it didn’t. Sasha was deep into something. She used to joke and tell me that if she said anything about her work she’d have to kill me. I thought maybe she was a stripper and was embarrassed to tell me. Not that I would judge her. But she wasn’t that at all. No way. She was in with Zander.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“That’s the thing. I don’t. I’m guessing. I saw her with some of his guys. She wasn’t some whore, okay?”
Finn raised an eyebrow. “When did I say that?”
“It’s what you’re going to assume. That’s what everyone does with Sasha. She wasn’t a whore.”
“Okay. Then what was she doing with Zander?”
“I don’t know. The last time I saw her she said she needed to take a trip. She was going with some friends and colleagues. That’s the last I saw of her. And everything I tried to do to find her failed me. Over and over. Until I decided to get in with Zander.”
Finn shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“It takes guts to just slide right in with a guy like Zander. I’m impressed. So how did you get in with him?”
“Luck, I guess. I started showing up to his fights. I bet a little here and there. I caught his attention.”
“I could see that.”
“Oh?”
“Really?”
“What?”
“You say ‘oh?’ as though you don’t know you’re stunningly beautiful, sweetie.”
I fought a smile but my blushing cheeks gave myself away. “Thanks, I guess.”
“Yeah, you guess all you want.” Finn pushed from the counter and walked toward me. “And you can’t find your sister?”
“No. I kept waiting and digging. Asking other women questions. Trying to be casual about it. But I have nothing. For all I know…”
I turned my head as the emotion caught up with me.
For all I know, she’s fucking dead.
And that was the most logical answer in it all. She got too deep with Zander and did something to piss him off. Or maybe he got bored with her and just killed her. You’d think that would be crazy, but I’d seen it a dozen times.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Finn said. “I don’t know what to say. When we get this figured out maybe I can help you.”
I was about to look at him and either spit in his face or kiss him.
I never got the chance to decide.
A car sped up to the cabin. And the guy behind the wheel looked big and pissed off.
~
Finn did nothing to protect me as the guy entered the cabin. In fact, Finn walked to the guy and not only hugged him tight, but then took the gun from his back pocket and gave it to the guy.
They then both walked into the kitchen.
For a second, the guy looked familiar.
“Shayna, this is Cormac,” Finn said. “My best brother.”
Finn put a fist out and Cormac smacked it with a fist of his own.
“Cormac,” I whispered.
“I was at the fight,” Cormac said. “All this is sort of my fault.”
“Thanks for that,” I said.
“I have to go somewhere,” Finn said. “Cormac is going to keep an eye on things.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
Finn eyed me and curled his lip. He didn’t respond.
“You’ll be safe,” Cormac said.
“You know that for sure?” I asked.
“Hey,” Finn said. “I trust Cormac with my life. He’s the best fucking fighter in the world.”
“A fighter?”
“Legal,” Finn said. “He’s amazing. Going to own the world someday.”
“You could too, bro,” Cormac said. “If you’d dig out of your grave and these messes.”
I smirked. Cormac was big, tough, and bold. It was obvious Finn and Cormac knew each other for a while. Cormac had lighter skin and short ginger hair with tight curls. He had tattoos on both arms and his shoulders ripped against his t-shirt as much as Finn did. Christ, strip away the reality of my life, and these were probably two of the hottest guys I’d ever met standing inches from me.
Cormac had a scruffy ginger beard and well cut dimples when he smiled.
“Don’t worry about my grave,” Finn said.
“Yeah, take it easy, brother,” Cormac said.
When Cormac said brother is sounded more like ‘brudder’… a hint at an Irish accent?