Chapter Three
When I left Fin inbed early the next morning, I walked into some kind of weird tableau. Immediately, I knew I should have turned my ass back around and climbed back in beside him. No one could pay me enough to deal with whatever fresh hell wandered into the kitchen. Hawk stood at the stove, cooking bacon by the smell. Melinda sat on the counter a few feet away munching on the bacon. And Helix sat on a stool on the other side of the counter as far away from Hawk as anyone could get without being in the bedroom Fin and I slept in.
For a heartbeat I considered my status as a grown adult who could make a run for it, and no one would be able to do a thing about it. But it wasn’t just the drama bothering me. Something felt off, and I couldn’t quite place it. Well, besides so many people being near me at way too early an hour.
“Good Morning,” Melinda said from the countertop. Her legs were bare up to mid-thigh where an oversized white button down kept her decent.
I didn’t return her greeting. “Do I even want to know what is going on here?”
Melinda huffed and finished chewing a slice of meat. “Helix is pouting since Hawk and I overruled him.”
It took all the very, very limited self-control I possessed not to ask how their decisions had suddenly become Hawk and I, instead of Helix and I. “And what did you and Hawk overrule him on?”
Hawk spoke, his t-shirt clad back still to me, while he moved a pair of silicone tongs across his breakfast. “Helix is still trying to convince us we should hide under a rock and wait until someone else deals with The Black Mage.”
I glared at Helix. I couldn’t help it. For months I’d been the asshole who was trying to deal with him, all while he and Melinda hid away. Put in this perspective, it made me feel pretty fucking underappreciated.
I crossed the kitchen and grabbed a piece of bacon, then returned to the other end of the granite, nearest Helix. I pointed the crisp strip toward him. “You’re welcome to run off and hide on your own. No one here is stopping you.”
He leaned out and bit a chunk of my food, his eyes locked on mine. If my lady parts weren’t spoken for, it would have been practically erotic.
After he swallowed, he said. “Don’t speak of things you know nothing about.”
And...back to reality. Yet another man who thought himself entitled to influence others to his decisions because obviously...he’d never be wrong.
I shoved the rest of my bacon into my mouth with a scowl as Fin came up behind me. My ability to just know his presence was a little disconcerting, but I supposed it would be useful for the future.
Obviously catching the same vibe I did, he asked. “What are you guys talking about?”
I pointed to Helix, who somehow a few hours after a massive showdown can look like he was about to step onto the set of Wolf of Wall Street. “Jordan Belfort over here wants to go home and let everyone else deal with Esteban.”
Melinda flinched at her brother’s name, but I couldn’t blame her for it. Like he-who-must-not-be-named, I didn’t want to hear it either. When she didn’t offer an opinion on my report to Fin, I risked a peek at him.
I didn’t even need to see the devastation in his eyes to feel it in my chest. It burned a hole there, acid-hot and caustic. He blamed himself for Melinda, and I supposed, now that I knew the truth, he blamed himself for Esteban as well. If he’d been stronger, better, more...maybe things would have been different.
I kicked him in the shin and flipped from my braced position on the counter to face him. “And maybe you’d be dead or worse too. There’s nothing down that train of thought but a black hole.”
I cupped his cheeks in my hands and forced him to meet my gaze, intent on making him see reason before he fell down that stupid hole. “It’s not your fault your brother just happens to be a psychopath.”
Hawk stifled a laugh from behind me, but I ignored him, as was our usual dynamic. Nor was I about to admit to him how damn good it felt to have both him, and The Chief, back in my life. Not just back, supporting me, helping me. It made me realize how much I’d shut out behind the walls I built to protect myself.
Fin pressed his forehead against mine, and the soft fall of his hair brushed my face. I let myself breathe him in, calming us both down in the process.
“As fun as all this lovey dovey shit is,” Hawk interrupted. “We all have work to do. If you’re staying, Helix, fine, but you’ll help. If not, the door isn’t locked, but don’t come back if something changes once you’re gone.”
I stared between Melinda, Helix, and Hawk. A tension radiated between them. I wondered if they’d been arguing a lot this morning. It couldn’t have been too long because like me, Hawk is a punch first, apologize second sort of person.
Melinda hopped off the counter and headed toward her bedroom without another word. The two men simply glared at one another.
I patted Fin’s chest, wishing he’d skipped the t-shirt. “On that note, I think we are going to go to The Office and let you guys compare dicks without an audience.”
It didn’t take any effort to tug Fin by the arm toward the bedroom. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it. “I’m not a hundred percent sure who I would put my money on.”
I stared at him, mock appalled. “Melinda, duh.”
This made him smile and I quickly brushed my teeth and shoved my hair into a messy bun. Fin took more time with his grooming until I got impatient, dug my fingers through his hair and quickly French braided it. He didn’t know how much I liked him with his hair back like that. Or well, with our bond, I guess he did now.
My face entirely too hot, I released him to shove my feet into my boots and strap on a couple of weapons.
He followed suit and then we headed toward the door hoping to miss everyone and their continued arguments. The kitchen sat empty when we exited, and Fin gave me a little shrug at my questioning look.
If they all came to The Office after us, I hoped they stored the issues to deal with later.
We walked from the safe house, cutting through alleys, and down narrow driveways. I didn’t feel like anyone watched us, but I didn’t want to take the risk, not with Fin. Not when things felt puzzled together for the first time in my life. I pulled the hood up on my sweatshirt and tucked in the pink ends of my hair just in case.
“You do realize if anyone approaches, I can just suggest they go away, right?” Fin says, a step behind me, looking way more at ease than I felt.
I dragged his fingers between mine. “Stop giving me that look. I’m being careful, being safe, something you should appreciate here.”
He grinned, slow and sexy. “Oh I do. Trust me.”
Something about the conversation raised the hairs on the back of my neck and I got the odd sensation that I’d forgotten something back at the safehouse. When it didn’t come to me, I kept walking, dragging Fin beside me by the hand.
It wasn’t a far walk, neither was my apartment from here. A wave of longing hit me hard. The desire to return to something akin to a normal life. Or as normal as a bounty hunter gets anyway.
Fin squeezed my hand, no doubt sensing my desire. Before he latched onto blaming himself, I tugged him through the heavy door into the building. Hawk would be along shortly, at least if he and Helix hadn’t murdered each other yet.
Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed until we stood near my desk that everyone in The Office stared at us. Fin shifted uncomfortably behind me, and I glanced back to look at him. Downside to feeling each other’s emotions, sometimes you really don’t need to know how they really feel about something.
I threw myself in my chair and delivered glares all around while Fin sat in the chair situated at the end of my desk. Mostly, it was decoration. When I brought bounties back to the office they were often held in the box, or they were transferred within minutes of arrival.
“You miss your old life,” Fin whispered.
People still stared from their desk and where they pretended to work and I took my time glaring at them all. What the hell was their problem?
Fin settled forward so his elbows rested on his knees. “Maybe we should go back to the safehouse and work there.”
“Why?” I demanded, already feeling childish for the question. “Just because these assholes have some kind of staring problem? No. If The Chief, or Hawk, didn’t want me here they would have told me. Since they haven’t, I’m not going anywhere.” I raised my voice at the end so those closest could hear my contempt.
As I felt, and watched, Fin’s reaction to the attention it hit me. He wasn’t scared of them, he feared what they might make him do to keep us safe.
I swallowed the frustration at my colleagues’ behavior and gathered the papers I’d angrily started to scan. “You know what? Let’s go back. We can read while we’re naked there. That sounds so much more comfortable.”
A voice came from behind me, “for one of us maybe.”
The Chief stood there, arms crossed, bald head gleaming I the perpetual dim warehouse lighting. He had about forty years on me but could still kick my ass. Something I appreciated in an adoptive father.
I spun in the chair to look at him while I spoke. “When did you get back?”
“This morning. Hawk called and suggested we might need all hands-on deck for this one. I don’t follow orders from him, but sometimes they make sense, and I might just agree.” Then The Chief gave Fin a sharp nod of greeting and headed back to his office.
“I guess bread making is off the table for a while,” Fin teased. I knew he wanted to lighten my mood and remind me we were headed back to the safe house. The idea made me want to punch things because I didn’t want to be run out of my place of work like a damn suspect.
“What’s changed?” I whispered to him, brushing my knees along his as I scooted closer. “It can’t be about the fight The Chief and I had before. We’ve made up, and besides, The Chief wouldn’t let me step foot back in the building if he thought I might intentionally put anyone in danger.
His smile was gentle when he answered. Patient despite my need to flash straight to fury. “They’re scared. Many here fear Esteban coming after them, and what it might do to the little bit of normal they get. Just like you were longing, and wishing, for home earlier...they do also. The only problem is at the end of the day, they do go home, and have that peaceful existence most of the time. But people like you and me, we don’t get normal because others want it so badly that they are willing to die to ensure things don’t change.”
I blinked at him. What the hell did I say to all of that? I’d like to think these people I’d worked with for years wouldn’t fear someone over a simple thing like a magical ability. It wasn’t as if Fin could help what gifts he’d been given.
Some of these colleagues had stitched me up, they’d given me rides, taken bullets. I’d thought we were a family here. But now, all I saw was distrust in their shifty little eyes.
I shoved myself up to standing, gathered my things, and headed toward the door. The cool air hit my face first and I realized I’d need this moment to clear my head. Fin hadn’t come out yet, so I held the door open with the assistance of a considerable cinderblock brink we often used to bypass the security system and get a fresh breeze through the office. Oh how Hawk hated that. It often became a much-needed break, considering how many of our clients were typically hunting someone off on a drunken bender.
Raised voices made me glance into the gloom of the building. It took all my focus to listen and not react. But then I felt it: his pride, his fear, and his love. All the truth of it available to me, almost if I might reach out and pluck it clean to examine.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but it has nothing to do with her. She’s one of you, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Don’t worry, I won’t be lingering around much with such a lovely welcome.”
I snorted and slapped my hand over my lips. He caught me that way when he reached my position.
Still riding the high of his defense, I curled my hands into his jacket and tugged him behind me through an adjacent alleyway. All the while I let him feel exactly what I wanted to do to, and for, him right now.
When I couldn’t take not touching him anymore, I started with a soft brush of my lips against his. He instantly deepened things, escalating me from a low simmer to roiling boil. A few seconds of mind-melting kissing later, and I heard the heavy hinge squeak of the door opening a few feet away.
I was content to let him turn me around and take me against the wall right here, but neither of us wanted to face The Chief in that position if it came down to it.
“Let’s go to your apartment. Then at the very least we can have some privacy,” he teased with a nip to my lip. “Or we can go to any number of my apartments unnoticed right now.”
I shoved his chest to put distance between us. It was impossible to think with him touching me, “let’s go to mine then.”
Then Hawk’s booming voice rolled through the alleyways in an echo. “Training day, remember. Let’s go.” Then his hulking presence followed the noise.
I gaped at him, and he smiled. “What? Did I just cock block you both? Tough shit. You can resume your public indecency when we’re done. I want to go over how the teams attacked you guys at Melinda’s and see if we can find any weaknesses.”
“I guess we’re working after all,” I whispered to Fin with one final lingering kiss. “Let’s go brief these assholes and pray they don’t make me throw things at their heads.”