The gentleness I saw when Finn was laughing with me about my farm girl days drains away, leaving something inhuman behind.
He wraps his arms around my waist, lays me down, and bends over me in the bed. His hard body pushes mine deeper into the mattress.
My watch beeps faster.
His words are low and even, but I sense the urgency beneath them when he orders, “Take the knife out of my front left pocket.”
My eyes widen, and I stare up at his face.
“Now, J.”
I sweep my trembling fingers over his jeans and dip into his pocket. The knife is a bulge in his pants, and I grip it and pull on it until it’s free. In the moonlight, all I can see is the intricate carving on the knife’s handle. The blade is covered by a thick brown case.
Finn looks down, his mouth a thin slash of menace over his face. “When I leave, get up and go to the bathroom. If anyone walks in?—”
“You want me to stab them?” I gasp.
His hard expression doesn’t waver. Finn straightens to his full height and pulls my comforter up to my shoulder. Tuckingme in gently, he pats the hand holding the knife under the blanket and disappears out the door.
Chapter Thirty-Four
FINN
Before there was Jinx, there was the paparazzi.
Grown men and women who called themselves “journalists” spent their entire careers trying to blind me and my brothers under flashing camera lights.
As the adopted son of the world’s biggest musical icon, my life was never my own. The world wanted to peer into our privacy like we were zoo animals, pointing and assessing us. Judging us. Envying us.
Mom insisted we get media training after school, and that included what to do when the paparazzi showed up. I took to the lessons the most and developed a sort of sixth sense for when I was being followed.
The door to J’s hospital room clicks as I shut it behind me. The hallway is completely empty. There are no signs of the spies.
I inhale a deep breath and keep my hold on the doorknob.
J gets up, stretches, and covers her mouth in an exaggerated yawn. She nods to me, and I nod back, waiting until she shuffles into the bathroom.
Good girl.
Whoever’s spying outside her hospital room is here for me.
She should be safe.
Shehasto be.
And I don’t care to know why I feel so strongly about that.
Slipping a hand into my pocket, I walk as normal, moving in the opposite direction. From the corner of my eye, I spot two men turning the bend and following me.
What do they want?
These guys are moving like ghosts in the night. They’re not from the Grave City Crew. Everything I’ve researched about that gang screams loud and flashy. The two men following me are light on their feet.
Did a new crime organization find out about me?
Great.I miss the days when the tail I was trying to shake had a camera and not a gun.
A nurse passes by on her nightly rounds. She spots me and does a double take. Her mouth slackens. “You’re…”
