Finn.
Chapter Forty
FINN
Emotions are a mystery to me, but there’s one feeling I never had a problem identifying:
Anger.
Growing up, it was a constant companion.
It descended on me when kids would tease me, cruelly pointing out my differences.
It tightened its claws on me when I realized that Jarod Cross wasn’t interested in me the way he was, for better or worse, interested in Dutch and Zane.
It held on when I thought of my biological parents who abandoned me.
Anger was the sensation of my heart burning and my head tightening. It was the ever-so-subtle whisper in my head, inviting me to destroy something or someone. That calling banged on my chest, demanding somewhere to go, demanding to be set free.
Who knows where it would have taken me.
But then I found Sensei.
“Anger is a cruel master that clouds the mind. Let anger rule your opponent and let self-restraint rule you. Then you will never lose.”
I’ve lived by his words ever since, and I kept my fury in a tight little cage. So, I don’t expect to feel what I do when I see Ace with his hand on J’s jaw.
The world blinks out of focus and something snaps deep inside me.
Self-restraint is gone.
In an instant.
Almost as if the walls I’d built around that anger never existed in the first place.
I barge into the elevator, taking advantage of the element of surprise, and I don’t hold back. My fist slams in the first guy’s face and I hear something crack. He staggers back and crashes into the wall as I grab the second guy and slam his head into the railing along the edge of the elevator.
He groans and crumbles.
The door closes behind me with a thud.
Ace releases J and comes after me.
She starts sinking to the ground.
Eyes widening, I dive straight to her, but Ace tackles me. I hit the ground and dodge the punch that he aims at my face, but not the one he sinks into my gut. He comes at me with a rain of punches, and I hold my arms in a defensive move, waiting for the right time.
At last, his punches slow as he loses his breath. I shift to the side when he launches one more hit, and his knuckles slam into the floor.
He bawls out in pain.
My legs swing up to his neck, and I use his own weight against him, rolling him over until he’s the one on the ground. The first punch I land on him is enough to loosen a tooth. Thesecond is enough to send blood splattering over the elevator wall.
The third knocks him out cold.
Stop, Sensei’s voice rasps in my head.Enough, Finn.
The anger is louder. It’s thicker. It’s pulsing.
