“Thank you,” I muttered, flipping up the visor and settling back into my seat, letting whatever swell that had gathered in my lash line fade away.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He stole a glance and caught my raised brow. “The man in the black suit you were screaming at.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wastalkingat him.” I nudged his arm when I caught hispfft, yeah okaylook. “He was someone thatMarcus had stationed outside my class building to escort me home. Which, after the big show he gave me, is so cheeky.” I shook my head, letting the silence take over for approximately 0.4 seconds before the frustration took over. “And I think I am well within my right to refuse to go with him. I don’t know him. I trust him even less than I trust Marcus, and…”
Finn peered at me. “And…”
My words failed me as the inside of the car lit up blue and red. I looked around my lap, before my eyes caught in the wing mirror, seeing nothing but a black metal monster taking it up. I whipped my head around, clutching the headrest with my hands as I got a better look.
“Finn, I think you need to pull over.” My lip quivered a little as I traced the unmarked car flashing us, his bumper practically kissing Finn’s.
Finn threw his head over his seat quick as anything. “Fuck,” he muttered as he turned back around. “Oh Jesus, fucking shit-balls. This can’t be happening. I was barely going twenty.”
“Well, you must have done something wrong,” I looked back at the car again. “Finn, he’s flashing. Pull the fucking car over.”
He ignored me, his grip on the wheel turning his knuckles white. “This will go on my record, and then the Quebec Knights will find out and my career will be over before it’s even started.”
I sighed. “Finn, just pull over.”
“No, this is it. My life is over. My Grandpa’s gonna kill me. Daisy’s gonna kill me.” His breaths staggered. “Rory’s gonna have to come visit me in jail—”
Instinct and adrenaline took over my body as I fell back down into my seat and gripped the wheel, tugging it to the empty lane to the right. “Finn, pull over!”
“What the fuck!” He screamed as he slammed on the brakes. We both jolted forward, the seatbelt nearly choking me. My palm landed in the centre of my chest as I coughed away the burn.
“Oh god.” Finn breathed, both hands over his heart and his eyes doubled in size. “I think I might be dead.”
I let out one last cough. “You would’ve been if you hadn’t pulled over,” I dodged his glare as I twisted my body around, eyes straining to see what was happening. Instantly, my eyes snagged on a tall dark figure getting out of the car behind us, its door slamming with a thick thud.
My spine straightened back to face Finn. “Just calm down. You weren’t doing anything illegal. Your driving was fine. I’ll be your witness if he says anything different.”
He looked at me, his hair dishevelled, but he nodded. “Yeah,” he breathed, sinking into his seat. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.” He was talking more to himself, and slowly his hands fell from his chest and settled in his lap, right as his breaths got a little less—
“What the—”
The door I’d been leaning against swung open without warning. I fell back, almost out of my seat, but something solidcaught me, keeping me upright. That same weight then pressed onto my knees, gripping them, and spinning my body to face—
“You.”
The word slipped out before I could think, a breathless mix of disbelief and accusation. My chest tightened, my body froze, and just beneath my chest, that familiar burn of anger coiled like it always did when Marcus fucking Romano breathed the same air as me.
As much as I wanted to scream at him, he loomed over my body and beat me to it. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
My head pulled back, the moment still catching up to me. “What amIdoing?” I looked out the back window, at the unmarked car still flashing red and blue, then set my eyes back on him. “What in God’s name areyoudoing?”
His jaw tightened, his eyes darkening. “I’m making sure you didn’t get fucking kidnapped because my guy told me you went off in a random car.”
I felt Finn move behind me, but I didn’t turn around. “Kidnapped?” His voice was so shaky. “No, no, no. Okay? She asked me to pick her up. This is all her doing. Not mine. I didn’t evenwantto pick her up.”
My body deflated with utter disappointment as I tossed him a glare over my shoulder. “Really?” My eyes narrowed. “Nice to know your panic response is throwing your best friends under the bus.” My smile dripped with sarcasm. “Another thing I’m raising at the meeting.”
His eyes told me he was sorry, but I’d deal with him later. I shot him one last glare before turning around to face my other problem.
My eyes felt like icebergs as they landed on him. “If you’re that worried about my whereabouts, then maybe you should, oh I don’t know, watch me like you said you would.” My raised palm reached out between us. “That is your job, right?" I dropped my head and giggled. "I’m sorry, I must have misheard you when you were barking whatever this relationship is at me.”
Power settled over him as his arms folded, the action causing his muscles to pulse under the strain. And if I wasn’t having daydreams about murdering him, then I would have held onto the way my stomach dropped as I watched it.
“I had something to deal with. And besides, you came out of class early. I was due to let those guys leave the second I got here to get you.”
