“I still don’t get it,” I tell him. “I didn’t see you last night.”
“Was upstairs the entire time. We have cameras. Just so happened to be watching them when your smart ass decided to participate in our amateur event. Figured you would rather I save your ass than leave you to the wolves.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “Something tells me you might be one of those wolves.”
A mischievous grin coats his lips. “Some days. Other days, nowhere fucking near.”
“Is that why you keep trying to push your way into Colson’s life?”
His chin dips. “I didn’t know he was my brother just like he didn’t know I was his family.”
I stare at him. “So that’s it?”
I can tell he’s reluctant to give me more. “I’ve spent my life being told emotions are a weakness. That they should be pushed down and forgotten about. That a real man does his business, earns a living, and provides for his family no matter the means. That family always comes first and outsiders last.”
“What does that mean for Colson?”
He sits up and bends his waist forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “It’s complicated. Long story short, he was the outsider for a long fucking time, but he’s not that anymore. Not to me.”
I look at him deeply for the first time since he forced himself into my life outside my apartment. He definitely has this appearance, one that looks like he has to keep up with. Skin covered in black ink. Long dark locks falling over his face. Clothes as dark as the night sky. Steel tipped work boots. He even sports a lip ring. He toys with it as he fumbles with his fingers.
It’s hard to know what his true intentions are, and perhaps Colson has seen him in a different light, but he’s only ever shown his heart around me. It’s almost impossible to see the villain Colson paints him out to be when he looks like a guy who hasn’t found his place and is just looking for love as he sits across from me.
“Have you seen him lately?” It’s a whisper on my lips and while going out with Olive was supposed to result in a fun-filled experience that made me forget about him, it didn’t work. He’s still there, tapping on the inside of my brain in the form of nagging thoughts.
Finn looks up at me and nods. “Yeah.”
“And? Is he still fighting?”
“Far as I can tell.”
I fiddle with a loose string on the bedsheet, forcing myself to wipe him out of my head. It’s done between us, and I have to accept that. “Oh.”
There’s a pause before Finn replies. It speaks louder than his actual words. “He’s a fucking idiot.”
“Why do you say that?”
He shakes his head in annoyance. “Because it’s the truth. I may be locked in a life in Harrison Heights with no chances of ever getting out. My goddamn blood bleeds with this place, but he’s too dumb to realize that he has options. Yet he’s allowing this fucking place’s claws to dig into him and drag him under.”
I swallow and glance down. “I don’t know what to say, Finn.”
He stands and shakes his head like it's an effective way to put a conversation to an end. “There’s nothing left to say. Go wake your sister. I’ll drive you home when you’re ready.”
Fifteen minutes later, Olive and I exit the room she was sleeping in. Her hand loops through my arm as we make it out into the hallway and hunt for Finn. The hallway, this narrow area with creaky floorboards, is empty, so we slowly trail toward the staircase.
“Okay, downstairs it isn’t so bad, but up here?” Olive offers a slight pause for effect. “Creepy. I still can’t believe you know the guy who owns this place. That he’s Colson’s brother. He was kinda cute until he opened his mouth and was rude as hell.” She breathes out a sigh then asks, “Do you think they’ve killed people here?”
I look over at my sister and arch a brow. “Seriously?”
“Yes. This place has a weird vibe to it. And it took me forever to fall asleep because of it. Well, that, and I was convinced that this Finn guy was a lying sack of shit when he tried telling me that you knew him.”
“Finn is…Finn.”
“What are you doing even knowing a guy like him?” she whispers, her eyes slicing to the top step and down the stairs that curve near the bottom. “I mean, we come to a strip club and then you get elbowed in the face and pass out and some big ass bouncer looking dude barrels down the stairs and scoops you up like,” she snaps her finger, “that. Anyone can look at Finn and see he’s into some shit. My gut tells me he’s bad news, Violet. Wait, holy shit, isn’t he the guy who was waiting for you that night after Lucy’s?”
“Maybe he’s into some shady stuff,” I admit. “But I don’t think he’s as bad as what he’s made out to be. And yes, same person.”
Olive blinks, and it’s as if she’s trying to connect the dots. “How do you think a guy like him owns a place like this? He’s around your age, Violet. Unless his parents are loaded, which I doubt considering where we are, then he had to have done something illegal to get the money for this place.”
