“I like you.” Tay said it simply, a quick smile passing over his face. “And in this job, it’s easy to forget there’s a life outside these walls, right? That there are people who matter.” His chin dipped. “Also, I’d like to think that if the tables were reversed, if it’d been Dean and me, you’d have done the same.”
“I would.” True, even if I’d never even considered it before today. “Really, Tay. Thank you.”
He nodded, watching me for a beat. When he spoke again, it was quiet and warm. “Look, maybe I don’t know you all that well, and maybe I don’t know Finn all that well either. But I like you both. And from what I’ve seen? You’re not the type of guys who lose their heads over a dumb hookup that means nothing. So.”
It twisted hot and sharp through me because no, maybe he didn’t know us inside out—but he did know us. And hearing it like that, plain and simple… God, it felt like a punch to the gut.
“Finn,” I started. “Where?—”
“Her office,” Tay cut in. “Novak found us just when I was going to pull him aside.”
Jesus Christ, so she’d been able to blindside him—no warning, just straight into the fire. My mind lurched. What if—fuck. What if she’d cornered him and he’d cracked, told her everything—me, the hotel, all of it? But what if he hadn’t? What if he was sitting in there right now, not saying a word because he’d decided our pact still held. Omertà.Weeks ago,weeks, on a blazing rooftop. Before I’d known him, before I’d fallen.
What if he burned himself? Christ, he was just twenty-six—too fucking young to wreck a career before it even began.
My lungs squeezed tight like a fist. Stop. Juststop.
This was Finn. He’d held steady by my side when we’d coaxed that baby through a blackout. He was smart, and he was good, and I had had to believe that he’d raised his head high and met whatever she threw at him with the same fierce calm.
“I need to…” My voice was rough as if I’d only just woken up from a nightmare. “Find him. I need to find him.”
Tay’s smile was brief, but it reached his eyes. “Good luck, man.”
“Thank you,” I said, hand already on the door. I wrenched it open and stumbled out into the corridor, dragged in a harsh breath to get my bearings.Okay, easy. Easy. Rolling in with guns blazing won’t do you any good—either of you.
Right.
Another breath, shoulders back. Then I set off for Novak’s office.
The door was closed, blinds angled just enough to obscure any clear view through the glass panels. Voices filtered through as barely a whisper, too low to make anything out. I steeled myself and knocked once, crisp. “Dr. Novak?”
“Come in,” she called.
I did and closed the door. One quick glance to take in Novak, straight-faced behind her desk, then I found Finn—seated in one of the visitor chairs, chin up, spine stiff. The tense line of his mouth loosened by a relieved fraction when he saw me, then firmed again.
“Sit, Dr. Maddox.” Novak gestured to the seat beside him, set far enough away to broadcast a professional distance. I obeyed and resisted the urge to shift closer to Finn, to touch one of the hands he’d knotted tightly on his lap. Too early to give us away when I’d yet to know what game we were playing.
“Good morning,” I said. “Dr. Novak.” A nod at her, then a minuscule smile at Finn to my right. “Dr. Hayes.”
“Dr. Maddox.” He took a small breath, lashes swooping down as one corner of his mouth tugged up just the faintest hint, then turned back down. A beat. “Uh—Jesse.”
Okay, so… Okay. That was… Yeah. Okay. Not good. Probably? I dragged my attention away to meet Novak’s eyes. “I heard you were looking for me?”
“You heard right.” Her tone was cool without being harsh. “And for the record, this is not a disciplinary meeting.”
“That feels like something people say before they lower the guillotine,” I said. “Sure you want my blood on this very nice carpet? The stains may never come out.”
Ah, fuck. I almost groaned at myself—foot-in-mouth wasn’t something I usually did, but… Well. Maybe this one had been deliberate, just a little, because if it took the focus off Finn?Good.
“Funny.” Novak infused the word with all the cheer of a North Korean military parade, then continued, tone pointed, “Dr. Maddox. To catch you up—I just told your intern that I saw you on the street last night.” A delicate pause. “Together.”
Time folded in on itself like a door blown off its hinges and that—no. That didn’t make sense. My thoughts tangled, three pressing in at once. Finn next to me, silent. His head on my shoulder just this morning. The taste of his mouth last night, October air and a passing cab, then another car that slowed for a parking spot and kept going.
Novak—fuck. She lived in my area, of course she did. Easy to forget when I’d never seen her there.
Oh God. How could we have been so fuckingstupid?
“Dr. Novak,” Finn started. “Like I already told you?—”
