I was sitting inside of a restaurant in Houston waiting for my meeting when a video came in. Checking my surroundings, I hit play to see Finn flying across the snow on a wicked snowmobile. Then I saw the ramp, held my breath and when she took flight, nearly crushed my phone in my hands. Zooming in, she takes off her helmet, only it’s not Finn. It’s a man. And when my screen cracked, I forced myself to breathe.
Screaming his praises, she turns the phone to capture them both together.
“Ryan made Antarctica his bitch!” she squealed and just as the video was ending, I noted the expression on his face. This Ryan loved her above all others. More even, than he loved himself.
Under the video the text had read, #bestdayever
Leaving Finn behind with flushed cheeks, trust in her eyes and my come between her thighs was a fucking knife to my gut. When I didn’t return, she would see it as another betrayal, but letting her go was the right thing to do. Going our separate ways would keep her safe while I removed the threats to her. She wasn’t meant to be a killer and lacked a single ounce of self-preservation so I needed to finish this, for her.
I was so strung out on the female, that I left my focus back in bed with her too.
I was not a selfless man and it was taking everything I had not to go back and spend the rest of our lives running. But she deserved peace and safety, not a life in hiding. Finn was the female who commanded the sun to shine and rough tides to calm. She was nature, she was adventure, she was an untamable wind.
So, I was tucking this blessing deep where no man could steal it.
When you spend your life killing for profit, the first thing you learn to do is scatter your resources far and wide. So, no matter where you are, you can access what you need to survive and keep going.
After filling my bag, I tossed the key in the garbage and exited the building without speaking to anyone. Making my way to the lot I parked in, I was thinking about her when he cut me off.
“Goose,” I sigh in disappointment. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Where’s the girl?” he asks with twitchy fingers.
“Is this the part where you actually expect me to tell you?”
Motioning me into the alley behind a vacant industrial building, he says, “This is the part where I remind you that no one walks away. Not even you, Phoenix.”
“She is innocent.”
“She is my reward.”
“She is mine.” Even when she wasn’t.
Cracking his neck, he flashes his gold tooth sneer and says, “So protective, Phoenix. Gotta say, if she’s worth dying for, I may have to give her a spin myself. You know, before I kill her and cash in.”
Dropping my bag, it was on.
To anyone passing by, we would be a blur of movement. There would be no screaming, grunting, or calls for help. Just two men fighting to the death, brutally and silently.
However, the problem with fighting your own is that in most ways you were evenly matched. You knew how to anticipate his every move and he yours. When I stumbled, Goose was there to introduce my head to the brick wall and any respect I held for the guy went out of the window. Wrapping his hands around my throat he taunts, “Tell me, what does she taste like, Phoenix?”
Whipping my head back and cracking him hard, I roar, “Salvation,” taking him to the ground.
Exchanging blows was wearing us both down and the moment I paused to take an extra breath, it cost me.
Goose saw an opportunity to fight dirty and took it. Staggering back, I allowed the brick wall to hold me up while I fought to clear my head. The prick had brained me wearing a set of brass knuckles.
Spitting out blood, I was righting myself when he attacked my side stealing the air from my fucking lungs. Hitting the ground, it was thoughts of Finn that had my head all fucked up. I couldn’t let Goose find her.
I couldn’t allow any of them to find her.
Decision made, I knew if I died today that I was taking him with me.
But fuck, how I missed her already.
I should have said more, held her tighter, asked about her dreams.
Coughing up blood, I stared at the concrete disgusted with myself.
I couldn’t believe I was losing.
I never lose.
Shit. I had lost Finn and now this fight. It was truly a fuck-all morning and not how I saw myself going out.
Least of all by a second-rate fighter like Goose.
Struggling to stand, I was half-way there, determined to end this when out of nowhere a full-sized truck plowed into Goose sending him into the brick wall. When the driver backed up and rammed his ass over again, I stood there with my jaw open. Not only was he dead, he was...splattered.
With wide eyes, I watched my woman roll down the window giving me a thumbs up.
Speechless, I watch as she jumps down and peeks around the grill asking, “Did I get him?”
Adrenaline, terror, and relief warred within me, yet my fearless Finn turned to me and grinned. Fucking grinned.
As for me, I was furiously fucking clueless on how to handle this.
How to handle her.