Finn (8 page)

Since day one he had been doing everything in his power to keep her at arm’s length, and she was about done. She wanted him, no question in her mind now, but the truth was she really didn’t know how equipped she was to deal with his issues. Her own were trouble enough.

If only he would just tell her.

She laughed a little. Finn was not much on making things easy.

In her clothes from the previous day, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. Before she did anything, she need to get some caffeine in her. She was a little surprised to see Conor sitting at the island, drinking coffee and looking at his phone.

She cleared her throat at the door, and he looked up in surprise.

“Well, he thought you wouldn’t be up for another hour,” Conor said, his sandy brown hair glowing in the morning sun.

“Always been an early riser.” She smiled at him and sat down.

Conor rose and grabbed a cut out of the cabinet for her.

“Anything in it?” He held up the cup.

“Cream and sugar if you’ve got it.” She started to get up and winced.

He brought over the steaming mug with the cream and sugar. “You fix your coffee. I’ll get your meds.”

She dumped in a couple spoonfuls of sugar and a little cream. He set the pills in front of her.

“Just ibuprofen today,” she said.

Conor frowned. “He’s not going to like that.”

“Yeah well if he has a problem, he can tell me himself,” she mumbled. “Where is he anyway?”

Conor glanced awkwardly around. “Had some business at the bank.”

She wondered what sort of business that could be. He had gotten the issue with the disappearing money solved, and things were stalled with buying any new buildings, at least until they got some of their issues with the city council settled.

She quietly drank her coffee and let the caffeine kick in.

“Shit, what time is it?” She jumped a little.

“Nearly nine,” he said.

“I’ve got to go to my apartment,” she said. “Today is therapy, and I really can’t miss it. Especially since I’ve really messed it up from that whole thing yesterday.”

Conor nodded. “Whenever you’re ready, just let me know.”

Alyssa smiled at him. “You’re so easy to talk to, Conor,” she said. “So,” she said, taking a sip, “are you a cousin of Finn’s?”

He shook his head. “Old family friends. We’ve known each other our whole lives. Practically raised together.”

“And what about Noel?” she asked with interest, curious how what Conor said would be different in view from what Noel had told her. The whole idea of such a large family appealed to her on so many levels. Not having any family, it always seemed so great to her.

“Noel is Finn’s cousin via his father’s brother. He lives back in Ireland, and Noel spent a good chunk of his childhood there,” he said quietly. “He has a strained relationship with his family.”

“It’s sort of an usual name,” she said.

Conor laughed. “Oh God, don’t tell him that. He takes him name very seriously. His mother named him that, and it’s not that unusual in Ireland.”

Alyssa laughed. “I’d never say anything to him,” she said. “He doesn’t exactly look like the kind of guy who take teasing well.”

She stood up. Her coffee was finished, and she was feeling much better about the day.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said. “My sixth new therapist will be coming to my place soon.”

Conor smirked. “Let’s hope it’s a woman.”

Alyssa smiled. “I was actually hoping for hot guy.”

Conor laughed out loud as he pulled out the keys. “You certainly like to keep him on his toes.”

“Somebody’s got to.” She winked and walked to the door.

Chapter Nine

Alyssa flopped down on her couch and took a deep breath. It was nice to have some laundry done finally and everything put away. She was really amazed with how much her arm hurt, but that just seemed to be the price you paid when you were running from the Russian mafia.

She picked up her phone and hit Haley’s number.

“Are you okay?” Haley said quickly into the phone. It almost sounded like she had run to get it.

“I’m fine,” she said. “A little banged up but fine.”

Haley sighed, and Alyssa knew she had been holding her breath.

“Thank God,” she said. “I was so worried when I didn’t hear from you last night.”

“It was a long night,” Alyssa yawned into the phone. “I went right to sleep on Finn’s couch.”

The line went silent for a moment. “And did you stay on the couch?”

Alyssa smiled at the leading question. Haley might be a sweet little school teacher, but she was anything but a shrinking violet when it came to sex. She knew what she wanted and had no issues going after it.

“Why, Haley, what in the world are you asking?” She laughed into the line. “And what would your mother say?”

“She’d say young women shouldn’t have, talk or think about premarital sex. But then I’m fairly certain my parents only did it once in their whole life,” she laughed. “Now spill!”

“Nothing much, just a little petting. Then he ran from the room.”

Haley laughed loudly through the phone. “What did you do, ask him for a ring?”

“Ha, ha,” Alyssa said sarcastically. “My shoulder hurt, and I let out a yelp.”

“Well, I can see that not going well. He was so protective of you at the hospital.”

“Yeah, well, he’s too protective at times.” Alyssa sighed. “He spends so much time worrying over my shoulder that he’s not seeing anything else.”

Haley laughed into the phone, and Alyssa frowned. “Yeah, because the worst thing in the world is a man worrying over you.”

“You try dealing with it,” she mumbled.

Haley sighed. “I wouldn’t mind letting that Noel worry over me.”

Alyssa nearly dropped the phone. “Noel?”

“Yup,” she replied. “He’s just so,” she paused as if she was savoring it, “big.”

Alyssa giggled at her friend. It was strange to think of the two of them together. Haley was so short it seemed like such an odd pairing.

Haley huffed into the phone. “Not that he would reciprocate. I invited him in for a slice of cake and coffee, and he wouldn’t even think of it.”

Alyssa debated telling her friend that Noel had spent the night guarding her outside but thought that might actually make her feel worse.

“I get the impression that he comes from a bad background,” Alyssa said into the phone. “So maybe he’s just not used to that sort of thing.”

“Or,” Haley said, “he’s very used to it, and I’m just not his type.” She huffed again like a child. “Whatever.”

Alyssa smiled. If anyone could take her out of bad mood, it was her friend.

“Well, I’ve got therapy here soon.” She stretched her stiff muscles. “I’ll check in again tomorrow.”

“You had better,” her friend warned.

She got off the phone and went to put on the usual outfit for therapy. Even though she doubted they would make her work her shoulder too hard, it was still good to be ready.

She put on the tube bra and a thin, strapped pink top with gray and pink pants.

It took a little longer than normal, and by the time she was finished, someone was already knocking at the door.

She jogged to the door and opened it. If she had thought to whistle, she might just have. This man was the epitome of a Greek God: chiseled nose and jaw, deep tan, black hair and a chest like a wall.

He smiled at her and walked past as she opened the door.

“I’m Steve,” he said. “Looks like you’ve got a note on your door.”

Alyssa absentmindedly pulled the note off and set it on the table.

“I’m Alyssa,” she said shyly.

“That’s what the report said.” He gave her another winning smile, and her knees went weak. “Also said you’d been shot, and the muscle was torn up. How is it feeling today?”

She blushed and looked away. “I fell yesterday and think I messed it up,” she lied.

There’s no way she could tell him that she was running from crazy Russians.

“Oh that’s not good,” he said. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

“Okay,” she said.

Steve manipulated the shoulder and kept a hand on it as he went. When she cried out, he released her arm.

“Why don’t you take a break, and then, we’ll go on.” He pulled out his phone to make a call.

Alyssa sighed and went to get a couple bottles of water out of the fridge. It was amazing how much she could sweat when she hadn’t even done any real work.

She set the bottle on the table. A paper slipped to the floor, the note from earlier. She picked it up and opened it. There was a picture of a gun and the word “WHORE” written in bright red.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Steve, holding the note so the words and picture were facing her. “Did you see who put this on my door?”

Her head started to spin when he shook his head. Alyssa folded the paper back up and placed it on the table. Maybe it was the Russians. Were they just trying to show that they could get to her any time? Her blood ran cold thinking about what they could do to her.

“Should we start again?” Steve asked.

She nodded and moved to stand in front of him.

“This time I need you to pull up your shirt on that side, so I have a clear view of the muscles as we manipulate it,” he said.

With help, she pulled her shirt up and over her head. The tube bra was as good as a sports bra, and it was far less revealing than the stupid hospital gowns she had been forced to wear in the hospital.

Steve guided her through the motions as he manipulated the shoulder. They worked for about ten minutes before he stopped.

“So we’re going to stop here today,” he said and made a few notes on the chart. “I’ll need to speak with the nurse at your doctor’s office. There might be more to this inflammation than just being banged around. It’s hot to the touch and where that can come from stress, it can also come from infection.”

“Infection?” It seemed a little strange since the wound had been healed for weeks.

“It can happen sometimes when shrapnel from the gun or bone has time to work itself around.” Steve gathered his things as he spoke. “Can you come in today?”

“Yes, but what does that mean?” She put her hand on his arm. “Am I going to have to have surgery?”

“Likely not,” he said. “Some antibiotics should clear it right up. But that will be up to your doctor.”

The door to her apartment burst open, revealing Finn. Anger radiated off of him.

“Well your boyfriend is home, so I’ll be taking off. Don’t forget to call the doctor’s office. They can fit you in.” Steve smiled at them both.

“Oh, he’s not my–” she started.

“Doctor’s appointment?” Finn asked, cutting her off. He stepped over to her and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just my shoulder,” she said and watched Steve walk out and shut the door behind him. “What the hell are you doing here? Is this about the note?”

“Note?”

“The note on my door,” she said and walked over to retrieve it.

Finn followed close behind and took the note out of her hand when she held it out.

He opened it up and stared at it. “When did you get this?”

She shrugged. “Steve noticed it on the door when he came. It was folded up, so no one would notice what it actually said.”

“Did Steve see who brought it?”

She ignored his sarcastic tone when he said Steve’s name. “No.” She shook her head but stopped to look at him. “Wait, if you weren’t here for the note, why’d you come bursting into my apartment like that?”

His face turned red as she spoke.

“Why the hell were you prancing around in your bra while that guy was here?” he countered.

Alyssa looked down at her tube bra. She had totally forgotten to put her shirt back on in all the craziness.

“He’s a therapist,” she said in annoyance. “Sometimes they have to see the way the muscle moves.”

“So he asked you to take off your shirt?” His face darkened.

“No,” she said, grabbing her shirt and sling. “I took it off because it’s easier when they want to look at it.” She stared at him for a moment. “The fabric rubs against the scars, and it hurts,” she said quietly.

“What’s wrong with your shoulder? Why do you have to see the doctor?” he asked quietly.

“Maybe infection.” She struggled to put her shirt back on. When his hand skimmed her ribs, she jumped.

“Just let me help you,” he said near her ear.

She nodded and took his help.

“Is it serious?” he asked.

She maneuvered her arm through the hole. “Serious enough they want me to come in today.”

“So we take you to the doctor.”

“What about the note?” She slipped the sling back on.

“I’ll have Liam look into it.” He picked up her phone and handed it to her. “Make the appointment. I can take you right now.”

Alyssa dialed the number, slightly confused. He spent last night saying she couldn’t count on him, only to prove to her how much she could count on him.

She talked quietly to the nurse on the phone, who seemed more than a little happy that she was going to be in so soon. It made her wonder what Steve wasn’t telling her.

“Okay,” she said and slipped the phone in her pocket.

She toed on some sandals and looked back to him.

“Ready.”

They made their way down the elevator to the car. Liam leaned lazily against the side of his Jeep.

“Saw the big guy leave pretty quick,” he said with a slight grin.

Finn ignored him and turned to Alyssa.

“Can you wait for me in my car?” he asked.

She nodded and shot them both a suspicious look.

When she was far enough away, he turned back to Liam.

“What’s going on?” Liam said with concern.

Finn pulled out the note that had been left and opened it up.

“What the fuck is this?” He took the note from Finn.

Finn looked over his shoulder as she climbed into his car. “That’s what I’d like to find out.”

“You know what this gun is right?” Liam looked over to Finn.

Finn nodded his head and looked grimly at the sheet. “A Taurus. A Judge revolver.”

Liam pointed to the slashes on the handle of the gun. “Looks like the holder of this has got seven under his belt. That’s not far off from you.”