Game (21 page)

“
You
will. You
’
re a good man.
”

“
I
’
m a fate man, Finn. It
’
s all fate. Live today, die
tomorrow, it
’
s all fate.
”

“
So
getting dead drunk and driving
…”

“
Aye.
That was stupid. But fate brought me here. She was with me, Finn.
”

“
You
really are a crazy son of a bitch, Cormac.
”

“
Aye,
”
he said.
“
Now go love that woman.
”
He grabbed his coffee mug and
drank some more.
“
Oh, Finn?
”

“
What?
”

“
If
yer not going to love her the right way, then at least let her show me her tits
again.
”

I made a fist and showed it to
Cormac. Then I started to laugh.

I had to laugh.

Everything was so wrong, so fucking
bad, I just had to laugh.

Cormac laughed and the world felt
at ease again.

It was the last time I ever
heard Cormac laugh.

~ ~ ~

I slipped my arm around Shayna and
pulled her close.
“
We
should go for a ride.
”

“
What
’
s your plan?
”
she asked.

“
Something
risky.
”

“
Which
is?
”

“
We
go to Fiore
’
s family,
”
I said.

Shayna froze and looked at me. She
knew what that meant. It was a very dangerous move to make. Going above Fiore
meant I was basically stabbing him in the back. But maybe someone else could
talk sense into him or get him help.

“
Come
on,
”
I said.
“
We
’
ll
go for a ride and talk. Cormac is going to sleep off the rest of his booze. I
’
ll take you to my old stomping
grounds, okay? The old gym and stuff.
”

“
Okay,
”
Shayna said with a smile.

I started to move and she grabbed
my wrist. She looked at me.
“
What?
”

“
I
wasn
’
t lying.
”

“
What
do you mean?
”

“
The
way I felt,
”
she said.
“
When Fiore was here. With the
test.
”

“
So
the test was positive?
”

“
No.
It was negative. But the way I feel
…”
Her cheeks flushed.

I didn
’
t know what to say.

I grabbed a bag and threw some
clothes together just in case she and I decided to get a little wild at the old
gym.

We left the bedroom and Cormac was
on the couch, sound asleep. A coffee cup on the table, half empty. He was the
only guy I knew who could pound eight cups of coffee and fall asleep. There was
a fire in the fireplace. The cabin actually felt really cozy. Really at home. I
paused for a second and started to see it all happening. Me and Shayna living
in the cabin without worry or fear.

Cormac let out a growling snore and
then coughed.

“
He
sounds like an animal,
”
Shayna said.

“
I
’
m pretty sure he is part animal,
”
I said.

We got outside to the truck and a
sudden strange feeling went through my body.

I couldn
’
t explain it. I felt watched. I felt like a gun was
pointed at me. I felt like the world was about to explode. Shayna grabbed the
door handle on the truck and I jumped at her.

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
she asked.

“
The
truck. I think it
’
s wired.
”

For some reason, what Fiore had
said to me before came crashing back.

“
So
don
’
t fuck
anything up. I wouldn
’
t
want anything to explode, you know?
”

What had that meant?

Did Fiore somehow think I
’
d go to his family?

My paranoia was going crazy.

“
Walk
to that tree there and wait,
”
I whispered.
“
Okay? Let me
go check something out.
”

“
Finn
…”

“
Just
listen to me.
”

I waited for Shayna to walk away
and I dropped to my knees. I looked under the truck, not sure what the hell a
bomb would look like. Or what I would do if I found one. I touched a few things
that all seemed to be part of the pickup truck.

The feeling hadn
’
t gone away yet.

I rolled to my stomach and looked
under the truck out to the woods.

That
’
s
when I saw a black vehicle approaching.

“
No,
”
I whispered.

I started to push myself back,
but a second later, the entire cabin blew up.

38.

(Shayna)

I turned my head for a second.

I saw a black SUV slowly creeping
forward. The man behind the wheel had something in his hand with a red blinking
light. It took me a second to register what was about to happen.

I had seen something similar many
times.

A bomb detonator.

I managed to turn and jump behind a
tree. I didn
’
t need to see
the guy press the button. But I felt it. It was like the entire ground shook
with fury. I expected to have shards of the truck - and Finn - come flying past
me. But I didn
’
t. It was an
explosion, the ground rumbling, then crackling.

When I jumped up and turned, I
couldn
’
t believe my eyes.

The cabin was destroyed. Whatever
they had used basically made the cabin implode. Which seemed like a genius move
considering it was in the woods. That meant the rest of the trees wouldn
’
t catch on fire, and the smoke
that rose up from the cabin was so minimal that anyone who saw it would think it
was just a regular fire. Someone burning their trash or something.

But the entire cabin was gone.

I put my hands to the tree and
waited for Finn to appear.

That
’
s
when I saw the movement under the truck.

Finn was under the truck!

He had protected himself from the
bomb. He thought the truck had been bombed, but it was the cabin. The cabin he
had built for someone else. The cabin he had wanted to share with his entire
family.

My heart instantly ached for him.
All of his dreams were now gone and dead. Because of me. Because of what I had
done.

I stepped back from the tree as
Finn slipped all the way under the truck. He was hidden. He didn't come out and
save me. He didn
’
t race to
me and hold me and tell me it was going to be okay.

Finn had just gotten rid of me.

And why not? I was the reason his
cabin was in rubble.

I took another step back. I was on
my own. I needed to run.

Run! Shayna! Run!

One more step back.

Something rammed into my ribs,
making me cry out. A hand then covered my mouth.

“
Don
’
t fucking try a thing.
”

~ ~ ~

Zander had me.

That was my initial thought.

Zander had come again, found me
again, and now he had won.

Two men in suits and black masks
raced by me. They went right by the truck. My eyes went wide and I hoped to see
Finn make his move. He was a master at it.

Finn didn
’
t move. He remained hidden under the truck.

The two men charged into the rubble
of the cabin. They then both stopped at the same time. They looked at me - at
the man behind me - and they gave thumbs up.

“
Confirmation?
”
the man holding me yelled.

“
Yes!
”
one of the men said.
“
There
’
s not much left, obviously. But it
’
s him.
”

“
You
got lucky,
”
the man
whispered into my ear.
“
You
came out just when we needed you to do so. We were going to call you, Shayna.
Lure you out. What the fuck were you doing out here?
”

The hand slid off my mouth. I took
a few breaths, hoping for Finn
…

“
Wait,
”
I whispered.
“
What
’
s happening?
”

“
Ah,
you
’
re in shock,
”
the man said.
“
Let
’
s go for a ride then.
”

The two men waved their hands from
the rubble.
“
Want us to
bring a souvenir?
”
one of
them yelled.

“
No,
”
the man behind me yelled back.
“
You
’
ve got confirmation. Finn is dead. That
’
s all we need.
”

Reality crashed down on me. It was
like a boulder to my gut. I hunched forward and felt ready to throw up.

Finn wasn
’
t dead. Finn was under the truck, hiding.

Finn wasn
’
t in the cabin when it blew up.

Cormac was.

That meant
…

Cormac was dead.

~ ~ ~

The door opened to the SUV and I
froze. My knees locked tight as though my kneecaps disappeared. I stared at the
man in the back of the SUV.

It was supposed to be Zander,
right? He was the one after me. He wanted to get me, hurt me, probably kill me
even. After all, I had taken an engagement ring from him. He had offered his
own sick version of protection. I had really fucked him over by leaving, by
ending up with Finn, and not to mention everything was a giant lie. My intuition
had been to find my sister and save her.

“
Hello,
Shayna.
”

“
Fiore,
”
I whispered.

“
Climb
in. We need to talk.
”

“
I
don
’
t have a choice.
”

I felt the gun press against my
ribs.

“
No,
you don
’
t,
”
Fiore said.
“
Get in the fucking vehicle.
”

I climbed into the back of the SUV.
I sat there and stared forward at the remains of the cabin.

My eyes filled with tears.

Not for Finn, no. But for Cormac. The
poor guy was dead. For what? For nothing. He didn
’
t
deserve that kind of death. He had come to the cabin, drunk, to be with his
best friend. To be with a man he considered a brother. He had been sleeping on
the couch, sleeping off the booze.

Now he was dead.

Just. Like. That.

I wiped tears away and took a shaky
breath.

“
It
’
s okay,
”
Fiore said.
“
It
was all meant to be like this.
”

“
No,
”
I whispered.
“
It wasn
’
t.
”

All the men returned to the SUV.
The driver had been the guy who grabbed me. The two men who surveyed the rubble
sat in the passenger seat and crammed next to me, respectively.

“
I
can
’
t trust a man like
Finn,
”
Fiore said.
“
He was a great fighter and he
’
ll be hard to replace. But what
he finally gave me is what I
’
ll
remember him by.
”
Fiore
then reached a hand and touched my stomach.
“
Right?
Do you still feel it?
”

That was my saving grace, for the
moment.

So I nodded.

Fiore had no idea the wrong man was
killed. He had no idea that Finn was still alive and hiding.

“
Good.
Good, Shayna.
”

“
What
are we doing now?
”
I asked.

Fiore smiled big.
“
First, we
’
re going to go make a lot of money. Do you know
how?
”

“
No,
”
I said.

“
I
booked a fight for Finn. And there
’
s
way too much opportunity to bet for him to win. But I put a lot of money on him
not winning. No matter what. And since a dead man can
’
t fight
…”

My stomach felt sick.
“
Oh.
”

“
And
once we
’
re done making all
that money, Shayna, we
’
re
going to go visit someone.
”

“
Who?
”

Fiore smiled even bigger. And he
gave away something I never saw coming.

“
We
’
re going to visit Zander.
”