Page 69 of Finn

“Okay, I stopped at the cafe down the street to ply Jaz with her favorite coffee since I left her alone again. I was on the phone with Finn when I came in the door. I was sure Jaz would still be sleeping, but then I heard a noise. When I got in there...” I clear my throat, picturing my best friend’s body on the bed again. Finn squeezes my shoulder in encouragement, so I take another deep breath.

“Take your time,” Cole whispers. Through the line, I hear other voices in the background. One asks him to put his seatbelt on.

When it quiets back down, I start again. “He had her tied to the bed. Bound with this blue cloth at the wrists and ankles. She had a huge circle of blood on her stomach, and she was super pale. I didn’t know if she was alive.”

Finn rubs my shoulder. “I heard her scream on the phone. It was muffled, but she said something about Jaz and there was true terror in her voice. I tried to get her to answer me. When it was clear she’d probably dropped her phone or something, I called the tower who hooked me up with Dempsey.”

I blink at Finn, so relieved that I happened to be talking to him when I walked in the door. If Dempsey hadn’t gotten there, I don’t know what would’ve happened.

“So, Jared had a knife in his hand,” I start the story back up from my point of view. “He told me it was his cousin who put out the threat on me. He asked Jared to get close, so I imagine that’s why he started dating Jaz.”

“His fucking cousin?” Cole roars. “Dempsey, what the fuck?”

“I’m on it,” the guard growls, his face sharp and deadly.

A shiver runs up my spine. Someone’s going to pay for this mistake. “Cole...” I whisper. No one should be getting in trouble for this. We didn’t know.

“I’m sorry. Continue,” he says, voice harder now.

“He said that since you killed his cousin, he was going to make you feel the same thing. I don’t know. Maybe it was just the way he talked, but he didn’t sound as if he cared about what his cousin was doing until you killed him. Then he got mad...and snapped.” Finn rubs my back in big circles, and I lean into him, clutching the phone tightly. “He lunged at me. I hit him with the perfume bottle from Jaz’s dresser. He tackled me to the ground next, and that’s when he stabbed me in the calf. Just a graze,” I interrupt before Cole goes apeshit again. “That’s what the doctor said.”

I wait, but when Cole doesn’t say anything, I keep going. “I kicked the knife out of his hand, and it landed kind of under the bed. He never got it again. I broke free, ran into the living room, and slashed him with my keys.”

“He had scratches on his face,” Dempsey confirms.

I nod, pretty happy that I was able to at least keep him occupied until Dempsey stormed inside.

“He wrestled me onto the couch next. Headbutted me. I was really out of it, but that’s when Dempsey came in.” I smile at the Dragon. “You know he saved me, right?” I say to Cole. If anything, he shouldn’t be getting in trouble.

My brother doesn’t respond to that either. I set my icepack on the bed and sigh. Finn combs my hair back from my face. “You did a great job fighting him off. Maybe you don’t need those lessons we talked about this morning.”

I shake my head. Fuck that. “No, I’m taking lessons.” If anything, this only proves that I need to be more vigilant. Nothing happened to me but only because Dempsey burst in the door. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to fight Jared off much longer if Dempsey hadn’t killed him.

“Leenie, take me off speaker,” Cole orders.

I do so, bringing the phone back to my ear. “Hey, you’re off.”

He chokes. “I’m so sorry.” The amount of emotion in his voice tears at my heart. “I never wanted this to happen to you. This is the last thing I wanted.”

“I know.” My voice sounds small. I bite down on my lower lip to keep from losing it.

“I’m coming home to make sure you’re okay. We can talk more then.” He breathes out. “I got your message, by the way. You’re right. If anything, this only proves that you’re right. I can’t control everything, and I don’t want to control you so much that you hate me. Plus, I guess having Finn around comes in handy,” he says grudgingly.

I smile at that, glancing at the man in question over my shoulder. He must not be able to hear what Cole’s saying because his eyes are still worried, his brow pinching together. I reach over and place my hand on his. “Yeah, he does.”

“Okay, we’ll talk more later. Pass me back to Dempsey. We have to strategize about how to clean this up. And please, get your phone back as soon as possible so we can be in touch within a moment’s notice.”

“Will do. Love you, bro.”

“Love you too.”

I hand the phone back over to Dempsey who takes it and leaves the room. Jax moves closer, studying me from head to toe. “That bastard head-butted you?”

I peek up and can see the bump on my head. “It really freaking hurt,” I say, half chuckling. “I think I kicked him in the nuts, and that was his response.”

His lip curls into a snarl. “When you get better, we’ll give you private lessons. But you really did do well. The perfume bottle, the keys. Excellent choices.”

I perk up like a peacock under his praise. “Thank you. I’m so glad you guys came when you did.”

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