Page 38 of Coming Home to You
I shake my head.“Whatever,” I say, glancing quickly at Kelsey.She’s flicked on the TV and is busy watching the news and trying not to look at me.I run a hand down her back and she shoots me a sad smile before turning away.Fuck.
“What do you need, Beck?”Ryan asks, reminding me of why I made this call in the first place.
I exhale.“You still leaving tomorrow?”I ask.
“Yeah.”
“Can you meet me at Pop’s pub in an hour then?I want to talk to you and Finn about our next move.Might need to call in some favors in Boston.”
“Yeah, sure thing,” Ryan says and I can hear rustling and what sounds like a female giggling in the background.
“That’s not gonna mess with your gentlemanly plans?”I ask sarcastically.
Ryan laughs again as he says, “Baby, I got an hour, want me to make it worth your while?”
This time I hear Erin as she shouts, “Oh you fucking better!”
I laugh and say, “See you in an hour, don’t be late.”Before I hang up the phone.
An hour later and I’ve left Kelsey back at the inn and am walking into Pop’s pub.The situation over dinner was tense and I’m not quite sure how we go back to how things were only hours ago.I thought things between us were good, but somehow, with one simple promise, I’ve gone and fucked it all up.Again.
“Jesus christ,” I say to myself as I take a seat on a stool at the end of the bar.
Pop slides a pint of Guinness down before he goes back to serving some other customers and five minutes later, both Ryan and Finn walk in.I can’t help grinning at Ryan; he looks like a fucking mess.His hair’s everywhere and he has what looks like the start of hickey forming on his neck.
“A good hour then?”I ask, heading around the other side of the bar to get them both drinks.
Ryan’s grin gets even bigger as he drinks half his pint in one gulp.“Very good,” is all he says.
I shake my head as I gesture towards a booth at the back where we can talk more privately.After we’re all seated, I turn to Finn and say, “This is starting to get serious.”
He nods at me.“I know.We found over twenty cameras both inside and outside her house.They’ve all been professionally installed and were remote controlled, so he could monitor and record them from anywhere.”
“Fucking hell,” I say, running a hand through my hair.
“What’s the background on this guy?”Ryan asks.
I look up at Finn and he half shrugs as though they haven’t found anything of interest.I turn back to Ryan.“Maybe you could look further into that when you get back to Boston tomorrow.I know the other case we’re working on has all been shot to shit with that fucker changing his story, but…”
Ryan’s nodding before I even finish talking.“It’s cool, I can handle both,” he says.“What about you though, you staying?You’re gonna need to come back for the trial, remember?”
I nod.“Yeah, I know, I will.But I just don’t think I can leave right now.Kels’ nerves are fucking shot and I promised her I’d take care of her, stay until we find this guy.”
“What happens then?”Finn asks and I can’t help feeling suddenly defensive.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”I ask, my hand gripping my pint.
“It means, are you going to stick around after we do, or are you just going to fuck off and break her heart all over again?”
I stiffen at Finn’s words, the grip on my glass getting tighter.“Look, Finn,” I bite out.“What happens between me and Kelsey is between me and Kelsey.Not you and not anyone else in this nosy fucking town.”
Finn sits up a little straighter as he looks me right in the eye.“You weren’t the one left to pick up the pieces you selfish little shit.I was and I did.I’ve done more for Kelsey in the past week than you’ve done for her in the past ten years.”
“You boning for my girl, Finn?”I practically shout.“Because I’ll fucking…”
“Whoa, whoa, guys, calm the fuck down,” Ryan says, a hand out to both of us.“We’re all after the same thing here, to catch this guy who’s fucking with Kelsey.And in the meantime, there’ll be no boning of anyone’s girl.”
I exhale, forcing myself to calm down as I sit back in my seat.Finn is staring at me with a murderous look on his face.Even though he’s older than me, there’s only three years between us.Growing up, we were always close, probably because Pop was always working and Mom died when we were young.We used to get into a lot of shit together, but one thing I knew is that Finn always had my back.And like the unspoken rule between friends, we never did go after each other’s girls.
