Page 50 of Broken Discipline
They whined, but followed Finn as he led us to another large room with two twin beds. The room was decorated with cartoon food and cooking utensils on one side, and fierce princesses wielding swords on the other. There was a caricature style to it, like it was done by hand, by someone who didn’t know interior design. Like someone had decorated the room with their own personal knowledge. As if Finn had decorated it himself.
It was possible that Finn had hired someone to decorate the room earlier that day, but it seemed unlikely. If anything, he had been putting their room together for a while now. He wanted them to feel like they were home.
At that thought, my knees were weak.
Leon and Larkin climbed into their beds. I gave a happy sigh, and Finn put his arm around my lower back, his blue eyes full of warmth.
“Can we play in that big room tomorrow?” Larkin asked Finn.
“After breakfast,” I said.
The twins looked at Finn for confirmation, and he angled his head toward me. “What your mother said,” he added.
“Goodnight, sweethearts,” I said.
“Night night,” Larkin mumbled.
“Goodnight Mama,” Leon said. “And goodnight Daddy.”
Those words floated inside of me like butterflies without a place to land. ‘Daddy’ had come out of him so easily, like there was no question about it. My heart swirled with conflicting emotions. Whatever Finn had done to gain their love and trust, he had earned it. There was no point in trying to put up artificial boundaries to protect their hearts anymore.
But what about my heart?
Finn held my hand, guiding me over to the couch in the sitting room.
“You going to be okay for a while?” he asked.
I raised my chin. “Where are you going?”
“I’ve got some business to take care of.”
My gut sank with trepidation. His blue eyes clouded over, like a storm was brewing, and I knew thatthiswas different. It wasn’t for Carter Care; it was personal.
But what if Finn got hurt? What if this was the last time I saw him?
Finn grabbed my hands and squeezed them. “Stop,” he said. “I can see it in your eyes. I’m coming back.”
“When?” I asked.
And with those words, Finn cupped my face. A drip of worry oozed down my throat, strengthening its grip on me, knowing that he might never give me an answer. But then he kissed my lips softly. It wasn’t a kiss of sexual passion, but a kiss of reassurance, as if to say,Of course, I’ll be back. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
“I’ll see you in an hour or two,” he said.
I stayed on that couch for the next hour, waiting for him. An antsy spell of anxiety swarmed through my bloodstream, so I quietly explored the penthouse. There were six large bedrooms, a toy room, a small gym, an office, and a large patio. But for whatever reason, the penthouse was different from the Carter Compound. There was color here, lots of earthy browns and greens, even some red and yellow, like the leaves on an autumn tree. Leaves changed colors in Opulent Gates, but the landscapers never let the loose remnants stay on the ground for long.
Instead, the colors of the penthouse reminded me of Oakmont in the fall, when the leaves littered the ground like a thick second skin. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized Finn was becomingoursecond skin.
He was home.
***
Finn
Oakmont was filled with manufactured homes, but this particular house was a fully built single-family house. Four bedrooms. A chain-link fence around the outside. A mowed lawn. Even a porch swing with a clean ashtray on the ground next to it. The house was out of place, like a pus-filled pimple, ready to pop.
I pulled the gate open, then grabbed my cleaver out of my back pocket. The sheath fell to the ground and the metal gleamed, reflecting the overcast night sky. I carefully put it back in my pocket, then picked the lock.
The front door creaked open. The house was silent and full of shadows, but it was pristine. The carpet was freshly washed and still reeked of soap, and each furniture fixture was polished. A snore came from the hallway, and I found the master bedroom. Like the rest of the house, it was clean. A duvet covered Blister’s body, an ice pack melting on his pillow. The fucker was passed out.
