Free Game by London Casey, Ana W. Fawkes Page B

at Finn. “ In
my heart, I ’ m not engaged,
okay? I ’ m not with anyone.
You know this life. You know what we have to do sometimes. ”
    “ So
then what is it? ” he asked. “ What put you in it? ”
    The truth, Shayna. Just start
giving up the truth.
    “ My
sister, ” I said. “ That ’ s what did it. The last I heard of her, she was
with Zander. And I haven ’ t
seen her in a long time. ”
    “ You ’ re doing all this for your sister? ”
    “ This
part? No. I didn ’ t plan any
of this, Finn. I don ’ t know
why I did what I did to end up here, with you. I just lost my mind for a
second. ”
    “ But
you still want to find your sister? ”
    “ Yes.
I want to know the truth of her. ”
    “ You
could take your hand off my dick now, ” Finn said with a grin.
    I took my hand away and felt my
cheeks burning red. “ Oh.
Sorry. ”
    Nobody knew about Sasha. It was my
deep and dark secret. It was something that could be used against me. Now I ’ d give up a piece of that to
Finn.
    He touched my hair again. “ Please get inside, sweetie. You ’ re going to get sick out here
with wet hair. ”
    “ You
know that ’ s all a lie,
right? ”
    “ Most
of life is a lie. ”
    My mouth opened, but I had nothing.
    That was the damn truth.
    I stared at Finn and wondered what
part of his was a lie. A little of him? Or all of it?
    I backed away from Finn and turned
to walk away.
    He called my name and I stopped.
    “ What? ” I asked.
    “ I
built this cabin for a woman, ” Finn said. “ And she ’ s gone now. Because of me. ”
    With that said, Finn grabbed the
axe and turned away.
    I was shocked.
    Had Finn just tried to open up
to me?
     

15.
     
    (Finn)
     
    What the hell had I just done?
    Had I really just opened up to
Shayna like that? Admitted my own little world of darkness to her?
    I slammed the axe down over and
over. Pieces of wood splintered and shattered. I had a dream of coming out here
and doing this on a cold and snowy night. Yeah, we ’ d get snow up here in this part of the mountain. I
knew that because I fucking researched it before buying the land and building
the cabin. Because what could be more romantic than carrying firewood into the
cabin as it snowed? And building a warm fire? And getting on the couch with
something to drink and holding her all damn night?
    I finally threw the axe. I heard it swoosh and then hit something with a snap and crack. Then there was
silence, except for my breathing and the racing of my heart.
    There was supposed to be a plan on
the horizon. The only chance of that would be Fiore coming to terms with his
family and his fate. There were other ways to set up Zander and attack him.
Christ, there were so many things we could probably do that involved Shayna.
    I looked back at the cabin.
    But that would put her directly
into trouble.
    Like I cared.
    I did care. Why the hell did I
care?
    I grabbed an armful of firewood and
walked to the front of the cabin. Inside, there was a woman sitting on the
couch, just like it was meant to be. And she looked at me. And she was
beautiful. And she smiled.
    “ Do
you need help? ” she offered,
just like she was supposed to do.
    The problem was that it was the
wrong fucking woman.
    “ No, ” I said.
    I kicked the door shut. Behind me,
the sunset spread across the sky as day quickly started to become night.
Tonight was supposed to be the start of me and Shayna together. So I could fuck
her. So I could get her pregnant.
    I built a fire and stood staring at
it. I felt her behind me, staring at me.
    “ Finn,
you can tell me …”
    “ No, ” I said. “ I shouldn ’ t
have said what I said. Forget it. It doesn ’ t
matter. What matters is our plan. ”
    “ What
plan? ” she asked. “ How can there be a plan? ”
    I looked back at her. “ We ’ ve
been in this life long enough. We ’ ve
been through dark shit. We ’ ll
think of something. We have time, like I said. Before that though, I want to
know everything. No