Page 33 of War Hope
18
Finn
Any wordon my case being seen?I text just before the school bell rings. The sound of kids screaming and laughing fills the air and my phone buzzes with a reply.
Nope. Not yet.
I sigh. Kids scatter across the schoolyard, but my eyes are trained on my baby girl as she skips down the school steps, over the yard, and up to the Audi parked at the curb. I watch Lydia hop into the car with Kiera. After they pull off, I crank my bike and speed down the road into the city, finallypullingover in front of the Thai restaurant I love. I pull my helmet off as I make my way to the entrance. A couple comes walking out, hand in hand and staring at each other like love-sick puppies. They are so into each other they nearly bump into me.
"Sorry," the guy mumbles brushing the girl’s hair out of his face. I nod and walk through the doorway.
The hostess grins and grabs a menu as she rounds the wooden stand. "I don't know why I give you this thing," she says as she leads me through the restaurant. "You probably have it memorized."
I smile because it’s the polite thing to do. She shows me to a table by the window and I take a seat, placing my helmet on the floorbeside my chair. The waitress comes by and pours my water before taking my order, even though she knows what I have every time. Sometimes I wonder what she thinks of me. Always coming in here alone. I lean back in my chair and pull my phone from my pocket, scrolling through the Facebook. There’s some video of a cat that keeps me distracted until the waitress sets my plate down. I set my phone down and glance out the window just as a redhead in tight jeans and a leather jacket goes strolling past. I do a double take and realise it'sHope. A smile touches her lips as she walks down the pavement...with a guy.Hope didn't come by or text yesterday, or the day before that. Nothing sofar today. I kind of feel bad just telling her to leave the way I did. I shouldn't, but I do. You never know how someonewill take something and, as much as she does my fucking head in…I narrow my eyes, watching her. Her red hair catches in the wind and I find my gaze straying down to her arse.Stop it.
The steam rises from my plate, drifting in front of my face as I continue to stare at her. Watching them, trying to figure out what they are. I shouldn't care if she's seeing someone. I don't care...Idon't.Iwatchthe two of themdisappeardown the streetbefore I take my fork andscoopupapile of noodles.
Good.Maybeshe'll leave me the fuck alonenow.Stopjustpoppingin andharassingme and sleepingin my bed...Fucking stray cat.
* * *
Istareat the date on my cell phone and my chest grows tight. Today isLydia'sbirthday. She's 6 which means it's been five years since I left.Fiveyears since I lost my shit. Since I went to jail. Since Kiera asked me toget help.She said I was abasket caseand that she couldn’t trust me. That she was afraid of me. Kiera and I had grown up together, she was my first love, the person I trusted more than anyone else, loved more than anyone else, the mother of my child,and she was afraid of me.
Shaking my head, I shove my phone in my pocket and stare up at the navy-blue door before I knock on it. The door almost immediately opens.Kyanlooks like he's half asleep, his blond hair is sticking up in every direction.
"You okay, mate?"
"Yeah, I just uh..." He opens the door and steps to the side to let me in. "I just was out and thought I'd come by. See what you're up to."
"Not much, just drinking, watching the fight."
"Oh shit, I forgot about that."
Kyanshakes his head as he shuffles back to his couch and flops down. I glance around his apartment and anxiety creeps around me like a vice. Disorder is every fucking where. His place is worse than Brandon's was before Poppy, if that's even possible. The couch has a hole in it. There's cereal scattered over the carpet.Clothesarestrewneverywhere. A condom wrapper—anopenedcondom wrapper is on the coffee table right next to an open bag of crisps."How the bloody hell are yougonnaforget about this fight? These guys are brutal. Fucking cauliflower ear for days on that one." He points to the TV. There's two sweaty men, bloodied already and circling each other.Kyanleans over,and I notice a dirty plastic cooler next to the sofa. He lifts the lid and digs around in the ice before bringing out two beers and tossing one to me. I catch it and sit down in the chair against the far wall.
"You keep your beer in a cooler next to the couch?" I ask.
Heshrugs. "Yeah, don't have to get up and walk to the fridge that way."
"Wow..."
"Hey, at least I get up to piss. My old man used to just take a piss in an empty bottle of ale."Dear god. People are filthy."Fucking punch him in the face O'Brien. Fucking nail him!"Kyanshouts, leaning over his knees with the beer half-raised to his mouth as he stares at the screen. "You talked to Hope?"
"No."
"Hmm."I want to askwhat the fuck that Hmm is about, but I don't. "She likes you."
"Okay."
"You hurt her feelings."
"What the fuck?"
He shrugs and takes a sip of his beer. "Kicking her out the other day.Youshould be ashamed of yourself, Finn."Kyanglances over at me and grins.
"Since when have you become a gentleman courter?"
"I may be a dog, but I at least have some manners about me."
