Page 73 of Finding Home with You

Finn nods, his stare never leaving mine.

“You motherfucker,” I shout, stepping toward him as my fist now connects with his jaw.

Finn stumbles backward but doesn’t fall, steadying himself with a hand on the car. “Jesus Christ, Ryan,” he says, his hand cradling his jaw. “What the fuck?”

“I could say the same thing,” I yell.

“Look,” Finn says, straightening, refusing to back down. “This is a total overreaction. Nothing happened,” he adds, hands up as though to placate me. “I promise you, Ryan. Erin is like a little sister to me. I’ve known her since she was a teenager for god’s sake.”

I take a deep breath, my mind immediately going to my own little sister and all the times I tried to look out for her in Boston. “And you swear, nothing happened?” I say.

Finn shakes his head. “Nothing has ever happened and never will, I swear to you.”

I stare back at him, searching for any sign that this is a lie. Finn matches my stare, his eyes defiant as though he’s practically daring me not to believe him. Eventually I exhale, letting out the breath I was holding. I step closer, Finn not even flinching as I hold out my hand to him.

“I’m sorry,” I breathe out. “I’m just…”

“It’s okay, Ryan,” he says, his palm meeting mine. “I get it.”

I nod, suddenly feeling like shit for the way I just acted. “You alright?” I ask, nodding toward him.

Finn chuckles. “Well I’m not going to arrest you, if that’s what you’re worried about. But yeah, takes more than a punch to put me down, I can assure you.”

I grin, appreciating the fact that he’s so willing to let my shithead behavior go. “Thanks,” I say. “And hey, have you got a sec?” I ask. “I’d like to fill you in about what’s happened and where we go from here.”

“Sure,” he says, turning in the direction of the station. “I’ll even let you buy me a coffee in apology.”

I chuckle as I follow him inside.

After I’ve filled Finn in on what happened two days ago with Anthony showing up, the security camera footage, the cut break line and the accident, I let him know about Chris and my plans for the next few days.

While I understand that the Rockport police was limited in their ability to keep an eye on Erin, the Boston PD isn’t as constrained. And given everything that’s happened over the past few days, to both her and me, the captain was more than happy to assign someone to watch over her after I’d filled him over the phone last night.

It didn’t get me out of heading back to work however, so as I pull into the station back in Boston, I’m already working on a plan for how this is all going to pan out. There’s a couple of things I’m going to need to sort out first, so I’m going to keep things quiet for a bit, but in the meantime, I’ll be spending as much time as possible up in Rockport with Erin.

“Hey,” Joe says, as I walk in. “You okay?”

I nod, shrugging out of my coat as I walk into my office. “Yeah, mostly,” I say, throwing it over a chair.

Joe follows me in. “How’s Erin?”

I walk around to my desk, switch on my computer as I scrub a hand down my face, realizing I’ve forgotten to shave. “Banged up and bruised,” I say, logging in. “But she’s okay considering.”

Joe nods. “I’m really glad,” he says. “That’s some scary shit that went down.”

“You’re telling me,” I say, picking up my mug and walking out of my office to the kitchen area. “I feel like I’ve aged ten years.”

“You kinda look it too,” Joe says, grinning as I glance at him.

I chuckle, shaking my head but appreciating his attempt to lighten the situation. “The question is though,” I continue, filling my cup with coffee. “What do we do now?”

“Well,” Joe says, shuffling through the papers in his hand. “Unsurprisingly, the plate was stolen,” he says, referring to the license plate we got from Erin’s security camera footage. New York plates, but reported missing about three months ago.”

I nod, because we’d expected this.

“But,” Joe continues, his tone stopping me as I turn to head back to my office. “We might have something else.”

My head snaps up. “What?” I ask.

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