Page 23 of Bottoms
“You know I’ll just hunt you down and drag you back, anyway. I’ll always come for you,” Fynn said, his tone light. But there was absolute certainty in his words. Which was why all thoughts of escape had been silenced in the past month. There was no way for me to be free of Fynn unless he was dead and buried.
And I didn’t want Fynn dead.
“Who’s your victim?” I asked, having gotten used to Fynn talking about his work. He accepted hit contracts on people he felt deserved death by his hands. They all fit into a moral code that only he fully understood. Getting in his way seemed to be a crime fit for death, yet he had a soft spot for hits with pets. He had said it wasn’t fair that the animals starved because their owner was a shitbag.
“Marcus Defray. Looks like he is about to take a windfall from hedge funds. Run off with his mistress and leave his wife of ten years. She would appreciate an insurance check more than a divorce paper.”
I nodded, seeing the logic Fynn used to rationalize his murders. “If I tag along, what do you want me to do?” I asked, slightly intrigued at the idea of getting out of the house for a while. Maybe I could convince him to snag a burger on the way back. It had been forever since I had a greasy hot burger and fries.
“Don’t get in the way and watch,” he said. Grabbing a new cigarette to light as he turned his gaze back to the sunrise.
I watched in fascination as he lit the tip. One day, he would set his beard on fire.
“I guess I can be persuaded to tag along,” I hedged.
“What do you want this time, sweetheart?” he chuckled. He abandoned the view of the sunrise once more to look at me.
“A cheeseburger. A hot, disgusting, made-in-a-chain restaurant cheeseburger,” I said. Feeling saliva pool in my mouth as my stomach started to make its vote loud enough for both of us to hear.
“That works, since we are going to have a little chat with Mr. Defray after he meets with his lawyer tonight.”
At the mention of a lawyer, my mind flitted back to Colten for a moment before I pushed the thought away. They had moved on with their lives, and I was stuck in whatever life Fynn would allow. The only reason why I was thinking about them was that I had not had sex in months now.
Funny how I went for so many years, blissfully uninterested in sex. Now that I knew how incredible it could feel, my body demanded it. I had seemed to reawaken it with my angry and independent, wandering fingers. With each day that passed, my body grew more insistent. My eyes had wandered to Fynn more often than I would admit, even to Hannah.
My mood turned as I thought about my best friend. She must think I was dead by now, but at least I knew she was safe. Fynn wasn’t coming after her. She had her happily ever after as a ripple effect of my suffering. She was probably too full of dicks to notice I hadn’t texted since Christmas unless Tanner or one of the others told her I was missing.
My mom wouldn’t have the slightest clue that anything had happened at all.
I scoffed aloud, getting carried away in my mental conversation.
“Time to get working for the day before you get thinking much more,” Fynn said, getting to his feet and coming to stand in front of me. He held out his hand for my coffee cup like he did every morning.
I handed over the cup before getting out of my blanket cave. The training hadn’t done much for my tendency to occasionally act like a baby deer. Still, I could say I was getting quicker with my recoveries. We still didn’t risk it when it came to hot coffee. Once the blanket was folded and placed on the back of the chair, I took my cup back and led the way.
Training for the day consisted of taking apart my gun to clean and oil it before squeezing off a few rounds into the berm out back. Fynn corrected my techniques every time we shot together. Acting like a drill sergeant without flirtatious smiles or touches. Shooting a gun was all business for him, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until I could light a match with a bullet.
I, however, was overjoyed with my two-inch grouping.
By the time the sun set, we were already on the road. Fynn had put a sack over my head before walking me out the house's front door and into the woods, only to shove me inside a car. After driving east for ten minutes, by my mental count, he removed the bag.
“Look, you aren’t even out of breath,” Fynn beamed as I blinked a few times to adjust my sight to the dim lights of the dash.
“It’s not like it’s the first time anymore,” I sighed, pulling my feet onto the seat.
Fynn had started to routinely “kidnap” me or pop out of the hallways to chase me around the house. He claimed it was a way to reduce my panicked reactions. So far, he seemed to be right. He often was, despite his unorthodox methods. I was sure any past therapists I had talked to wouldn’t agree with his system.
“Make sure you stay right behind me tonight, so I know where you are,” Fynn said. His hands were wrapped in leather gloves to keep his fingerprints to himself. They gripped the steering wheel as his foot pressed on the gas. I couldn’t tell if he was excited to get started or anxious for it to be over. Fynn was never anxious.
“I’ll promise to behave myself if I can also get a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream on top,” I said, reaching over to adjust the station. I missed my playlists, but I found a rock station playing a song my dad used to sing out in the garage when he worked on the car.45, Shinedown.I decided to stop my hunt there, letting the old lyrics pop up in my mind like I had heard them only yesterday.
“You sure you’re ready to watch me kill someone, sweetheart?” Fynn asked, and I stopped singing to look over at him. Maybe he really was anxious.
“You’re going to kill him whether I’m with you or not, right?” I said, using my own adjusted moral code that I had picked up since I decided the rules of survival were the only ones that mattered anymore.
“Yes,” Fynn said. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he meant it. No one escaped Fynn Graves once he set them in his sights.
“Then it doesn’t really matter if I’m there or not. I know you kill people. I don’t think seeing it, at this point, will change my opinion of you.” I turned away, having said all that I needed. I could have added that I was only here for the burger and milkshake, but it seemed a little insensitive, considering a man was about to lose his life.
