Page 65 of The Ruler
“Finn.” Khan’s voice was low and threatening. “If you touch her I’ll be more than happy to make sure you win that bet because I’ll fucking strangle you with my bare hands. Do you understand?”
“Understood,” Finn said seriously. “I won’t touch her.”
“We’ll check up on you again later.” Magni ended the call.
A long whistle came from Finn. “Fuck, someone is possessive.”
“I’m his precious hostage, that’s all.”
“Yeah, but for all it’s worth, thank you for saving my ass with that lie.”
“You’re welcome.”
Finn didn’t touch me after that and he didn’t flirt with me either. Instead he closed his eyes and fell asleep while I lay awake watching the sunset and overthinking Khan’s mixed signals.
When the next call came from the other drone, I accepted the call without waking up Finn. This time it was Khan.
“Finn is sleeping.” I explained, knowing they wouldn’t be able to see my face.
“Are you okay?” Khan asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine – how long before we’re back?”
“About an hour.” Khan sounded tired.
“Okay, I’ll just get some sleep too then.”
“Fine.”
He went quiet and I thought he had ended the call when his image disappeared, but then Magni spoke.
“You’re worried she likes Finn more?”
“No,” Khan said.
I was just about to speak up and tell them the speaker was still on, but something held me back.
“Are you going to let Finn take over as her protector?”
“Depends. Can I trust you to leave her alone?”
“What do you mean?”
“The only reason I’ve been protecting her to begin with was to make sure you didn’t torture her to death hoping to get answers about Laura’s whereabouts.”
“Hmm, wise choice. Although I would still like to ask her some questions.”
“I told you to stay away.”
“And I have, haven’t I?” There was a long pause before Magni spoke again. “I’m better now, you know?”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
“You could let Finn take her off your hands.”
Khan exhaled loudly. “I’m considering it.”
“I don’t think you have a choice. You’re getting too fucking attached. I can see it.”
