Page 99 of Making Home with You
Joe returns the shake.“Yeah maybe I will,” he says, grinning.“Come visit this pub you now work at, have you serve me for a change.”
Ryan rolls his eyes, but he’s laughing.I watch as Sarah kisses Joe on the cheek, telling him he definitely has to come and visit before all of us head outside to the car.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sarah
“Start explaining,” I say as soon the last car door closes, and Ryan laughs so hard that I swat him in the head from the backseat.
“Like you have room to demand that someone start explaining,” Ryan interrupts smugly, reminding Finn that I also kept things from him.
The problem is that if either of them knew the vastness of the situation, it never would have played out the way it did and Andrew would still possibly be raping women and paying them off.
I knew I could handle the whole thing myself; I just needed some help in the investigation department.That’s where Joe came in and I owe him for keeping it all on the down low.
I do realize I put myself in a ton of danger, but Andrew wasn’t raised in house with a brother who wanted to be a police officer more than anything.I was Ryan’s training buddy, and even after he started working for the Boston PD, he continued teaching me everything he knew.
I knew I could outsmart Andrew, but he just looked at me like another one of his easy conquests; a stupid girl he could take advantage of.It couldn’t have worked out better.
But now we’re on to something else, or should I say someone else who seems to be in the way of keeping our relationship simple, easy and happy.
“So you gonna fill me in on what’s going on with Carla?”
Now it’s Finn who lets out a low chuckle, but there’s something about it that tells me he wants to hold back.
“No more secrets,” I say pushing him along, but letting him know that from now on, I too won’t be keeping secrets from him either.
“Where do you want me to start?”Finn asks, glancing over at Ryan and I now realize I’m the only one who has been left in the dark about what’s been going on with Carla.
“You told him?”I ask, appalled that Ryan was Finn’s confidante.
“Hey, hey, I don’t want to be involved in this lover’s quarrel,” Ryan defends, his hands up acting like he isn’t involved.
Finn sighs, and then sucks in a long deep breath.Reaching from the backseat, I run my fingers along the back of his neck.I imagine it’s difficult for him to talk about it.Maybe he’s embarrassed he got involved with a woman like Carla or maybe he worries that I wouldn’t believe he’s innocent.Whatever it is, there’s no judgment on my part.I’m here to support him.
“Honestly Sarah, I don’t even know where to begin,” Finn finally admits, his hands scrubbing over his face.
“How about you just start from the beginning.Act like you’re telling a story and fill me in.”
And that’s exactly what he does.Telling me about how they went to high school together, but never really ran with the same crowd despite the small town.They ended up hooking up at a graduation party with both of them agreeing that it wouldn’t go beyond that.Thinking since Carla had gotten married that she had moved on, but it turns out she’s been harboring a creepy obsession with Finn for years.
It was my arrival and our subsequent relationship that pushed her crazy to the forefront.She has been silently stalking him ever since.
“I mean, we both knew something was off when she accused you of assault, but how did you figure out it was all a ruse?”I ask, knowing Finn is obviously leaving something out.
“Strange things started popping up and I just kept a record of everything, passing it along to Detective Greenwood.”
Finn then goes on to explain that the Bureau of Criminal Investigations sent Detective Greenwood.He’s basically the guy who handles complaints against police officers, and was there to investigate the claims Carla made.But he wasn’t only there to investigate Finn, he was also there to make sure Carla’s claims were valid.
Even though we knew those claims didn’t hold water, Greenwood did not and he began his investigation.
“What kind of strange things?”I question, since Finn seems to skirting around how Greenwood came to the realization that Carla is off her fucking rocker.
Finn looks at Ryan and I’m growing impatient about being in the dark, my foot tapping the floorboard as the two of them have a staring contest.
“Dude, you gotta tell her,” Ryan urges, shrugging his shoulders.
Finn turns to look at me, he reaches back and takes my hand, and every time I think he’s going to speak, he shuts his mouth.
