Page 24 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
Ryan
Even as Iasked Finn inside, I had no idea how to explain anything of what had happened. I could clearly see that he'd worried about me, and I was sorry. I'd never meant to worry him, but I'd had no way to contact anyone. Jin had smashed my cell phone the first day. Said I'd had no need for it as long as I was with him.
And he hadn't let me go until I'd promised I was going to do better.
Right.
Fuck that. I was never going back there. I probably shouldn't have come back to this island, either, but... if there was one place where I wanted to live out the end of my days, it was here. It was a bit selfish of me, but I'd been plenty selfish for the past three years. Why change now?
“I talked to your mother,” Finn said, startling me.
“What?” I turned the light in the apartment on and looked at him.
“You never went to visit her, did you?”
I swallowed and let my gaze drop. “No. I'm sorry. I was with my boyfriend instead.” No point in hiding that fact any longer.
“She'd like you to call her.”
I nodded, feeling like a little boy who got a scolding.
“Were you with your boyfriend this week?” Finn asked, one of his hands balled to a fist. I’d known he wasn’t going to take this well, but the state I was in seemed to hit him even harder than I’d expected. Never before had I seen him show signs of aggression like this.
But he let his hands drop to his sides when he noticed me looking at them.
“It’s not you I’m angry at,” he said in a small voice, rubbing his hands on his jeans. “Although I think you should have let me know where you were going.”
“I’m sorry. I was going to call, but I lost my phone.”
“You lost it?”
I sighed. “Not exactly, but I don’t have it anymore. I’ll get a new one and give you the number.”
“Were you with your boyfriend?” Finn asked again, a little more calmly this time. And then, as if he needed to give himself something to do, he walked over to my freezer and opened it. “You don't have any ice.”
“We broke up,” I said.
Finn's head snapped to me. “Did you really?” He started to smile, then stopped, as if realizing that wasn't an appropriate reaction. “I'm sorry,” he said, although he didn't manage to make the words sound sincere. Leaving the freezer, he came over to me and gently touched my face. “Did he do this?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “But it's over now. You don't have to worry about it.”
Finn's expression darkened again. “He can't just get away with hurting you like that! He had no right!” The aggression I’d seen earlier was back full-force. Finn was so sweet that most of the time, I forgot he was a dragon. But he was, and right now, he was anangrydragon. And I'd seen quite enough of that over the past few days.
“Please, Finn,” I laid a hand on his shoulder. “Let it rest.”
“How can you say that? He did this to you! Aren't you mad?”
I shook my head. I'd spent a lot of time being angry, and yes, I hated Jin and part of me wanted him to suffer, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life seeking vengeance. And I knew that part of all this was my fault anyway. I should never have turned to someone like Jin in the first place.
“I don't want to be mad right now,” I said. “I'm too happy to be back here.”With you.And as I thought that, the weight of the past few days came crashing down on me. I couldn’t help but remember all the times I hadn't been sure I'd see the island or any place outside of Jin's apartment ever again. Times I hadn’t been sure I’d even get to say goodbye to Finn. And now he was here, right in front of me. So close that I could feel the warmth of his body where my hand touched his shoulder.
I was home.
“I'm glad you're back,” Finn said softly.
“Me too.” Was I ever.
And my relief only grew when Finn closed his arms around me and I felt the solid contours of his body against mine. He was hugging me so tightly it seemed he was afraid I could disappear again any second. “Don't ever run off on me again.”
