A little too late

Chapter 47

“Put your hands near the heater” Jack instructs me. I move my shaky hands towards the car heater. I turn my head to face Jack and in my peripheral vision I see Finn taking his wet shirt off. I start to feel guilty and I start to take off Finns jacket.

“Leave it on” Finn says the moment I start undressing. I look at Finn and nod, still feeling too cold to talk.

As the car gets warmer, Jack finally asks me, “You alright Stells?”

I nod my head, “Yeah”.

He nods his head and concentrates back on the road.

When my teeth finally stop jittering from the cold, I finally get to ask my questions. “Finn?” I ask.

“What’s up?” He asks me.

“How did you know where to find me?” I ask him.

This time Jack is the one to talk, “That’s a good question”.

I turn around and look at shirtless Finn sitting behind me. His cheeks have flushed bright red and he lowers his head in embarrassment.

“I... I saw you walk into the... uhm cafe” He says awkwardly.

“You were at the brothel?” I say judgingly.

He rolls his eyes, “It’s only a brothel by night!”

Jack quickly looks off the road and straight to Finn.

“What the hell are you doing at a brothel?” He asks Finn.

Finn just puts up his hands, “I don’t go to the brothel! I go to the cafe every once in a while. Is that a crime?”

“So that’s who the personal investigator saw? Not Jack, but you” I say to myself.

“Investigator?” Finn and Jack both ask at the same time.

“Sam hired an investigator to follow me. They saw that I was hanging around Jack so they started to follow you and they must’ve accidentally followed Finn instead.” I say to Jack. Jack shuts his lip in anger. I see his hands wrap tightly around the steering wheel and his jaw tense. I look back at Finn and he looks as relaxed as ever.

When no one talks, I decide to continue, “So you saw everything Finn?”

He nods, “Yeah. Why did you ever go out with him? The guy almost bashed your face in!”

I go to look at Finn but I’m distracted when the car comes to a sudden stop in the middle of the road.

“WHAT?” Jack shouts at Finn. Jack looks as pissed as ever.

“Jack, drive! You can’t stop in the middle of the road!” He accuses Jack as cars start to beep behind us.  Jack doesn’t move a muscle but he continues to stare at me up and down, obviously checking to see if I’m alright.

Suddenly, the car door opens and Finn steps out of the vehicle. He runs around to the front of the car and to Jacks car door. He opens the car door and proceeds to pull Jack out. When Jack realises what he’s doing, he unbuckles his belt and moves to the back seat.  

 Finn starts up the car and starts to drive.

“Did he touch you? Jack finally asks me from the back seat.

“No. I ran away before anything happened” I tell him. He calms down a little but he still is pissed off as hell.

“Finn?” He asks.

“She’s telling the truth. He didn’t touch her” He confirms.

“And after you left, he didn’t find you?” Jack asks me. Once again, I shake my head.

“Finn?” He asks again.

“I didn’t let that happen” Finn comments as he drives straight ahead.

“What do you mean?” I ask Finn. He shifts around uncomfortably in his seat and I finally get to take a good look at him. My eyes drift around his body quickly and I notice that he has bruised ribs and a bleeding hand.

“Finn, what happened?” I ask in a panic. He doesn’t say anything at all which only worries me more.

“Finn?” Jack demands.

Finally, Finn replies, “I just told him to leave you alone, and when he didn’t, we got into a little bit of a fight.”

“You what?” I say worriedly.

“He’s fine, don’t worry. I didn’t break anything.” He tells me.

“I don’t care about him. Are you okay?” I ask him.

He looks at me and rolls his eyes, “I’m fine.”

“Why?” I ask him. When he doesn’t answer I ask again, “why did you do it?”

“Because Jack cares about you and I care about Jack. And I guess I care about you too. It gave you enough time to run and I knew that’s all you needed.” Finn tells me.

“Thank you” Jack chips in for me. I don’t say anything but I just look out the car window in shock. Finn actually did this for me.

It goes silent in the car for a few moments. I continue to watch the raindrops drip down the car window. I can feel myself slowly drying off from all the rain.

When the time is right, Jack finally speaks up, “Why are you at a cafe in a creepy area Finn?”

His lips form up to a little smile, “Because the girl I like goes there”.

I look at Finn in shock and Jack does the same. He likes someone? Who is it? And why don’t Jack and I know. More importantly, why doesn’t Jack know? And why would he sleep with me if he liked someone else?