Chapter 10
chapter ten
my knight in shining chevrolet
Remember those perks I was harping on about before? Forget them.
Because I've just discovered that perks and Marcus Romano don't, and will never, belong in the same sentence.
And now my patience was gone.
Well and truly burned to ashes and taken by the spring breeze.
“I don’t give a flying fuck who you’re with. I’m not going anywhere with you, or allowing you to follow me.”
My knight in shining armour in the form of Finn and his truck pulled up right as I stopped shouting, and I breathed a little sigh of relief that now was the one and only time he'd chosen to be punctual.
But it didn't stop the sweaty man in all black and a Romano badge sewn to his shoulder stepped toward me, desperating dripping from him like the sweat on his forehead. “Miss Holland, please calm down. I’ve been instructed to—”
“Does it look like I care what you’ve been instructed to do?” My words felt like rounds from a shot gun as they came out.
The man before me practically quivered, and it was a good thing I had my sunglasses on. If any passing paps caught this then all those articles about me having the personality to match my resting bitch face would automatically become true.
When I saw the last of the hope leave his eyes, only then did I feel a little bad. But once the memory of why he was here and what he was here to do replayed in my head I was debating screaming a little more.
Finn pulled into the empty space behind the black car I was instructed to get into, beeping his horn twice. I looked back at the guy. “Tell Marcus that he can either watch over me every fucking minute like he threatened he’d do, or he can leave me alone!”
I'd trade back every ounce of happiness I'd felt these last two weeks if it meant that I never had to see Marcus Romano again. Every second long he was around me, the shiny red target on his head was getting bigger, and bigger. And believe me, I was sourcing the arrows to kill him.
Saying I'd grown tired of him would have been the understatement of the year.
I was growing furious with him. To the point where I was having dreams about screaming at him so much that he backed away and began to cry.
And on top of the frustration I was still harbouring after sitting in my art classes doing absolutely no artwork, sending yet another stranger to escort me home was my boiling point.
The bottom line? I wanted to set him on fire.
The guy with the beet red face stumbled forward, his eyes a little glassy. “Miss Holland, I—”
“Hey, the attention you’re giving me right now? Put it on your receding hairline. Bye.”
I ignored the sheer horror on his face and waved him off before jogging over to Finn’s car. I hopped into the seat. I dropped my backpack and my portfolio in the footwell as I slammed it shut. “Quick sticks, Rhodes. Get me out of here.”
I glanced over at Finn, his wary look making me realise that I was safe now, and that there was no need for the mask.
I whipped my glasses off and passed him a genuine smile. “Thank you for saving me.”
The smile he shot me was like pure sunshine, and for a moment I was reminded of one of the reasons why Rory had fallen in love with him freshman year.
“Anytime, Cor.” He gripped the wheel and pulled out of the space, taking the regular turns and roads that would take us back home.
“Were you busy?” I asked, shuffling to face him.
His shoulders shrugged against his leather seats. “Nah. I was just in the library, but Rory wasn’t there to help with my long-term pronunciation, and I didn’t exactly like the idea of talking to myself, and then luckily you texted me.”
I’d texted him about fifteen seconds into Marcus’ guy getting out of his car and calling my name as I speed-walked away from him.
“Who was that you were screaming at? Someone who looked at you the wrong way?” I turned just in time to catch the end of Finn’s smirk, before his fierce green eyes were back on the road.
“I don’t know how Rory doesn’t get sick of your sarcasm.”
Lie.
Finn Rhodes could be sarcastic with me from sunrise to sunset and he’d still melt my heart with a side glance and that smirk.
His lips tugged down as his brows rose. “I make up for it in other ways.”
I grimaced. “Christ, and don’t we know about it.” I pulled the visor down, checking my lip liner as I heard him grunt a laugh. “No, I’m serious. I’m debating raising the issue at the next house meeting and proposing that Rory soundproof her room.”
As his laughs engulfed the car, I couldn’t help but let one slip too.
It was a few beats of silence before he added, “Missed that smile.” My eyes darted to him, in time to see his dimples deepen. “Missed you being you.”
I didn’t miss the way he put the emphasis on you.
My smile thinned. “I don’t think I’m fully me again yet.”
He huffed. “Exactly—yet.” His head nodded toward me, eyes steady on the road. “Look at you, I’m picking you up from your classes.”
A barely-there laugh slipped from me as my eyes rolled. “Because I was too afraid to walk home on my own.”
Too afraid of getting another text like I had a month ago and having a breakdown in the middle of Chelsea.
There hadn’t been any more texts since the last one. But that didn’t mean anything to me. All it did mean was that I was on the edge of my seat every time my phone chimed.
Finn shook his head, blonde waves falling over his forehead, catching in the midday sun.
“You’re focusing on the wrong part of that.
I just picked you up from class. An in-person class.
” As we reached a traffic light, his eyes found mine.
“You’re on the right track, and we’re all extremely proud of you. I hope you know that.”
Something I didn't know what to call tugged behind my eyes, making my brows pull inwards the slightest bit, but enough to let Finn know how much that meant to me. I didn’t bother mentioning to him that I failed to do the one thing I was supposed to do in that class, which was paint, because he was right.
Cora four months ago would have barely made it to the bathroom without breaking down.
And I’d only cried once today, and that was from behind my canvas when I couldn’t bring myself to lift the brush.
But I suppose the fact I was there at all meant more than I realised.
“Thank you,” I muttered, flipping up the visor and settling back into my seat, letting whatever swell that had gathered in my lash line fade away.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He stole a glance and caught my raised brow. “The man in the black suit you were screaming at.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was talking at him.” I nudged his arm when I caught his pfft, yeah okay look.
“He was someone that Marcus had stationed outside my class building to escort me home. Which, after the big show he gave me, is so cheeky.” I shook my head, letting the silence take over for approximately 0.
4 seconds before the frustration took over.
“And I think I am well within my right to refuse to go with him. I don’t know him.
I trust him even less than I trust Marcus, and… ”
Finn peered at me. “And…”
My words failed me as the inside of the car lit up blue and red. I looked around my lap, before my eyes caught in the wing mirror, seeing nothing but a black metal monster taking it up. I whipped my head around, clutching the headrest with my hands as I got a better look.
“Finn, I think you need to pull over.” My lip quivered a little as I traced the unmarked car flashing us, his bumper practically kissing Finn’s.
Finn threw his head over his seat quick as anything. “Fuck,” he muttered as he turned back around. “Oh Jesus, fucking shit-balls. This can’t be happening. I was barely going twenty.”
“Well, you must have done something wrong,” I looked back at the car again. “Finn, he’s flashing. Pull the fucking car over.”
He ignored me, his grip on the wheel turning his knuckles white. “This will go on my record, and then the Quebec Knights will find out and my career will be over before it’s even started.”
I sighed. “Finn, just pull over.”
“No, this is it. My life is over. My Grandpa’s gonna kill me. Daisy’s gonna kill me.” His breaths staggered. “Rory’s gonna have to come visit me in jail—”
Instinct and adrenaline took over my body as I fell back down into my seat and gripped the wheel, tugging it to the empty lane to the right. “Finn, pull over!”
“What the fuck!” He screamed as he slammed on the brakes. We both jolted forward, the seatbelt nearly choking me. My palm landed in the centre of my chest as I coughed away the burn.
“Oh god.” Finn breathed, both hands over his heart and his eyes doubled in size. “I think I might be dead.”
I let out one last cough. “You would’ve been if you hadn’t pulled over,” I dodged his glare as I twisted my body around, eyes straining to see what was happening. Instantly, my eyes snagged on a tall dark figure getting out of the car behind us, its door slamming with a thick thud.
My spine straightened back to face Finn. “Just calm down. You weren’t doing anything illegal. Your driving was fine. I’ll be your witness if he says anything different.”
He looked at me, his hair dishevelled, but he nodded. “Yeah,” he breathed, sinking into his seat. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.” He was talking more to himself, and slowly his hands fell from his chest and settled in his lap, right as his breaths got a little less—
“What the—”
The door I’d been leaning against swung open without warning. I fell back, almost out of my seat, but something solid caught me, keeping me upright. That same weight then pressed onto my knees, gripping them, and spinning my body to face—
“You.”
The word slipped out before I could think, a breathless mix of disbelief and accusation. My chest tightened, my body froze, and just beneath my chest, that familiar burn of anger coiled like it always did when Marcus fucking Romano breathed the same air as me.