Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
FINN
Before there was Jinx, there was the paparazzi.
Grown men and women who called themselves “journalists” spent their entire careers trying to blind me and my brothers under flashing camera lights.
As the adopted son of the world’s biggest musical icon, my life was never my own. The world wanted to peer into our privacy like we were zoo animals, pointing and assessing us. Judging us. Envying us.
Mom insisted we get media training after school, and that included what to do when the paparazzi showed up. I took to the lessons the most and developed a sort of sixth sense for when I was being followed.
The door to J’s hospital room clicks as I shut it behind me. The hallway is completely empty. There are no signs of the spies.
I inhale a deep breath and keep my hold on the doorknob.
J gets up, stretches, and covers her mouth in an exaggerated yawn. She nods to me, and I nod back, waiting until she shuffles into the bathroom.
Good girl.
Whoever’s spying outside her hospital room is here for me.
She should be safe.
She has to be.
And I don’t care to know why I feel so strongly about that.
Slipping a hand into my pocket, I walk as normal, moving in the opposite direction. From the corner of my eye, I spot two men turning the bend and following me.
What do they want?
These guys are moving like ghosts in the night. They’re not from the Grave City Crew. Everything I’ve researched about that gang screams loud and flashy. The two men following me are light on their feet.
Did a new crime organization find out about me?
Great. I miss the days when the tail I was trying to shake had a camera and not a gun.
A nurse passes by on her nightly rounds. She spots me and does a double take. Her mouth slackens. “You’re…”
“Sh.” I put a finger to my lips.
She moves back slightly as I brush past her and storm into the nearest bathroom. The door bangs shut behind me.
I slap the faucet and water hisses into the bowl.
My eyes lock on the mirror. At first, I’m startled by my own face—eyes the shape of half-moons ringed by yellowing bruises, a split lip, and gashes in my cheek.
My eyes are sunken, and my cheekbones are extremely sharp.
I look like a painted skull for Halloween.
The door creaks open.
The two men step in.
As smoothly as I can, I take one of the paper cups set out for patients to use when gargling mouthwash. I pump some soap into the cup and set it under the faucet to fill up.
Behind me, I sense the men separating and flanking me on either side.
One man nods to the other and then the taller one reaches out to me. I spin, taking advantage of the element of surprise.
Grabbing the closest one by the wrist, I bend it at an odd angle while throwing the cup of water in the other guy’s face. He stumbles back, scratching at his eyes that are now sudsy and red.
The first man uses his free hand to slam my back, but I hold his arm in a tight grip and lean into the momentum of his push. Turning in a half-circle, I step backward and slam him into the sink in the process.
He grunts in pain and his body falls slack.
By now, the second attacker’s vision is clearing, and he comes after me. I duck when he punches me, but I’m not fast enough to dodge his hand as it clamps around my shirt.
I grunt when his foot swipes under mine as he tries to shake my stance.
My head whips up in shock.
These aren’t regular street fighters.
I twist around and wiggle my hands out of my shirt sleeves. Allowing him to trip me, I use the momentum to snake out of my T-shirt.
The man I slammed into the sink charges at the shirt, not realizing I’m already outside of it until it’s too late.
My chest heaves with every breath as I stare at the men. I’m winded already, but they look annoyed rather than hurt.
It’s two against one and they’re highly skilled. There’s no way I’m walking out of here unless I can come up with something fast.
A high-pitched ringing sound blasts at that moment. The overhead showers turn on with a hiss, and a harsh, steady spray of water fills the bathroom.
The men glance up as confusion creases their eyebrows. I seize the moment and forge ahead. The taller one is ready for me, bouncing on the balls of his feet with his fists raised.
But I stop just in front of him and grab the bathroom door. Slamming it into his face, I hear him grunt. Still in motion from the force I used to swing the door, I leap into the air and wrap my legs around the second man’s neck, driving my elbows into his head.
The rain from the overhead sprinklers pastes my hair against my forehead and runs down my naked shoulders and chest. Taking my shirt off is an unexpected advantage as the attacker’s heavy suits slow their punches.
The second guy drives forward, his arm wrapping around mine to pull me off. Behind me, I hear the first guy sloshing through the water to grab me.
I release my legs and fall backward, tucking into a crouch. It’s awkward and wet as the floor is flooding, but I push to my feet. Water drips off my fingertips as I stand tall.
I’m on the opposite end of the bathroom again, fist raised.
Suddenly, the first man taps the second on the shoulder.
They both raise their hands.
“Enough. We’re not here to hurt you,” the taller one says in crisp English.
I remain on guard. “Who are you?”
“I’m Ren. This is Hayato.”
Hayato dips his head, which has a growing lump on it from where I slammed it into the door.
“We were assigned as your protectors.”
“My—”
The door bursts open at that moment. A security guard huffs through. His eyes land on the sprinklers and then dart between me, Ren, and Hayato. “What’s going on in here?”
Jittery, the man’s fingers go for his gun. He’s so thick and unathletic that he would never beat me, Ren, or Hayato in a fight.
But a bullet is faster than a fist.
“We came to visit our pregnant aunt,” I explain, staying as calm as I can. “Then the sprinklers suddenly went off.”
“What room?” The guard eyes the cuts on my face and the gauze on my arm suspiciously.
“I don’t remember,” I say.
“What’s her name?” he asks, becoming visibly more red.
Ren and Hayato tense beside me.
The security guard goes for his gun. “Answer me or I swear to—”
A familiar face pokes her head from behind the thick guard. “Finn, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
My eyes bulge.
Smile stretching across her face, J wiggles her fingers at me. “How long does it take to wipe ketchup off your shirt? Aunt Linda is about to pop. You’re missing the big moment.”
Ren and Hayato relax their fists.
The security guard wipes the water from his face with the hand that had been reaching for the gun. “You know these guys?”
“Yeah, those are my cousins.”
He peruses J’s fair skin, blonde hair, and blue-green eyes and then traces a line directly back to me. “Cousins?”
“Yup.” J blinks. “Is there a reason we can’t be cousins? Because if there is, please wait for a moment while I go live on my channel. I’m sure the internet would love to hear your thoughts.”
The guard averts his eyes.
“Oh dear.” J barges into the room, a tiny spark of dynamite. She grabs my hand. “You’re all wet. If I miss seeing our baby cousin for the first time, I’ll be so mad at you.”
The next thing I know, I’m being dragged along.
“You two as well,” J says to Ren and Hayato.
The two large fighters give each other bewildered looks.
“Come, come.” She’s smaller than everyone in the room, but we’re all powerlessly swept up in her tide.
Somehow, J gets us all out of the bathroom while her watch beeps, low and steady.
The guard backs off and unclips his radio to report about the broken sprinklers.
“She’s screaming like a madwoman in there.” J keeps chatting as she pushes me along the hallway. Ren and Hayato follow quietly. “Everyone’s really excited.” Her neck cranes as she looks over her shoulder to make sure the guard isn’t following.
When we’re a good distance away, I snap my hand out of hers.
J bends over, a hand to her chest. Her watch is shining yellow. “That was terrifying. I was so nervous.”
My heart is in my throat, and it’s about to burst into a million pieces. “Why did you leave your room? I told you to stay put!”
“I saw two scary guys follow you into the bathroom, and you didn’t come out. What was I supposed to do?”
J has access to the hospital cameras, which is probably how she saw me. What I’m uncertain about is…
“The sprinklers?”
She shrugs. “I turned them on, but I didn’t have eyes in the bathroom. I had to get closer to see what else I could do.”
“You’re insane,” I hiss.
She tilts her head, squinting at me. “What a strange way to say thank you.”
The fact that she’s so calm about this, so proud of herself, sets me off.
I bear down on her. “You should have stayed in the bathroom like I told you.”
“But—”
“What would you have done if these guys were really after me? What if they came after you too!”
She winces.
I realize I’m shouting and take a deep breath. Scraping my hands through my hair, I wrestle with the awful, fire-like sensations in my chest.
“Look, J, you can’t just—”
“Finn?” J points to something beyond me.
I look over my shoulder. Ren and Hayato are standing with their backs to us, facing the wall like children in time out.
I frown at them. “What are you two doing?”
Ren turns slightly, but he still keeps his eyes averted. “We are giving you and okusama privacy.”
“Okusama?” J repeats.
Ren’s words barely register. I feel like I’m about to climb out of my own skin. Whatever this emotion is called, I hate it.
“Back to your room, J.”
“What are you, my dad?” She juts her chin at the men. “Who are they? What do they want? Why were they—gah!”
J lets loose a strangled cry as I set my arm under her back and scoop her up with one hand. She automatically wraps her arms around the back of my neck to secure herself against me.
“Finn, put me down,” she snaps.
“Wait in my car. I’ll be right there,” I bark at Ren and Hayato.
They dip their heads and share secretive smiles as they walk off.
J’s eyes are boring into my skull with the force of a jackhammer, but I ignore the dark looks and take her back to her hospital room. When I dump her on the bed, she bounces a bit.
She’s wearing a cotton T-shirt and long blue pajama pants with blue flowers on them.
Usually, when a girl is in bed in front of me, they very rarely wear anything so covered up. And yet, J—fully clothed—makes a spark of heat race straight to my pants.
Her hair bounces around her face. Her cheeks are flushed from annoyance.
My fingers coil into fists.
The urge to kiss her, touch her, lick her to the cadence of her screaming watch springs out of nowhere, like a Jack-in-the-box that had been slowly, patiently winding up in the dark. It’s the same sensation that overcame me when I watched her in the nurse’s office, covered in my blood.
I turn away, tapping into my practiced self-restraint.
“You’re just going to leave?” J yells at my back.
“Go to sleep, J.”
“At least tell me what happened in there!” She yells.
I push the door open.
A moment later, the bed creaks, and I sense something flying at me. I shift my head to the side just as a pillow crashes into the door.
Smiling, I slip out of J’s room and take the stairwell to the lobby. I could take the elevator, but I’m not wearing a shirt, and I’ll draw a huge amount of attention walking through the hospital half-naked.
Ren and Hayato are in the parking lot. Their still figures straighten when I draw near.
Hayato hands me my shirt. It’s damp, but I still put it on.
“I’m assuming you’re Kurosaki’s men.” They carry themselves like Kurosaki’s lieutenants.
“Hai,” Hayato says.
“We’ve been following you in secret for a long time,” Ren says.
“Why show yourself now?”
Ren and Hayato exchange serious looks.
Ren steps forward. “Your father wants you to come home.”