Chapter 17 #2
“Can you twist toward me?” I asked. “So I can reach your other hand.”
Finn looked past me for a moment, then slowly started to inch sideways. The tops of his feet scraped along the dirty floor as he twisted, inch by inch, until he could reach for me with both hands.
“I’m gonna pull you out,” I told him, gripping both of his little hands in mine.
“My shorts are stuck,” he told me again.
“Fuck the shorts,” I replied. “You ready?”
I didn’t wait for him to answer me before I started pulling, watching carefully to make sure that he didn’t get caught up on anything else.
“Got the jack,” my dad said, a couple of police officers with him.
“I got him,” I replied, pulling him a little further. “Use your feet, son. Push off with your toes.”
His shorts had come off completely, and his underwear was halfway down his ass by the time I pulled Finn out from under the Chevelle. I yanked up the underwear and pulled him into the space between my knees, rocking him as he clung to me, his face in my neck.
“I got you,” I whispered, smoothing the hair at the back of his head, my other arm wrapped tightly around him, covering every inch I could. “I got you, pal. You’re safe.”
“Fuck me,” Uncle Leo choked out from somewhere. “Thank fuck.”
“I want my mom,” Finn whispered, shuddering.
“I’ll take you to your mom,” I promised him.
I got to my knees and lifted him with me as I stood up. With his bare legs wrapped around my waist and his arms around my neck, I carried him out of the garage.
“Ambulance is here,” a cop told me, stepping into my path. “So he can get checked out. We’ll need to speak to him—”
“Get the fuck out of my face,” I barked, making him hurriedly back away.
I strode toward the sidewalk as a few of the guys nodded at me in relief.
“Casper’ll stay here and deal with the cops,” Draco said as he jogged toward me. “I’m with you. We’ll take Kara’s rig.”
“Goin’ to your mom,” I told Finn, kissing his sweaty head. “Hang on. You’re safe. I got you.”
A few minutes later, I was in the back seat of Kara’s SUV with Finn in my lap.
He’d refused to let go, and I figured after all he’d been through that day, wearing a seat belt was the least of our worries.
It was a tight fit, but I made it work by sitting sideways, one leg along the back seat and the other braced on the floorboard.
“I got you some water, Finn,” Kara said from the passenger seat. She twisted to meet my gaze. “You’re probably thirsty. I’ll put it in the cup holder back there so you can reach it, okay?”
There was no response.
Finn didn’t say anything at all during the two-hour drive north. His breath just came in quiet gasps, and he kept his forehead pressed against my throat, one of his hands tucked in close to his chest and the other gripping my shirt.
Even as I worried, part of me was glad that he was quiet.
Once I had him in my arms, fear for Dylan and Jesse had hit me like a wave, and I wasn’t sure I could answer any questions Finn asked.
Both of the kids had been in such bad shape when they’d been taken away.
I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t even sure how Dylan could survive the number of wounds he’d had.
If he did, I had no idea what his future would look like.
Jesse—their face had been so beaten that it was swollen twice the size it should’ve been.
They hadn’t been bleeding like Dylan, but after a beating like that, who knew how fucked their insides were.
Sometimes the worst injuries were the ones you couldn’t see.
I couldn’t imagine a life where we lost either of them, and even though Draco was hauling ass, it still took way too long to get to Portland.
At the hospital, Finn didn’t even flinch when the sounds of Harley pipes filled the parking garage as I climbed out of the SUV.
Since he was still in his underwear, Kara wrapped him in a sweatshirt she’d found on the floorboard.
There wasn’t anything we could do about his bare feet, but the way he was clinging to me, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.
I didn’t think his feet would touch the floor any time soon.
Following Kara and Draco, I carried Finn into the hospital.
What felt like both years and only a heartbeat later, the elevator doors opened up, and I stepped out to find Teddy waiting.
“I got him,” I told her, my voice cracking.
“Thank you,” she said, racing toward us. “Oh god. Thank you. Finn? Baby, look at me.”
Finn’s head shot up as he twisted toward his mom’s voice, damn near lurching out of my arms as he reached for her.
Teddy stumbled back as she took his weight, but she didn’t give a shit as she clasped him tightly to her, one arm under his ass and the other wrapped around his back.
He was nearly as big as she was, and I wasn’t sure how she kept her feet, but she did.
“My baby,” she whispered against his temple. “Mama’s here. I’m right here.”
I ushered her to a couch where she dropped down, her hands immediately going to the sides of Finn’s head so she could pull him back far enough to see his face.
“You’re okay?” she asked, the look in her eyes almost taking me to my knees. “You’re not hurt?”
“No,” Finn whispered, pulling away so he could bury his face against her shoulder.
“What—” Teddy looked at me, her eyes full of questions. “Where are his pants?”
“Got caught when he hid under the Chevelle,” I answered, crouching in front of them so I could rest my hand on Finn’s back. I wasn’t quite ready to let him out of reach yet. “They came off when I pulled him out.”
Teddy’s eyes drifted shut in relief. “Smart boy,” she murmured into his ear.
“Dylan and Jesse?” I asked.
Under my hand, Finn’s back stopped rising and falling as he held his breath.
“Jesse’s in recovery,” Teddy replied. “Dylan’s still in surgery.”
Finn took a breath and shuddered.
“They say how long it’s gonna be?”
“We can see Jesse within the hour,” she replied. “They won’t even give me an estimate for Dylan.”
I nodded. The situation was so fucking overwhelming that I had a hard time holding onto a thought. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing any of us could do.
“Teddy, Finn needs water,” Kara said, setting down a water bottle next to her. “He wouldn’t drink any in the car, and my Aunt Molly said he has to be dehydrated after being in the hot garage for so long.”
“Molly’s a nurse,” I told Teddy when she looked at me.
As Teddy urged Finn to take a few sips, the first wave of the club came out of the elevator. It was a sea of Aces and Eights insignia as they found places to sit and clustered into groups at the edges of the room. Not long after that, the old ladies showed up.
I sat next to Teddy and Finn, my arm over her shoulder and my fingertips resting on Finn’s while we waited.
“Hey,” my mom softly said a little while later, sitting down in the chair next to me. “I hate to say it, son, but you need to call Kaylee.”
“Fuck,” I breathed. I should’ve already called Dylan’s mom.
“Go do that now,” Mom ordered gently. “I’ll stay with Teddy and Finn.”
“We’re okay,” Teddy said, her cheek pressed against Finn’s hair. “Go.”
I nodded and carefully slid my arm from around her shoulders. “I won’t be far.”
“Go,” she repeated. “Do what you need to do.”
Nobody stopped me as I crossed the room, even though everyone was watching. The conversations were hushed, but their presence was heavy as I walked to an empty corner and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
I dreaded calling Kaylee.
She was a shit mother. There had been a lot of things over the years that she’d done that I didn’t understand, didn’t like, and didn’t agree with, but she loved Dylan. She loved him as much as I did. I’d never questioned that for a moment.
The news was going to devastate her. She’d have to find a flight and travel all the way to Oregon, not knowing whether or not our son was going to be okay. Hours of that. It changed a person. I was about to change her life forever.
Pulling up her contact information, I took a deep breath and lifted my phone to my ear.