Chapter 56
Chapter Fifty-Six
FINN
Dutch slows his car in front of the hospital after our flight lands.
“We’ll head home first,” he says quietly.
I’d already begun to open the door and I let it slam shut again. “You’re not coming up?”
Dutch shakes his head, his jaw tightening.
I look over my shoulder, and Zane is staring unseeingly through the window.
Their expressions are… hopeless.
While I can’t understand my own emotions, I know how brutal it is to want something, to search everywhere for it, and then come to the slow, painful realization that answers will never come.
“Zabanero gave us a big clue,” I remind my brothers. “Now that I know this is an AI, I can talk to J about what she knows. With that information, we can come at the algorithm from a different angle.”
Dutch nods absently.
Zane doesn’t even have the strength to twirl his drumsticks. “I kept thinking it was Dad or Kurosaki or some other enemy we don’t know about. I was ready to fight. I was ready to die to have Grey back. But how do I fight something that doesn’t even have a body?”
“We don’t know if it’s AI for sure,” I remind them.
“Mom was working on an AI project that went rogue, and then a few weeks later, she took Cadence and Grey and hid them so deep that no one can find them,” Dutch says coldly.
“They can’t even reach out to us because AI is everywhere. If they access the internet, we won’t be the first one to find them. Some freaking autonomous computer program will find them first.” Zane pulls his hands into fists as his voice trembles.
Dutch stares straight ahead, eyes unseeing.
I touch his shoulder.
He flinches. “Bro—”
“Am I going to miss Cadey’s belly growing? Am I going to miss feeling our baby kick? What if she has morning sickness and I’m not there?”
Zane suddenly kicks the door open.
I whip my head around. “Zane.”
“I’ll be home later,” he says, and for a moment, I think I see him brushing away a tear.
My chest is heavy and my head swims.
I want to fix this so badly for my brothers, for my family, for my nieces or nephews. But I feel a lot more optimistic about taking over the yakuza than I do about defeating a computer.
Dutch adjusts his hands on the steering wheel. “I’ll head home first.”
I speak in a calm, measured tone. “Bex Dane wants to talk about concert times. I’ll tell him now isn’t great and try to reschedule.”
He nods.
When I’m out of the car, Dutch speeds off. I stare at his car and then at Zane’s back as he jogs down the street. My brothers are falling apart. How the hell do I stop this train that’s already deep diving off a cliff?
At that moment, the hospital doors part and spit out a small blonde girl in a grey sweater and loose black pants. She glances furtively over her shoulder and then looks around the parking lot.
I pull back to keep out of sight.
J notices a taxi driving up, flags it down, and jumps inside. A few minutes later, the cab takes off.
I’ve got my phone to my ear, dialing Ren before they turn the corner. “Where are you?”
“I have her.”
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” I growl. “Tell Hayato to bring me a car.”
“Hai.”
Five minutes later, a sleek black car parks in front of me.
I raise an eyebrow when I get inside. The leather is plush and modern with lights in the door and on the center console. “This is new.”
“Oyabun sends his regards.”
That statement shocks me into silence. By now, Kurosaki is aware that I let three members of the Grave City Crew go without hurting them. I also expected Kurosaki to be pissed off about me skipping training for the past two days.
“When you have a moment, he would like to see you,” Hayato says.
Talk about an upgrade.
Normally, Kurosaki doesn’t ask me to come in. He just instructs me to drop everything and run to him.
I grunt. “Let’s go.”
Ren’s directions lead to an internet cafe.
As we park, Ren pulls his motorcycle helmet off and knocks on the window of the car. Hayato lowers the back window, and Ren peeks in, his eyes focused on me.
“She has been in there for fifteen minutes now.”
I frown at the entrance of the internet cafe. Why did she come here? I’ve seen J’s computer set up. Her CPU alone is worth five figures. There is nothing with comparable power in that building.
“Who did she see this morning?” I demand.
“Dr. Kenji and Martina.”
I grunt. What secrets are you hiding now, Jinx?
“Oh,” Ren says, “I spotted the woman from the picture you showed me.”
My chin jerks up. “Did J and Kelly meet?”
He shakes his head.
I put the pieces together in my mind.
J looked like she was running from someone when she left the hospital. Was she running from Kelly?
But why?
The door of the internet cafe opens, and J moves slowly down the stairs. From this distance, I can’t see her expression to know what she’s thinking. I’m debating my next move when an Uber drives up to her. She gets in and shuts the door.
I give Ren a pointed look.
Without a word, he hurries back to his bike and takes off.
Hayato drives off at the same time.
On the highway, I notice Ren dipping and weaving through traffic to keep up with J’s cab. Something about the lieutenant’s back on that motorbike looks familiar, but I can’t explain why.
I choose not to dwell on it and keep a close eye on J’s Uber. They seem to be heading to one of the small towns outside the city.
Finally, we pass a sign welcoming visitors to a town with a population of 2000. The car drives down a quiet street filled with humble bungalows. It stops outside a yellow house with a grey sedan parked in the driveway.
I text J as she climbs out of the cab.
ME: Where are you?
J: Come outside and I’ll tell you.
I look up and notice J throwing up two middle fingers at the car.
Seems like we weren’t as discreet as I thought.
Unbothered, I open the door and stride to her. J stands stiffly, waiting for me to get closer.
“Seriously? You’re tailing me now?” J plants a hand on her hip and tilts her head. Her ponytail swings like a pendulum.
Her blue-green eyes meet mine, and I feel a spark of breathlessness. The blazing sunshine makes the blue glisten like diamonds and then flash to turquoise-ocean green.
It’s so damn fascinating.
I hate it.
“When did you get back?” she adds.
“Why are you here?” I snap.
“I asked first.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Yeah, but my question is better.”
She scrunches her mouth. Annoyance is written in the thin line across her forehead and the exasperation in her eye roll.
And while I should be equally annoyed, seeing her pouting like that brings my attention to her mouth.
And then I remember what it felt like kissing her—really kissing her—before I left.
And that makes me want to kiss her again.
I look away, fighting with myself. “You’re supposed to be at the hospital.”
“Thank you for that brilliant observation.” Her eyes dart to the yellow bungalow and back to me. “I will definitely go back to the hospital and be a good little girl. Scout’s honor.”
My lips tremble. She’s a firecracker packed into a tiny blonde package. How did she hide it for so long?
When I keep standing there, she makes a shooing motion. “I assume you’re busy and have better things to do than babysit me so…”
I jut my chin at the house. “What’s in there?”
“Nothing.”
I arch an eyebrow at her.
J shoves me down the sidewalk. “Go glare into someone else’s soul for about”—she checks her watch—“four hours.”
I don’t budge.
She huffs and tilts her head up. Her upturned face makes my heart beat faster.
Kiss her.
Touch her.
Unzip her jeans.
What.
The.
Hell?
I broke my rules of self-restraint once.
Just once. I allowed myself to kiss her and feel how soft her body would be against mine.
But now that I’ve opened the door, I can’t seem to close it.
An insatiable beast was freed from the depths.
Now, it’s roaming through my body, making unreasonable demands.
Take her back to the car. A quick one in the backseat will do. Kick Hayato out and get her out of your system.
And then she’ll die.
The reminder sobers me and the beast slinks away.
“Finn.” J’s voice crackles with desperation.
I should take the hint. J’s busy, and I also have plenty of other tasks. Kurosaki summoned me to explain the Ace situation. Bex Dane expects a follow-up about our concert schedule availability.
I also have Redwood Prep homework.
But the truth is, I don’t want to leave her side.
J’s face is turning red, and her chest pumps up and down. The watch makes a tiny beep of protest in warning, and I make a note that anger also speeds up her heartrate.
At that moment, the front door flies open, and a small, dark-skinned woman bounds out.
“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Finn Cross is on my freaking lawn!”
J switches the frown to a smile and steps forward. “Courtney! Hi! It’s me—J? We were chatting online…”
Courtney bounds past J and stops in front of me, her eyes sparkling. “Can I have a picture? My friends will not believe this.”
J’s shoulders slump.
My chest rearranges itself, and I do something I’ve never done before.
I smile for a stranger.
“Yeah, I’ll take a picture. But after that, someone over there really wants to talk to you.”
Courtney spins around. “Who?”
J straightens up like a balloon regaining air. Her eyes latch onto mine. For a second, they get dewy and soft—exactly the way they did that night when I told her she could mirror Ace’s phone secretly.
Something crackles in my chest.
It feels like tiny, little fireworks exploding all at once.
I keep telling myself I don’t know what these feelings mean, but it’s becoming harder and harder to deny the truth. There’s only one person who keeps affecting my mood.
And I’m starting to not care about all the reasons I shouldn’t want her.