Chapter 12

Twelve

Finn sat on the balcony, watching the sun rise over the horizon. He was so used to getting up early for PT, he couldn’t sleep in, even if he wanted to. Not that he ever slept in. He’d grown up on a working ranch. Of course, they’d had ranch hands, but he and Dad would get up every morning and help with the day’s chores.

Primmy preferred to sleep in, but there were times when she’d surprised them all and also gotten up early to help.

A bout of homesickness hit Finn. It’d been a while since he’d been home to the ranch. Most of the time, if his parents wanted to see him, they’d fly out and he’d see them for a weekend.

His phone buzzed on the table, and he glanced down, immediately going on alert when he saw his commander’s name flashing on the screen.

Fuck. They weren’t about to be called up to go on a mission, were they?

“Good morning, sir,” he answered the phone.

“Morning, Hive. I hear you’ve had an eventful couple of days.”

Finn wasn’t the least bit surprised Commander Rixson knew everything. Tex had probably informed him. Or House had. He didn’t mind; he would’ve spoken to his commander when he got back on base.

“It has been interesting, sir.” Clearly, they weren’t about to be called up to go on a mission. If they were, Rixson would’ve already told him to get to base to be wheels up in a few hours.

“Is Ms. Killian okay?” the commander asked.

Finn’s internal radar perked up at the question. Why would he be asking about Jess? “She’s fine. Thanks for asking.”

As much as he wanted to demand the reason for this call, Finn kept the questions buried. Whatever the commander wanted, he’d get to it eventually. Maybe this was also a test for Finn. A test to see if he’d be demanding or willing to wait.

Regardless of him finishing BUD/S and finally being assigned to a team, Finn had floated for a bit, and there was still a sense that he didn’t quite belong.

“I suppose you’re wondering why I’m calling?” Commander Rixson asked.

“I am, sir.”

Rixson chuckled. “I’m ringing to let you know if you require leave to sort out this situation, I’ll grant it. Your team’s going to be grounded for the next few weeks. Tenor came off his motorcycle and broke his leg. I’ve called everyone to let them know if they put in for leave, it will be granted. You’ve been on back-to-back missions recently, so you all deserve to have a little break.”

Finn couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. It almost seemed too good to be true, but while he’d been talking to Rixson, his phone had vibrated with incoming messages.

Looked like one of the other guys had received the same call, and messaged the group chat about it.

“Is Tenor okay, sir?”

“Yeah, it’s a clean break. He got lucky. It could’ve been far worse. I think the woman who hit him is more distressed than Tenor. Then again, it could’ve been the drugs he’d been given for the pain that had made him sound so happy when he called me to let me know.” Rixson chuckled.

Finn could picture his teammate on the phone with a goofy smile. The guy was always happy and cheerful, even when things were going south on a mission.

“I’ll get back to you if I need some time off.”

“Don’t take too long. I can always think of something you guys need to be doing.”

He didn’t doubt the commander could come up with something that was probably very unpleasant. “I won’t, sir.”

“I let House know the hospital Tenor is in if you all wanted to go see him,” Commander Rixson said.

“Okay. I’ll check in with him.”

“Take care, Hive.”

The call ended, and Finn flipped his phone over and over in his hand. Was it wrong to be glad that Tenor was hurt, which meant he could go with Jess to San Antonio? He’d be able to make that visit to his parents he’d been thinking about before the call had come through.

It really was a no-brainer; he should’ve just told Rixson he wanted to take some leave and be done with it.

“Everything okay? Did you get some good news?”

Finn startled at the sound of Jess’s voice. Some SEAL he was, allowing someone to sneak up on him. However, this situation was different from when he was on a mission. He was in a hotel room with the woman who’d owned part of his soul since he was eleven and she was eight.

She looked adorably rumpled and he wanted to haul her close. He’d given her some space the previous night and had slept in the other room in the suite. He’d wanted to be with her but hadn’t wanted to assume and Jess hadn’t given any indication she wanted him to sleep next to her anyway. “Depends on how you look at it.”

She took a seat next to him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, one of my teammates is in the hospital, because he got hit on his motorcycle last night. He broke his leg.”

“Oh my God. That’s awful. Of course, nothing is okay. Do you need to go see him?” Jess’s eyes were wide, her expression concerned.

His phone buzzed with another message. Finn really should check out what the guys were saying, but he would in a few minutes.

“Yeah, we’ll arrange a time to go see him.”

“I’m sure he’d like that, but I’m confused about how there was a different way to look at your friend’s accident? There’s nothing good about it at all.”

“My team’s grounded. We won’t be going on missions until he’s medically cleared.” He probably had a goofy smile on his face, but he didn’t care. He was happy he had the opportunity to spend more time with Jess, particularly given the status change of their relationship.

“You seem extra happy about that.” Jess frowned, her neatly groomed brows drawn tight.

Finn smiled. “My commander also said if I wanted to take leave, I could.”

Her eyes widened. “How long?”

“At least a couple of weeks. We can go back to San Antonio. Together. Being with you the last couple of days has reminded me it’s been a while since I’ve been to the ranch and seen my family.”

“Is this what you really want to do with your time off?” Jess asked.

“Of course. I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. I know Mom will be over the moon that I’m coming home for a visit.”

Her smile disappeared, and she worried her bottom lip. He wanted to soothe her bruised flesh, but didn’t. Finn waited her out.

“Are you going to tell my parents about what happened here?” she asked.

The way she spoke had him sitting up a little straighter. He noted how her fingers rubbed over the scar on her arm, as though the wound was hurting.

Like he wanted to do when she was chewing on her bottom lip, Finn wanted to soothe the ache.

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard about her being hurt. As much as he didn’t want to hear about Jess, whenever he’d spoken to his mom, she hadn’t mentioned once that Jess had been hurt whenever she updated him. Considering how close his mom and aunt had become over the years, there was no way the topic of Jess’s stalker and attack wouldn’t have come up.

Unless…

No. Not possible.

“They don’t know, do they? They don’t know anything about what you went through?”

Jess went to the balcony, her arms wrapped around her belly.

Finn suspected she wasn’t seeing the view. He didn’t need her to answer his question. Her reaction told him everything he needed to know.

Would she tell him why she hadn’t told them?

Did she think that they’d blame her for Bartholomew’s actions? There was no way they would’ve done that. Not after everything Poppy had gone through before she and Slick had gotten married.

Finn stood beside her, not touching her, but letting Jess know he was there.

“Dad never wanted me to go to Julliard. He was proud, but worried about me being in New York by myself. You know how dangerous it all is. How could I tell him he was right? How could I let them come and see me in the hospital?”

No matter how hard it would’ve been, there was no way Slick and Aunt Poppy wouldn’t have been at Jess’s bedside the minute she called. Not that Finn was going to discount why she’d done what she had. She’d had her reasons and he’d respect them; just didn’t quite agree with them.

“I don’t believe they would’ve judged you. They would’ve wanted to be with you. Help you heal and be by your side when you went through it all.” Finn sighed and shifted his hand so his little finger brushed against hers. “If you don’t want to tell them, I’ll respect that.”

“Thank you.”

The need to hold her overwhelmed him, and Finn pulled her in for a hug. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of having Jess in his arms.

When they turned up together at his home and at Jess’s parents’, there were going to be plenty of questions.

Finn could imagine his mom’s glitter-lined eyes widening, and a slow smile spreading across her face. He might’ve told her—when his teenage hormones had been zigzagging through his body—that he liked Jess. He’d been mortified afterwards and told her he hadn’t meant anything by it. She’d hugged him and said if it was meant to be, it would be.

Was that why Mom had always included updates in her conversations with him? Had it been her way of fostering a connection between them?

What did it matter?

They were together now, and that was all that mattered.