Page 70 of The Moment He Couldn’t Walk Away

He looked at Red, who was beside him, but the big man was pouring four drinks with one hand and a glass of wine with the other, not even glancing at what he was doing.

“Ryder! You want to do Doc’s Peachy Keen?” he called over the noise.

“Do I look like I got nothing going on?” the man roared back from down the bar while pouring a glass of wine for his mom, clearly as pissed off about being here as Finch was.

“I have something for you, Finch,” Dr. Hannah said, swinging her large bag onto the bar and opening it. “It will help with the headaches.”

His eyes were starting to ache, as the lights were doing that thing where they pulsed at the edge of his vision, and he was about to tell Red he was done. Surprisingly, his head wasn’t hurting too badly so far, which was a good sign, given the noise and the low thump of bass from the speaker.

When he’d walked in here, the place had been empty other than Red restocking and singing along to the Christmas music that was now playing all over Lyntacky. The large pink breasts hanging from the ceiling had caught his eye first. He’d never seen anything like them before, and he’d seen a lot in his life.

“It’s like girls’ night turns them feral,” Ryder muttered from behind him now.

“You owe Red a favor too?” Finch asked.

He nodded. “We need to be more aware of that because he’ll come for us again,” Ryder added, grim-faced.

“We do,” Finch agreed. “The man is cunning.”

“And then some.”

“These,” Dr. Hannah said finally pulling something out of the bag she’d been rummaging through. “Blue light glasses. They’ll help. I went by your place on the way here, but Hamish told me I’d find you at the Rollaway.”

She held out the glasses.

“I don’t need glasses.”

“They’re to stop the light affecting you. Try them.”

“Do I have to?”

“Don’t be pathetic,” Dee said, stepping up beside him and taking them from Dr. Hannah’s hand before he could object again. “And they say women are vain.” She then opened the glasses and slid them into place on his face before Finch could stop her. “Nice. They almost make you look intelligent.”

Keeping his eyes on the woman’s face and not the breasts which were on display due to her low-cut top and red lace bra, Finch noticed everything suddenly felt softer and less invasive. The colors were muted, if that was even possible. The fairy lights dimmed from a migraine-inducing white to something almost bearable.

“I chose the tortoiseshell and a larger frame, as you have a big head⁠—”

“Never a truer word spoken, Doc,” Ryder interrupted her.

Finch raised a middle finger, which he hid with his other hand so Dr. Hannah didn’t see it, at Ryder. As he looked around the room, the ache in his eyes eased. Suddenly everything felt like it was dialed down a notch.

“Better?” Dr. Hannah asked.

He didn’t want to wear them or admit he felt better for wearing them, but since he was an adult, he would confess she was right. “They’re helping. Thanks, Doc.”

“Good, now make my drink. I’ve got dancing to do.”

She told him what to pour into the shaker and how much, watching his hands the whole time like she expected him to get it wrong. When she took her first sip, he waited until she smiled. “Good boy. It’s perfect, except for the garnish.”

“I got you, Doc.” Red dropped a lime twist and a wedge of peach into her glass without being asked. “Glasses look good, Finch.”

Ignoring Red, he rang it up and even worked the card reader without asking anyone for help this time, which felt like its own small victory. After the doctor had walked away, he looked for Nina again and found her out on the dance floor this time, between two high-top tables that had been shoved aside for the night.

She was laughing, head tipped back, looking happier than he’d seen her since her mom died. She did a shimmy with that fine ass that had his body reacting before his brain caught up, so he turned away and busied himself wiping down a countertop that didn’t need wiping.

“Do they help?” Ryder asked, nodding to his face.

“Yeah. How do they look?”