Page 53 of Anchored to the Storm

“You understand the levity of this now,” Kristen said quietly. “The enormity of it. How placing any of you in additional danger isn’t an option.”

“But we need him.” We needed him to stop the boys from killing the pastor…

“And I’m sure he misses you all, but he’s in a battle of his own. Who adopted him⁠—”

“Styx,” I cut in, too emotional to remember I wasn’t supposed to speak that name until Finn looked at me with the widest eyes. Oh shit!

Seeing Finn’s reaction, a clear sign I had ‘spilt the beans’, Kristen’s jaw tightened. She told me, “See, that’s how naïve you are. You are clueless about how to handle all this. That’s a name I’ve never heard until now.” She chided, “Johnny’s family has been doing all they can to shield him from leaving any trails, yet you dare to open a possibly dangerous one.”

Finn’s mind began to race. His questions told me so. “Kristen, why was Johnny suddenly adopted? Is it due to this ‘danger’? Is it… already here?”

I glanced up at his face, marveling at his logic. I never thought of that.

He added, “Kristen, do we need to be watching our backs?”

Elbows on the table, she clasped her hands and stared at us.

Timidly, I asked, “Kristen?” We already had shit to worry about. Were we also in danger because of Johnny’s past?

She finally admitted, “I was told all danger would follow him.”

Finn suddenly growled, “Is that why Johnny killed the drunk driver?”

What? I leaned away from Finn as if he were about to explode! “What are you talking about?”

Kristen’s eyes slid shut.

Finn ignored me and told Kristen, “Give. Us. A. Chance.”

My mind felt like it was melting, and my ears were falling off my head. I was… imploding. Caleb’s murderer is dead?

“There’s a number I can call,” Kristen surrendered.

You have a number?

As if all energy had been drained from her, she tapped on her phone. The name River was all I could see.

I swayed in my seat, numbly asking, “Who’s River?”

She exhaled heavily as she tiredly got up from the bench. “I don’t know.” Then she walked away, phone to her ear.

Too far away to hear her whispers into the phone, I was dumbfounded when she got back and lied, “Wrong number.” She sat back down as if she’d just gained a thousand pounds.

Finn didn’t question her about the lie. He only asked, “If you didn’t think we were in danger, why were you worried about us getting in danger?”

Her shoulders hung and her face almost drooped. “If bad people think you have info they want—” She, not moving an inch, stared at him.

My spinning mind raced me back to the night Blue died. When we were riding in Bertha, Sebastian insisted Johnny be real with us. In return, Johnny had yelled, “All of you being beaten to death to get info on me!”

Finn swallowed. “They torture you.”

Oh my God.

I fainted.

I woke up on the way home. I was buckled in the passenger seat that was laid back. Finn was texting on his phone. With barely any energy to open my mouth, I teased, “I’m telling Harmony you’re texting and driving.”

Not stopping the illegal act, he grinned. “Welcome back, beautiful.”