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“That’s too bad.”
“You’re telling me. Guy’s a bear. Better watch yourself. Nothing Finn hates more than being stuck doing nothing in a crisis.”
I should tell him Lorcan fired me. I can’t bring myself to say the words. It’s too much like admitting defeat. Part of me wonders if Lorcan suspects me and if it’s easier to let me walk away than to ask the hard questions. The answers to my questions are equally hard and just as impossible.
“Good to know.” I turn the handle and open the door.
Finn’s watching an MMA fighting program when I enter. He clicks it off and actually smiles at me. He must be bored if he’s happy to see me. “Finally, someone with news.”
“No news I’m afraid.” I give him a partial smile. “Well, that’s not entirely true. This will be my last visit.”
He scowls. “You don’t get to decide that. I do. I pay your salary.”
“Your brother terminated my contract. So I guess you’re not doing that anymore. What kind of severance do I get, anyway?”
“Mydeartháir beagfired you?” Finn’s voice drips with disbelief.
“He did.”
With narrowed eyes, he drums his fingers on the edge of his bed. “Why?”
“Don’t know. He went to track a lead yesterday and came home last night. I saw him this morning. He was getting drunk. I asked if there was anything he wanted me to chase down about the attack on the house, and he fired me.”
Finn’s face morphs from frustration to delight. “Ah, makes sense. You’re rehired.”
“He fired me. Told me never to darken his door again.” Not what he said, but close enough.
“Move your stuff to my wing of the house. Tell him you’re a free agent, and I snatched you up.” He chuckles. “God, I wish I could be there to see his face.”
“This is funny to you?”
“I need to amuse myself somehow.” Finn shrugs. “I’m stuck here. Being able to fuck with my brother while I’m in here is an unexpected bonus.”
“You don’t even know why he fired me.”
He holds up a finger. “I do know.”
“I don’t even know.”
“Then you aren’t that bright.”
I let out a frustrated noise. Pursing my lips, I try to think through moving to his side. It’ll be difficult to avoid Lorcan, but getting closer to Finn might help me slot the missing pieces into the puzzle. If he remembers… “I don’t know.”
“We’ve established that. Not that bright.”
I roll my eyes and give an exasperated sigh. “He doesn’t want me there.”
“I do.” He holds up a hand when I try to speak. “What I want takes precedence over everyone else. Always.”
“You can’t intimidate me. Certainly not from that hospital bed. I can walk if I want to.” That’s mostly true. I’m afraid of him but in a much more abstract way than is good for my survival.
His expression grows dark. “I should scare you, Kim. Most people know better.”
“You make working for you instead of your brother sound so appealing.” Every time he calls me Kim instead of Kimmy, a frisson of unease snakes along my spine. He hasn’t called me Kimmy once since he lost his memory. What does that mean?
“Move your stuff. Lorcan will stomp in here raging. All will be right with the world.”
“He fired me for a reason.”