Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (40 page)

“
Yeah,
I know he didn't do anything
wrong.
In
fact, it's incredibly sweet he did this just to make sure I was okay.
I just wish everyone would stop treating me like a fragile little
girl.” Finlay's last statement hit her rather hard though,
because it was true, she should have told Sean, and for that, she
felt terrible. At first, she hadn't told him because she didn't know
how he was going to react, and since she was fine, she didn't want to
make him worry about something that was no longer a threat.

Finlay
nodded and took a breath of relief. One hard truth had been
delivered, but the hardest one was yet to come. He knew the longer he
delayed telling her, the more angry she was going to be, but on the
contrary, the more drunk she was would counter some of that.

“
Want
te get some air?” By that, Finlay meant,
I've got
something else te tell ye and...this isn't the right place.
Finlay topped off Morgan's glass as he spoke, then finished off the
bottle on his own glass. They'd already gone through two bottles, and
when Morgan agreed, he got another one to take to the courtyard.

“
So...was
Sean hurt that I didn't tell him?” Morgan was beginning to feel
pretty good, and she walked along the thin line of grout between the
tiles as they made their way outside.

“
Aye,
at first.” Finlay took Morgan's glass of wine from her hand so
she could continue her balancing act, and save her wine. “But
he understood.”

“
I'm
mad because people have kept things from me.” Morgan expelled
one loud, defeated, laugh. “I guess I've been pretty selfish.”
She was no more important than Sean was, and how could she expect the
man to tell her every move he made when she hadn't even told him what
happened.

“
Come
'ere, lass.” He took her hand and guided her to an iron and
wood bench under a tall palm tree. Their only source of light was one
lamp in the middle of the courtyard, but Morgan was glad she wasn't
on display to the world. They were also the only people in the back
of the hotel, in the beautiful courtyard.

“
I've
missed you.” She didn't know if it was the moscato speaking or
not, but she knew her feelings were real. Even though Finlay
frustrated her, she missed him in her life.

“
I've
missed ye too, Love.” Finlay wrapped an arm around her back and
pulled her close so he could kiss the top of her head. “That's
why I came here.”

“
Fin...”
Morgan sighed, and sat up so she could look him in the eye. “While
I'm incredibly thankful you are here, you can't do this again. I have
a job to do, and you can't...” She smiled before she could
finish the sentence. “You can't stalk me on a
fookin'
camel through the Moroccan desert.”

“
Aye,”
Finlay agreed and Morgan fell back to his chest in laughter. He
hugged her tightly, and regretted what he was about to tell her.
“Morgan?”

“
Yes,
Fin?”

“
The
wee Aussie called me today.”

“
Tanner?”
Morgan sat up again, and her brows came together tightly. “Why
would Tanner call you?” She scooted a few inches away from
Finlay, suddenly feeling the anger warm over her body once more.

“
Promise
me you'll listen to the entire story before...”

“
Finlay,
what's going on?” She stood, becoming even more furious. More
secrets.
More fucking secrets, from all of you.

Finlay
took her hand in his and met her eyes, Morgan could see the sincerity
and it calmed her just enough to listen. “Promise me you'll
listen before you speak.” He couldn't have her interrupting and
getting angry, she needed to know the entire truth. A few moments
passed, and Morgan finally nodded and sat back down.

“
Carlos,”
Finlay began and he could visibly see Morgan cringe at the sound of
his name. It broke his heart to see her that way, but he had to get
it all out. “He hired a man to find you, to bring you to him.”
Morgan had already known that, but she let Finlay continue as
promised. “When you went to the hospital, I met the hired man;
Mendez.” Morgan nodded, urging him to continue. “I hired
Mendez to take care of Carlos.” Finlay reached down and grabbed
Morgan's wrist and twisted her bracelet around. He found the pheonix,
and read the words aloud. “The sky is clear. Mendez told me,
when the job was done, that's what he would send me.”

“
I
don't understand what this has to do with Tanner?” He was
mostly telling her things she already knew.

Finlay
sighed, knowing the hard part was coming. “I got the message,
and I had assumed Mendez took care of it and that was the end of
it.”
“That's what you've always told me. But there's
more to the story, isn't there? What have you been keeping from me?”
Morgan's eyes welled and burned as tears pooled, then fell to her
cheeks.

Finlay
took another deep breath, and told her something he had kept from her
for a while. “I told Tanner. It was an accident, but I thought
I was talking to Mendez when Tanner called me, and he figured it
out.”

“
You
told him?” Morgan wiped
several tears from her cheeks, but she wouldn't be mad at Finlay for
an accident like that.

“
Aye,
I did. Carlos got away from Mendez, and Tanner and Anthony set out to
find him.” It was getting harder to speak, and Finlay swallowed
hard. “They looked for him for hours and hours, and finally,
they found Mendez. Mendez was confident in himself, and told Tanner
and Anthony that he would be sending me a message stating the skies
were clear when he killed Carlos....that's how they knew. Moments
later, Mendez was shot dead.”

“
Carlos
killed him?” More tears fell from her eyes and she rubbed them
quickly. Finlay nodded. “Then what? Is Carlos still alive?”
She brought her hand up to her mouth in horror. Had everyone lied to
her about that too?

“
No,
Morgan. Carlos shot Anthony, and...Tanner killed Carlos. He then used
Mendez's phone and wrote to me, leading me to believe everything had
gone as planned.”

“
Oh
my god!” Morgan stood and took several paces away from the
bench, then collapsed to the ground. “Oh my god!”
Everything finally made sense. “He...he...killed him
and...Anthony almost...” Her sobs were uncontrollable, as
guilt, relief, anger, sadness all washed over her body. “They
almost died because of me.”

“
Don't
ye fookin' dare blame yerself for any of this, Morgan Holland!”
Finlay stood and walked to her side and pulled her from the ground in
one swift movement. “Ye hear me? Don't!”

“
They...he...”
She wiped her wet cheeks again. Tanner had killed someone for her,
and Anthony almost died. It was too much to process and she couldn't
find the right words. She felt guilty for being angry at everyone for
keeping the truth from her, when all anyone was ever trying to do was
protect her. “Everyone I know gets hurt because of me!”

“
Morgan!”
She broke from his grasp and ran toward the hotel.

“
I
have to call him...I...have to...” She knew she was too drunk
to have that kind of conversation, and her words came out as more
sobbing. “I'm so sorry.” She was sorry to Finlay, sorry
to Tanner, sorry to Anthony. She wished everyone had told her sooner,
but she couldn't be mad at any of them.

Finlay
caught up with her just as she pulled her phone from her pocket and
scrolled through her contacts. “Love, let me have that.”
He tried to gently take her phone but she spun around and clicked the
name she was looking for.

“
Angel!
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I thought everyone was lying...even you..
and I'm just...I'm sorry.” Morgan sat down in a heap on the
hotel patio floor. Finlay shook his head, not knowing how to stop the
train wreck from completely imploding, as he sat next to her. At that
point, all he could do was place his hand on her back and let her get
it all out. The good news was that she chose Angel to talk to, and
not any of the other men involved. She would need a better mindset
for a conversation with Tanner or Anthony.

“
What?
Boo... I don't know what you're talking about, but don't ever
apologize to my ass! You're my best mothafuckin' friend and we don't
ever have to be sorry for any shit we do.” Morgan shook her
head, she had to tell him everything.

“
Tanner
killed him, Angel. And Anthony got shot...but then... Tanner saved
Anthony! And Finlay didn't know, and I didn't know, but Finlay hired
Mendez...but he got shot too!” Angel ran to the bathroom and
slammed the door, this wasn't a conversation for anyone else to hear.
Then again, PoPo was the only one in his presence at the time.

“
Baby
girl, slow the fuck down. My brain is going to hemoglobin all over
this mothafuckin' bathroom.”

“
Hemorrhage,
Angel. I think.” That moment, Morgan smiled. Her smile grew and
her mind tried to stop it. Her Angel made her smile when she didn't
feel like smiling, and that....mixed with the abundance of wine and
love in her heart, made her laugh. She snorted into the phone and
Angel yelled even more. “You called to snot on my fine ass?”
Morgan laughed again, and Angel did what he does best, saved his best
friend. “PoPo got into Skankzilla's cosmetic... he was running
his mothafuckin' nugget in her eye shit...and now he's pacing outside
this bathroom with his wings all spread out looking like a
mothafuckin' gray back gorilla.”

“
Silver
back.”

“
Whatever.
And G Whiz is trying to tell that trick that he'll get her more of
that hideous Disco Silver eye shit, but she's throwing herself a pity
slut party by stomping all over my freshly waxed kitchen floor. You
should hear her clomping around in last year's heels...sounds like a
herd of wildebeats!”

“
Wildebeests.”

“
Whatever.
Who the mothafuck wears Disco fuckin' Silver? Oh, that's right! One
last thundercunt who happens to be marking up my mothafuckin' floor!”

Morgan
fell to her back, holding her side laughing and Finlay grinned as he
moved his hand to her leg. Their friendship was something to admire,
and he was happy that Angel could do something for her that nobody
else could.

“
Now,
if you're done blowing your face all over the mothafuckin' phone, I
have a crises to advertise.”

“
Av...
av.... avert, Angel.” Morgan snorted again and rolled to her
side towards Finlay. “I love you.”

“
Love
you too, bitch. Kisses and shit.”

Morgan
ended the call and sat up, wiping the tears of laughter that had
taken over her tears of sadness. “Oh.. that guy kills me. I
love him.” Finlay laughed as he pulled Morgan closer.

“
Sometimes,
love... we just need to be reminded that we're human. I think your
wee friend is good at doing just that.” He silently thanked
Angel and just sat with Morgan while she got herself under control.

“
Oh,
Fin. I really am sorry. I hated feeling helpless with.......,”
she put her head down, then raised it quickly, “Carlos.”
Finlay nodded once, and his fist tightened at his side at the mention
of his name. “Then, when I knew that those I cared most about
were keeping secrets, I felt like a victim all over again.”
Finlay understood, and squeezed her gently. “But I wasn't. I
was being loved. And... I feel like a shit for being so angry. What
you all did for me... it was... it... I love you all!” Morgan
turned even more and wrapped her arms around Finlay's neck. It was
all she had to say, and all Finlay wanted to hear.

“
You're
loved, Morgan.” He took a slow deep breath, and spoke into her
neck. “I love you.”

“
I
love you too, Fin. I love you too.”

They
were still enjoying their sweet embrace when a text came through to
Finlay's phone. He knew that it could be John with information, so he
told Morgan that he had to check it. She held on to his neck and
nodded. Finlay dug for his phone without letting go of Morgan with
his other hand, and pulled the phone up behind her back. It wasn't
John.