The Player's Club: Finn (12 page)

“A month-long vacation? That doesn’t sound like Diana,” George mused. “What, did someone die? Ha!”

“Hard to tell. The secretaries were gossiping about it.” Victor’s eyes danced a little. He seemed to be something of a gossip, himself. “All I know is, Finn’s been calling her, and she’s supposed to be doing some traveling. On the company, apparently.”

“Really,”
George said. “Now, that’s interesting.”

“Is it?” Jonesy noted, sounding bored. “What does this have to do with anything?”

George ignored him, focusing on Victor as a twinge of nerves started quivering in his stomach. “Don’t suppose the secretaries mentioned where she was going?”

“Penny, her assistant, said she got first-class tickets to Colorado, Anaheim and Paris.”

Colorado? Anaheim? Paris?

He suddenly closed his eyes. “Wait a minute. You said that Finn was somehow involved? He’s been calling her?”

“Yes. I figured he wanted her to bail him out of jail or pay off somebody, like usual,” Victor said, with a shrug. “Penny says he’s been flirting with her.”

“Penny says that,”
Jonesy said, snorting. “You two sound like a silly sewing circle.”

“No, this is good,” George said, his mind beginning to rev like a Porsche engine with the needle in the red. “I think I know exactly where this is going, especially for an uptight workaholic. It’s an uncharacteristic change.... I bet he’s recruiting her. Damn it. And Uncle Thorn’s letting him.” George grinned.

“I hate to belabor this,” Jonesy said with irritation, “but
so what?
”

“Uncle Thorn’s trying to shut Finn down by having Diana go in undercover. So the old guy’s finally hitting the end of his rope.” George grinned. “That board position of Finn’s is as good as mine.”

Victor frowned. “If that’s the case,” he said slowly, “why has Thorn also approved remodeling a new executive office for Finn?”

George’s revving brain spun out. “He’s
what?
”

“He’s having one of the big offices on the twenty-eighth cleaned and updated,” Victor informed him. “And he’s having business cards made up for Finn…put a rush on them, I saw the invoices. He wants everything ready by the end of the month.”

George felt his pulse pounding, and couldn’t contain his rage. “What the hell?”

“Still want to follow Vic’s advice and tuck that money back where we got it, Georgie?” Jonesy said, with a cruel smile. “Still want to cruise on that nonexistent salary from the board member job you’re not going to get?”

“No.” George’s hands formed into fists, and he broke the martini glass. Ignoring Jonesy’s curses, he shook the remnants from his fingers. “We’re going to ensure both Finn
and
Diana are cut out of this for good. Victor, here’s what we’ll do....”

FINN TOOK A DEEP BREATH, enjoying the clean, bracing air. He and Diana had taken the flight to Colorado, arrived at the river early that morning, and he’d set up their tents. In the distance the mountains looked like a postcard. Towering evergreens lined both banks of the nearby river. This was her first Player’s Club event—her initiation, rather than one of her challenges—but he thought it would capture exactly what he’d always felt about the Club and taking chances. “You know, I love this,” he said to Diana. “Why don’t I come here more often? We should totally do a Club excursion here sometime soon.”

“Whee.”

He stared at her. She was wearing a neon orange helmet and matching life jacket, and was holding her oar as if she were going into battle, he thought with a grin. She definitely looked like a samurai adventuress, full of grim determination.

At least she wasn’t scared. He recalled one of their recent recruit’s hazing. The guy hadn’t liked heights, but he’d been so willing to change his life that he’d plunged out of the aircraft tethered to Finn. Finn could still remember when the guy’s cursing stopped and he started whooping with glee.

It had changed his life, Finn acknowledged, barely noticing the increasingly choppy water up ahead. That guy, Scott, had since run with the bulls in Pamplona, climbed a pyramid at Machu Picchu, and was happier in his job and his life than he’d ever been. The fact that he was in love with a great woman, who was also now a Player, had only added to Scott’s overall life change.

I’d like to see Diana feel that.
In fact, he’d settle for simply, purely
happy
. He didn’t think he’d ever seen an expression that could qualify as joy cross her exotic face. Of course, he hadn’t known her that long.
Maybe she wears it when she’s writing up business contracts.

Then he remembered the look on her face when they’d been in the locker room at Macalister Enterprises. His body tightened, and he smiled at her. Joy would be fine but he’d definitely like to see passion on her face again. Preferably as soon as possible.

“All right, we’re heading into the rapids. Water’s a little pushy today so we need to watch out,” their trip leader called out. “Everybody remember what we taught you? If you fall out of the boat…”

“Toes to your nose!”
the group called out cheerfully. At least, most of them had. Diana seemed to be muttering something under her breath.

“Right! And then one of us will toss you a line or an oar and get you back into the boat. Now let’s do this thing!”

And with a whoop, they pushed their raft away from the bank and plunged into the thrashing water.

Finn was yelling and grinning, even though it was a baby ride for him, all things considered. He’d pushed it and signed them up for intermediate rapids because she’d said she liked water, and she had only shrugged when he’d told her his choice. He glanced behind him. She was paddling hard, her teeth bared in a growl. Her eyes gleamed black and glossy, and spray covered her face.

Like a warrior goddess.
Pride filled his heart.

Then the boat rocked hard to dodge a boulder. People hollered as if they were on a roller coaster.

“Did you see…” he yelled, then turned.

Diana wasn’t there.

“Diana!”
he called, and scrambled to look over the side of the raft.

“Man overboard!” one of them yelled, and the two instructors moved instantly.

Finn searched the chop frantically, his heart a ball of lead. “Diana!
Diana!
”

Suddenly, he saw the bob of neon orange and his adrenaline surged.

“Stay in the boat, sir. We’ve got this,” the instructor in the back of the boat snapped, and leaned into the river with his oar extended. Diana gripped it and they tugged her toward the raft, helping her as she struggled to get on board.

“You’re okay! You did everything just right,” the instructor said.

She looked pale, was all Finn could think. Her eyes looked wild.

“Oh, my God, are you all right? Did you hurt anything?” Finn asked as she settled back into her place. She wrapped her arms around herself—her oar had gone missing.

“I’m fine.”

He stared at her. She was now fixated on the water ahead. Other than being chilled, perhaps, she seemed almost bored.

“Holy crap, woman, you are made of
steel,
” he said with admiration. The rest of the boat cheered.

She didn’t even crack a smile.

They rode out the rest of the rapids, pulling in at the shore of their campsite. Finn and the others climbed out of the raft immediately. Even for a relatively simple run, the journey had been exhilarating and somewhat exhausting. Diana hadn’t said a word the entire time, though she certainly looked tired.

“You starving? I’m starving,” he said, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Congratulations! You survived hazing!”

She shrugged off his arm and headed for the tent.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. She should be ecstatic, or at least relieved.

She stopped only long enough to stare at him over her shoulder in complete, disgusted disbelief.

“Okay, what are you pissed at
me
for?” he asked, rushing to catch up with her. But then he realized that she seemed to be limping. “Wait a minute, are you hurt? What happened?”

“Just leave me alone, Finn.” Her voice was low and flat. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

He stepped in front of her. “It’s only going to fester if you don’t talk to me,” he said, crossing his arms. “You’re upset. You think I did something wrong. Let’s talk about this.”

She took off her helmet, then drove it right into his stomach. He let out a pained
oof
and grabbed it. Her eyes were murderously dark, her expression one of barely contained rage…and pain.

“I’m not one of your goddamned
Players,
Finn,” she hissed. “I didn’t sign up for this. I’m here because you and your father seem to have some pissing contest and you both don’t seem to care about how
I
feel about participating. So no, Finn,
I don’t think I want to talk about this.
”

Shocked, he watched as she limped to her tent, ignoring the startled looks of their fellow rafters. She zipped the flap shut, then let out what sounded like a scream muffled by a pillow. Then she went quiet.

“What the hell’s
wrong
with him?” Finn heard a woman rafter mutter to her husband. “If she doesn’t like rafting, why did he bring her?”

Finn felt shame lash at him like a whip.

He’d brought her here to prove a point. He’d wanted to show her that if she just moved out of her comfort zone, she could feel free, happy, joyful.

How’s that working out for you, slick?

Diana was about six. She and her mother were…somewhere with a beach. She’d been playing with sand castles, fenced in by the cigarette butts she’d found littered by her mother’s friends. A few of them were big men that laughed with a mean sound—she didn’t like them.

“Why don’t you go in the water?” one of the men said. His laugh sounded like a donkey, and his face was red. He gestured to the lapping waves with his beer bottle. “Come on, honey, you’ll have fun.”

“Go ahead,” her mother insisted.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to. She liked her sand castles.

Her mother walked up to her. She had the crazy-eyes today, Diana thought. She grabbed Diana’s arm, hard.

“Ow!”

“Go in the damned water,” her mother said sharply. “You’re not a baby, and I didn’t bring you out to the beach so you could do shit you’d do at the sandbox at school!”

So she went in the water. It was cold, colder than she was used to, and she started to step out, onto the rocks. They seemed to stab into the bottom of her feet. She looked at her mother, who was finally smiling. She wasn’t going to complain. She wasn’t sure what her mother would do if she complained.

The water was moving quick, quicker than she’d guessed. “Mom…?” She ventured a step back toward shore. The rocks were slippery, slick, and she felt an awful sensation as she fell. The water seemed to lift her. But she couldn’t find her feet, and she couldn’t breathe. Her arms flailed, the water was rushing and dark and her ears pounded and she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t…

DIANA SAT UP WITH A START, gasping, sweating. She rubbed her hand over her face, felt the wet residue of tears.

She was in a tent, she realized slowly. She was camping. Had been white-water rafting. Exhausted, upset, she’d collapsed onto her sleeping bag and fallen asleep.

“Just a nightmare,” she told herself. No doubt it had been triggered by falling out of the stupid boat. She hadn’t thought of that awful trip her mother had taken her on for a long time. They’d gone to the Sacramento River with a bunch of her junkie friends. She’d hoped it would be such a good time, and it had turned horrible. A nearby fisherman had gone in and rescued her, helping Diana cough out the water. As soon as the fisherman left them, her mother had hit her for going in the water.