That Girl

Finley gave it three days. Three days of fighting the anxiety building up in her stomach. Three days of pushing Alex away, though that was the last thing that she really wanted to do. Three days of constantly calling her father or Marshall Walker to find out what was going on. Three days of hearing the same old "we have it under control" speech.

Three days of believing that was complete bullshit.

And more than anything, she really wanted to talk to someone about what was going on. But more than that, she wanted that someone to be Alex. And part of her mind was telling her to fuck the rules, talk to someone, what's the worst that could happen? But another part of her didn't ant to risk it, just in case.

But she knew where they were staying. Maybe she shouldn't have intercepted Walker's paperwork to, well, spy on people who had tried to kill her, people who did kill her mother. Maybe she shouldn't have memorized how to get to the foreclosed house five blocks away that they were staying in, but she did. She didn't regret it. She just regretted the time she spent (wasted) waiting to make a move.

Wednesday afternoon, when she got home from school, her heart was racing. She wouldn't be able to deal with herself if she waited any longer. She knew something had to be done, and she wasn't going to sit around waiting for her father and the police to make up their mind. She ignored the texts that Alex was sending her, since she knew she'd talk to him later, and she changed from her school clothes into a pair of black jeans, her combat boots, a black jacket, and a black beanie (one that she had stolen from Alex).

Her palms were sweating as she shoved her phone into her back pocket, next to her house key, before walking down the hall to her father's room. Thankful he wasn't home, she walked slowly over to his closet before pulling out the small little safe that he kept hidden in the back. She could justify breaking into his safe as much as she wanted, but she didn't even want to think about how mad he would be after he found out.

It was something she had to do.

She sucked in a deep breath before entering the combination, one she had known years before to be her mother's date of birth, and sat back on her heels. She was never a fan of guns, but this would have to do. Glancing behind her just to make sure he hadn't snuck in, she pulled out the shiny .22 caliber and an extra clip, tucking the gun into the waistband of her jeans and the clip into her pocket, before shutting the safe and putting it back into his closet.

Finley didn't even care if he noticed something was off. He had been trained to notice details. She just hoped she would have enough time to get to the house and, well, do whatever…happened. Shaking off the fear, she walked out of his room and out of her house.

First things first, she had to talk to Alex.

+

"So… You've been ignoring me all week." Those were the first words out of Alex's mouth when he opened his front door to see Finley standing there.

"I have," she said with a nod.

"Why?" he asked.

Finley shifted from foot to foot. "I need a favor."

Alex paused. "You've been ignoring me because you need a favor?"

She shook her head. "No. I just…need a favor."

Alex nodded slowly, watching her for a minute. "Why do you look like you're going to rob a bank?"

Finley bit her lip, trying not to laugh or smile. She failed.

"Are you going to? Because you know we have to go halfsies on it."

"Sixty-forty," Finley told him.

"You're so generous to give me sixty percent," Alex said slowly.

Finley laughed softly. "That's not what I meant."

"I know."

"So…"

"What kind of favor?"

"Can we…talk inside?" Finley asked.

Alex sighed but shrugged, motioning for her to walk inside.

Finley nodded and bypassed the living room, deciding to walk right up to Alex's room. She wasn't sure if his parents were home but this was a conversation that needed to happen in private. She turned, waiting for Alex to walk in, hoping she didn't trip over her words.

"So…?" Alex prompted, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't exactly mad that Finley had been ignoring him all week--he was almost used to her mood swings. But he was annoyed with her behavior--showing up at his house and asking for a favor. Part of him didn't want to hear her out but, well, a bigger part of him knew that he owed her that…for some reason.

"I need you to cover for me tonight."

Alex frowned. "Cover for you? Why?"

Finley sighed. "Can you please just trust me, Alex?"

"Trust you?" he asked, unable to resist letting out a scoff.

"I know it sounds absurd, trusting blindly, but…please?"

"Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on."

Finley bit the inside of her cheek. "I have business to take care of."

"What kind of business?"

"Alex," she said, shaking her head.

"No, Finley, I need answers. I don't know what the hell has been going on with you this week. We're great Saturday and Sunday. Then Monday comes and we barely talk for three days. Now you're at my house asking for a favor? I need answers. I can't just be at your beck and call, Finley. You have to tell me what's going on," he explained.

Finley let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding, running her hands over her face. "My father and I are in Witness Protection," she told him slowly. "And the guys who are after us finally found us. And I want to finish it. Because I'm sick of running."

Alex paused. "Wait, what?"

+

Alex paced back and forth on Finley's front lawn, waiting for her father to come home. Was he betraying Finley's trust by waiting for her father? Yes. Did he care? Not really. He had a certain mindset that when he found his his pseudo-girlfriend was planning to, well, kill someone that, uh, he needed to tell someone. And her father was the obvious choice. When he saw Robert climbing out of the black towncar, he sucked in a deep breath. Yeah, this was going to be a difficult conversation.

"Hello, Alex," Robert greeted with a short nod.

"Mr. McAdams," Alex said, returning the nod.

Robert tucked his cell phone into his pocket, eyeing the teenager up and down. "Are you here for Finley?"

"Um, I am not," he told him. "I actually saw her earlier."

"Oh?"

"I did. Um, I'm here to talk to you," Alex said.

Robert nodded. "I see. And what do you want to talk to me about?"

Alex sucked in a deep breath. "Finley told me everything."

Robert's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

"About the…Witness Protection stuff," he said in a stage whisper, just so he could be heard over the crowd but not too loudly. Because, well, in suburbia anyone could be listening.

"Inside. Now," Robert instructed, walking up the steps to the house, unlocking the door, and allowing Alex to enter first. He shut the door behind him before pointing towards the couch. "Explain."

Alex nodded. "Finley came over earlier and asked me for a favor. I told her no unless she told me what was going on. She told me about her mother and these guys that are after you or something--"

"It's not an 'or something' situation, Alex, we do have people after us," Robert told him. "What else did she say?"

"She said something about unfinished business, that she knew where they were. She said she was going to take care of it because she was tired of running," Alex told him.

"Son of a bitch--"

"I know I shouldn't have betrayed her trust and told you but--"

"She's a fucking idiot," Robert muttered, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing Walker's number.

"I'm sorry," Alex repeated.

"Don't be," Robert told him. "Walker? We have a problem."

+

Finley's heart was pounding as she turned the corner, the abandoned and foreclosed house finally coming into the view. Her mind had almost been trying to talk her out of it the entire way there, but she wasn't going to turn back. She wasn't a quitter, and she was tired as hell of running from everything. She didn't know if asking Alex to cover for her was a bad idea, but that was the furthest thing from her mind as she approached the house.

Sucking in a deep breath, she creeped around to the back of the house. One of the windows was busted in, though she wasn't surprised, she was thankful for such an opportunity. As quietly as she could, she hoisted herself through the window. Stepping down, she hit a shard of glass, flinching when it cracked under her weight. Hoping the sound wasn't too loud, she set her other foot down and took another deep breath.

The hard part was over.

Taking her time, she walked through the house slowly, waiting to hear any sign of life or movement. She stopped before every turn, peeking around the corner first before moving. She frowned when she reached the kitchen--there was no way no one could be there. She hadn't exactly planned for that. She went to turn around when she heard a gun click and she sighed.

"I don't think coming here was a good idea, kid."