Badlands: The Lion’s Den(30)

She turned to see Finn looking down at her with a serious expression on his face. Her heart sank.

He gestured for her to follow him, so she walked through the club and down the back hallway with him.

“Finn,” Flora said. “I was not slobbering on that lion. Jennifer is mistaken.”

“She wasn’t mistaken,” Finn said wearily, scrubbing at his face with his hands.

Flora felt her knees turn to water.

“She flat-out lied,” Finn said with deep regret. “I was watching you the whole time, and I saw exactly what happened. She came storming up to me and my brother. She told us you’d been making out with the lion shifter in front of everyone, and demanded that I fire you on the spot and ban you from the Badlands. So I fired her.”

“Because of me?” Flora said with dismay.

“No, because she openly lied to me, and because she attempted to give orders to Liam, who is our pride’s Rex. I should have done it sooner. I heard about how she’s been treating you, and I’m sorry.”

Flora shook her head in protest. “Finn, you should hire her back. I mean, we could just work on different days or something. I don’t want someone to lose their job over me.”

Finn gave her a sad, pained smile. “You’re too good for this place, Flora.”

“That must be why you keep trying to get rid of me,” she said.

He shook his head at that. “I swear I’m not trying to get rid of you.”

“It doesn’t feel like you want me to stay here,” Flora said. “I mean, sometimes it does, but then you immediately start throwing up this wall between us.”

“I don’t want you to leave. I’m just…I’m just trying to work through some things in my head,” Finn muttered, avoiding her gaze.

“Well, when you and your inner voices all come to a decision, let me know,” Flora said, with a flash of anger. “That’s assuming I’m still here.”

She turned and walked back into the club, letting the door slam shut behind her.

* * * * *

It was 7:55 a.m., and Flora had worked until two a.m. the night before. She yawned as she handed over three bags of Starweed and a bag of croissants to Madison. Sam immediately began rooting around in the bag of croissants. Sarah hadn’t come; apparently she wasn’t a morning person.

“Don’t touch them all with your grubby fingers,” Madison said with annoyance. “Pick one!” He crossed his eyes at her and pulled two out, and handed her one. “Finger cooties,” she complained, but took a bite anyway.

“You still didn’t think I would show up?” Flora suggested to Sam.

He shrugged. “Maybe,” he conceded, tearing a piece off a croissant. “Like fifty-fifty.”

“Whoa. We’re really making some progress in the trust department,” Flora said cheerfully. “When it gets to sixty-forty, I’m going to throw a party.”

“We’ve got enough Starweed now,” Madison said to Flora. “And things are getting really bad here. For some reason Ruben’s got his men out searching buildings and businesses. I don’t know what they’re looking for, and I don’t want to find out. Me and my friends have been holed up in a basement since the last time we saw you. We’re going to head out today.”

“If you wait until tomorrow morning, I’ll come with you,” Flora said. “My cousin is a guide who travels around the territory. She just came from Cottonwood. I can ask her to come with us when I see her tonight, or at least tell us the safest way to get there. But either way, I’ll meet you here at ten.”

“If you don’t show up, we’ll go without you,” Sam warned her.

“Oh ye of little faith,” Flora said. “I will be here.”

“By the way, I heard that one of the Hudsons’ employees came over to our side,” Madison said. “A girl named Jennifer.”

Flora felt a pang of guilt over that. She wished that there had been some way that she and Jennifer could have come to terms. If Jennifer was with Ruben now, she doubted the Hudsons would ever let her come back.

As she headed back towards the Hudsons’ territory, she found herself wondering why Krystle had been cagey about what she’d been doing in Cottonwood. Why hadn’t she been drinking any alcohol? Why was she acting all weird around Jose?

Was there something she wasn’t telling Flora?

Flora was a few blocks from the Lion’s Den when Finn came storming up.

“Were you near the bears’ territory?” he demanded. “Have you been fraternizing with the bears?”

Hurt and annoyance flared up inside her. She was trying so hard to be understanding, and she still felt as if Finn had erected the Great Wall of China between them. Every night, she slept alone in Finn’s bed, and he came in after she’d fallen asleep and left before she woke up. He wasn’t acting like a guy who was in a relationship, so what right did he have to ask where she was or what she was doing?