Page 140 of The Off Limits Captain
Finn’s shoulders drop half an inch. “Yeah.”
I stay near the door.
Evan is in the hallway behind me. He has been there long enough to understand the shape of what is happening.
Low: “Hayes would care about this.”
I look at the training room. At Finn’s back. At Maren’s careful hands. “Finn isn’t material.”
“Didn’t say he was.”
I walk out because the room needs to be between Maren and Finn and not me.
Evan falls into step beside me.
“What are you going to tell Silas?”
“Medical is handling it.”
“And Peyton?”
I say nothing.
Evan makes a sound. Not judgment. Something closer to patience running out.
I find Peyton twenty minutes later outside the south service entrance.
Not inside, not credentialed, not past the public sidewalk this time.
She stands just beyond the concrete overhang with her coat pulled tight and her notebook tucked under one arm, talking to a man I recognize from equipment. Another former staffer. Gone before the season started. The man sees me through the glass doors, says something quick, and leaves without looking back.
Peyton stays.
I push through the door into the cold.
“You are not supposed to be here.”
“I am on public sidewalk.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is becoming our tradition.”
The old rhythm flashes between us and dies just as fast.
Her face is thinner than the last time I saw her up close. Tired. Guarded. Still too steady when I need her to make this easier by being wrong.
“Are you writing about Finn?” I ask.
Her eyes sharpen. “What happened to Finn?”
I stop.
So does she.
“I did not know,” Peyton says.
“You expect me to believe that?”
