But whether he was or not didn’t change anything. She was still walking away from him. And the thought scared the crap out of him. And Finn loathed feeling scared. Since he never felt fear hanging by his fingertips off a rock face or cliff diving, it annoyed him that a tiny redhead could make him feel this way.
“I wanted you to know before word spread.”
“If the rumor hadn’t gotten out, would’ve you told me?” Finn demanded, his voice as cold as those ice waterfalls he loved to scale.
“I was planning on talking to Ronan after the Mounton-Matthews sale,” Beah replied, straightening.
“You were going to talk to Ronan and not me?”
“I’m talking to you now, Finn.” Beah cursed when her desk phone rang. She ignored the incessant buzz and held his eyes, as if daring him to say something. Anything. Should he? Should he take a chance, persuade her to stay?
The phone stopped and Beah sighed. She opened her mouth to speak and the damn phone rang again. She snatched it up, barked a greeting and then handed the phone to him. “It’s Eli. He says it’s important.”
Nothing was as important as this, as her. Screw Summers. Beah’s place was at Murphy’s, with him. She was his and as soon as he got rid of his caller, he’d set her straight.
“Eli, I’m not taking calls.”
“Finn, it’s me. Ben.”
Finn frowned. He immediately looked at his watch and did a calculation, it was shortly after three in the morning in Hong Kong. Why was Ben calling so late? Oh, God, no.
“Ben, what’s happened? Is it Piper?” Finn’s eyes collided with Beah’s and he watched the color drain from her already-pale face.
“She’s not doing good, Finn.” Ben’s voice broke.
Finn released a long breath and leaned across the desk to hit the button to put the phone on speaker.
“Beah’s with me, Ben. Talk to us, bud,” Finn said, resting his right butt cheek on the desk. “What’s going on?”
“She hasn’t been feeling as well as she was a few months ago. She’s really weak and in pain. I took her back to the oncologist today and she had another scan.” Ben’s voice broke. “It’s spread, the cancer. It’s now in her spine and in her organs. She has less time than we thought.”
And they hadn’t had much time to begin with.
Beah winced and abruptly sat down on the edge of her chair. Finn saw her tears and felt his eyes burning. He tried to speak but the words got stuck in his throat. Jesus, this was why love sucked so much, why it should be avoided. Why loving someone was so damn risky.
“How can we help you, Ben? Is there anything we can do?” Beah asked, her voice steady despite the tears rolling down her face.
Ben took a long time answering. “As you know, we were supposed to fly in soon, we wanted to spend the week before our wedding with you.”
God, he’d forgotten all about their wedding.
“We still want to get married but Piper is too weak to fly. We are just going to have a quiet ceremony here, in our apartment. I’m terribly sorry but I need you to cancel all the arrangements you made.”
Finn swallowed, trying to dispel the hard ball of emotion in his throat. “I can do that. Do you want me to fly out, be at the wedding?”
“Oh, God, yes, please. Piper’s sister is flying in and we’ll invite a couple of our close friends,” Ben said, his voice a croak. “But can you come soon? I want to get my ring on her finger.”
“You tell me when and I’ll move heaven and earth to be there,” Finn told him. No matter what was on his plate, he’d be there if Ben needed him.
“Day after next.”
That soon? Okay, then. “I’ll see you soon, bud.”
Finn disconnected the call and ran his hands over his face. He’d heard the desolation in Ben’s voice and couldn’t believe Piper, young and vibrant, vivacious and bold, had less than a few months to live. How was Ben going to get through this? How was he going to cope?
This was why it was better to hold back from loving someone completely, why it was important to keep Beah at a distance. Because when you lost love, no matter what form it took, it eviscerated you. How stupid he’d been to even think about trying to solidify what he and Beah once had, because love always, always left.
Beah’s hands gripped his biceps and he opened his eyes to look down into her sad, sympathetic eyes. “Oh, Finn. I’m desperately sorry. I’ll make the arrangements for us to fly to Hong Kong, book the hotel, just leave it to me.”