Finn

by Holly C. Webb

  “I know you are,” Landen replied with a sad smile. “And you don’t need to apologise, just please, don’t shut me out.”

  “I promise,” Finn replied.

  Suddenly his phone beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out, knowing he wasn’t supposed to have his phone in the ICU, but he was waiting for words from the hearing that was supposed to be taking place that morning.

  Finn looked at the screen, and when he saw the Dean’s name flashing on the screen, he knew the hearing was finished. He took a deep breath then began to read the text, as a sudden sickening feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.

  “What is it?” Landen asked when he looked up to see the expression on his brother’s face. “What’s happened?”

  “It’s from the Dean,” Finn said as he read through the message again and again. “The hearing for the student that was giving Emmy a hard time was on this morning.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot about that,” Landen replied. “How did it go?”

  “It seems that she had made an allegation against me,” Finn sighed as he looked up from his phone, staring at his brother. “I have been summoned to the Dean’s office this afternoon.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Landen exclaimed. “Is this some kind of sick joke.”

  “Apparently not,” Finn said as he handed Landen his phone. Landen quickly read through the message, then handed it back to Finn before he pulled his own phone from his pocket.

  “Amelia,” Landen said into the phone, surprising Finn. “I need you to come to the hospital to sit with Emmy. I’ll explain when you get here.”

  Landen said his goodbyes, then hung up the phone.

  “What are you doing”? Finn asked giving Landen a confused look.

  “You’re not going down to that college alone,” Landen insisted.

  “I’m not going down at all!” Finn exclaimed feeling a little surprised that Landen believed that he would. There was no way he was leaving Emmy, not for any reason in the world. “What is the point, it’s all a lie anyway. Besides, what if I leave, and she wakes up?”

  “You have to go to talk to the Dean,” Landen replied, and Finn could hear the determination in his voice. “If you don’t you will lose your job.”

  “I don’t care about my fucking job!” Finn exclaimed, he too was determined, but he was determined that he wouldn’t be going to any meeting, or anywhere that would take him away from Emmy.

  “If you want to walk away to be with Emmy,” Landen insisted, and Finn could see he meant business. “Or you lose your job for having a relationship with Emmy, then it was worth the risk, but I refuse to stand by and allow you to lose everything because of some jealous, spoiled, vindictive girl who is telling lies about you.”

  “She can say what the hell she likes….” Finn began to argue, but Landen cut him off.

  “But don’t you care what Emmy thinks?” Landen asked, pinning him with a glare that said he knew what he was saying was the truth. “How do you think she will feel when she wakes up knowing you threw everything away because of her, that you let that girl, the girl who has made her life a living hell, destroy your life too?”

  “Landen, I can’t leave her,” Finn said, but in his heart, he knew that what his brother said was true. If Emmy woke and found that he let Poison Ivy ruin his life because he wouldn’t leave her, she would never forgive him, nor would she be able to forgive herself.

  “I don’t think you have a choice, Finn,” Landen sighed. “I know this is the last thing you need right now, but this isn’t going to go away simply if you ignore it.”

  Finn turned and looked down at Emmy, releasing a long sigh. He knew that Landen was right, and there really was no way else to deal with this.

  Fucking Poison Ivy! Finn thought to himself, miserably. Why was she even doing this, what was she going to gain from any of it?

  “And you’ll come with me?” He asked as he looked back at his brother.

  “You bet your ass I am coming with you,” Landen replied with an air of defiance. “There is no way I’m standing by and allowing this bullshit to happen. This girl is going to be sorry she ever heard of Professor Finn Murphy by the time I’m finished with her. Besides, you go and talk to him yourself, in your current mood, giving everything that is going on, you’re more likely to say something that will make things worse, instead of better.”

  Finn hated that this was actually happening, but he knew that if anyone could short this out for him, it would be Landen. He knew that there was none better than the Bulldozer to shut down the likes of Shelby Cooper Smith.

  Twenty minutes later, Amelia arrived at Emmy’s room, with a worried look on her face. Landen quickly explained to her what was going on. Finn asked that she didn’t tell the rest of his family what was going on at least until he knew more himself.

  Finn then leaned down, softly kissing Emmy's lips.

  “I will be back as soon as I can,” he whispered to her as if she could hear what he was saying. “I love you, Emmy.”

  He kissed her once more before he reluctantly followed Landen out of the room.

  “Remember,” Landen said as he and Finn walked along the hallways of Stanford University, heading towards the Dean’s office. “Let me do all the talking. You don’t know what the accusation is, but if it’s anything to do with you and Emmy, it’s up to them to prove what this girl said is true, it’s not your job to prove it’s not.”

  “I know,” Finn said as they made the way to the outer office of the Dean’s office.

  “Professor Murphy,” The Dean’s assistant said when she saw him and Landen walking into her office. “I will let the Dean know that you’re here.”

  “Thank you,” Finn replied before he and Landen took a seat outside the office. He hated being there, and away from Emmy, but he knew the sooner he dealt with this bullshit, the sooner he could get back to Emmy’s bedside.

  A few moments after they had arrived, the door to the Dean’s office opened, and Dean Webber stepped out through the door. He froze momentarily when he saw Landen, and Finn knew that he was a little thrown that he had arrived with a lawyer. Also he knew that the Dean would be aware of Landen reputation, and this would have scared him too.

  “Finn,” The Dean said with a smile, before his gaze dropped down to the plaster on Finn’s wrist. “So good to see you’re okay after such a horrible accident. I hear Ms. Warner is not doing quite so well.”

  “She’s in serious condition,” Finn replied, as he had to fight to keep a tight rein on his emotions. They both followed the Dean back into the office, where they all took their seats. “But my brother, who is one of her doctors, informs me that her medical team is hopeful she will wake up soon.”

  Finn hated talking about Emmy like she was not the most important thing in the world to him, but he knew that this was not about Emmy, and the last thing he wanted to do was drag her into his mess.

  “I’m curious though,” the Dean said, as he took off his glasses, setting them down on his table in front of him. “How Ms. Warner came to be in your car.”

  “My mother was close friends with Alison Hagen,” Landen spoke before Finn had the chance to. “Though I’m sure you’re already aware of that fact. When my mother heard that Ms. Warner was in my brother’s class, she insisted that Ms. Warner join my family for dinner. My brother was simply driving the girl home as a favour to my mother when the devastating accident occurred.”

  “I understand, Mr. Murphy,” the Dean said, glaring at Landen. “Nobody is accusing your brother of anything inappropriate.”

  “Then why are we here, Dean Webber?” Landen asked, not missing a beat, as he gave the Dean a questioning look. “Because from what I gathered, from the text message my brother received, that is exactly what had happened. And may I say, how unprofessional you were to contact him in such a manner, what if someone else had read that message, instead of Finn?”

  “Mr. Murphy,” the Dean said as he picked up his glasses, pushing them
back onto his face before he shuffled through the paperwork in front of him. Finn knew that Landen had the Dean rattled. “I simply invited my colleague to my office to discuss this matter. There was certainly no need for him to bring his hotshot lawyer with him.”

  “Firstly, Dean Webber,” Landen continued with a smile, and it was clear Landen knew he had the Dean rattled too. “This is a very serious allegation being leveled at my brother. You say this is informal, but yet you insisted he come down at once to talk to you, even though he was on leave after a very serious road accident, in which one person died, and another is left fighting for her life. My brother too has sustained injuries, including a concussion, so he is in no fit state to come down here and defend himself from these libelous, and utterly false claims. Then you insinuate that there was something improper going on between my brother and Ms. Warner, based solely on the fact he was giving her a ride home on the evening of the crash. Surely, he isn’t the only professor who has given a ride to one of their pupils in the history of the school. In fact, I can recall Alison Hagen dropping me home on more than one occasion as she was going to visit my mother. I also recall one occasion where you dropped me home too. Does that imply that there was something inappropriate between you and me?”

  Finn had to fight the urge he had to laugh. He knew Landen was good, but he had never had really seen him in action.

  “Not at all,” the Dean spluttered as he shuffled around his paperwork once more.

  “Then may I suggest we get to the matter at hand, Dean Webber,” Landen suggested. “I would like a copy of the official allegation made by Ms. Cooper Smith, against my brother. I would also like a copy of the transcript of the hearing that took place today.”

  “What has today’s hearing got to do with this matter?” Dean Webber asked.

  “It has everything to do with it!” Landen exclaimed as he pinned the Dean with a look. “This girl was in front of a committee, facing a serious allegation of harassment towards another student. Firstly I think this stands to the character of this girl. Secondly, she accused my brother of inappropriate behaviour during the course of these proceedings. I need to know what led to this accusation taking place and if it was recorded in the minutes, as they are untrue allegations. Because while my brother will be cleared of any wrongdoing, any mention of them in any official capacity could tarnish his good name, and in turn the name for your school for years to come.”

  “Very well,” The Dean sighed, knowing that Landen was right in what he had said.

  “Now,” Landen said, as he sat forward in his chair. “Can you tell me, in your own words, what this, young lady, has alleged my brother has done?”

  Finn sat there, listening to the Dean.

  “Ms. Cooper Smith said that on the night of the thirty-first, after the incident at the party, she was asked to leave, and she did so alone,” Dean Webber explained. “While she was walking through the campus, Finn stopped and offered her a lift back to her dorm, but instead, he took her to his home, where he forced her to have intimate relations with him.”

  “She said I raped her!” Finn exclaimed, feeling sick to the pit of his stomach.

  “Well she didn’t say you raped her as such,” the Dean clarified. “She said you pressured her into it.”

  “Is that not the same thing?” Finn asked, completely stunned that this girl would even say a thing like this. He opened his mouth to argue with the Dean further, but Landen touched his arm stopping him before he said another word.

  “What proof does this girl have that this event even happened?” Landen asked, giving the Dean a questioning look. “I mean other than her say so.”

  “None,” the Dean sighed. “But if Finn could provide us with an alibi for the night in question…”

  “AN ALIBI!” Landen exclaimed as he stood up. “Are you accusing him of actually doing this…this ridiculousness?”

  “Mr. Murphy,” the Dean said, taken back my Landen’s anger. “This is a serious matter, and as the head of this university it is my duty to investigate such allegations.”

  “Oh come on, Donald,” Landen snapped back. “You know as well as I do that this is a crock of shit. This girl is about to be kicked out of this university, she is just trying to take as many with her as she can. If this were any other student, you would have dismissed this allegation as nothing more than spite, but because who her father is, you’re entertaining this crap. And it doesn’t matter to you that if you do go ahead with this bullshit, and my brother is found innocent, the mud will already have been thrown, and mud sticks.”

  “I don’t like what you’re insinuating here, Landen,” Dean Webber said as he too stood up.

  “And I don’t like the fact you’re throwing my brother to the wolves because you don’t have the balls to stand up to Ms. Cooper Smith, or her father’s money,” Landen shot back. “Be very careful how you proceed here Dean, because if you do drag my brother’s name through the mud, I will nail this University to the cross, and then I will burn it down for good measure.”

  Without saying another word, Landen turned, walking to the door of the office, as Finn turned and followed him out too.

  Neither of them said a word until they were out of the building and on their way back to Landen’s car.

  “This is bullshit, Finn!” Landen exclaimed angrily as they walked side by side.

  “I really don’t have the time or the energy to be dealing with this right now,” Finn sighed as they reached the car.

  “What were you doing Halloween night?” Landen asked as he stopped to look at his brother. “Because as bullshit as this all is, you may need to account for your whereabouts.”

  “You don’t think it will come to that, do you?” Finn asked giving Landen a worried look.

  “I don’t know,” Landen said, then gave Finn a worried look. “Why. Where were you Halloween night? We had the party that night, but you didn’t show up.”

  “I was in the library,” Finn replied, knowing that Landen was not going to like that answer he was about to give him. “On my way through campus, on my way to your place, I saw a girl sitting at a bus stop, crying. I didn’t know it was Emmy until I got out of my car. She was so upset over what Shelby had done; I couldn’t just leave her there, so I took her home.”

  “To her house?” Landen asked hopefully, but from the look on his face, he already knew the answer.

  “I took her to my house,” Finn replied.

  “Fuck, Finn,” Landen exclaimed as he pushed his hands through his hair. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with her that night.”

  “What! No!” Finn exclaimed. “She was upset and wearing this ridiculous costume. I took her home, I let her shower, gave her some clothes, then we talked until she fell asleep. She spent the night on my sofa, but nothing happened. I swear to you.”

  “Jesus!” Landen replied then laughed with sheer frustration. “Only you could do something so caring and sweet but get yourself into a shit storm of trouble for it.”

  “I won’t tell them about that night,” Finn insisted. “I won’t tell them about Emmy and me.”

  “You might not have a choice,” Landen told him, with a sigh.

  “If I say I am having a relationship with Emmy, I will get a slap on the wrist, Landen,” Finn explained to his brother. “But she could be kicked out of school. I will not throw her under the bus.”

  “Finn, this girl is practically accusing you of rape,” Landen said, trying to make his brother see sense.

  “I will not drag Emmy into this,” Finn repeated, knowing that his brother didn’t understand. He blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Can you just take me back to the hospital, please? This conversation is over.”

  Before Landen could say another word, Finn climbed into the passenger seat, slamming the door closed. He knew things were bad, but right at that moment, he just wanted to get back to Emmy and forget about everything else.

  Chapter 22

  When Finn reached the hospital, he was relie
ved to be back with Emmy finally. When he walked into her room, Amelia looked up and gave him a sad smile.

  “Is there any change?” Finn asked as he walked to the side of the bed, taking hold of Emmy’s hand.

  “Not really,” Amelia said as she watched Finn closely before she turned to Landen. “Is everything sorted?”

  “Not really,” Landen sighed. Finn knew his brother was concerned about him. “But I will take care of it.”

  “What’s going on?” Amelia said as she looked from Landen back to Finn. “What did this girl say you did?”

  “Nothing that matters right now,” Finn said, refusing to discuss it any further, much to Landen’s annoyance.

  “Finn, we need to talk about this,” Landen insisted, but he words fell on deaf ears. “I know you’re worried about Emmy, but if she were awake right now, I’m sure she would tell you that you needed to protect yourself.”

  “Well she’s not awake right now, Landen,” Finn sighed as he looked up at his brother. “And with all due respect, you don’t really know her, so you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “I know that if she loved you, she would never let you do this,” Landen replied, but Finn didn’t answer.

  “Okay, now you guys are scaring me,” Amelia said, clearly having no idea what was going on. “You need to tell me what’s happening, right now.”

  “Finn is being an asshole,” Landen said angrily, as he glared at his brother.

  “Why don’t you go get the hell out, Landen?” Finn shot back refusing to be drawn into an argument with him about this.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Dylan said as he hurried into the room. “I could hear you two down the corridor. Do I actually need to remind you idiots that you are in the ICU or, should I just call security?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Landen said to Dylan, but he kept his eyes fixed on Finn. “I’m going because I need to try to figure out how to save his stupid ass.”