Brooklyn's Queen: A Spot Conlon Love Story

Chapter 34: Us?

As usual, I woke up pretty early. The sun was barely up. I yawned and opened blinked open my eyes. No sign of Spot in the room. I had my time, and I wanted to see him, I wanted to talk. I was too angry to have a civilized conversation yesterday, maybe he's already up. I slipped on my shoes. The summer mornings were a bit chilly and I put on one of Spot's long sleeve shirts on top of my normal shirt.

I walked outside and I found some boys already up and sitting on some crates. It was McGee, Red, and Duke. I smiled and walked over to them. 

"Heya guy-" I stopped talking once I saw McGee, he sat on the ground in front of the crates . He was battered and bruised. He looked sore, and cuts scattered his face and. He held an ice pack on his face to keep the swelling down. I bent down and touched his face.

"Oh my god. Who... What, what happened?" I asked. 

McGee's eyes didn't reach mine. He just looked to the side, avoiding me. "Nothin' Finn, I's fine."

I scoffed. "Yeah okay, says the one whos beat up on the ground."

I brought my hand back to me and sighed. I knew I wasn't going to get a straight answer at first. McGee pushed through pain as if it wasn't there. He acted like he was never hurt. 

"Finn, jus, don't worry 'bout it, kay?" He sounded pissed off.

I sat up straight and looked up at Red and Duke. Duke motioned for me to follow him. I got up slowly. McGee still avoided eye contact with me. I went over to Duke who now stood a few feet away. 

"Are yous gonna tell me what happened?" I crossed my arms and looked at him.

"Keep walkin' wit me." Duke said. We started down the dock, and he spoke up. "Listen, I's gonna tell ya, but promise yous won't say it was me who told ya, kay?" 

I nodded. 

He turned and pointed at McGee. "If yous do, same t'ing is gonna happen to me." 

I looked at him, confused. "Duke, I's won't say anythin', but please tell me what happened."

Duke sighed and stopped. We were in the middle of the docks and no one was around us.

"Spot, was angry as it was last night from yous two fightin', so he wasn't in a great mood. Eventually, he found out it was McGee who took ya to 'hattan." I saw where this was going already. I buried my face in my hands.

"Oh god." I whispered. 

"Spot ain't a guy to mess around wit. I means, tis ain't the first time he's done this to McGee, but it's the worst I's seen. Guess he was jus in a pretty worse mood than usual, and took it all out on McGee."

"It's my fault, it's all my fault." Tears began to well up in my eyes. "If I's had jus-"

"Hey Finn, yous didn't see this comin'. It's okay, we's understand why yous convinced McGee to bring ya to 'hattan. Yous missed yous family and friends, we get it." Duke came closer and gave me a hug. My face was still covered and I just let him hug me. 

"Whys won't McGee look at me?" I asked. "Is he mad?"

"No." Duke shook his head. "He ain't mad, he understands, and it was him who broke the rules, so he accepts the consequences, he jus doesn't want ya to see him like tis and think it's yous fault entirely." 

"It is though!" I told Duke. I ran my hands through my hair. "Where is he?"

"What?"

"Where's Spot?" I asked again.

"I dunno, took off last night afta, you know." Duke told me.

I took a deep breath. "Any chance yous know where I's can find him?"