Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter title comes from the song "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine.
"Tanner Howard was released."
Finn stopped short on the way to his desk. "What?"
Blaine sighed and dropped the report on Finn's desk. Clipped to the front of the manila was Tanner Howard's mug shot. His blonde hair was cropped close to his head and he had a long, thin scar running down the hairline on the left side of his face. Finn frowned as he studied the picture.
"It was before Rachel's birthday party," Blaine added. "Will just told me now, though."
Out of all three of the Howard brothers, Tanner was the youngest. He was also the least harmless. Sure, he ran drugs and had a hand in the various prostitution rings, but it was his older brothers that had the assault and murder charges. Really, Tanner had all of the information that could put Blake and Rocco Howard away for a very long time.
Finn flipped the folder opened and took a brief moment to scan the contents. There was a detailed report of Tanner's arrest; they had also managed to get a few of their drug runners as well. They had busted a large deal happening in Bushwick, and Finn's department thought that they could at least put a stop to their operation for a few weeks. They hadn't really planned on Tanner getting released.
"How did he get out?" Finn asked. He shut the folder and dropped down into his chair. This case had been going on for too long, and they just kept waiting for a break in it. Will, Finn, Puck, and the rest of the detectives in their department were done waiting.
Blaine took a seat in the desk opposite of Finn and tapped his fingers against the picture. "Someone paid the bail."
"Someone as in something. And that something is the dirty drug money."
"Exactly."
Finn pushed the folder away from him. He knew this case like the back of his hand—he didn't need to look over it again. He pressed his lips together and looked towards the closed office door of their boss.
"What did Will say?" Finn asked.
Blaine sighed and shook his head. "He's been on the phone with the DA all morning. I don't think any progress has been made, but he's pissed that Tanner is out."
"As he should be." Puck joined his coworkers and dropped into the seat across from Finn. "This is what, the third time Tanner has been put in jail? And like every single other time, he managed to get out. How the hell does this keep happening?" Puck picked up the folder and began to flip through it, hoping that he would find something they might have missed. Like Finn, however, he wasn't holding out much hope. This case had been their lives for over a year now.
Finn propped his elbows up on his desk and pressed his fingers to his temples. He could already feel a headache coming on, and it wasn't even ten in the morning yet.
"We need to arrest all of them at once," Finn muttered.
"Yeah, but how?" Blaine pulled two more flies out—they belonged to Rocco and Blake Howard. "They're very careful about this. They never do any of their work together, and we can't find them when they're not breaking the law."
The door to Will's office suddenly slammed open. He came out with is badge attached to his chest as he clipped his gun into his holster. "Whatever this debate is, we're going to have to save it for later. They found a body two blocks from here. It has the Howard MO."
Finn cursed and jumped up, following the members of his team out of the department building. It was very dangerous for the Howard family to make such a bold move, but that was what they did. They had arrested the younger Howard brother and now they were pissed. They had made their move, and now it was time for the police department to make the next one.
Rachel knew Finn was home because she nearly tripped over his shoes that he had left by the door. She bit back a frustrated exclamation as she kicked the shoes aside. It was always a small point of contention because Finn had a habit of leaving his shoes in the most inconvenient places. She hung her own coat and bag up and situated her shoes in the cubby by the door, making a point of arranging them neatly.
She was, however, surprised not to see that he wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. Walking further into her apartment, the small mystery of where her husband was became solved when she heard the shower running.
Rachel's brow furrowed in concern. Whenever Finn had a bad day at work, he would go stand in the shower for almost an hour, just trying to wash the day away. Sure enough, she found Finn standing under steaming hot water with his head resting against the tile.
Rachel's heart ached for Finn. Finn's job always had some amount of danger, but what Finn hated the most was when something horrible happened to someone else. Finn had such a big heart, and she hated to think that it was getting hurt in any capacity.
Even though Finn hadn't turned around, Rachel knew that he knew she was there. She began to strip off her dress and undergarments, leaving them gathered on the bathroom floor. She slowly slid the door back and stepped into the shower.
She reached out one tiny hand and placed it between Finn's shoulders. The tense muscles in his back relaxed slightly at her touch, but before Rachel even had time to do anything else, Finn had spun around and grasped her hips, hauling her against him.
Skin against skin, Finn tangled his fingers in Rachel's hair and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply. Rachel twined her arms around Finn's neck, straining up onto her tiptoes. Finn brought one hand down Rachel's side and cupped her breast, tweaking her nipple between his fingers. A throaty moan escaped Rachel's lips from where they were pressed against Finn's.
The spray of hot water from the shower had completely soaked Rachel at this point, and her skin slid against Finn's. Amid insistent kisses, Finn removed his hand from her breast and down to her left thigh, lifting it to wrap around his waist. With one smooth motion he slipped into her, causing Rachel to cry out against his lips.
"Oh!" she gasped. "Finn!"
Standing upright, Finn had one had gripping her behind to help keep her leg wrapped around him with the other hand tangled in her hair. His hips moved against hers, and he tilted her Rachel's head back to press his lips to her throat.
Rachel felt as if her legs were turning to jelly. She held onto Finn, her fingers digging into her shoulders. She couldn't stop the loud moans that left her as she desperately pressed herself closer to Finn.
Finn, knowing exactly what she needed, slid his other hand under her thigh and lifted her up. Holding Rachel against him, he spun and pressed her against the shower wall. He grunted when she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him closer and using his support as leverage to move against him.
Finn kissed her hard, his hands gripping her hips so hard Rachel was almost sure there was going to be a mark. But she didn't care—and truthfully, she kind of liked it. Finn moved his lips from hers down her jaw and to her ear, where he tugged on her earlobe with his teeth. Rachel moved against Finn, their hips working in tandem to get them to that place of ecstasy.
"I love you," he breathed into her ear. A whimper broke from Rachel's lips at those words and Finn could feel her tighten around him. His hand slipped between their bodies and his fingers passed over her most sensitive spot. That was all Rachel needed to fall over the edge and into pleasure, crying Finn's name out.
Finn's hips jerked against hers and he groaned her name. He pulsed into her and he dropped his head down onto Rachel's shoulder. He kept Rachel pressed against the wall, supporting her there and let the water cascade over their still joined bodies.
When Rachel finally found the ability to move, she brought her fingers up to card through Finn's wet hair. He turned his head, pressing kisses against the wet skin of her shoulder and neck. His teeth gently nipped at her pulse point, and Rachel felt that heat spread through her again. She didn't think she would ever stop wanting Finn Hudson.
Rachel pushed on Finn's shoulders and he backed up slightly, slipping out of her. He set Rachel on the floor of the shower and she turned around, pressing her hands against the tile. She looked over her shoulder, arching an eyebrow in Finn's direction. His eyes darkened and he reached down to stroke himself. Rachel rubbed her thighs together, craving Finn's touch more than anything.
With one hand on her hip, Finn pressed into Rachel again from behind. "Oooh, baby!" Rachel moaned, dropping her head against the cool tile.
Slowly and deliberately, Finn pumped into her. "Fuck," he groaned. "Rach." He nipped at her shoulder and slid his hand up her side, cupping her breast with his large hand. He squeezed her nipple between his fingers as he moved his hips again, and Rachel slapped her palm against the wall.
Rachel couldn't stop the curse from slipping past her lips. "Fuck!" Her voice was breathless and she grabbed onto the hand Finn still had attached to her hip. He moved slowly behind her, using long, deep thrusts to push her closer and closer to the edge. She was desperate for Finn to move faster, and she shifted her hips back against his. She turned her head, searching for his lips over her shoulder. Finn lifted his head and kissed her hotly, his teeth tugging on her bottom lip. He was turned on even more by his wife's cursing, and his hips started to piston into hers.
The hand on Rachel's breast traveled down her stomach, and his fingers circled her sensitive flesh again. Rachel screamed, her orgasm over taking her. Finn came hard right after her, dropping his head onto her shoulder.
Rachel tried her best to catch her breath, sinking back against Finn and closing her eyes. A beat of perfect silence passed and then Finn slipped out of Rachel. He slowly turned her around in his arms and held her against him, his arms wrapping around her petite body.
Rachel pressed her lips to the center of Finn's chest, resting her hands over the rapid beat of his heart. Finn's hands slid up and down her back, and Rachel tilted her head to look up at him.
"I love you," she murmured.
Finn ducked down to press his forehead against hers. "Thank you," he whispered.
Rachel knew exactly what he was thanking her for. He didn't need to explain what he was thinking, because Rachel always had that sort of connection with him. She slid her hands up to his cheeks, holding his face between her hands. Rachel guided his mouth down towards hers and kissed him tenderly.
The water began to run cold over their heads, and Finn scooped Rachel up into his arms. He deposited her outside of the shower and immediately wrapped her in a towel to ward off the cold. Hand in hand, Rachel and Finn walked into their bedroom, dropped their towels, and climbed into bed.
Rachel settled against Finn's chest and linked their fingers together. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
Finn let out a slow, even breath. He knew what he had been signing up for when he got into this job. Everything had been upfront and clear, so it wasn't as if he had been blindsided. Even so, that didn't mean that it wasn't hard to deal with sometimes.
Finn pressed his lips to the top of Rachel's head. "I am now."
Rachel flipped through the mail she had just retrieved from their box. There were a few bills and a postcard from her fathers, but most of them were coupon clippings from various stores. There was, however, one envelope without a return address—yet it was addressed to Rachel.
Curious, Rachel set the other mail aside and slid her finger under the lip of the envelope. Carefully tearing it open, she pulled a thick sheet of paper.
The first thing Rachel noticed upon unfolding the paper was the tacky magazine cutouts of letters. She arched her eyebrow in distaste, but then her attention was caught by the fact that the letter inside was addressed to her.
Rachel scanned the letter quickly and became even less amused the more she read. It was basically one of those "I'm watching you" letters. It wasn't threatening enough to scare her, but it was intended to spook her just a little bit.
Releasing a heavy sigh, Rachel folded up the letter once again and jammed it back into the envelope. She slipped it into her purse, knowing that it would be the one place that Finn wouldn't look.
Rachel wasn't that concerned about some silly letter, and the last thing she wanted was for Finn to be worried about it as well. He had enough on his plate as it was, and she didn't want to add to it becomes some idiot had decided to cut letters out of a magazine in an attempt to scare her.
While preparing for the musical and with Finn being busy with the case, they simply didn't have time for petty people. So Rachel made the decision to push the letter aside for now. Once things had calmed down, she would tell Finn.
Uh-oh…
