Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 9

"Yo Tay," Buck called out as he knocked on her door and walked in. "Holy crap," he snorted as he looked at the makeup her new team had slapped on her face. "You look insane."

"I told you so!" Taiya groaned at her team. "Get it off my face, please! What's up, Buck?"

"You might want to get that off quickly. This came for you," he held a note up.

Taiya instantly stiffened. Notes were never a good sign. "What does it say?"

Buck didn't answer her, instead, he walked forward and handed her the note.

Taiya, please meet me in the Gamemaker Conference Room. R

"Who's R?" Taiya asked nervously.

"I don't know. Who'd you piss off this time?" Buck whispered back while her team fluttered around obliviously.

"I don't know," her voice shook as she swallowed. This was not a good time to be getting into trouble.

"Come on," he grabbed her arm softly and helped her up as soon as the makeup was removed. "I'll have her back soon," he told the team.

"But the interviews are in 8 hours! We won't have enough time!" they moaned.

"You'll be fine," Taiya dismissed as she followed after Buck. "Do Tyler and Finnick know about this?" she asked, holding the note up.

"No," he denied. "I thought you'd want to keep it secret until you had more information."

"Thank you, Buck," Taiya sighed in relief. The last thing she wanted to do this close to the Games was to cause Finnick any more stress.

"Hey," he called her back as she walked out of the apartment door. "Be careful Taiya. I'm serious."

All she could do was nod before she stepped into the elevator and descended to the basement, where the conference room was.

Her heart was racing. She couldn't do anything that would endanger Finnick or her life any further. What if Snow had found out about Plutarch's plan?

That's what was running through her mind as she nervously knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice answered from the other side.

As soon as she opened the door, she let out a sob of relief. When she saw who it was, she ran into the room and pulled the man into a hug.

It was Romulus. Seneca's younger brother.

"Oh my god!" she cried as a few tears escaped her eyes. "You're here! It's you!"

"Hi," he laughs softly as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I haven't seen you in so long."

"I know," he nodded as he released her and pulled out a chair for her before he sat down.

"What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you," he ran a hand down his face.

"Are you ok?" she asked. He looked like a mess. Red eyes, untidy hair.

"My wife is pregnant."

"Congratulations," Taiya smiled.

"It's not mine."

"Oh," her eyebrows shot up. "I'm sorry."

"Oh please T. It's hardly a surprise," he gave her a small smile.

"Still. Sorry."

"You got a good score in training, Tay. Well done," he tapped her hand in encouragement.