Best Friends, Tennessee (Hard Spot Saloon #1)

9. Ori

9

ORI

Just when you think it can’t… Tennessee pulls a fuckin 180 and surprises the hell out of you.

Thomas rolled his car to a stop outside Finn’s house.

“I’ll let you know what my friend says about that volunteer spot,” Thomas told me, giving me a nod from the driver’s seat. “He said it’s one of the best art museums in the state.”

“I’d kill for a position there,” I told him. “Thanks, Thomas.”

Thomas and I had gotten dinner and talked all night about working in the art world. It turned out that Thomas knew a handful of artists, and one of them worked at a small museum about 45 minutes from here.

“I’ll highly recommend you,” Thomas said. “Have a good night, Ori. Try not to have nightmares about espresso machines.”

“I’ll try my best.”

I got out of the car, shutting the door behind me as I stepped onto the sidewalk.

The light from Finn’s windows glowed in the humid night air, casting pools of light onto the front lawn.

That meant Finn was still awake. Usually he was never awake this late, around eleven o’clock on a work night.

I hadn’t been avoiding Finn by going to hang out with Thomas tonight, but I’d been…

Letting things cool off.

Letting us take a breather, maybe, after our kiss in the bar.

Maybe I was the one who needed it most.

Usually when Finn showed any amount of emotion, he regretted it and got embarrassed afterward. He’d certainly gotten embarrassed after our night outside, and I knew I had to give him a moment to himself afterward before we could joke about him being the “Cumshot King.”

Today was no different.

We’d had our space, now. Finn would bro out with me, the same as he always did, now that we’d gotten some time and space.

I hoped, at least.

Because I didn’t even know if I could handle the emotion that had come out of nowhere at the bar.

I plodded across the grass, where the mud had finally hardened into something more walkable. The sound of crickets was louder than ever. Finn’s house looked like it was straight from a set: Tennessee bachelor fixes up a small bungalow.

I opened the door and walked into… country music.

Loud country music.

Some song about being lonesome, which I swore was the topic of half the country songs I heard.

Finn definitely wasn’t asleep. He had a pretty good set of speakers in the living room, and the whole house was filled with the music. I kicked off my shoes and rounded the corner of the entryway.

I found him in the living room, his figure framed by the low glow of the table lamp. He had a glass of whiskey in one hand, singing along to the song like he was doing home karaoke.

He looked like the star of an old movie, his tan skin radiant in the light.

“Past your bedtime,” I said.

When he turned to me, I could already tell he’d been drinking for a while.

The front of his shirt was completely unbuttoned. I glanced over his muscled torso, the V-shape at the bottom that led down to his belted blue jeans.

“Welcome back,” Finn said, his voice low. Even he had a bit more of a drawl when he’d been drinking, and it was out in full force.

“Bad day at work?” I asked, pulling off my jacket.

“Wasn’t a great one,” he said, his eyes fixed on mine. He brought the glass of whiskey to his lips, sipping a much larger amount than he probably needed right now. “How about you? Did you have some drinks tonight, too?”

“Not tonight,” I said, squinting at him. “What is up with you?”

Since he’d kissed me at the bar, I’d been dreading a night like this.

When Finn’s life didn’t go as planned, sometimes he would self-sabotage a little. He was usually pretty good at regulating his life, but when something bothered him, it could come out in weird ways.

He shrugged, then finished the short glass of whiskey and put it down on the coffee table. He sang another few lines of the country song, then sighed, putting his hands behind his head and stretching.

The way the unbuttoned shirt draped around him only served to make his chest look broader than usual.

He’d grown into a man while I’d been gone. A man with a house, a career, and a whole life ahead of him, at only twenty-four years old.

“What’s up with you? ” he volleyed back at me. “And Thomas?”

Heat stirred in my chest.

Oh, it’s on , I thought, getting the same inklings I always got before Finn and I were about to fight.

“Believe it or not, Finn, I do actually have the capacity to make friends who aren’t you, these days,” I said. “If you have some problem with Thomas, you shouldn’t. He’s actually a really nice guy.”

“I’m not arguing with that,” Finn said. “Not at all. I’m happy for you to have good people in your life.”

I watched him. “Were you at home drinking alone all night?”

“I was at the Hard Spot, with Danielle,” he said pointedly. “I also have friends other than you.”

A new song came on and Finn walked off toward the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of orange juice this time.

I followed him in, but he wouldn’t look at me.

“I’m touring two more rentals next week, okay?” I told him. “It isn’t my fault the first one had mold and the other one went to an old lady instead. I’m trying my best to get out of your house, but for now, can we at least be civil?”

“Since when do you want to be civil?” he said.

I felt like we were taking ten steps backward.

For the first time in years, I’d felt close to him the other night at the bar. When he kissed me it showed me that he was willing to go the extra mile to make me feel like I wasn’t the odd one out here in Bestens anymore.

Now he was being colder than ever.

“Fine,” I said. “If you want to go back to me leaving you alone and us acting like we barely know each other, then we can do that.”

I turned and started to walk out of the kitchen.

“Take that back,” Finn said.

I paused, turning back to look at him. His eyes were smoldering.

“Why should I take it back?”

“I saved your ass from being beaten to a pulp by Aaron’s dumb ass the other night.”

“There’s that ego of yours,” I told him. “I wouldn’t have let him beat my ass, and you know it. I already told you that I was grateful you were there for me, but I don’t need to be saved.”

“Forget about saving you,” he said, furrowing his brow at me. “You don’t even want to be helped.”

“Because I’m not looking for help ,” I said.

Immediately I realized how dumb it sounded.

I was standing in his home.

He really was helping me, more than he needed to, by letting me stay here.

My heart rate ticked up.

After a silence that was long enough to piss me off even more, Finn finally spoke.

“I’m glad you’re hitting it off with Thomas,” he said. “That’s all I want you to know. I hope you guys end up married. Hell, I hope you have the perfect life and you whisk him off to LA or New York and you never have to suffer through living around here again.”

“Just because you had a shitty day doesn’t mean you have to act jealous that mine was good,” I told him. “I had a great time with Thomas. We grabbed some dinner and ice cream. But we aren’t fucking.”

For the first time all night, Finn’s expression softened for a moment. “Why not?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Why does it matter? He’s a great guy, but I don’t think he wants to fuck.”

“You’re kidding,” Finn said.

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because why wouldn’t he want to fuck you?” Finn asked, his brow knitting again.

I had to laugh. “Not every gay guy wants to fuck me, Finn.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Even the first night you got back to Bestens, you were asking if there were any eligible gay guys around here. Thomas should be perfect for you.”

“Between you and my mother, I swear you guys already had a whole life planned out for me and Thomas before we’d even gotten to know each other. Jesus Christ.”

“I’m sorry,” Finn said. “Still think he wants your ass, though.”

I crossed over toward the big bay window that was in Finn’s small dining area. The window was open, and a cool breeze from the backyard was blowing in. I stood there, gazing over his yard, looking at the little glowing lantern lights along the lawn.

“I feel like I need to start over,” I said. “Even though I’ve only been in Tennessee for a few weeks.”

Something in me was breaking down.

I felt my defenses lowering, like a gate finally opening up inside me.

“I need to start over, too,” Finn said.

I shook my head. “I don’t want the only kiss I get this year to be from you,” I told him, turning to face him.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“A sympathy kiss? Only after Aaron was a dick to me in the bar?” I said.

“Wasn’t a sympathy kiss,” Finn said. “I wanted to do it.”

“You didn’t want it,” I said, waving a hand through the air. “Not in the way I’m talking about.”

Finn was suddenly glaring daggers at me. He stepped in close to me, giving me a little shove on the waist.

It was nothing like the type of shove that would lead us into a fight. Something had just tipped the scales between us, and we were in uncharted territory now, and I didn’t know what Finn might do.

“Say it again,” he told me. “I dare you.”

A warmth bloomed in my chest. I felt defiant, now that he was up in my face.

“You didn’t want it,” I repeated.

He was so close to me. His palm was hot on my waist, and my heart rate quickened as I let my gaze glance over his chest. I was aware of his physical presence.

He smelled like liquor and orange. It was kind of inviting, in a way I wished it wasn’t.

But I’d take his dare any day.

He was trying to prove a point, but I knew Finn had limits. He might have kissed me the other night. He might like fucking with me. But his possessive streak had to have an endpoint somewhere. If he wanted to find his limits with me, he was probably going to do it pretty fast.

“You think I didn’t want it?” he asked.

“You didn’t,” I repeated, searching his eyes. “That kiss was just a way for you to get me wrapped around your finger, just for that night, because you can’t handle—”

I didn’t finish my sentence. He was still glaring at me as he closed the gap between us, pulling me in by my waist. He leaned in and after a split second, I realized what he was doing.

His lips crushed against mine in a rough kiss and suddenly it was as if the whole fucking floor had dropped out from under me.

Possessive didn’t even begin to describe it.

His mouth on mine communicated only one thing, loud and clear: you’re mine. His hands moved across the front of my body, resting at my hips, gripping me hard. He kept his lips on mine as he moved me backward. I sat my ass down on the hardwood bench of the bay window, leaning back into the side of the alcove. I could still taste a trace of whiskey on his lips, mixed with the sweet, tart orange from the juice.

So sweet, mixed with a little bitter bite of liquor.

My cock hardened. The fucking traitor.

“Say it again,” he said as he broke off to take a breath. The warmth of his palms traveled lower, coming to rest on my bulge and making my cock ache. “You know it’s not true.”

“Fuck you,” I growled.

Truthfully, I was pissed off.

How many years had I spent being so sure that he was straight? Convincing myself that there was nothing I could be attracted to about Finn, because once I opened that box, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to put the lid back on it again?

“I don’t need your help.”

I was saying things I knew I didn’t mean. As he leaned in close again, his lips landed on my neck. He sucked slow kisses along my sensitive skin there, unraveling me, bit by bit.

His mouth felt impossibly hot. Was he trying to torture me?

Was this some new method of fucking with me? Kissing me and tormenting me sexually rather than just fighting me like he normally did?

When he looked at me again, it seemed like he was staring straight through me into my soul.

“Think you can say it to me again after drinking a few margaritas, like you did the other night?”

I shifted underneath him and then he pinned me right back down.

“Give me a break,” I said.

“Or how about after some margaritas,” Finn continued, “and some tears, and kissing me at the bar like I’m your guardian angel?”

A flash of anger flared up in my chest.

“You kissed me, jackass, and it was only because of your savior complex.”

“Or because I felt like it, which is apparently a concept you can’t understand,” Finn said. A second later he claimed my mouth with his again. His tongue came out against mine, and he leaned forward so that my cock rutted up against his thigh.

Goddamnit, he was good with my body.

Every move he made turned me on a little more, like he was coaxing me into a hypnotic trance.

“Finn,” I said in a low voice.

“I know I’m not your type,” he said. “But I fucking want you. Purely physical.”

“Shut up.”

How could it be true?

His gaze traveled up and down my body, and I’d never felt so naked in front of him. I was totally clothed and felt like he was seeing every inch of me.

He liked what he saw?

Finn could be attracted to me?

“I know you like a hate fuck,” he challenged me. “You’ve told me all about how much you like a hate fuck.”

My cock jumped.

I did enjoy a hate fuck, or at least a hookup with someone who I didn’t exactly get along with. I always knew there would be zero strings attached.

But what I had with Finn was pretty different from that.

I met his eyes, feeling more and more like I was in some sort of trance. “I don’t hate you, and you know it.”

Finn groaned, moving to kiss against my neck again.

He was dismantling me. With every touch I felt like I got more pissed off and more turned on, all swirling inside me and threatening to make me boil over.

Finn was fucking crazy, to be sure.

But if he was going to push and push and push… I was going to push back.

“You don’t need me,” he murmured in his drunken drawl. “You don’t need anyone. I get it. But maybe I want to suck you off—”

“Then maybe quit talking about it and get on your knees.”

I may as well have shattered a glass in the room.

For a second I thought I’d gone too far.

I wished I could shove the words back in. He’d been pushing me all night, and the fact was that I liked being pushed. But was it too much?

Finn didn’t miss a beat, though.

He was on his knees in front of the bay window seat a moment later, looking up at me with the big, hazel eyes I’d known forever.

“Bet,” he said, reaching for the button on my pants.