16. Percy
CHAPTER 16
Percy
On the third morning after our return from the marble village, our newly established routine was upended. Instead of waking up with a yawn, a stretch, and a half-hour of getting naughty with our hands, Finn and I woke up to banging and clamoring under our window. A scream made my blood curdle and I jumped out of bed with a splitting headache that would follow whatever disaster took place outside.
I pulled the curtains open while Finn blurted questions I had no answers to.
Morning sunshine poured into my wide pupils, filling my vision with a burning white light for a moment before my eyes adjusted. Then, following the scream, there was hearty laughter. Out on the sea, in a wobbly little boat, Aunt Judith gripped the sides and tilted left and right erratically while Benny Tupper rowed them in circles.
“They’re going to drown out there,” I muttered, anxiety leaving me. Thankfully, the sea was shallow for a hundred feet from the beach, so I didn’t worry about them. They wore tiny life jackets that made arm movements more challenging.
“Is it urgent, though?” Finn asked.
I laughed and crossed the room back to the side of the bed, leaned down, and pressed my lips against each of his eyelids. Last night, Benny Tupper had insisted on trying more of the local wines in our cellar and Dimitrios was happy to brag about the collection he had curated over the years. We did some tasting and then some more, and finally, Benny seemed to remember a desirable vineyard a friend of a friend was putting up for sale. “Wouldn’t a man with such a delicate tongue for wine do well owning a vineyard? I would be more than willing to contribute. What do you say, Percy-boy? A partnership?” He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief. Dimitrios chortled at the delicate tongue bit.
Finn seemed to consider this proposal with some gravity. “You could call it Tupperport.”
My elbow in his ribcage made him yelp in surprise. “Thanks for the offer, Benny, but I’m not that experienced in that industry.”
“Industry? Percy-boy, you’re a wealthy man. Wealthy men own things and hire experts to make them run smoothly.” Benny sloshed the wine down his throat and asked for more. “Top it, Dimitri. Up, up, up. There we go.” He had to balance the glass so he couldn’t spill the contents that reached up to the very edge, to Dimitrios’ horror. A slurp that followed was enough to kill my libido for the evening.
This morning, Aunt Judith and Benny Tupper were cackling and hooting while balancing their tiny dinghy and I decided that kissing Finn’s eyelids was the most romantic thing I could achieve with all that noise.
Finn put his hands on the sides of my torso longingly, holding me with yearning and reluctance to let go, but the guffaw from the boat made me grunt. “Later,” I said.
His reply was the gentlest of moans. The sheet covering him was low around his waist, revealing his smooth olive skin enough to make my mouth water. “Promise?”
“I promise,” I said.
“I want you,” Finn said.
I kissed him. “I want you too. So much, Finn.”
Finn ran his fingers through my short, blond hair, curling them lightly until the thrill-filled laughter outside announced the boat tipping over. He let go of me with a scoff of frustration. “It’s the opposite of an aphrodisiac.”
I murmured my agreement before we got dressed and went downstairs for a leisurely and decadent breakfast.
My sister had been idly observing the events of the past few days with the apparent interest of a lazy cat. Even so, as only the three of us remained around the breakfast table, she let her gaze dart between Finn and me. “I’m glad you’re a couple,” she said, looking at her toast as she spread butter on it. She said it the same way someone might say they were glad it was sunny today.
I continued to pick through the baklavas for a particularly nutty piece. “That’s sweet.”
“I mean it,” Emily said. “You seem like a good fit.”
“That’s why we’ve been together for so long,” I said, holding back a smirk. “What was it, babe? A year?”
“I can’t keep up with all that we’ve said,” Finn muttered, making Emily laugh.
“Sure,” Emily agreed. “Make it a year.”
We continued to snack on sweet delicacies and drink strong Greek coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. My parents joined us for coffee a little while later. Mother walked like she was on a cloud. “There is an air of relaxation on this terrace,” she said. “As if some sort of terrible tension has been lifted.”
Emily snort-chuckled and hid her face in her glass of juice.
“You are right, Alicia,” Dad said, bringing her hand to his lips. “It’s not at all as tense as it was, say, three days ago.”
“Must be Benny Tupper’s standup routine,” I grumbled. “That’s all that changed, as far as I can tell.”
“I’m sure it is,” Mom said with a touch of a smile, looking at Finn and me for a moment too long. Finally, she turned to Dad. “Don’t you agree, Lawrence? Everything would be so much better if we listened to me.”
Dad kissed the back of Mom’s hand and traced her arm nearly to the elbow with his lips. “So much better, darling.”
“There you go,” Mom said, directing those words at me.
So the feeble attempt to appear more genuine by actually being together only blew our initial ruse apart. “That’s enough, thank you,” I said, stretching my right arm around Finn’s shoulders and sliding lower in my seat. He was warm, his shirt soft and scented with a lavender softener, and his hair fell around his brow in the most charming arch. My gaze lingered on him a moment longer than I’d thought it would, simply taking in his beauty. Something warm and overwhelming passed through my chest.
“This is a good thing, dear,” Mother said, lifting the small cup of coffee with two fingers and letting its rising steam tickle her nostrils. “There is no surer way to live a long and happy life than to regularly engage in intimacy with your partner.”
“Mother, please,” I whispered, the oncoming horror of embarrassment darkening the edges of my vision.
“Darling, don’t be such a prude,” Mom said. “I’m not suggesting anyone should be promiscuous for the sake of it if they don’t wish to, but if you are a sexually active human being in a relationship with another sexually active human being, what would be more natural than to enjoy the pleasures of bonding and…”
I moaned painfully and covered my face. “For the love of all that’s holy, can we not talk about it?”
As the day dragged on at the pace of a relaxing vacation, Finn and I settled in for some time of tranquility. Benny and Aunt Judith visited the town, which earned me some eager and heated looks from Finn, but Nektaria picked that moment to vacuum and dust the room. Frustration filled us both over the terrible timing. We hadn’t had each other in well over twenty-four hours. And at the risk of sounding exactly like my mother, this early in a relationship, that simply wasn’t healthy.
In a misguided attempt to cool off, I suggested a swim in the infinity pool.
When Finn appeared in his small, red swimming shorts, my chest grew tight, and my thighs loosened. Now I truly needed to jump into the pool before I could spontaneously combust.
We swam in relative solitude once my parents retreated to their bedroom for an afternoon nap—nap! And that was as far as I was willing to be aware of what they did every afternoon between three and six—and Emily joined Dimitrios in party planning that was mere days away.
I neared Finn close to the edge of the pool, moving my limbs slowly to stay afloat until I was so close to him that I easily wrapped my arms around him and pulled him against my body.
Finn cracked a smile, but there were worries hiding behind his beautiful eyes.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
He hesitated as I released him and we both folded our arms on the edge of the pool, looking out at the sea. “I’m not sure if it’s my place to say,” he said at last.
I nodded and swallowed. “Your opinion is important to me.”
Finn looked at me with something not unlike gratitude on his face. It made me want to hold him and kiss him. He didn’t have to be grateful because he mattered to me. He just needed to be his happy self. “Benny’s out to get you,” Finn said.
I let out a little laugh. “What gave him away?”
Finn shot me a reproachful look. “We laugh, but he worries me.”
“He’s not the first schemer with a well of business ideas for me,” I said, trying to reassure Finn that I was perfectly safe having my little laugh at the expense of a man who had no moral compass.
Finn rested his head on his folded arms, his biceps swelling with tension and his face shining with the drops of water catching the sunlight. “But he’s using your aunt, Percy.”
“Finn, I promise you that Judith can take care of herself,” I said.
“Do you really think that?” Finn asked, almost as if he didn’t dare to believe me. “Because he’s charming her all day long.”
I tried to make myself laugh to lighten the mood. “Do you really think she doesn’t see through all that flattery?”
Finn shrugged. “There are evil people out there. They’ll say and do anything that’ll put them closer to what they want.”
I looked at Finn for a short while, wondering if we should have this conversation. It was his story to tell, not mine to be curious about. Even so, the need to connect to this wonderful soul was stronger than me. “You’ve met people like that.”
He was quiet, gazing at the thin wisps of clouds in the bright blue sky. “I just don’t want to see Judith hurt by a snake oil salesman. I’ve seen what things like that can do to people.”
“To you?” I asked.
He rolled his shoulders non-descriptively. “My family. My sister, mostly. Her college fund went down the drain.” He chuckled bitterly. “I was never meant for college, but she was. It’s ironic.”
“It’s never too late to study,” I proposed, seeing a clear way forward except for the fact that Finn was a proud man who wouldn’t let me meddle. Not yet, at least. He wouldn’t want that dynamic in our relationship.
“Look,” he said softly, directing his gaze at me again. “I want to tell you everything. You make it easy to share things, but this has to wait.” He tilted his head apologetically. “I know there’s a rift here, Percy, and I hate it. Every fiber in my being is screaming to just drop it, but I’ve gone to such lengths that I just can’t drag anyone else into it.”
“Take your time,” I said, trying to sound as reassuring as I could. “I don’t think of myself as a gullible person, Finn. Benny’s a scammer and we all see it. Let Aunt Judith have her fun with him. That doesn’t mean I trust easily. And with that said, I trust you.”
Finn released the edge of the pool and let himself be carried to me. His arms wrapped around my neck as soon as I faced him and his lips pressed hard against mine. We kissed in the sunshine, floating and sinking in the clear pool and letting our bodies touch. At first, it was just a gentle, passing brush of muscles against muscles, but we neared one another until we were pressed together like two inseparable beings melting into one.
The only sound on the planet that could separate us now was precisely the one that sauntered out on the terrace, calling, “Percy-boy!”
Finn’s fingers dug into my upper back and he bit my lip briefly. “Drown me,” he croaked, sinking under the surface.
I looked at the terrace where Benny Tupper dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief, waiting for a reply.
Sooner or later, Aunt Judith would have to get rid of him. He was cock-blocking me and my boyfriend both at every turn and I was on the very edge of my nerves. I would have dragged myself out of the pool grumpily had I not already had a raging erection and a chest full of frustration as I watched my boyfriend swim away.
Benny helped himself to some of the better wine he insisted on having on hand. He seemed happy to wait for me in the shade with wine in his glass. Beside him was a briefcase, undoubtedly filled with business ventures ripe for a billionaire to flood with cash. And I knew that money went easily down the drain the moment it was deposited. I’d been around long enough to know exactly who the Benny Tuppers of the world were.
For Finn’s sake and everyone else’s, something had to be done.