Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
WILLOW
Having my luck meant I could go all week never crossing paths with Finn, then make a decision to keep our interaction a secret, only to run into him half a dozen times in a single afternoon.
The first time had been the hardest. He’d spotted me and started strolling my way with that Finn grin I loved so much on his gorgeous face. My daddy had been coming down the steps at that exact moment, and I’d panicked. Just spun on my heels and walked in the opposite direction.
And so it began. If Finn’s facial expressions were anything to go by, he’d only gotten more pissed as the day had worn on.
I’d considered shooting him a quick text to give him a heads-up of the situation but figured that particular tidbit of information might be better delivered in person, where I could hopefully plead my case.
However, I did not want that in-person discussion to happen in my office. Which was why I’d made Avery deal with Finn when he’d come in with a made-up excuse to see me, and why I was currently peeking out my office window, holding my breath as I watched him storm out of the building. Pissed as hell, thanks to me. Then, as if he could sense me watching him, he looked over his shoulder, straight up at my window.
With a yelp, I ducked out of the way just as my office door flew open and my best friend blew in without so much as a hello.
“Care to tell me why I just spent fifteen minutes with one of the hottest men I’ve ever seen in real life, when I know for a fact you were perfectly able to take his impromptu meeting?” she asked.
I settled myself at my desk, straightening a stack of papers. “Um…not particularly.”
“Tough shit.” Unlike earlier in the day when she’d let me off the hook with that phrase, apparently, she wasn’t going to be so easily appeased. She shut my door, blocking us from the outside world and any chance someone would overhear. Never a good sign. “Your father’s gone, and it’s after five, which means it’s officially quitting time.”
“Well, all right then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Nice try. You’re not going anywhere until I get the scoop on whatever the hell is happening between you and Finn.”
I opened and closed my mouth several times, just praying something intelligible would come out. Something that was sort of the truth, but maybe not all of it. I had to keep a few things just for myself, didn’t I?
Okay, that wasn’t it at all. What it really boiled down to was I didn’t want to hear the I told you so ’s when Finn up and left again. But it was different this time, wasn’t it? I wasn’t going into it blind. This time, I had my eyes wide open. I knew what I was getting into, what the end game was. And I wasn’t going to be blindsided again.
I cleared my throat and avoided eye contact. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
She gave me The Look. The one she could have trademarked that proclaimed loudly and very clearly that she was not here to take any of your shit. “Then it was just a coincidence that you turned tail and ran away every time you came across Finn today?”
“I did not!” I totally had.
“No? Never mind the fact that I actually saw it with my own two eyes, but your ex-boyfriend just ratted you out.”
“Of course he did,” I grumbled.
“Now, I know you, and I know something is up. Something happened between you two, and I wanna know what it is. And then I wanna know why I had to practically torture the information out of you.” Her brows drew down. “I thought we were better friends than that.”
Well, shit. This wasn’t some information-mining mission like I would get from Rory. This was Avery, my best friend and biggest cheerleader, and I had unintentionally hurt her. Lord, a stake to the chest would’ve been less painful than knowing that.
With anyone else, I would’ve assumed those words were simply a passive-aggressive guilt trip, but not from Avery. She said what she meant and meant what she said—it was one of my most favorite things about her. I never had to wonder or worry about where we stood. And right now, I knew. I’d hurt my best friend.
I slipped around my desk and went straight to her, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. Or us. I promise.”
She returned my hug. “So you didn’t tell Mac either?”
“Nope, and I have no doubt I’m going to pay for that tonight.”
“Well, that makes me feel a little better. But I’m still going to need to know what’s going on.”
I pulled away with a laugh. “Of course you do.”
“Seems only fair.”
I paced around my small office, my lip caught between my teeth. I just needed to get this over with. Like a bandage. Rip it off and deal with the sting of pain rather than the slow torture of drawing it out. “I, um?—”
“Oh my God, you did sleep with him!”
I spun around, my mouth agape. Was it written that plainly on my face that anyone could tell? I’d worried about that when I’d given my virginity to Finn—that somehow, I’d be walking down the street and people would take one look at me and be able to tell. I hadn’t thought I’d need to worry about it at twenty-eight, though.
“Don’t crush my dreams and tell me he didn’t get better with time,” Avery said. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding him? He wasn’t able to get you off, and now you can’t face him?”
I choked on my spit at the same time flashes of our night together flickered through my mind. Oh, he’d definitely gotten better with time. Infinitely. “No, that’s not it.”
Her eyes grew wide, and a grin spread across her face. “So he got better ?” She fell into the chair and patted the one next to her, gesturing for me to sit. “Details. Now.”
Yeah, it’d probably be better if I were sitting down for this. “It’s only happened once…” Okay, that was a lie. It had only happened one night , but there had definitely been more than just one round. Technicalities.
“Just from looking at that man, I’d place bets he can do a lot during that ‘once.’”
I tried not to let my memories sweep me away, but I couldn’t help it. Not when they were so fresh in my mind. Not when they’d floated through my head more times than I could count—the first time on his bed, right after when he’d taken me in the shower after caressing every inch of me, even when we’d ventured out of his bedroom for a snack and he’d bent me over the kitchen counter and taken me from behind. Drew could’ve walked in at any moment, which, apparently, had only cranked my engine a little hotter because I’d come so hard, I might’ve blacked out for a minute.
“Yeah, definitely don’t talk about this with Rory,” Avery said. “Your sex fantasies are written all over your face.”
Shit. Rory. I hadn’t even thought about telling her. While Mac would be pissed I hadn’t come straight to her and told her everything, she’d get over it soon enough. With Mac, a conversation about Finn and me would be relatively painless. With Rory, it’d be a second version of hell.
“I don’t think I have to worry about that. I’d rather strut down Main Street naked than discuss my love life with Rory. Especially when that love life contains one of the Thomas boys.”
“I don’t know—having that conversation with her might actually be easier than talking with Finn himself.” Avery propped her feet up on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “He looked pissed when he came in here. Though I don’t blame him—it was clear as day you were in here but avoiding him.”
I blew out a deep breath. I wasn’t looking forward to that discussion, but it’d have to happen sooner rather than later. I couldn’t keep avoiding him like he carried the plague. And, truth be told, I didn’t want to. But I also knew my original plan of carrying on like nothing was unusual, like Finn and me seeing each other again wouldn’t register on the radars of the people of Havenbrook, was a pipe dream.
After five years of busting my ass and doing everything exactly right, my daddy had finally, finally bestowed a compliment on me. He was already waiting for me to screw up with Finn being in town. And if I did, he’d waste no time making sure I knew exactly how badly I’d messed up.
I wasn’t going to go through that again. I’d had enough of it to last a lifetime.