Chapter 9
nine
. . .
Finn
“For fuck’s sake, dude. You need to chill,” Cage said as he carried our empty beer bottles to the kitchen. “She said she’s on her way home. Isn’t she your fake girlfriend? Wasn’t the plan for her to win Dr. Douchesack back?”
“It’s Dr. Limpdick now. It’s more fitting. And yes, that was the plan, but I don’t like the guy.”
“Agreed. He’s an asshole.” Cage dropped the bottles into the recycling bin.
“You two fuckers are being a little dramatic. Carl is not that bad of a guy. Reese wouldn’t want to marry him if he was as awful as you’re making him out to be.
Yeah, he’s a little arrogant, but you just hate him because he’s dating your best friend,” Hugh said, pointing at me before turning his attention to Cage.
“And you never got over the fact that he said you weren’t a real doctor. ”
“I’m offended both for my best friend and my brother,” I said, throwing my hands in the air.
“That’s a bit of a stretch,” Cage said. “You laughed when I told you he said that. I think you’re actually jealous of him being with Reese.”
I gasped and made all sorts of sounds to let him know how appalled I was at the suggestion that I could be jealous of a dude like Carl.
“Not a fucking chance. He doesn’t deserve her. He never has. But after the way he treated her for chasing her own fucking dreams, I don’t know why she’s even trying to get him back.”
“Yet you agreed to go along with the plan. Interesting.” Cage had a smug look on his face.
“It’s not that interesting. I’m protective. Plus, I’m supposed to be dating her. So what kind of fucking loser boyfriend would be okay with her being out with her ex this late?”
“A guy who’s pretending to be her boyfriend,” Hugh said over his laughter. “You seem to be getting really worked up. Didn’t she say she was on her way home and she wanted to go to Garrity’s with you?”
“Yeah. Thirty minutes ago. The asshole lives five minutes away,” I said, looking down at my smartwatch. “I’m not going to let Carl treat me like I’m his little bitch. This is too much.” I stormed to the window and gasped when I realized his car was parked in my driveway.
That bastard thought he could try something with my girl in my driveway?
Not a fucking chance.
“Damn straight. You tell him, brother!” Hugh shouted. My brothers both laughed hysterically as I reached for my coat and whipped the door open.
Carl had fucked with the wrong guy.
I stormed toward his I’m-an-insecure-prick red sports car and saw them facing one another as I approached. I banged my fist against the passenger window, and Reese jumped in her seat.
Her eyes widened as she turned to look at me before putting the window down.
“Hello, Lover. Did you miss me?”
Was she drunk?
Reese was a goofy drunk, and I’d always loved when she got a little tipsy because she was a lightweight, and all she did was laugh when she was intoxicated. But Carl was looking at her like she was his next meal, and I was fucking livid.
Did I have a right to be this mad?
Hell yeah, I did. What kind of actor would I be if I allowed shit to go on under my nose?
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but I suggest you take your ass home and meet up with your own woman,” I growled.
Reese unbuckled herself, and I tugged the door open. When she stepped out, I wrapped an arm around her neck and covered her mouth with mine. Her lips parted immediately, inviting me in. My tongue tangled with hers, and she molded her tight little body against mine.
I pulled back and stroked her bottom lip with my thumb. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice breathy.
I slammed the car door, leaned down to look at him through the window, and flipped Carl the bird before leading her inside. He sped out of the driveway as I pushed the front door open.
“Chewy! You really are the best actor. That was brilliant!” Reese squealed once we were inside.
She hurried over to hug my brothers before sitting on the couch beside Hugh.
“You guys should have seen him. He acted all pissed off and possessive. I thought Carl was going to wet himself when you pounded on that window.”
“I won’t be disrespected in my own home,” I said as I took the seat beside her and tried to tone down my anger.
“How was dinner?” Hugh asked.
“He took me to his place and ordered takeout, poured me a few glasses of wine, and lit some candles. It was all very romantic.” She waggled her brows.
I pushed to my feet and ran a hand through my hair. “That was not the deal, Miney. I don’t appreciate some dude that you used to date making you romantic dinners when we’re supposed to be together.”
She fell back in a fit of laughter. “Right? It was a ballsy move. He said he really misses me. I’ll tell you the rest on our walk to Garrity’s. Let me go put on my jean skirt. I’ll be right back. Are you guys coming with us?” she asked my brothers.
“Nope,” they both said at the same time and then followed it up by saying that they had to get home.
She hugged them goodbye and jogged toward my bedroom to change her clothes.
“You do realize this is all getting a little complicated,” Cage said once Reese was out of earshot.
“No, it’s not. It’s fine. I’ll have to set some boundaries. I’m not going to stand by and allow him to shit on my turf.”
“Your turf?” Cage raised a brow.
“Yeah. He thinks we’re dating, and he’s trying to move in on my girl.”
“Isn’t that the goal?” Hugh asked, keeping his voice low.
“I’m not sure about that.” Cage barked out a laugh.
“It is the goal. But not like this. He can’t just walk in and disrespect me. He’s going to have to work a lot harder than that.”
“Let me get this straight.” Cage pulled the door open, and I followed them out to the front porch. “You’re fake dating your best friend so that she can get her ex back. But now that he’s interested, you have a problem with it?”
“I have a problem with the way he’s doing it. Plus, this is supposed to improve my image. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I allowed him to move in on my woman right in front of me? Not a fucking chance.”
“I don’t think you have the same goal as Reese. You don’t want her to get back with him at all,” my oldest brother said with his brow raised.
“That doesn’t make you a fucking rocket scientist. Newsflash. I don’t like the guy.” I shook my head.
“I know you don’t, brother.” Hugh clapped me on the shoulder. “You haven’t been yourself since she left for London. Maybe things have changed between you two.”
“Oh, I haven’t been the same? I wonder why.
Let me see… My costar tried to poison the world against me.
My best friend got her heart broken by a pussy-hating-narcissist. Could that be the reason that I’m a little on edge?
I haven’t been laid in almost a year, and I just want to protect my best friend from getting hurt again. Is that not enough?”
Hugh nodded. “All right. We’ve got your back. You know that.”
“Well, I’m not as easily swayed as the big teddy bear over here. I’m not buying it. No one is that good of an actor.” Cage smirked.
“I hope your dick shrivels up and falls off on the walk home,” I said over my laughter because dick threats made me laugh every time.
“Chewy, are you outside?” Reese shouted from inside the house.
“Yep,” I called back.
“I think I need to take a lover, and I may need your help with that,” she said as she stepped out onto the porch before she proceeded to hiccup no less than six times in a row.
Like I said. Drunk Reese was always a good time.
“My point has been made. Nothing about this is normal,” Cage said under his breath so only Hugh and I could hear him.
Reese laughed hysterically, either that my brothers had just heard her confession or that she couldn’t control the noises coming from her mouth.
She had a bottle of water in her hand and unscrewed the top and took a long pull.
“See ya,” I said, saluting them as they walked down the driveway.
Reese was shouting her goodbyes as I locked the door and turned to face her.
“You sure you want to go dancing? You seem a little drunk. That bastard better not have been driving you around if he was drinking.”
“He didn’t drink. He was on call. And I’m fine. I want to go dancing with you, Finn Reynolds. I can’t even remember the last time I went dancing.”
I turned toward her and zipped up her coat, glancing down at her bare legs that were covered up to just below her knees with her white cowboy boots. I led her down from the porch, and we walked toward Garrity’s, the bar my family owned, which was only a three-block walk from my house.
“Tell me what happened,” I said as her hand found mine. We’d always been affectionate with one another. It was just the way we were when we were together.
“He’s sleeping with her,” she spewed, not hiding her disgust.
“Did you really think the guy was going to go a year without sex and then get a girlfriend and not sleep with her?”
“Well, I haven’t slept with anyone.”
“Because you’ve never had good sex, so you don’t know what you’re missing.”
She came to a stop and faced me. “You’re right.
That’s why I need to take a lover. Carl thinks we’re both having good freaking sex.
He basically called me a boring lover. I’m the one who kept trying to do new things.
He didn’t think his,” she paused and held up her pointer and middle fingers and completely over-accentuated the air quotes, “’future wife and mother of his children should be curious about sex. ’ Well, guess what, Chew?”
“What?” I smirked.
“I’m curious. I wanted to find a profession that challenged and excited me. And I want to get drunk on a Tuesday night just because I can and then go dancing at Garrity’s with my best friend. And the biggest shocker of all…” she said, raising a brow and waiting for me to beg for it.
“Yes?”
“I’m curious about sex. About all the orgasms. About trying anything other than boring old missionary with a few heavy grunts that is nothing to write home about.
So, maybe Carl’s right. Maybe we will become better people while we’re apart, and when we find our way back to one another, we’ll be better for it. ”
“Let me get this straight.” I moved closer, my mouth just a breath from hers. My gaze locked with those familiar sage-green eyes. “You want to go bang a random dude, experience real sex, and then go back to your boring boyfriend who doesn’t please you?”
She rolled her eyes. “He pleases me in many ways. We want the same things. A family. A home. A happy life.”
“And the sex?”
“Well, Carl claims he’s having all the good sex now.
And he likes it. So maybe when we both know what that actually is, we’ll be able to have it together.
But I’m not going to be the only one who doesn’t have it while he’s out there doing it with Christy freaking Rae Lovell,” she said, her voice louder now.
“Don’t you dare add a fourth name to that monstrosity.” I chuckled before putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her toward Garrity’s. “I think you should experience some goddamn fun and a whole lot of good lovin’. It’s going to be life-changing.”
“Yeah? Well, he asked me if we were sleeping together.”
“You better have talked me up, Miney. I’m a fabulous fucking lover.”
“I told him you were amazing. That we were explosive together.” She paused to hiccup several times again before continuing.
“I wasn’t about to look like a pathetic, sexless woman, sitting home pining over my ex, who was talking about all the good sex he’s having.
That’s what sold me on this new idea. While we’re apart, Carl won’t be the only one living it up.
If he doesn’t like it, I guess he’ll have to get his shit together and beg me to come back. ”
“Well, I’ve got bad news for you.”
“What’s that?” she asked as we approached the bar, and I reached for the door.
“As far as everyone in Cottonwood Cove knows—and the rest of the world, if I’m being honest,” I said, pausing as she rested against the door and looked up at me, waiting for me to finish what I was saying. Country music boomed from the bar.
“Yeah?”
“You’re my woman. And I can’t have you out there looking for a random man.”
Her lips turned up in the corners. “You want me, don’t you, Chewy?”
I did, didn’t I?
Cage was right.
The thought of claiming Reese in a way I never imagined possible didn’t have me running scared.
I wanted her as more than my fake girlfriend.
As more than just a best friend.
I wanted to make Reese Murphy feel good in a way her boyfriend never would.
Even if I knew I couldn’t keep her forever. Eventually, she’d go back to Carl because that was who she wanted to spend her life with.
And my life would return to normal.
Dating and having a good time.
But for this short time… I wanted this.
“Bah! I got you.” She patted my cheek and chuckled.
“You should have seen your face. The fear. Don’t worry.
I’m more than aware that this isn’t real, Chewy.
So, we’ll just have to figure out how we’re going to find me a lover that I can sneak around with.
Come on. Tonight, I just want to dance with you. ”
She led me to the dance floor, and I wanted to stop her and tell her she was wrong.
Because for the first time in my life, I realized I wanted a woman who didn’t want me back.