Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Finn
“Damn you are a grumpy son of a bitch today,” Troy says as he carries in another box and sets it down by the loading dock. “What’s got your panties all tied in a knot?”
Choosing to ignore him, I grab a box of items that go to the front and walk off. His chuckle echoes behind me.
I’ve spent more than twenty-four hours sending message after message, and call after call, all going unanswered and straight to voicemail.
I screwed up and I know this. It shouldn’t bother me that this crazy plan has come to an end but it does.
What may have started out as nothing more than a game quickly became real… and I miss her.
It hits me that I wasn’t ever faking it. I looked forward to seeing her or hearing her voice. I set out to make a point to Ryan but I don’t think I ever thought about what happens when it’s over. Because in my mind Sophie became mine the second she let me in. The lines were blurred from the start.
As I make my way to the front I am greeted by not one, but five, irritated looking women.
I pause, look over at Maggie, and she shrugs before going back to counting her drawer.
We are twenty minutes from opening and I find myself wondering which employee of mine I need to fire for letting in the wolfpack.
I should know, you piss off one, you get the wrath of them all.
I’ve seen it happen a few times over the years, and it never ends well.
“We need to talk,” Kendall takes lead on this one. Of course it’s the one that drives a big ass tow truck and can disassemble a car motor and rebuild it by memory with a second thought.
“Can we do this outside?”
“Here is fine,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. Setting down the box I match her movements and wait.
“Let me have it,” I say and Kendall narrows her eyes at me. Apparently I would be doing this with an audience.
“What did you expect to accomplish when you threw out the idea to fake date?” she asks, holding my stare.
“Can you explain it to us, because last night we all sat around with a dear friend of ours and couldn’t quite understand how she’s come out the other end of it in worse shape than when it started. ”
“What?”
“Don’t what me.” She drops her hands and closes the distance between us.
“I’ve always thought you were a good guy Finn, but last night I held Sophie while she hit bottom and I’m here today demanding you tell us all what in the hell you expected in the end.
Because if this was your endgame then I’m not sure you are any better than Ryan. ”
“That’s low,” I tell her, holding her stare. I have to give it to Kendall, she has never been afraid to run toe to toe with any man. She has more backbone than most men I know. Nothing ever seems to phase her, or at least she never puts on that it does.
“So clear it up for me, make me the liar here.” She holds her hands out at her sides. “Make me eat those words, Finn. Believe me when I say, I want you to put me in my place and show me I’m wrong.”
“I was an asshole yesterday,” I confess, no longer caring that Maggie is standing a few feet away seeing this all unfold. “I overreacted and Sophie didn’t deserve me throwing shit at her. It wasn’t fair.”
“It wasn’t fair, but that wasn’t the question I asked.”
This girl is a tough one and she has her crew waiting patiently letting her take lead.
“She deserves better.” I throw my hands out.
“Better than you?”
“Yeah me, and Ryan, and better than she’s allowed herself to ever have.
She goes for the shit guys that show her an ounce of attention like that’s all she’s worthy of.
So I guess the point was to show her that.
The point was to make her realize that there are guys out there that would love to have a girl like her in their life.
That she needs to stop fucking settling for scraps. ”
Kendall holds my stare, and I refuse to look away.
“Are you one of those guys, Finn?” she asks, again I stare back.
“Or would you be okay if another guy swooped in, one that loved her and comforted her, a man that she fell hard for. Would you be okay sitting back watching that happen? Would you be able to watch her build a life with another guy knowing that if you had just pulled your head out of your ass that man could have been you?”
“She deserves it,” I say even though her words make my chest grow tight. I know I wouldn’t be okay with it. But somehow saying all those things right now to them felt wrong.
“Stop lying to yourself.” Lexi is the one who steps forward surprising the hell out of me.
“You aren’t that good of an actor, Finn.
I may not know you as well as Bennett, but you’ve hung out at our house enough that I've picked up on a few things. You pretend that you are so hard and angry, but I’ve seen you with Sophie.
Every time you were near her there was a shift and the Finn, precancer diagnosis, resurfaced.
You’ve changed, you’re pissed off more than you’re not but in those moments, you were happy.
You were gentle and sweet, maybe a little mysterious and I can’t let myself believe that was all an act.
So what we are standing here telling you now is that if any part of that wasn’t for show, even a small part of you ever thought for a second that being with her wasn’t all a game, then you need to wake up.
You need to tell her, because right now I’m pissed off at you that you ever threw this idea out in the first place.
I am pissed at you for taking a friend of mine that was already vulnerable and only destroying her more.
So fix it, or don’t do a damn thing and walk away, whatever.
But do something besides hide behind the anger and disappointment.
Stop being an asshole and be a fucking man! ”
She spins around and walks out and all I can do is stare after her. All the rest of the ladies do the same thing too, I’m sure feeling as surprised as I am.
“Are we sure she isn’t the pregnant one?” Sutton laughs. “She just went from zero to one hundred in a matter of seconds.”
“Pissing off Lexi takes a lot,” Adley says in amazement.
“But nothing she said wasn’t true,” I confess, regaining the attention of all of them.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Jillian asks.
“What I should have done yesterday?” What I should have done instead of suggesting this crazy fake dating idea? “Maggie,” I say and she waves me off.
“We got it, boss,” she assures me. “Please go do whatever it is you need to do to fix this mood of yours. Because if you keep this up we can’t be held accountable for our actions.”
Adley laughs. “Oh I like her.” She holds up her fist for a bump from Maggie and I roll my eyes then instantly smile thinking of Sophie.
“She’s at home, in her pajamas, on some binge of dumb ass movies.
She’s talking to the television telling the women to run, before they are sucked in by the man that will in the end turn out to be nothing but a prick.
” She holds out a key and I take it from her.
“I’m sure she will want to kill me for this, but there is no way she is going to get her ass out of bed to answer the door.
Just don’t make me regret helping you out on this. ”
I take it from Jillian and then reach behind the counter and grab my own keys.
Each one of them pats me on the back as I walk by like some go get ’em initiation.
This may backfire in my face, but I’m willing to take the risk.