42. JJ Woodford
JJ WOODFORD
I don’t want to believe what I just heard, but Finn’s guilt is imprinted into his body language.
Ivy walks away with Daisy, and when I move to go after her, Tom steps towards Finn. “Oops, did I say something I shouldn’t?”
“You fucking asshole.” Finn raises his fist and attempts to swing, and I tug him back at the last moment. He’s too drunk and fired up to fight right now, and even though I’m annoyed at him for his choices, I’m not going to let him get into a brawl.
“Let me go.” He wriggles in my grip.
“Not a fucking chance.”
I glance at Tom, who raises an amused eyebrow at us. The rest of the boys behind him look equally entertained. Joel and Cal tug Finn back before he gets himself arrested.
We drag him to the beach, away from the fair.
Finn releases a long groan and eventually rips himself from us, and when I stare back at him, his eyes are red-rimmed.
“What the fuck are you doing, Finn?” I ask angrily. “This is a family event.”
“I need a drink,” he slurs.
I shake my head and shove him lightly to snap some sense into him. “Are you hearing yourself right now? You’re wasted and you’re not going to do yourself any favours.”
Finn’s chest heaves as he swipes a hand over his jaw.
“Why would you do that to her?” I lower my voice.
He scoffs. “What do you care?”
“Because that is not something you do to your sister.”
“Don’t you think I’ve lived with that guilt for years, JJ?” He steps towards me but stumbles in the sand. “Don’t you think the reason I drink is because I know I almost killed her?”
I blink at the harshness of his voice.
“I hate myself for it. Every single day.”
My head turns to Joel and Cal as they look back at their friend with deep concern.
“Yet you kept lying to her,” I state. “You should have told her.”
Finn squares up to me, his beer-tinged breath fanning my face. “Stop telling me things I already fucking know.”
I clench my jaw. “This could have been resolved and worked through on your own time, now she’s found out through that fucking idiot. Do you even care about your relationship with her?”
“You know nothing about us,” he hisses.
“Oh, I know plenty.”
His eyes narrow at me, and he shoves my shoulder. “Oh fuck off.” He waves a hand. “If you’re going to stand there and try to tell me what I should and shouldn’t have done, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care.”
I raise my brows. “You don’t care that you hurt her?”
“Fuck off, JJ,” he spits. “Just get out of my face.”
My tongue pokes into my cheek at his words. “Keep pushing away your friends, Finn. Soon you’ll have no one left if you keep acting like this.”
“I don’t need you.” His nostrils flare. “I’ve never needed you.”
His aggressive words strike my chest.
“You don’t need me?” I rasp. “Like I haven’t had to pick you up after every time you passed out from drinking too much, all the times I’ve tried to encourage you to get help, all the times I’ve sat with you when you’ve cried.”
Finn’s eyes water, but he turns his nose up at me. “Leave me alone,” he grits through his teeth. “I don’t fucking need you, JJ.”
“So you can drink yourself stupid? No.”
“Come on, Finn.” Joel steps in. “Stop this. Let’s get you home.”
Finn’s expression twists. “I ain’t going home.”
“Yeah, you are,” I say, folding my arms over my chest.
“No.”
I reach for him and he swerves my grip, his fist raising in response. I pause and stare at him without moving.
“Go on then,” I heave. “Hit me. If that’s going to make you feel better. Hit. Me.”
Finn’s teeth clench together as he watches me. He eventually lowers his fist and steps towards me. “Leave. Me. Alone,” he says, each word a punch without the action. “Go, JJ. I don’t want you here.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “You really want me to go?”
“Fucking leave me alone!”
My gaze flicks to Joel and Cal, who share uneasy glances with me.
“We’ve got him,” Cal says quietly.
“The fuck you do.” Finn waves a hand and begins to walk off in the opposite direction with a sway in his step.
I watch as he moves away, and Joel and Cal follow after him.
A curse word falls from my lips as I turn back to the fair and draw my phone out from my pocket. I call Ivy and raise it to my ear.
“Hi.” Her voice breaks.
“Ivy, I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” She sniffles.
“Are you okay?”
It’s a stupid question. Of course she’s not okay.
“No.”
“Where are you?”
Ivy’s silent for a few moments. “Aren’t you with Finn?”
“No, he made it evident he doesn’t want me to be around him. Joel and Cal are with him. I’m not going to be his babysitter. I want to be with you. Where are you?”
“By the candy floss stand.”
“Don’t move. I’m on my way.”
I cut off the call and head back into the fair, keeping my eyes out for a candy floss stand. It doesn’t take long for me to spot Ivy with her hands wrapped around herself, with Daisy beside her.
After pushing through the crowds of people with a determined stride, she turns her head, and her eyes find mine. I roam her blotchy face, my lips twitching downwards into a frown.
When I reach her, I don’t say anything, I pull her into a hug, and she exhales a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry,” I whisper into her hair. “I’m so fucking sorry, Ivy. I can’t believe he would do something like that to you.”
She squeezes her eyes shut as I cradle the back of her head with my hand, embracing her firmly but gently.
I pull back and take her face between my hands. “I know you’re not okay, but I’m not gonna leave you. Okay?”
Daisy hikes her thumb over her shoulder. “Uh, I’m gonna go. I’ll text you, Ivy. And whenever you need me. I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Dais.” She glances at her quickly, flashing a grateful smile.
When she leaves, we make our way home.
“Finn’s going to be a mess. No doubt drinking himself into oblivion.”
I kiss her head again. “It’s okay to be angry at him right now, regardless of his issues.”
“I tell myself I don’t care, but I do.”
“Of course you’re going to care,” I admit. “But you need to think of yourself right now, and if you want space. That’s perfectly valid.”
I stop us, wrapping my arm over her shoulder and tugging her into my side.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” she whispers. “I’d rather ignore it for tonight because I’m breaking inside.”
I rest my forehead on the crown of her head. “Whatever you need, princess. I’m gonna be right here.”