Chapter 28 Finn
Finn
Malrik moves first.
Not fast. Not urgent. Just… certain. The way he does everything.
His hand finds my jaw, tilting my face toward his, and for a second I forget how to breathe. We’ve kissed before. Stolen moments in dark corridors. Heat and tension and always, always pulling back before it went further.
This isn’t pulling back.
His mouth covers mine, and I make a sound I’m going to pretend never happened—something between a groan and a whimper that vibrates through my whole chest. His kiss is slow, thorough, like he’s been planning exactly how he wants to take me apart and now he finally has permission.
Finally.
The word ricochets through my skull. Finally finally finally.
Kaia’s breath hitches beside us. I feel it more than hear it—the sharp little intake that means she’s watching. My chaos magic sparks under my skin, responding to the heat building between all three of us.
Malrik breaks the kiss just enough to speak against my mouth. “Breathe, Finn.”
“I’m breathing,” I manage. “I’m definitely breathing. Breathing is happening.”
“You’re vibrating.”
“That’s just my personality.”
He laughs—low, warm, barely more than an exhale—and then his other hand reaches past me. Toward her.
Kaia’s fingers find his, and I watch them intertwine. Watch the way her whole body shudders at the contact. Watch her violet eyes go dark with want.
Gods, look at her.
She’s so fucking beautiful it hurts. Water droplets clinging to her shoulders, golden hair plastered against her neck, lips parted just enough to show she’s as wrecked as I am.
Her shadows curl lazily around all three of us—Bob has very pointedly turned his back, Patricia’s notebook is dark for once, and the Eds have retreated to a respectful distance.
Smart shadows.
“You two,” Kaia breathes, her voice rough. “You’re—”
“Yes,” Malrik says simply.
“Together?”
“Yes.”
She stares at us. At the way I’m still pressed close to Malrik, his hand on my jaw, mine somehow on his chest without me remembering putting it there. At the way he’s reaching for her at the same time, like he can’t imagine having one of us without the other.
“Both of you?” Her voice cracks slightly. “At the same time?”
“That’s generally how threesomes work, Trouble.”
I regret the joke immediately. Not because it’s wrong, but because her eyes snap to mine with something so raw and vulnerable that my heart does something painful in my chest.
“I’ve never—” She stops. Swallows. “I don’t know how to—”
“You don’t have to know anything.” Malrik’s voice is steady. Anchoring. The calm center in a storm we’re all feeling. “Just tell us what you want.”
What she wants.
Such a simple question. Such a loaded one.
I watch her process it—the way her brow furrows, the way her teeth catch her lower lip, the way her shadows flutter with nervous energy. She’s not confused. I know that. She knows exactly who she wants, has known for longer than any of us admitted.
She’s just… overwhelmed.
Join the fucking club.
“I want—” She exhales shakily. “I want to stop thinking so much.”
Something cracks in my chest. A feeling so big I can’t name it. Want and relief and desperation and a protective fury that she’s ever had to worry at all, that the world hasn’t been kinder to her, that we haven’t been—
“Finn.”
Malrik’s voice cuts through the spiral. Steady. Present.
I blink. Realize my chaos magic is sparking visibly now, little crackles of light dancing across my skin.
“Sorry,” I manage. “I’m just—”
“I know.” He does. He always does. His hand settles on my shoulder, grounding. “Go to her.”
Not a command. Permission.
I don’t hesitate.
I close the distance between me and Kaia, and for a heartbeat we just look at each other.
Her violet eyes. My green ones. All the history between us—the first day we met, the moments we stole, the almost-kisses and interrupted touches and the way I’ve been in love with her since before I knew what to call it.
“Hey, Trouble.”
“Hey, chaos boy.”
My hand shakes when I lift it to her face.
She notices. Of course she notices.
“Finn—”
“I’m fine,” I say quickly. “I’m great. I’m fantastic. I’m about to kiss you properly for the first time in months and I’m definitely not having a minor emotional crisis about it.”
Her lips twitch. “Minor?”
“Okay, moderate. Significant. Potentially catastrophic.” I lean closer, my forehead nearly touching hers. “Please shut me up.”
She kisses me first.
And everything else dissolves.
Her mouth is soft and warm and tastes like the spring water, and I make another embarrassing sound against her lips because I can’t fucking help it.
I’ve wanted this so badly for so long that actually having it feels like a fever dream, like I’m going to wake up any second and find out none of this was real.
But her hands are real on my shoulders. Her body is real against mine under the water. The little moan she makes when I finally, finally let myself kiss her the way I’ve been imagining—
That’s definitely real.
Malrik’s hand settles on my lower back. Warm. Grounding. Reminding me he’s still here. Still part of this.
I break the kiss just long enough to gasp for air, and Kaia makes a sound of protest that goes straight to my cock.
“Eager,” I manage.
“You’re one to talk.” She’s breathless. Pink-cheeked. Absolutely devastating. “You’ve been looking at me like that for months.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re starving.”
I laugh—raw, honest. “Because I am. Have been. For a really fucking long time, Trouble.”
“Then stop talking,” she says, “and do something about it.”
Gods, yes.
I kiss her again, harder this time. Let myself be messy about it.
Let my hands slide from her jaw to her shoulders to the curve of her waist under the water.
She arches into my touch like she’s been waiting for it, and the knowledge that she wants this—wants me—is so overwhelming I have to pull back before I combust.
Malrik’s there when I do. His mouth finds the side of my neck, teeth grazing my pulse point, and I choke on air.
“Oh fuck—”
“Still with us?” His voice is low. Amused.
“Barely. Definitely. Possibly dying.”
He laughs against my skin, and the vibration of it sends sparks down my spine. Then his hand—the one that was on my back—slides lower. Under the water. Across my hip.
I go very, very still.
“Okay?” he asks.
“If you stop now I’ll kill you.”
“Noted.”
Kaia watches us with eyes that have gone darker than I’ve ever seen them. Her lips are swollen from kissing me. Her chest rises and falls with unsteady breaths. And the expression on her face—
She likes watching us.
The realization hits me like lightning. She likes it. Not jealousy. Not uncertainty. Just pure, undiluted want.
“See something you like?” I manage, aiming for cocky and landing somewhere around desperate.
“Yes.” No hesitation. “I see two of you. Together. And I—” She stops, swallows. “I want to be in the middle of it.”
Fucking hell.
Malrik moves before I can respond. His hand leaves my hip—I make a sound of protest I’m not proud of—and reaches for Kaia instead. He pulls her closer, positioning her between us, and suddenly I understand exactly what he’s doing.
He’s not taking over.
He’s arranging us.
Like pieces of a puzzle. Like he knows exactly where everyone fits.
Kaia’s back presses against my chest. Malrik faces her, close enough that their noses nearly touch. And I’m behind her, arms automatically wrapping around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder.
“Oh,” she breathes.
Yeah. That’s about right.
“Better?” Malrik asks, and I can hear the smile in his voice even though I can’t see it.
“I—” Kaia’s hands find mine where they rest on her stomach. Our fingers intertwine. “Yes. Better.”
“Good.”
He kisses her.
I can’t see it properly from this angle, but I feel it—the way her whole body softens against mine, the little sounds she makes into his mouth, the way her grip on my hands tightens like she needs something to anchor her.
I press my lips to her shoulder. Trace a path up her neck.
Let myself do all the things I’ve been imagining for months—the spot behind her ear that makes her shiver, the hollow of her throat where her pulse flutters, the curve where her neck meets her shoulder that I’ve wanted to sink my teeth into since the first time I saw her.
She moans. Actually moans. Loud enough that I feel it vibrate through her whole body.
“Sensitive there,” I note against her skin.
“Shut—” She gasps against his lips as I do it again. “Shut up, Finn.”
“Never.”
Malrik breaks their kiss, silver eyes finding mine over her shoulder. There’s heat there. Want. But also something softer. Something that says this is right and thank you and I’ve been waiting too.
I lean forward, catching his mouth over Kaia’s shoulder, and for a moment we’re all tangled together—her between us, him kissing me while my hands are still laced with hers, everything overlapping and messy and absolutely fucking perfect.
“You’re going to kill me,” I say when we break apart. “Both of you. This is how I die.”
“Dramatic,” Malrik murmurs.
“It’s a valid concern.”
Kaia turns her head, catching my mouth in an awkward angle that somehow works. “If you die,” she says against my lips, “I’ll find a way to resurrect you just so I can do it again.”
“Kinky.”
She bites my lower lip in retaliation.
Gods, I love her.
The thought crashes through me with the force of a tidal wave, and for a second I can’t breathe around it.
I’ve known for a while. Maybe since the beginning, if I’m being honest with myself, which I rarely am.
But knowing it and feeling it are different things, and right now I’m feeling it so intensely that my chest actually aches.
“Hey.” Kaia’s voice goes soft. Her hand lifts to cup my cheek. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere.” I swallow past the sudden tightness in my throat. “I’m here. I’m so fucking here, Trouble.”