37. Finn
Crackling of the bonfire filled the air, along with the smell of burnt sugar, pine, and woodsmoke.
The sound of laughter and voices drifted from all around the flow of the flames, reflecting off the faces of those gathered around from the Way Station.
It was a tradition after their weekly poker game.
Cards, then to soften the blow of losing, gooey marshmallows.
It stopped all of the harsh feelings and brought the team closer together.
Finn usually left after Charlie started campfire songs.
Finn sat on the log serving as a bench right next to Lucie. Her knee brushed up against his, keeping him warm in the cool night air.
Across the fire, Charlie and Sabrina sat cozily tucked into each other—a large red flannel blanket draped over the pair.
Artemis, Sabrina’s puppy, who had started to not look like a puppy anymore, begged Charlie for another treat.
Weak, Charlie happily gave her another one, while Sabrina laughingly reprimanded him for getting her dog to love him more than her.
Charlie caught Finn’s eye and gave him a teasing look.
Sam sat down next to her, headphones around his neck, sporting his red baseball cap.
He had boundless energy. Finn was jealous; he didn’t know where he got it from.
Maybe from the constant sweet tooth he indulged.
Sam was just like his sister. Good thing they had a fantastic dentist on call at Atlas.
While Dalton wasn’t looking, Sam put a whoopee cushion under someone’s seat. Finn rolled his eyes. Thank the universe it wasn’t him this time. He had caught a whoopee cushion under his chair. Twice. After the first time, he never thought Charlie would let him live it down.
Even with Sam’s crazy antics, everyone was happy to be with each other. Mostly, he was proud of Lucie for coming out. She had pulled her hair over her face with the hood of his blue hoodie.
But as he expected, nobody looked at her scar twice. Everyone here had survived something challenging. Lucie’s scars were just on the outside. That made her look like an even bigger badass than she already was.
Someday, he hoped she would see how beautiful she was with it. What a sign of bravery it was, of how much she had survived and how strong she was. He gave her another kiss on her cheek.
Tonight, he was celebrating. He had his girl next to him.
His friends were there. The food was good.
And Finn had won his first poker match in forever.
It was all thanks to his good luck charm, smiling next to him, who was currently fumbling to stick a marshmallow onto the metal prongs of a roasting stick.
“Don’t laugh.” She held up a hand to cover his eyes. “I’ve never had a s’more before,” Lucie confessed, red rising to her cheeks.
Charlie’s head popped up, eyebrows raised. “Never had a s’more? What? Please let me make you one.”
But Finn leaned over, grabbing a marshmallow from the bag, chuckling. “I think I can make a s’more for my own girlfriend.”
Lucie blinked up at him. His heart stuttered at the sight of her face in the firelight.
Leaning over, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. The word had slipped out, but he liked the sound of it—yeah—girlfriend.
His girlfriend.
A couple of women behind him looked a little disappointed.
Pride filled his chest. She was his. And if his arm around her didn’t stop the other guys from looking at her, maybe Lucie, wrapped in his leather jacket, would. The jacket looked better on her than it did on him. Everything did.
“Lucie, don’t let him burn the marshmallow. Your first one has to be perfect, or I’ll never forgive myself,” Charlie called out over the flames.
Finn groaned, rolling his eyes.
“It was one time, Chucky. One time,” Finn said, holding up a finger. “I burned something small. Are you goin’ hold it against me for the rest of my life?”
Everyone around the fire laughed, including Sabrina, who shook her head in mock disapproval, playing off Charlie’s words. “It was a really bad burn, Vega. Half of the gazebo was on fire,” Sabrina confided to Lucie, and the group laughed again.
The gazebo stood at the center of the Way Station; everything stemmed from that point, with the lodge right in front.
The intricate wood carvings along the sides and the glow of the lantern swinging in the middle cast more light.
The towering gazebo next to them was just fine, thank you very much.
Scorched in some places, but nothing a little paint didn’t fix.
“I did make the coffee this morning. Just in case,” Lucie said with a wink, playing along with the joke. Charlie’s head fell back, and he let out a booming laugh.
A couple of minutes later, Lucie held a perfectly made, golden-brown s’more. Everyone around the campfire waited as she took her first bite.
The crunch from the graham cracker broke the silence. Crumbs fell down her shirt. Finn reminded himself to chase after them later when he had some time alone with her. Purely to be helpful . . . that was all. Yep.
She moaned, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Finn wished everyone were gone. The caveman in him beat on his chest.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth,” she admitted.
Charlie howled. Finn wanted to throw Lucie over his shoulder and not share her with anyone.
Sam turned around in his seat, his hands running over his back, mimicking a passionate kiss. A marshmallow to the head stopped that pretty fast.
Lucie took another bite, chocolate on her face. Reaching forward, Finn wiped the chocolate off with his thumb and then licked it off. Lucie’s eyes dilated. Was it just him, or did the rest of the group get quiet?
Lucie passed him her roasting stick. “Start making another one. Keep them coming. I’m making up for lost time.”
Finn gave her a salute and tucked her back into him. “Aye, aye, captain.” As he watched, she licked the chocolate from her fingers.
Baseball scores. Grandmas playing bingo. Samurai movies. Anything—to stop thinking about her lips.
“Do you want a bite?” Lucie asked, offering him her half-eaten s’more. Finn lightly grabbed her chin and pulled her forward to him. He wasn’t a big fan of s’mores, but he would gladly eat them off Lucie.
Charlie groaned at their mushiness. Finn kept kissing Lucie softly and flipped his friend off. As if he and everyone else here hadn’t endured Charlie and Sabrina’s goo-goo eyes and frequent PDA?
But just as the warmth of the moment settled around them, a sharp beep from Sabrina’s communicator cut through the night. Then Charlie’s. Finn’s. Dalton. Isla.
All at once, everyone’s communicator around the group started beeping one after the other. Flickering firelight became overpowered by the glowing red from the communicators.
Everyone was being called in.