Chapter 1
Chapter One
OAKLEIGH
I consider myself to be quite a cool person—chilled and difficult to rile. I take each issue as it comes and remind myself that every problem is temporary.
However, when the setback is in the form of a six-foot-three asshole who also happens to be my best friend’s brother, my cool levels have a tendency to waver. A lot. Like … completely.
“Finley, give it back,” I yell from across the island in my best friend’s kitchen.
He smirks cruelly as he stands opposite me, ready to move quickly in whatever direction I leave open.
We’ve been at this for over half an hour—me chasing him around the house; him effortlessly avoiding me thanks to his stupidly athletic build. None of this would be happening if his sister hadn’t gone to the store and left us on our own.
I dive around the left side of the island, and before I can even make it halfway, he’s flying around the right, zooming past me into the hallway and into the garden.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I growl as I chase after him.
I bang my toe on the door jamb as I run out the door, cursing Finn and everything he believes in as I hop down the hallway.
I hear the front door open and close just as I step out into the summer sun, sunlight blinding me momentarily and giving Finn a head start toward the fountain in the middle of the small garden.
My toe is throbbing, but I ignore the pain as I assess the area around me.
Every single time we find ourselves in one of these situations, I end up losing due to my lack of stamina, which is exactly why he does it.
He knows that I’ll lose, and he knows that I’ll be left seething as I stare at his stupid face.
Yet again, he ends up on one side while I end up on the other.
“What did Finn take this time?” my best friend asks from behind me.
It distracts me just long enough for Finn to try and blast past me, but this time I’m quick.
I reach out, only just catching the edge of his gym shirt.
The force of his running drags me with him and I end up landing face-first in the grass right where it meets the tiled patio.
I groan and moan, pretending to clutch my stomach and pull myself into a ball on the ground. If Finn always wins with his speed and brute strength, then I need to beat him with the one thing he lacks: brains.
“Oh, shit,” I hear him mumble, the sound of sneakers meeting grass comes closer toward me. I my my best to hide the smirk that threatens to stretch my lips as I feel his shadow envelop my skin. “Cherry, you okay?”
I throw in one more groan for good measure, choosing to ignore the way my stomach twists at the word “Cherry.” My skin prickles as he leans closer.
“Cherry?”
God, that stupid nickname. Given to me by a cocky seventeen-year-old Finn who caught me stuffing my face full of cherry pie and thought it hilarious enough to remind me of it for the rest of my life.
Unfortunately, ever since he drove me home a few months ago, the nickname has had a completely different intonation.
Before he can anticipate what I’m doing, I wrap one leg around him and use my weight to throw myself on top of him, bringing him down onto the grass.
“What the fuck?” he groans as his back meets the ground. Wide, hazel eyes watch me as I straddle him. I’m so wrapped up in the competition, completely immersed in the adrenaline that rushes through me when we compete that I don’t bother to acknowledge how inappropriate this position is.
I smile down at him wickedly. I rip the notebook from his hand and hover above him for an extra second, my face all but a millimeter away from his.
Okay, yeah, now I’m aware of the current situation.
I’m pretty much sat on him, perfectly lined up with a part of him that I’ve felt through his pants once before.
Once, that was somehow both more than enough and nowhere near it.
“Touch my shit again and see what happens,” I say sweetly, giving him the nicest smile I can muster before pushing myself off him and standing up.
I’m almost at the door, ready to hug my best friend, when I hear Finn’s low voice say, “Be careful of the challenges you put in front of me, Cherry.”
My steps falter, but I still follow Wren into the house.
Asshole.
“Okay, so this time it was…”
“My goddamn notebook,” I growl, taking a seat at the kitchen island where a week’s worth of groceries lie scattered. My notebook that holds part of the manuscript for my debut novel. The debut novel no one has read yet.
Wren rolls her eyes as she unpacks the bags. I sit without helping, mostly due to the ice pack currently on my toe. Thankfully, her fiancé Gus is helping out.
“You two are honestly going to be the cause of each other’s deaths.” Wren shakes her head.
“That may very well be true, and I’m hoping that I’ll get to him first.”
“Why are you so competitive?” Gus asks as he places something in a high cupboard with ease.
Finn and I stay silent. I don’t answer because no matter how much I search for one, I simply can’t find it. I can tell you a thousand reasons why we hate each other, but not when or where that hatred stemmed as far as this insistent need to be better than one another.
“Oh, I know the answer to this one!” Wren shouts happily, jumping up and down on the spot with a hand up, as if trying to get the teacher’s attention.
“I can’t wait to hear this,” I mumble.
She sticks her tongue out at me before turning to Gus. “They constantly compete with one another because every competition is a way to hide the true feelings that they have for one another because neither of them understands why they feel the way they do.”
Gus and I both stare at her like she’s grown two heads. The only difference is that Gus’s expression neutralizes before he shrugs and says, “That makes sense.”
“How the fuck does that make sense?” I shout.
“Can you quieten down, please? Some of us are trying to rest over here.”
I glare over at Finn, cursing him internally. He’s on the couch, one arm covering his eyes to block out the sunlight coming in through the front window.
“Don’t you have a job? It’s the middle of the day on a Wednesday.”
“Says the one sitting at her best-friend’s kitchen table at the same time on the same day.”
“My working hours aren’t simply my company’s operation hours.”
“The beautiful part about owning a company, Oakleigh? I can do whatever I please, including have a nap at two in the afternoon,” Finn says.
My eyes roll. “Well, are you not hearing what your sister is trying to say about us?”
He shrugs. “Nothing my parents haven’t been saying for years.”
“Yeah, but your parents are crazy.”
“They’re crazy?” Gus asks with genuine curiosity.
“Not really, babe. Lee means that they’re eccentric,” Wren explains.
“Oh, right. Like when I call you crazy?”
“Exactly.”
Gus looks over at Finn as he puts away the last of the groceries. “And you’re so tired, why?”
Finn lifts his head, turning toward his future brother-in-law. “I’m catching up on the sleep I missed out on when we built that godforsaken barn.”
“That’s statistically impossible. You’d be dead,” Gus deadpans. He’s serious, too. Gus has never really been great with understanding sarcasm, but it’s more endearing than anything. It’s all part and parcel with autism. He’s proud of it, though, as he should be.
Finn chuckles but otherwise stays quiet.
Gus’s face crinkles in confusion, but he drops it quickly and moves to stand behind Wren, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her neck. She reaches behind to run a hand through his hair and my heart swells at the sight.
It’s … bittersweet. The pride I feel for my best friend is a light that lately has been surrounded by envious clouds.
I want what she has found, but I don’t think I realized that until I saw it right in front of me.
I suppose I am slightly jealous, especially because Wren wasn’t even looking for it.
Each time I feel brave enough to go out on a date, I’m always left feeling either disappointed or self-conscious.
I would say that my luck has run out, but I don’t think I had any to begin with.
Not that I would ever allow that to affect my relationship with my best friend.
She’s one of the most important people in my life.
I think there is just a part of me deep down that is aware that I am no longer the most important person in hers.
“Oh—” Wren looks up at me “—you’re free tomorrow morning, right? Mom and Dad called to say they’re coming in earlier than planned. Finn is going to pick them up in an hour and they wanted to have brunch tomorrow.”
I give Finn a look. “You couldn’t have just said you were here so you could pick up your parents?”
He shrugs, but otherwise says nothing.
I groan. “You’re spending way too much time with Gus.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gus asks.
“It means that he used to shrug a lot less before you came along.”
He thinks on it and then … you guessed it … he shrugs.