jealous, or whatever it was swirling in my gut, but failed miserably.
Closing the front door, I took a moment and rested my head against the wood. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Everything all right?”
“Shit.” I jumped, startled by Finn’s sudden closeness. “Don’t creep up on me, I almost had a heart attack.”
He laughed. “Don’t want that to happen before I get my rent from you.”
“You’re all heart.”
Sobering, he leant against the wall, not boxing me in but encouraging me to stay where I was. “Your mum’s just like I remember.”
That pulled a bark of laughter from me. “You mean a little crazy with no idea of personal boundaries.”
Finn shrugged a shoulder. “I was going to say she’s funny and clearly adores you. But yours works too.”
“Fuck.” I blew out a breath, feeling suddenly out of sorts.
“You want to talk about it?” Finn offered.
I considered it. On the one hand, I probably did need to talk about it at some point, but I wasn’t sure I knew Finn well enough to offload all my baggage on him. At least not on the first day. “Thanks, but maybe another time.” I should really sort out my room.
He nodded. “Fancy a beer then?” He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Footy’s probably on.”
On the other hand . . . “Yeah, that sounds good actually.”
My room could wait.
Chapter 3
Finn
Having another person living in my house after being on my own for the past few months was . . . weird.
Not bad . . . just different.
We’d passed the afternoon watching the footy and having a couple of beers, then ordered pizza for tea.
With another couple of beers.
Now we were in the no man’s land of too early to go to bed, but too late to do anything else. With a nice alcohol buzz running through my veins, and Angus a warm weight on my lap, I leant my head back on the sofa and turned to face Jasper. “Don’t you like Clive?”
“What?” Jasper’s eyebrows scrunched together as though he was trying to work out what I’d said. We hadn’t had that much to drink, had we?
I counted the bottles on the table.
Not too many.
“I know you said he was all right and everything, but you seemed a bit tense when he picked your mum up earlier.” He hadn’t said much, but his body language had screamed uncomfortable or pissed off. Definitely not happy.
Jasper sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. I thought for a minute he’d brush me off, but he met my gaze, blue eyes far too intense but I didn’t look away.
Couldn’t.
“To be honest, I’m not sure what it is.” Another sigh. “I mean, objectively I know he’s a nice guy. He treats her well, and I can see that she’s happy with him.”
“But?” I prompted when he seemed to falter.
“But something about him just pisses me right the fuck off.” He covered his face with his hands, and I let him be, unsure of what to say. Cole was his best friend, not me. I should probably leave it to him to talk to Jasper about shit like this, but he seemed so lost in that moment and the caretaker in me couldn’t leave it alone.
“Hey.” I went for a knee pat but sorely misjudged the distance and ended up grabbing his thigh. Angus grumbled at the sudden movement.
Dropping his hands, he looked from me to my hand, then back again. “Yeah?” The spark of interest in his eyes sent heat coursing through my veins, and the temptation to leave my hand where it was almost won out. But common sense returned, albeit at a snail’s pace, and I pulled back, clasping my hands to keep them out of trouble.
I didn’t miss the flash of disappointment on Jasper’s face, but this was the beer talking. We’d both be happy we didn’t cross a line come morning. “It’s okay to be pissed off, you know,” I said, finally remembering my train of thought.
He frowned for a moment before letting his head drop back against the sofa with a sigh. “Is it, though?” He turned to face me, and we were suddenly far closer than I’d been prepared for. “Pretty sure that makes me a selfish, spoilt arsehole,” he grumbled.
He looked so cross with himself it made me laugh. That only made him frown harder, which in turn sent me into peals of laughter.
“I’m glad you find my life so amusing.”
I shook my head, trying and failing to