on the sofa and stared down at her smart phone. Two days. It had been two days since she and Finn had made love. Or, rather, had sex. There had been plenty of lust. Affection, even, but no love. Not on his part, anyway, even though he’d told her he cared about her. “Caring” was not the same thing as love. And that certainly was borne out by the fact that he hadn't contacted her at all since he’d walked out her door and went into a house with another woman.
Maybe she’d read the signs wrong. Maybe that other woman did mean something to him. Maybe the reason he hadn’t called Keira was because he was too busy shagging that hussy.
At first she’d felt relief that he was apparently putting some distance between them. Distance was good and allowed her to get a better grip on her emotions, to try to stuff them back deep inside where they belonged. But then the second day without any contact from him rolled around, and relief turned to irritation and outrage. Just who the hell did he think he was to hop into bed with her and then go into silent mode?
Then irritation and outrage became hurt. Being intimate with someone wasn’t something she did easily. For all her acting like she was into casual sex, she really wasn’t. Not in the way most people meant it. She had to have an emotional connection to a man before she could bare her body to him. Because with the removal of clothing came a removal of pretense, like the removal of a mask so the lover could see the real person beneath.
She looked at the text message she’d typed moments before and still hadn’t sent. Miss you, it read. Please call me. It certainly was more polite than the last one she’d typed where she called his parentage into question, but this one made her sound desperate. With a scowl she deleted the message. There was another rogue group meeting scheduled for tomorrow night. If she hadn’t heard from him by then, she’d talk to him there. One way or another, she’d find out where they stood.
The next evening, Keira took her seat at the meeting and watched while other members entered the room. The next rift was only a week away, and excitement and tension filled the air. As Stefan stepped up to the podium to start the meeting, Finn walked in. He saw her and paused, a split second of indecision flitting over his face before he walked over and sat beside her. All the emotions she’d been battling for the last few days surfaced again—relief, irritation, outrage, hurt, and anger all rolled into one big, messy ball just waiting to slam him upside his hard head.
He must have picked up on some of what she was feeling, because he leaned over and murmured, “I’m sorry I didn’t call. Demons have been particularly frisky lately, what with the next Influx due soon.”
She shifted on her seat to look at him. For a moment she debated having it out with him here because she didn’t want to cause a scene, but her emotions were too raw to sit there and say nothing. “How long would it have taken for you to text me with a ‘How are you?’ message?” she said in a low voice. “Let me know you were thinking about me, that our being together meant something more to you than just a quick poke in the whiskers.” She shook her head and faced forward again. “Typical male. Handing me a crock of shite like that. You’re a real wanker, you are, Finn Evnissyen.”
“Look, I said I’m sorry, and I am.” He leaned closer. “I should have called you, or sent you a quick text. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to say.” He shook his head and took her hand in his. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman before, Keira, and I’m a little off stride here.”
She was shocked at the hesitancy in his voice and twisted in her seat to look at him. That same hesitancy was reflected in his eyes. She squeezed his fingers. “We both have a lot to learn about relationships, I guess.”
She started to say more but Stefan called the meeting to order. She contented herself, for the time being, with giving Finn’s hand another squeeze before releasing it and turning her attention to the front of the room.
As Stefan began speechifying,