distress in need of sheltering.
“Now I see why you two get along. She’s got some mouth on her,” Colt taunts, leaning against the counter.
I point my finger at him, ready to rip him a new one, but Finn just pushes me away before I have a chance to have my say.
“I think this is enough for one night. I’m going to take my girl out for some real food and come back later.”
I’m about to protest, but I then remember why I came over in the first place, so I turn around in Finn’s embrace to get him on board.
“Wait. Your mom wants you to move back home.”
“You talked to my mom?” Finn asks, surprised.
I nod and take another look around the large house. Sure, it may look like a trillion dollars, but somehow even my mom’s trailer feels much safer in comparison.
“I did. I think she’s right, Finn.”
Pretty boy’s face saddens as he shakes his head, refusing to move out.
“I can’t go back. And before you say anything, it has nothing to do with my father. If I go back, The Society will think they didn’t succeed in their pesky punishment, and they might retaliate. I can’t risk it. We shouldn’t even be seen together, brat. Just in case they’re watching us.”
Now it’s my turn to shake my head.
“That’s not happening. You don’t want to move back home, fine. But like hell, are we going to hide from them. It’s you and me from here on out, quarterback. Got it?”
He bends down and presses a sweet, tender kiss on my lips, keeping it PG since we got three pairs of eyes on us. “I got it, brat,” he breathes into my mouth, his smile splitting his face in two.
I take a step back and tilt my head just enough to look at the other men in the room, but mainly at the one who owns it.
“If Finn is staying here, then expect to see much more of me.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Lincoln replies in earnest. “As I said, you’re family now, Stone.”
“Well, I guess every family has skeletons in their closet, right? I guess it’s better to know what ours are up front. Come on, pretty boy. It’s time you feed me.”
I give them all a curt nod before taking Finn’s hand and rushing us out of the mansion. The instant the cool autumn breeze hits my face, I feel like I can breathe again. There was too much tension inside, something they have all been living with long before The Society paid a visit to them.
I know Lincoln thinks he can get to the bottom of who their blackmailers are, but I think he isn’t looking in the right places. It wouldn’t bother me so much if it were only his life on the line, but it’s Finn’s, too. Unlike Finn, I have no unconditional bond to any one of them, so my view on their predicament is clearer as an outsider. My only concern is pretty boy. Nothing, and no one else, matters to me.
“Was that too much for you in there?” Finn asks as we walk over to my truck. “You look stressed and unusually quiet.”
“No. I’m fine,” I mumble, playing with my tongue ring as I continue to contemplate what I should do.
Finn stops halfway to my car and pulls me into his arms, raising my chin gently with his knuckles.
“Then why do I see the gears turning inside that beautiful head of yours?”
“Do you think Lincoln is right? That The Society just picked me by chance?”
“Hmm. Honestly, I don’t know.” He shrugs.
“Don’t you want to find out?”
“And put you through more hell? No. That will be a hard pass for me.”
“But they are still blackmailing you. This is not over for them.”
“So let them. As long as you aren’t anywhere in their crosshairs, then I don’t care what happens next.”
“Finn, they tried to ruin your life,” I counter, wanting him to see reason.
“And they failed. They didn’t take away what I value most. So, nothing they can do will hurt me,” he says, trying to console me.
However comforting his words may sound, they could well turn out to be empty promises if The Society manages to take away his freedom. I can’t let that happen.
“Stone, don’t. I see that beautiful mind of yours already at work. I don’t want you to do something we will both regret, just to protect me. I mean it, Stone. You are too damn important.”
“And you’re important