Page 7 of Finlay

I couldn’t stop myself blurting out the question. “Isn’t that better warm?”

“Nah.” He popped another bit in his mouth. “I prefer them frozen.”

“Frozen?” It was worse than I’d thought.

“Yeah.” Reid nodded rapidly as he pointed to something on the packet. “See? You can eat it frozen. It’s on the packaging and everything.”

“But why would you want to?”

“Because it’s fun to try different things.” Reid shrugged. “Otherwise, how do you know if you like something?”

“Well, I’ve never been stabbed, and I’m certain I wouldn’t like that.”

Reid rolled his big blue eyes, just as he did whenever I met him with logic. “Obviously not stuff like that. But trying new foods, meeting new people, going new places…”

I put down the flowers with a sigh. “Reid, I’m not going clubbing with you.”

“Come on,” he whined. “We’d have so much fun. All the twinks would be falling over themselves to land you.”

I caught my thumb on a thorn, wincing at the bloodthat appeared. Unfortunately, it came with the territory. “That’s exactly why I don’t want to go.”

Reid followed me to the sink as I cleaned the cut and wrapped a plaster around it. “Do you have something against getting laid?”

No. But if I am, a twink is the last person I’m going to go for.My type was more in line with my own build.Bigger would be better.Matt was the smallest guy I’d gone for in a while, but I hadn’t minded, not when what we had was love.

Or, as it turned out, gaslighting and manipulation.

“Is this a professional conversation to be having with your boss?” I said mildly. Not that I really cared—Reid generally knew when to stop pushing.

Generally.

“I’m just saying, if you released some of that sexual tension, maybe you’d be less grumpy.”

“Trust me, that’s the last thing that’d help my mood.” I patted Reid on the shoulder. “I’m no fun to be around at work, what makes you think that’d be any different in a club?”

“You are fun,” Reid insisted. I stared blankly at him until he broke with a giggle. “Okay, maybe not fun, but I like you.”

Fear ran through me as I took an instinctive step back.

Reid’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, not like that. No offence, boss, but you’re not my type either. You’re far too nice.”

I swallowed back the relief, ashamed of how I’d reacted. “I thought I was grumpy, not nice.”

“You can be both.” He winked at me before strolling over to the funeral arrangements. “Like how you’re grumpy that I’m late, but too nice to say anything about it.”

“Because you’re good at your job.” I went to help carrythem out to the van. “When you’re not nagging me about getting out and being social.”

“I’m just saying, if you don’t try new things, you might be missing out.”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t tell Reid that sometimes missing out was better than taking the risk of getting burned. He was only twenty-three; there was a lot of life he hadn’t learned about. Me though…I had a decade on him. A decade that had shown me just how cruel life could be.

So no, I didn’t want to try new things. I had my new life here, my second chance, and that was enough. I was happy just as I was. Here, keeping everyone at arm’s length meant I was safe. Protected. The only person who could hurt me was me.

And I was perfectly fine with that.

Chapter 2

Finn

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