Page 13 of Persuaded

“Oh God,” Josh gasped, fingers digging into his back. “Oh God, Finn... I’m—” He came with a cry, arching up against Finn’s hip, head thrown back and lips parted. Irresistible.

Finn’s heart billowed like a sail catching the breeze and he came with a sob of joy so intense he could hardly breathe. Dazed, he collapsed boneless into Josh’s arms, his mind spiraling away and Josh’s pounding heart beating against his chest.

“This is it,” Finn murmured later, as they sprawled, tangled and sweaty, in his rumpled bed. The storm had settled in for real, rain rattling on the roof and windows, filling the small space with watery light, and it was all so perfect Finn thought he might die of happiness. “This is it, man. You and me. This is it forever.”

Josh threaded his fingers through Finn’s hair and sighed. “I hope so. I’ve never felt anything like this, Finn. It’s so deep. It feels profound.”

And he was right; it was.

All summer they laid plans. Josh would bail on his Harvard MBA and follow his heart (and Finn) to LA where he’d study music at the Colburn School. Finn would find a job, help support Sean at UCLA, and then followhisdream of trying to make it as an actor.

And they’d be together. Sink or swim, they’d be together. That was all that mattered.

It felt right. Finn knew it did and he didn’t doubt it was going to happen for a second. Not until that afternoon at summer’s end when he found Josh standing ashen-faced in the music room, hands twisting together and eyes stricken. “We have to end it,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Finn, but I can’t go with you. This has to end.”

And so it did. Finn’s whole world ended right there in a firestorm of recrimination, fury and heartache.

Three days later, reforged like steel in the flames, he started to rebuild his life. And there was no place in his brave new world for Joshua Newton.

Chapter Five

Now

Finn hadn’t thought about Josh in years.

That was what he told himself when Sean first called with his stupid plan to buy the fucking Newton house. Finn hadn’t thought about Josh in years, he could barely remember what the guy looked like. He didn’t have any photos to remind him, after all. He’d gotten rid of them all the day after—

The dayafter.

Frankly, he was kind of embarrassed about the whole incident. Looking back, he put it down to the craziness of that summer right after his dad died, when he’d been on the cusp of a new life and looking for distraction. It hadn’t reallymeantanything. It was just a youthful infatuation with a rich kid who’d been so strange and compelling that Finn had found himself ensnared.

Mostly, when he thought about it at all, he was glad Sean never knew. Nowthatwould have made things awkward.

He told himself that on the flight to New York. He even managed to maintain the illusion while Sean showed him around the Newton house—mansion; it was a damned mansion—and into the room where—

Yeah,thatroom. The one where he’d begged.

And, Christ, if Finn was looking for evidence that he hadn’t been himself that summer then that was it. Finn Callaghan didnotbeg.

But even that wasn’t enough to shake his firm belief that the whole mess was in the distant past. No, it was only when Sean, utterly oblivious, of course, blithely led him into New Milton’s only coffee shop that the walls came crashing down.

Because Josh wasright there.

Finn didn’t have time to retreat or to brace himself oranything.

Josh was just standing there in the middle of the coffee shop, clutching a rag in one hand because apparently he fuckingworkedthere. Joshua Newton waited tables in a fucking coffee shop now? What the actual fuck?

Sean talked—he introduced them—and Josh lifted his uncertain gaze to Finn. For a fleeting moment their eyes half met. But it was too much. Finn turned away, muttered something to Sean, and bolted out the door.

The morning air was cool and he was grateful because his face felt flushed. He’d blame it on the hangover if Sean asked, but it wasn’t that. It was—

“Christ,” he growled as he stalked to the car. He’d never imagined that Josh would still be living here. He was meant to be some kind of corporate CEO by now, not serving coffee in this Podunk town. It didn’t make any sense.

Finn’s hand shook as he squeezed the back of his neck and he told himself it was the shock. He hadn’t expected to see Josh again. Not ever. And so what if he’d been scrutinizing the media circus surrounding Charles Newton’s trial, looking for a glimpse of a familiar face? It wasn’t the same as running into him like this. Not with Josh looking so... Sodifferent. So worn down and tired. So reduced.

He braced his hands on the roof of Sean’s car. He couldn’t lose control here, where people and smartphones could see. Behind him he heard the door to the coffee shop open, the giggle ofthe girls they’d met at the Rock House following him down the street. He had to hold it together.

He took a breath. Truth was, this should have been perfect. It should have been perfect schadenfreude, served ice cold after eight long years. Because Josh, who’d broken Finn’s heart on the orders of his asshole father, had apparently been reduced to waiting tables. While Finn, who hadn’t been good enough for the great Newton clan, had made his name in the world. He was somebody now. He had a career, money, a reputation. He hadfans. Finn was riding high and the Newtons were on their knees. He should have been fuckin’ dancing.

---