Page 73 of Stirring Up Love
Betrayal. A scenario she was well acquainted with, and her heart softened toward him even more, as if she weren’t already a pool of melted butter when it came to Finn.
“Punks,” she said, and the corner of his lip quirked up in a not-quite smile.
“I felt like an idiot. Here I was thinking I’d finally made some friends, when all they wanted was to use me.” He swallowed, tense. “And I couldn’t wrap my brain around why. They had everything I wanted. Families, stable homes. Never stopped to think that if I did what they asked, I could lose my place in Tori’s home. Or maybe they just didn’t care.”
Entitled. Self-centered.She understood now why he’d jumped to conclusions and pushed her away.
He leaned forward and nudged out another block, and the blanket slipped off one shoulder to expose his tattoos once more. Memories painted on his skin. His heart laid bare, the opposite of the blank armor she wore, terrified of being seen as anything less than put together.
“Anyway, once they figured out they couldn’t get anything from me, I went back to being nobody.” Placing the brick carefully atop the tower, he said, “Nothing new, but I guess it was the tipping point. Iquit trying. My grades tanked. I turned eighteen over Christmas break and moved out. Dropped out. But Tori never gave up on me. She and Darius stayed in contact. It took me years to believe I was worth the love they kept showing me. To get my GED, to go to therapy. But sometimes it creeps up, that worthless feeling.”
A moment ago her heart had been a puddle. Now it was a thin sheet of ice, and it shattered at his words. “That worthless feeling can go shove it.”
“Right?” Finn rubbed a hand across his lips, bashful. “But that’s why I want to start the school. To show other people they’re worth investing in. To give them a chance to prove their past isn’t their future.”
She wanted to hate him still. Wanted to think he was rude and conniving and judgmental. But how could she?
“You’re a really decent dude, Finn Rimes.” More than decent. Kind and caring and considerate. She flicked her eyes over the room, the checkers and Jenga blocks evidence of his selflessness. “Sick as a dog, and here you are playing games with me, getting me out of my own head.”
He dodged his eyes away, like he was embarrassed at her praise. Not nearly as mortified as she was for saying those things aloud, but he mattered more than her pride. Mattered as a person, regardless of what might happen between them.
Regardless of what she so badlywantedto happen between them.
Finn coughed, but it was a looser sound, not as worrisome. “Speaking of ... you could’ve warned me about the underwear situation in the bathroom. I may be sick, but I’m not dead. And jeez, Simone. Those black ones ...”
She’d totally forgotten. “Consider it payback for the creek-side striptease.”
He grinned, a bright flash of teeth against his stubble. “Fair enough.” He leaned over, his finger poised in front of a block.
“Finn?”
“Hmm?” He paused.
“If you push that one out, the whole tower is going to fall.”
“It might.”
“It will.”
“Are you helping me win?”
“I’m helping you not lose.”
“Because you like me?” he asked, eyes on the tower.
“Because I don’t hate you.” Not at all. Not even a teensy little bit.
“Good. Because I’ve never hated you.”
CHAPTER 25
SIMONE
“Ready to hit the road, sunshine?”
Her eyes shot open. Silhouetted by light spilling from the open bathroom door, Finn hovered over her, a cup of coffee in each hand. He took a seat by her feet and bounced. “This bed is a dream, right?”
Groggy, she leaned up on one elbow. Bed? She was supposed to be the one on the couch. Unless ...
