Page 37 of Heir of Fire
Are you awake?
I can’t stop thinking about you.
Stop ignoring me, princess.
Yeah, he kept texting, and she kept not responding. He didn’t give a shit. It didn’t change the fact that she was his now and no matter how much she tried to ignore him, he would make sure he lingered around just to remind her of his presence.
He turned off his phone, sighing. Allister sat down next to him, handing him one of the many bottles on the table.
“Need a refill?” he asked.
“I think I do,” Finn said, grabbing it and pouring himself another drink. He didn’t know what number this was, but it didn’t matter anymore. The burn going down his throat was all that was helping him get through this night.
“You didn’t have to do all of this, by the way,” Allister said.
He shrugged. “I’ve been an asshole. It felt like the right thing to do.”
“You’ve been through a lot, and sure the way you handle things is horrible, but I don’t think any of us process things in a healthy way. If we did, none of us would be the way we are now.” Allister grinned, grabbing a different bottle off the table and refilling his glass.
Finn snorted. “Yeah. You’re probably right about that.”
They were quiet for a moment, but it wasn’t an awkward silence like before. It was comfortable, like two friends just sitting beside each other observing the scene in front of them. Said scene being Dante with his tongue down some dude’s throat, but it was still a scene. Finn turned his head away.
“Why aren’t you out there partying right now?” Finn asked.
Allister sighed. “It’s fucking complicated. You?”
“Same fucking thing.”
“You know, Luna suspected there was someone in your life,” he said. “We were all trying to figure out if it was true or not.”
“I’ve heard.” Finn rolled his eyes. “I love her, but sometimes she really drives me insane.”
“Those are sisters for you. A fucking headache, but still, I would die for her.”
“Are you and Gianna close?” Finn asked, taking his chance to learn more about her.
Allister nodded. “We’ve always been. With only us two and our father, we relied on each other a lot. She acts so strong, but deep down she’s so fragile. That’s why I’m happy she has the girls and all of us as her support; she needs it even if she pretends that she doesn’t.”
“You’re a good brother.” That was the truth. It made him question his own relationship with Luna; how much he had been willing to put up with, how little he had done with everything that was going on between them and their father. He tried his best to protect her, but he hadn’t realized she had already been past the point of protecting. That it was a life-or-death situation.
“You are too,” Allister said. “You stood by your sister when you could have walked away.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Finn said.
His father wanted him dead towards the end; Finn knew that to be a fact. Sticking with Luna had been a matter of preservation as much as it was out of protection.
“We always have a choice.”
Finn swallowed harshly, desperately trying to push down every painful reminder of everything that had happened. Now was not the time to dive into any of that.
“Is this you choosing to be nice to me when you could be an asshole?” Finn asked him.
“Being an asshole isn’t really my style.”
“I think I know someone who might beg to differ,” Finn muttered. Too many times, he had heard the very phrase come out of Blair’s mouth when she was complaining to Luna throughout the years.
Allister’s eyes lit up, but he covered it up with a small laugh instead. “I think we should celebrate this moment with a picture.”
