Page 23 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

“Just roll with me. Whatever I say, nod.” I whispered, hoping against all odds Eli heard me.

“Fancy meetin’ you two here.” Finn said, his deep timbre vibrating through my body. “Though, I recall your message said you were ‘staying in’ tonight.”

Shit.

Wait.

“I didn’t text you.”

“You didn’t have to Firecracker, we have mutual friends.” He smirked and then I remembered why I was not currently friendly with him.

“Now you have my best friend’s fiancé spying on me?” I yelled, loud enough I saw Aaron flinch. Good, rat. “You have no business doing that.”

“Oh, but don’t I?” He leaned against the booth, resting on one large forearm. “That baby in your body says otherwise.”

I hated how blasée he was acting, how absolutely charming he could be, and I most definitely hated that my stupid, stupid lady brain had woken up at his mere proximity. But above all I hated that my brain stalled at the mention of my pregnancy.

“So, who’s your friend here?” Finn spat the word ‘friend’ out like he’d been personally offended by the word.

“Mydate,” I replied sweetly, “is Eli.”

Eli didn’t waste a minute, wrapping his hand around mine and pulling me closer. “Nice to meet you….” He said, offering Finn his other hand, waiting for someone to tell him Finn’s name.

Something flickered across Finn’s face as he grit out his name and shook Eli’s hand way too forcefully to be anything civil.

“Nice to meet you, Finn. We were just on our way out, right Ronnie?”

“Yeah, my apartment isn’t far from here.” I looked up at him, hoping my little facade looked sultry.

The ride back to my house was silent. Because what do you say to the guy you just forced into a lie? Eli steered the car into a spot on the side of the street, maneuvering into a parallel spot easily.

He shut the engine off, but still didn’t speak. We sat there, both unmoving, both silent. It was awkward and I caught myself holding my breath.

“Why are you running from him?” Eli’s question jarred the silence in the car. Popping the bubble of denial.

“I’m not running from Finn.” I scoffed and turned to face him. The street lights framed his golden hair in a halo through the tinted glass of the car. “What makes you think that?”

His brows furrowed before he shook his head and said, “Because the minute you saw him you wanted to leave. I’m still not even sure we paid that man back there, and you told him I was your date.”

“Okay,” I could see why he thought, maybe, I was scared of Finn. “We paid Billy, I have a tab….” I didn’t know how to answer the last observation without shelling out all of my dirty laundry.

He kept eyeing me, like he knew it too.

I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. I could have a staring contest. I didn’t need to do anything. Returning to my empty apartment to sit alone with my thoughts? No thank you.

“Why did you tell him I was your date, Ronnie?” Eli repeated.

I rolled my eyes and opened the door, the click of locks echoed over the near empty street. He’d tried to lock me in his car, the bastard. Who did he think he was?

“Ronnie.” Eli said, his voice stern.

I turned to see him smoothly rising out of the car, keys firmly in hand making his way toward me. “You can’t come up.”

He smirked, “But I’m your date, isn’t that what adults do after a successful date?”

“It wasn’t a date.” I said, stomping my foot down like a child. Eli was too damn cute, with his easy smirk and all seeing eyes. “We’re friends.”

“Are we?” he quipped, raising one eyebrow.

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