Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“Yep.”
As far as I know, only one picture is making the rounds, and we’re not even touching in it. If it were anyone else, it would have gone unnoticed. Because it’s us, people are now speculating like I knew they would. I don’t care, though. I’m not the one with the aversion to dating or photographs.
“Why doesn’t he like being seen with dates?” Mom asks.
Dame and I share a look. Finn doesn’t exactly “date,” but we’re not going to tell my mom that. If she could, she’d ban boys from my apartment and girls from Damian’s. She doesn’t preach “sex before marriage is a sin” anymore, but she did for so long that we accepted our place in hell a long time ago.
“He’s just a private person,” Dame says after a moment. “Not many people know him.”
I bite my lip and take out my phone to check my notifications. Anything to distract me from this conversation. I click on the notifications and sigh when I see how many times I’ve been tagged in the picture with Finn.
“And Joss is the opposite of that,” Dame adds.
I look up from my phone. “How many times are we going to go over this? I’m a private person!”
Dame shoots a pointed look toward my phone.
I roll my eyes. “I told him our picture would end up on the internet.”
Dame shakes his head and starts filling glasses with water.
“You’re not touching, but you’re looking at each other with such longing,” Mom says, almost wistfully.
My eyes threaten to bulge out of their sockets. “What is up with you today?”
The door chime sounds before it opens and shuts, and there is the sound of keys hitting the dish on the entry table. Titus’ dress shoes click against the hardwood as he walks in our direction. His expression is clouded with worry, but when he sees the three of us, he grins wide.
“I wasn’t sure you’d make it,” he tells Dame as he walks up to give him a tight hug.
“I have to go back later,” Dame says. “Ice in the morning, work out in the afternoon.”
“And you?” Titus glances at me as he goes up to my mom and kisses her lips before hugging her tightly as well.
“Did weight training this morning. I don’t have anything going on for the rest of the day,” I say, returning his hug when he reaches me.
“Tate asked me about you and Finn,” he says, undoing the knot of his tie and tossing it over the jacket he’d set over the chair.
“I’m not surprised. What’d he say?”
“He … well…” Titus’ brows rise. “He’s not happy, that’s for sure.”
“He’s a fucking asshole,” Dame growls, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Has he called you?” Mom asks, picking up two plates and handing them to Dame.
“Yeah.”
“I thought you blocked his number,” Dame says as he sets the plates down on the center of the table. I stand and pick up the bowl of salad to help set the table.
“I unblocked it.”
He rolls his eyes.
“I’m surprised he didn’t text me about it,” I say.
“He really hates that guy,” my stepfather says. “With good reason. And now this.”
I roll my eyes. “I will never understand inherited drama.”
“Finn made it personal,” Titus says. “You remember that girl who died years back? Blair?”
“The one who drowned in the frozen lake?” Mom asks with a sad look in her eyes. “What a terrible tragedy.”
An uneasy feeling skates down my spine. What the hell does Finn have to do with that? A part of me wants to cover my ears and not find out. I was in middle school at the time, but I remember the story. I think she was on her way home from a party when her car veered off the road and went into a lake. From pictures on the news, I know the girl was beautiful, with a tight-lipped smile and dazzling blue eyes.
“According to Tate, there was some sort of love triangle between them and Finn,” Titus says. “He says Finn was there the night it happened.”
My heart drops and I’m instantly ashamed of myself for being even remotely jealous of that poor girl. A love triangle hints at a relationship, though. It’s not like I thought Finn never had a girlfriend, but he’s made himself unavailable for so long that I hadn’t really thought much of how, why, or when he became that way.
“Damn. I didn’t know that,” Dame says.
“Not many do,” Titus responds. “The Barlows are good at covering their tracks. There’s a reason Richard bought his lawyer a house beside his.”
Dame whistles. I’m not sure if he’s impressed or disturbed. I’m definitely both.
“He doesn’t think Finn killed her, does he?” I ask, or say. I can’t tell with the pounding in my head.
“No, that’s not the impression I got. More like he blames him for whatever led to the accident,” Titus says.