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“I brought something for you,” he said, meeting me in the middle of the alley between the dumpster and the back door of Critter’s.
“You don’t need to bring me anything.” I tried to pass him to get through the door but he stopped me. “You don’t owe me anything, Finn. You can go back to hiding in the woods. It’s obvious you don’t want to be my friend so let’s not force it. We don’t have to be friends.”
“I don’t want to be your friend,” he said, taking a step forward.
“Then why are you here?”
“I missed you,” he said, gazing deeply into my eyes. I tried to look away but Finn grabbed my chin and turned my head back so I was facing him.
“Then why did you leave?” I asked, unable to hide the hurt in my voice. “Afte
r everything. I woke up and you were just gone.”
Finn searched my face like he was searching for answers he didn’t have. “I’ve never met anyone like you. I’ve never even seen anyone like you. These freckles,” he ran the pad of his thumb underneath my eyes. “This mouth,” he did the same over my lower lip, brushing his own lips over mine slowly and gently until I found myself shifting under all the sensations swarming inside of me. “You make me want things, Say. Crave things. Things I haven’t thought about in a long time.”
Say? I wanted to hate the nickname. I wanted to tell him that it was stupid and to never say it again, but I couldn’t. I repeated it again over and over in my head using his voice and I couldn’t help it.
I loved it.
My body hummed. It was getting harder and harder to appear unaffected. “Crave? You make me sound like a meal.”
“That would make sense.” Finn pushed his fingers up into my hair and pulled just enough for my scalp to sting. “Because my mouth is watering to taste you,” he pressed his lips against mine and this time there was no storm to blame or anything else he needed to distract me from. “I want you, Say. So fucking much. More than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone before.” He took a deep breath like he was breathing me in. “You terrify me.”
I felt warm all over.
“Well, I did bite you,” I said. Finn smiled. Feeling brave, I reached up and touched the corner of his mouth where I’d made him bleed. There was no evidence of the injury but it was as if I could still see it there.
Finn growled and tugged me against him, lowering his lips to mine, parting them with his tongue. When our tongues touched I shuddered. I raised up on my tip toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening our kiss. Our connection. Needing to be closer.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” I breathed as his lips left mine and trailed down my neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
Finn grinned against my tingling skin. “Neither do I.” His words send a rush straight between my legs. He continued to kiss and lick his way around my neck and ear, palming my breast through my t-shirt with his big hand.
A nervous excitement took over. I trembled with fear and anticipation.
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” Finn groaned, rocking against me. His hand fell from my hair and wrapped around my waist, trailing down to knead my butt cheek through my shorts and then lower, reaching up into my shorts and taking another handful. I moaned at the contact. His skin against mine.
I wanted more.
I rocked against him to try and ease the ache growing in my lower belly.
He gripped me hard, holding me still. “Don’t do that,” he warned with a groan. “It feels too fucking good for you to be doing that.” He playfully pushed against me until I staggered back and connected with the corner. He followed me and caged me in with his hands next to my head on the wall. My breathing was erratic. Finn’s pupils were dilated as he reached down and popped the top button of my shorts. “Tell me you want me, Say.”
The back door swung open. “You need a hand?” Critter called out.
Finn released me.
“No, I got it,” I said, breathlessly.
I turned back around to where Finn was just standing, but he was already gone.
I was righting my apron just as Critter stepped outside.
“You sure? You sound a little winded, kid,” he asked, eyeing me skeptically.
“I’m sure,” I reassured him. “The bags were just heavier than I thought.”
I ducked under Critter’s arm and when I came face to face with a picture of a younger looking Finn with his arm around a beautiful blonde hanging in the back hallway I paused. “Who is this with Finn?” I asked.
“That’s Jackie,” Critter said. “Unfortunately, she’s no longer with us.”
“What happened to her?”
“How did I know you were going to ask that?” Critter teased. “Not my…”
I finished his sentence for him, “story to tell. I know.”
I leaned in closer to get a better look at the picture. Finn was smiling from ear to ear. I’d never seen him smile like that before.
“The lord’s lady,” I whispered to myself.
“What was that?” Critter asked.
“Nothing.” I grabbed two more bags and hauled them back outside.
Maybe it was for the best that Critter had interrupted us because I was just about to tell Finn that I wanted him too.
But when I saw the picture of him and Jackie, reality washed me over the head like a bucket of cold water.
I didn’t know the details, but it was stupid to give myself over to Finn when he clearly had already given himself to someone else. Someone who even in death still had a hold over him he couldn’t shake.
I grabbed another set of trash bags and went out back, hoisting them into the dumpster. When I turned around, I noticed the package Finn had been carrying was sitting on top of a metal trash can by the door.
In my fumbled attempt to pick it up, I dropped it on the ground. I knelt down and tore a strip of the brown wrapping off, revealing a book.
The title was only partially visible, but I didn’t need to see the entire thing to know exactly what it said.
I ripped the rest of the packaging off and ran my fingers over the cover. Each raised letter I felt was somehow making it harder and harder to breathe.
When I got to the end, I read the title out loud to myself.
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sawyer
“Finn called me last night,” Josh announced, handing me a big mug of coffee with a cartoon policeman on the side peeing off the top of a bridge.
It was seven in the morning. After my shift, I’d told Sterling I’d walk with him another time and took Josh up on her offer to drive me back to her place.
“He did?” I asked, perking up at the sound of his name.
“He called me to ask about you. He wanted to make sure you were staying with me and that you were okay.”
“And what did you tell him?” I asked, looking into my mug.
“I told him you were fine.” Josh set down her mug and put a hand on her hip. “What’s going on with you two?”
“What do you mean?” I took a sip of coffee and immediately spit the thick bitter mud back into the mug when Josh turned her back.
“I mean you two, as in Finn and Sawyer. That man hasn’t called me in two years. TWO FUCKING YEARS. And I was his best friend. Then you roll into town and suddenly he remembers my number?” Josh shook her head. “Something about this don’t add up.”
“Maybe he just wanted to make sure I didn’t plan on staying at his place again,” I offered, knowing that wasn’t the case.
“Nooo,” Josh sang, cocking her head to the side. She tossed me
