He started typing. Stopped. And started typing again. His stomach tightened. He didn’t have the words to describe the vortex of agony that sucked his chest every year. The irony of all ironies was that if he could rewind to a happier time, to a time before Liam died, a time before his parents needed mood altering substances to get through the day, things would have been completely different.
If Liam had lived, Mom and Dad would never have moved to the Morrison’s neighborhood, and Finn would never have met Will or Molly. His phone sounded in his hand.
MoMo:Finny?
Finn:Don’t call me that, Mini Mo.
He grinned. She’d called him Finny like she called Will Willy – they both hated it, and it was a button she pressed on-the-regular to wind them both up.
MoMo:Want me to come over?
His heart warmed. She was the only person who’d seen him in all his broken glory, and she hadn’t run, she hadn’t paled or winced, she’d simply fixed him up and sat with him until dawn chased away the demons. It was why he loved mornings so much, light always conquered the darkness.
Finn:You know it’s weird when you get nice like this.
MoMo:It comes but once a year, Finny. Make the most of it before it’s gone.
Finn:It’s like Emotional Christmas. Do I get gifts?
He wanted to ask her to dress up like a sexy elf and come jingle her bells to cheer him up. He wanted to bury himself in her soft flesh until they didn’t know where she ended and he began. He wanted to hold her, lying together in silence, until he found words to explain to her the things he was feeling, the things he lived through, what he’d seen. A shiver rattled through his bones.
MoMo:I am a fucking gift. Also it’s too early for pizza and beer so no extra gifts.
MoMo:I wouldn’t wanna bump into your flavor of the week.
Was she fishing? Did she think he had a revolving door of fuck buddies? He had a few regular friends-with-benefits, but she knew he hadn’t been in a single, long-term relationship since he’d started college. She also didn’t know she was the reason why.
He rubbed at his chest. Some days he considered telling her, getting everything out in the open and dealing with the fallout. But then he and Will played Mario Kart, or went bowling together and his better judgement kicked in.
MoMo:Come downstairs. I don’t want to wake everyone and have the whole team pissed at me ‘cause they’re sleep deprived.
Why the hell was she at the hockey house at ass-crack-of-dawn time?
Finn:Plus you want to interview them.
MoMo:That too.
He bounded out of bed and pulled on a pair of boxers before taking the stairs two at a time to the ground floor. He pulled open the door and a grinning Molly stood with her hands behind her back.
Her gaze flicked to his chest. She didn’t bother to hide her appreciation of his half naked body. He had a good body, he took care of it, and knew people found him attractive, but she looked at him like he was a tray of tacos on a Tuesday.
Her eyes trailed lazily from his shoulders down to his boxers, rolling over his abs as though they were steps down to the Promised Land. She raised an eyebrow. “Morning Sunshine.”
“My eyes are up here.”
“Seems’ like they’re not the only thing that’s up.”
He snorted, but his cheeks heated. Her razor sharp tongue was one of his favorite things about her. She rocked back on her heels. Was she nervous? He couldn’t really blame her, like it had no understanding that she was off limits, his dick was most definitely getting hard under her stare.
“What can I say? Little Finn likes mornings.” He shifted his feet, and tried to think of something to make it soften.
“Little Finn is also not so little.”
She wasn’t helping. Was she enjoying tormenting him? Damn straight he wasn’t so little.
Despite the crisp weather, Molly wasn’t wearing a coat. Her oversized, navy cable knit sweater slipped off her shoulder, revealing the straps of her underlying tank top and ornate, red lace bra. He pointed at the fabric. “Well I can see your bra.”
She pursed her lips. Right, like her seeing the bulge of his morning wood, and him seeing one half-covered strap from a bra he wanted to tear from her body, was totally the same thing.
