Page 265 of Rogue Riders Duet

“Because I’m over all this bullshit.” Piper eyes me, but I just add, “And Finn’s going to realize it’s not what he wants. He didn’t have time to think, he was just reacting. Out of guilt. Like I said.”

Piper hums. “Okay, but if we forget all of that, right? The races. The media. The guilt. Just your feelings. In a perfect world, who would you be with?”

“In a perfect world?” I echo, glancing around the garden, at the lavender stretching into the distance, bees floating lazily, sunshine dripping golden down stone walls. I turn back to her, whispering, “In a perfect world, Finn didn’t hurt me, and I could have all three of them.”

She stops again. “All three, as in Delacroix, Payne, and Greer?”

I nod, my heart thudding. “Yeah.”

Fuck, first time I’ve admitted that out loud.

There’s a beat of silence, but then Piper crosses her arms. “Does Luc know you’re into his boyfriend too?”

Oh, he so knows.

“Maybe, he suspects it.”

“Okay,” she says, tipping her head. “Then maybe that’s something to work on first, because the way Mason just looked at you this morning? That’s the easiest problem to solve.”

I snort. “I’ll remind you how easy emotional problems are to solve next time you and Dane get into it.”

“You so will.” She laughs, and we keep walking farther down the garden path, where we spot Jim and Élise sitting together on a stone bench, talking and laughing.

Piper leans close and whispers as we turn to walk back toward the house, “Love is in the air.”

I grin. “Pretty sure it’s just the French countryside. Lavender. Sunshine. Vibes.”

She snorts. “Sure.”

We turn the corner and reach the front of the house again, and Piper asks, “So, when are we leaving anyway?”

“I don’t know. Tomorrow morning around nine, I guess.”

“Okay. I’m going to drive with you. I think Otis and Luc are too?”

“Yep. I don’t know if Mason’s going with his dad or with us, but we have room.”

I stop dead in my tracks because Finn is sitting on the step of the Crews’ bus, where it’s parked in the driveway.

In his lap is a bouquet of wildflowers, messy, beautiful, and impossible to ignore. My entire body freezes, my breath stalls in my throat, and I think someone flipped gravity off.

I’m floating, weightless, panicked.

“You gonna talk to him?” Piper halts beside me, her gaze flicking from him to me.

“I guess so.”

“I’m gonna wait inside. Yell if you need me.”

“Sure,” I whisper, eyes locked on the boy—no, the man—on the step who looks like he’s been through the wringer.

As we approach, Finn stands up quickly, tugging his red hoodie down. There’s a dented, half-rusty car pulled up awkwardly on the side of the road.

Is that how he got here?

“Greer,” Piper greets, cool but not unkind.

“Hey, Piper.”