AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ramona tuns and leaves as I shut the door, before leaning against the wooden surface. I can relax for a few moments, before I have to decide how I’m going to come clean.
I’d rather it be me telling Finn the truth.
It’s best if he hears it from my mouth.
But, deep down, I know that, that might not be the case. He’s stubborn. And, at times, he can be cold as ice when it comes to learning he’s been kept in the dark.
I pull out my phone and tap out a message to Ares. He’ll keep my secret for as long as I need him to. If I can get past the initial meeting, I can take Finn out to the churchyard, where I used to hang out with Ares, Etienne, and Tarian, and talk to him in private.
I can’t do it here.
I need to be in a place I feel at ease. I’ve always enjoyed sitting in the yard, where there was nobody but me and the tombstones. Maybe I can ask Finn to go with me now. But I know if I were to tell him to come with me, he’d refuse. Right now, Finn is all-business because his father needs this contract signed.
Sighing, I exit the room to go find him. But the moment I reach his door, a voice from down the hallway calls out to me. “Jarred?” Finn’s door opens right at that moment. I glance over my shoulder to find Tarian Calvert. One of the four. He, Ares, and Etienne are the three men who stepped up to sit in the Elder’s chairs four years ago.
He hasn’t changed. His pitch-black hair still falls across his eyes. The glint of his piercings, one in his eyebrow and the other in his lip shine in the light streaming in from the window.
As he nears us, I can tell his bright blue eyes hold shock and confusion. At twenty-seven, Tarian looks all man now. But there is still a boyish charm to him. He reminds me so much of Finn, it’s disconcerting. Perhaps I did hold a flame for him when I was younger. But not now. Because the man I love is standing in front of me, more confused that someone here knows me.
“Tar,” I greet, using the nickname he’s had since I can remember. It started as a joke, when one of the girls he’d been fucking said his hair was as black as tar. But also, it is a play on his name.
“What are you doing here?”
“You two know each other?” Finn asks, looking between Tarian and me. Tynewood shouldn’t be familiar to me, and people here shouldn’t know who I am, at least in Finn’s mind. But unfortunately, there are. I’m too late to stop it now. I can feel my house of cards tumbling down.
“Yeah,” Tarian says, “this bastard grew up around here.” The confusion in his expression makes me edgy. I doubt Tarian understands why I wouldn’t have told Finn about my past. I left so long ago, and I’ve tried to bury a lot of my memories. I wanted a new life. The thought of having to live under the rule of the Society wasn’t something I wanted, so I walked away.
“He did?” Even more tension emanates from Finn as the truth slowly comes to the surface. I should have known that it would. There has always been a threat of it happening, I just didn’t realize it would happen before I could tell Finn myself.
“It was a long time ago,” I try to soothe the shock.
“It was,” Tarian agrees. “But when you upped and left, we missed you, man. You didn’t even tell us where you were going. Your dad didn’t even know.” His mention of the man who left me in Tynewood has anger racing through my veins.
“I know.” I nod, turning to Finn to find questions dancing in his dark eyes. I flick my gaze to Tarian. “Can you give us a minute? We’ll be down in a bit.” He watches us for a long moment before nodding and heading down the hall.
“Finn,” I start slowly, as he shakes his head. Zaria steps out of the doorway to her bedroom before making her way over to us. She’s overheard the whole conversation, and I expect her to scream and shout, but she merely sets a hand on my arm.
“Don’t,” Finn says, the anger is clear in his voice as he walks back into the bedroom, leaving me on the threshold with Zaria. I’ve seen him angry before, but right now, he’s beyond it. All I see is a broken man.
“Finn, please listen to me.”
He spins around, fire blazing in his stare. “Listen to you? Why? So you can tell me more lies? Or hide the fact that you’re not who you say you are?”
