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Dash’s mouth pinched in an angry line as he looked away from me and scowled out the back window. “I’m not trying to be an asshole, Dad, I swear. Thinking about you getting hurt is just making me crazy, and yeah, I guess it’s bringing out the asshole in me. If you promise to have a care with your heart, then I’ll promise to do better. It might take me some time though.”
I noticed he didn’t once try to touch on the fact I said I was just as fucked up as my potential lovers were. Or, better yet, my potential coven.
Fuck, I wanted that so badly my soul actually ached at the thought of not getting it. I never thought I’d have my own coven. I always thought I’d be alone and miserable for the rest of my days. Unless, of course, I was dead.
“If you two are good, we need to be getting home soon. I need to check in on the boys next door to make sure they are all good before bed.”
We both turned to look at Quinton in the doorway. Ariel was tucked up under his arm, and they both look highly concerned. That could only mean they had both been eavesdropping out in the hallway.
My son gave me a one-armed hug that I only half-heartedly returned. The others called out their goodbyes, but I didn’t return those either.
The only thing on my mind was whether or not Finn was okay and if Quinton made him feel worse than he originally had. I didn’t know why exactly I cared so much about Finn or when it had happened, but I wasn’t going to look too deeply into it.
That seemed to be my theme lately, avoiding why I felt the way I did about pretty much everything.
I heard the front door close, and I couldn’t help but thinkfuck it.I was going to go check on Finn to see if I needed to call Isobel and have her come do damage control. I didn’t exactly know how to cheer someone else up.
I rapped my knuckles on Finn’s closed door and didn’t wait for him to answer before barging inside. He was sitting at the foot of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. The position screamed defeat, and I wanted to put my fists through something to expel some of this rage coursing through me.
I sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. “Talk to me, Finn. What the fuck did that idiot say to you?”
Quinton just got himself penciled into an unpleasant visit from me when no one else was around.
“He didn’t say anything that wasn’t the truth,” Finn mumbled miserably through his hands.
Yeah, I was done with all the misery, not just in this room, but in this whole fucking house. A new coat of paint and some brand-new furniture couldn’t take away the bad juju that clung to the bones of this house.
I grabbed hold of Finn by the back of his neck and dragged him up into a sitting position. He glared at me, and that just pissed me off even more. I wasn’t the bad guy, and I didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of that look.
“Let go of me,” he growled and tried to jerk out of my hold. I did not let him go. I tightened my hold, but not enough to cause him real pain.
“No,” I growled back as I pulled his head close to mine until our noses almost touched. “I want to know what he said to you that made things worse, and you’re going to tell me right now. Keep fighting me, and I’ll be forced to punish you. I’m not sure if either of us will like that, but I’ll do it all the same.”
I had never spanked anyone before, but I was more than willing to turn him over my knee and give it a try.
Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea a great deal.
Finn huffed angrily, making both of his nostrils flare. He stopped trying to pull away from me, but the glare didn’t fade from his face.
“You’re fucked up. You know that, right?”
Oh boy, did I ever.
He still really had no fucking clue what he’d gotten himself into when he’d moved in here with me. He’d learn.
I grinned at him, baring my teeth in what I assumed wasn’t a friendly smile in the slightest.
His glare finally dimmed, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Ariel hates me, and Quinton wanted to remind me that Rain is her dad, and maybe I should think about someone else besides myself and leave him alone. For the sake of Quinton’s family, of course, though he claimed not to care himself, but I don’t believe him.”
Each word out of his mouth dripped with bitterness and practically bled with the hurt he was obviously feeling.
“I actually understand where he’s coming from, and I can’t even be mad at him for it. He’s finally gotten everything he’s ever wanted in life, and he’s over the moon with happiness. He doesn’t want anything to mess that up for him or the rest of his family. No hard feelings though, right?”
Yup, that was definitely bitterness and hurt he was rocking at the moment.
“I thought you and Quinton were on friendly terms. The two of you seemed pretty chummy at the wedding. What’s happened since then?”
He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to mine. “That’s when I first saw Isobel, became obsessed with her, and started to completely ignore everything else in my life, Quinton included. Which I think was my second strike against him, because he tried to befriend me after that whole ordeal at the storage facility, but I sort of sunk into a black hole of self-loathing and didn’t really want any friends at the time. I think maybe him inviting me to their wedding was his last attempt at trying with me. Apparently, I’m not just a terrible friend but a horrible person that needs to be warned off from beloved family members.”
