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It was luck that brought him into my life a week ago.
Maybe fate will make sure he’s there again tonight.
Chapter 6
Finn
It’s been a week.
A week since my life changed before my very eyes, a week since I met the woman who would have me by the heart without even knowing it. A week since I got my hands on her, made her come apart with my tongue.
It’s been a week since I last saw Kat, and I’m really not sure how I haven’t lost my shit about it yet.
Even my mom, so often consumed with her own thoughts and how they haunt her, has noticed something’s up. She’s started to tease me for looking like I’m on a different planet when we sit down for our morning cups of coffee. When she finally asked this morning what could possibly have me so spaced out, I couldn’t make myself lie. I told her that I’d met someone.
I haven’t seen her smile like that in years.
Even when I’d told her that it wouldn’t amount to anything, that a girl like Kat would never actually settle for a man like me, she remained undeterred.
“Son, sometimes it’s not about if they love you back. Sometimes it’s okay to let yourself love someone,” she told me. Shortly after, she gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye before moving to the living room to fold laundry while watching one of her shows.
And now I’m here, sitting in my truck. It’s evening now, the darkness settling over everything like a blanket. I’ve memorized the overtime route by now in the same way I’ve memorized the way to the location of the store Kat works at: repetition.
Every night since we met, I’ve stopped at her convenience store.
And every night, I’ve been disappointed.
I know that someone had mentioned giving her a few days off at some point, but I didn’t think it would be a whole week. Is it possible that she asked for more time? Is it possible she moved locations?
… Is it possible that something happened to her?
The thought darkens my mind as I climb down out of the driver’s seat and make my way to the store front. Already I can see that Kat isn’t working. Instead, it’s the short, grubby-looking coworker that had disappeared before she was attacked. Joe, I think? Tim? Fuck if I know. As I walk back to the coffee station, I notice that there’s an older woman in a uniform stocking snacks and there’s a gangly teenager I recognize from the previous evening mopping up the greasy floor.
At least they managed to increase the staff during evenings, I grumble to myself as I fill the largest cup they have with molten black coffee. But still no Kat.
John or whatever doesn’t say anything to me as he rings me up for my coffee and a candy bar. I know he recognizes me though, because his hands shake as he gives me my change. His eyes don’t meet mine once. Good. Even though wasting my time wiping the floor with a guy like him is below me, I’m glad he’s scared of me. He deserves to feel fear in the same way that Kat had to feel it all alone because he was gone when the gunman showed up.
I say nothing as I turn to leave and step back out into the cool night air. Disappointment makes my stomach twist as I walk to my truck. Even though I’ve stopped expecting to see her when I stop here, that doesn’t keep me from hoping. It hurts a little more each time.
I don’t know why I’m so hung up on Kat. Except I know that’s a lie, because I can list exactly why I want her. The way her body fit against mine, the way she told me off for telling her that she wouldn’t want someone like me, the way she tasted and lingered on my tongue. I just … I’m not sure why the universe gave her to me, just to take her away like this.
Fate’s a bitch, I swear under my breath as I stop to dig around my pocket for my keys. Fate’s a rotten, conniving—
“Finn?”
The sound of a soft voice makes me freeze on the spot.
“I’m sorry, maybe I’ve got the wrong person.”
I finally make myself turn to see the source of the voice. It can’t be …
But it is.
Fuck. She looks absolutely stunning. Even the most intimate of my memories doesn’t do her justice. Her brown hair is falling in soft waves down past her shoulders, her cheeks kissed rosy by the cool night air. Even in the dim light, her eyes are shining up at me as a smile plays on her lips.
“Kat,” I say, at a loss for words. She’s here. She’s real.
