“Your fingers, first. Then we’ll see. Deal?” I bite back a moan.
I can practically see his wildest fantasies staring back at me. Yep, that’ll do it. His mouth drops open as images of what he wants to do to me push him closer to the edge.
“Deal.” He grabs my throat to kiss me, then pulls away, paying close attention to my face as he gives me everything he has. He was right about one thing. Our sex is dirty and messy, but it’s also vulnerable and raw.
Like we’re the last people left on this earth.
“Fuuuck.” Finn groans, squeezing my throat tighter. He pumps into me three more times before spilling inside me.
I’m going to need a hell of a shower after this.
We’re both out of breath as Finn wraps me up in an embrace I never want to leave. Still inside me, he kisses my jaw and tilts his head forward to whisper something in my ear.
“Everything but you.”
My heart swells up painfully.
He makes me so happy.
We’ve been having the best time these past six months, even with all the sneaking around. We talk every day, spend every weekend together, we party, we laugh. I’ve been living on a cloud, and while I am afraid of falling, when he says things like that, I almost believe I never will.
Everything but you has become our thing, Finn’s way of saying I love you without really saying it.
“Everything but you,” I croak, and Finn places a kiss on the tip of my nose. My legs are wobbly when he helps me off the car. Thankfully, he catches me before my knees give in and takes the opportunity to kiss me again.
“Okay, now we really have to go,” I whisper, and he smiles.
Finn reluctantly releases me, then tosses me my shirt and my pants that were collecting dust on the ground. He gives me all of my clothes except my panties.
“Can I have those back?” I stretch my arm out.
“I think I’ll hold on to these until you keep up your end of our deal.” He smirks, slipping his leverage into his pocket.
Asshole.
I don’t bother arguing as I get dressed, grateful for the privacy of the woods. Our spot is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, near the tree where Finn’s parents carved their names all those years ago.
“I’m going straight to Theo’s. See you there?” Finn pecks my mouth, and I nod before trailing back to my own car—my parents would find it suspicious if Finn chauffeured me around.
Finn’s car disappears down the dirt road by the woods a moment later, and I check my phone for texts once I’ve buckled up. I have two messages from Lacey.
And one from my dad.
Lacey: WHERE ARE YOU?
Lacey: Theo left to get more booze and I’m stuck with Axel. If you leave me alone with Fletcher The Pig, I’ll literally never talk to you again!
A chuckle leaves me.
Is it bad that I’ve been texting Lacey more than Aveena since the beginning of senior year? Is it bad that I’ve grown a lot closer to Lacey than my own best friend? I do everything with Lacey these days. We party together, go shopping together, we even go to concerts on the weekends.
Vee is so important to me, but she has many triggers—like her hatred for alcohol because of her alcoholic dad—and I don’t always know how to navigate them. I tap out of my conversation with Lacey and check the message from my dad.
Gaten: Your brother’s coming back into town tomorrow. We’re having dinner at the restaurant. Be there at five.
News of my brother’s return should make me happy, but Jesse coming back after disappearing for half a year brings me more questions than it does joy.
He just left out of the blue six months ago, shortly after school picked up again. No call, no text, not even a goodbye. My parents said he needed some time away to focus on himself and dig into his past—whatever the hell that means.