“Nope, not that either. Something else has got you all chipper.” His face turns conniving.
I don’t like it. It’s his inquiring look.
“Wouldn’t have to do with the awfully familiar car I saw parked out front late last night when I pulled in, would it?”
“I dunno, why were you out so late?” I ask, turning the tables back on him. “Orwhowere you seeing, I guess I should say.”
“Oh no,” he taunts. “We aren’t going there. This is about you and why one of my best friends stayed here while I was out.”
I roll my eyes but I’m happy to see that the hellhounds seem to be getting back to normal. Besides, Cole’s been here plenty of times to see me without him. Finn knows this. He’s never spent the night like last night, but he’s been here, nonetheless.
“So, if I were to text Hailey right now, she wouldn’t tell me she’s been with you?” I arch a brow, lifting my new phone and his eyes stretch.
I have no clue if it’s true, but it’s the only leverage I have. So, I use it to my full advantage.
Reaching, he shoves the toothbrush into the side of his mouth. Taking the phone from my hand. “Wow. Welcome back to the twenty-first century,” he mumbles.
Our conversation/interrogation about why Cole had been staying here the night before forgotten. For the moment, at least.
I release a silent sigh of relief while he’s distracted.
He whistles. “’Bout time, lil sis. I thought you’d gone prairie style on us.”
I shake my head with a chuckle, stealing it back, Finn’s something else.
He goes back to his room to finish getting ready. This morning is a rarity as of late. He didn’t have to go in early, before school, so he’d slept in.
“Hey, can you give me a ride today? I left my car at school yesterday.” I holler across the hall, shoving my folder with my homework in my bag.
Leaving our rooms at the same time, he’s doing the same thing I am, except with zero care. The thin pieces of paper crinkle as they get shoved between a notebook and a textbook.
“Why’d you leave your car at school?” He asks, shaking his book bag so the items cram further, fitting in the already stuffed bag.
“Because of this,” I say, pulling at my sock so he can see the gauze underneath.
Finn’s eyes go wide for the second time within the hour.
The swelling not as bad this morning after I’d kept it elevated all night like Cole had suggested. Also, the two ibuprofens helped a lot.
It still hurts when I put all my weight on it, but I want to go to class today and see how it feels. I shouldn’t be on it too much anyway, mostly just between classes. Other than that, I’ll be sitting.
The broadness of his eyes narrow to slits by the time I right myself.
“I’m going to kill him.”
thirty-four
Rory
“You,”Finnroars.Eyesflaring as his fingers snap, charging down the front steps of the house. “I have no idea what you did or how she got like this, but you’re dead. Here me? Dead.”
Cole stands there, unfazed. Looking far too attractive in his navy slacks and collared, white shirt with the sleeves rolled. His dark hair tousled like he’d run his fingers through it and called it good.
I want to run my fingers through it—wait, what?
His car is running, and he has a tray of coffees in one hand and a bag of something that smells heavenly in the other.
“What are you doing here?” I question after he hands both Finn and me a cup.