by M. Piper
Finley sighs and starts walking even slower. “I don’t want to go back,” she whispers.
“I know. But today will be over before you know it.”
“Yeah. And then wash, rinse, and repeat every day this week.” She rolls her eyes when we make it to my house.
“At least you get to work all week.” I wink at her and head up the steps, coming to the top and taking note of the ten extra people on my back deck. My dad’s here so it won’t get too crazy but with King and his crew sitting in the corner with Miranda on someone’s lap nothing’s promised.
I like the boys. They’re hard workers for my dad and they drop their lives every year to come down here just to make a little extra money. They’re good guys, but some of them run with questionable crowds. King being one of them.
I see Anders sitting at the table with a beer in his hand, talking to my dad…but Kat’s nowhere to be found.
“Y'all race back here or something?” Anders says, grinning at me with an eyebrow raise before he nods at Finley and I glance back at her, knowing the orgasm bliss on her face the minute I see it.
“Fuck,” I murmur under my breath. Her eyes go wide and she touches her pink cheeks.
“I need water,” she says and I nod, heading for the kitchen. When we round the corner after pushing open the door, I almost slam into Kat and have to grab her hips to stop her from toppling over.
“Jesus, Levi,” she blurts, then laughs and I can smell the whiskey on her breath.
“Kat are you drunk?” Finley says with a huge smile on her face.
“I’m allowed to drink, aren’t I?” She leans back against the counter and her eyes travel the entire length of my body slowly. “Why’d you have to grow up to be so hot?”
“Oh my God,” Finley mumbles behind me. “Kat, let’s go home.” She tries taking her sister’s hand and Kat shoves it away.
“Finley, I’m not that drunk.” Her eye roll tells me she is more than she thinks. That eye roll is reserved specifically for drunk Kat. And I haven’t seen drunk Kat in years. “Just let me talk to Levi for a bit, ok? Maybe head outside and see how that Andes Mint guy is.”
“Anders,” Finley says, shaking her head and looking at me. The expression on her face is hard to read, but I’m sure she’s nervous and scared and everything else that’s acceptable in a situation like this. I clench my teeth together and give her a quick, tight nod as to tell her it’ll all be okay. She sighs and shakes her head, leaving me alone in the kitchen with her sister. A sister who’s not looking at me like the sister I’ve always considered her to be.
She’s looking at me like she can’t wait to see what my dick tastes like.
Goddammit.
“Let’s go sit.” I walk to the sink to grab her a glass of water and move her to the couch where she falls into the leather. “Kat, what’s going on with you?” She props her feet on my lap like she’s done a million times in our life.
“I think I’m in love with you.”
The words fall from her lips easily as her eyes close and her head rests on the back of the couch, but my entire body ceases to work properly. I can’t breathe right. I can’t hear right. Are my ears ringing? She’s what now?
“Levi?” I hear her say and just moving to look at her hurts. Everything hurts because deep down I swore to myself that it was all in my head. That she didn’t want me like that… But she does.
“Yeah, sorry,” I say, clearing my throat.
She curses and shakes her head, moving her legs off my lap. “I know. I thought I was going insane. Then I had to see you because everyone I would date didn’t live up to you and I didn’t understand why. You’re…you! And we’ve always been so close I guess I just assumed that it’d be us in the long run.”
“How long have you felt like this, Kat?” It hurts that I don’t feel the same way. It hurts that I’m going to have to hurt her when I don’t return the sentiment. It’s bad enough I’m hurting her now, but once she finds out about Finley and me after all this? Shit.
I can’t leave Finley. No way in hell…because when push comes to shove I’m following my heart. And my heart’s leading to Finley.
It always has.
“A while now.” She shrugs. “It’s okay, Levi. I get it.”
“Hey,” I say, nudging her before pulling her feet back to my lap. “I’m a pretty shitty boyfriend, Kat. You should know this, you’ve seen me with some of my girlfriends. Hell, an ex is out there on some biker guy’s lap because I couldn’t even break up with her right.” I laugh at my own expense and she lets out a giggle. “You wouldn’t want me as a boyfriend, trust me. And I don’t think you love me either. I think you love the comfort of having someone sexy feel so comfortable to be around.”
“You are definitely sexy,” she whispers and I shake my head. She needs to get over me. Fast. The faster she gets over me the faster Finley and I can come out with all of this. “I didn’t just screw up our friendship, did I?” Her lips turn downwards in a frown and I curse.
“Of course not,” I blurt, pulling her into a hug, sad for her but happy we hopefully have this in the past. “I’m sorry I ever gave you any reason to think we’re anything but friends, Kat. I didn’t mean for signals to ever get mixed. I love you, but…”
“Like a sister. I got it.” She pats my lap and stands, stretching. “So what’s this girlfriend’s name? I have to make sure to threaten her.”
My eyes go wide when I see Finley walk back into the room. She stops in her tracks and thank God Kat’s back is turned so she doesn’t see her, because the look Finley’s wearing is pure panic. She’s shaking her head ‘no’ and her eyes are begging me not to say it.
“Nichole,” I blurt in a panicked tone. It’s Finley’s middle name so it’s the closest to the truth I could get without giving it all away.
“She sounds like a bitch,” Kat snickers, turning around when Finley laughs.
“Jealous much, Kat?” Finley walks into the room and when King follows her, my back straightens in defense.
Don’t get me wrong, King’s not a bad guy, he’s just the bad boy type that girls go crazy over and he’s following my girl around. I’ve never been as self- conscious as I am while sitting in the same room with King and needing a girl to pay attention to me.
Finley’s mine.
“Sup, Walsh?” He tosses the remainder of his beer back and drops to a chair across the room. The man commands attention wherever he goes.
Anders follows him in and takes a spot on the couch, probably waiting for Kat to sit next to him, but at the rate things are going tonight it’s not looking good for him.
“Where’d Miranda go?” I ask King and look at the door, waiting for her to make her presence known.
“Hell if I know. She’s your problem, dude. Not mine.” He smirks at Finley. “You want to be my problem, baby? I got a spot right here for ya.” He pats his lap and I’ve never wanted to punch the man before today.
Finley’s eyes go wide and she looks at him with her mouth dropped open. I can honestly say that look says she’s never been spoken to like that before.
What are the odds? A girl with an infinite supply of sex toys has never been in contact with someone like King. He’s crude, rude, and has exactly zero fucks on his list of things to give. But he’s loyal to a fault.
“Bitches!” I hear Miranda bellow and the slurred word tells me she’s already had too much to drink tonight. Finley’s eyebrows shoot to the top of her head and Kat’s furrow. “Whoa.” Miranda walks into the room and her gaze immediately pins on the Reeves sisters like she’s met her arch nemeses. “Wow. Which one of you cunts is the girl he dumped me for?”
“Holy shit, this is happening,” Anders whispers from his seat, rubbing his hands together as he watches the girls square off. “I’ve never seen a live girl fight before!”
“Shut the fuck up.” I stand, marching over to Miranda. “That’s enough alcohol for you,” I say, pulling the bottle of whiskey from her hand.
/> “Honestly. You’d dump me for one of them? Mega downgrade.” Miranda’s face twists up in disgust and I let out a low growl after seeing the hurt look on Finley’s face.
“Miranda, it’s time for you to go home.” Far away from here. For good. Fuck!
“I need to get my sister home,” Finley says and I spin to beg her not to leave but she’s already got Kat’s hand and is heading for the door. “It was good seeing you, Levi.”
“Let me walk you guys home.” I blurt, turning my back to Miranda and following the two girls out the front door. I hear King snicker from behind us but I don’t give a damn. No way in hell am I letting her go home without apologizing for that.
Anders follows me out the door, seemingly hung up on being around Kat, but neither of the girls talk to us as we go. The entire walk Finley and Kat are in front of us and I can’t take my eyes off Finley’s ass in those shorts. It’s crazy the things I feel for this girl. I always wanted another shot with her but honestly I didn’t think I’d ever get it, and I was accepting that. Now that I have my second chance? Hell. I don’t think I’ll be able to live through seeing her with another guy. I have to figure this out, because soon I’m heading home and she’s content living in the Everglades the rest of her career.
We make it to Finley’s apartment and as much as I want to go in with them, the warning look she’s giving me is begging me to drop it.
“Thank you,” she whispers, watching her sister walk into the apartment and fall to the couch.
“There’s nothing to thank me for. Your sister bought your lunch. I just provided the crazy ex- girlfriend for entertainment.” I try to laugh it off but Finley’s apparently not there yet.
“Yeah, she’s a gem.” With a shake of her head, she shoves her hands into her back pockets and looks at me so intently it’s like she’s studying my face. Like she has a million things to say, but can’t put any of them into words. I need more alone time with her. We barely started dating and this mega wrench got thrown into my plan.
“We’re on for the tour Wednesday, right?” Anders speaks up, breaking the silence.
“Absolutely. I’ll get Levi the details Wednesday morning after I know the schedule for the day.” Her eyes hit mine again and she tucks her hair behind her ear.
Anders pats my shoulder and turns away.
I should follow him.
I shouldn’t stand here any longer.
I definitely shouldn’t kiss her…
“Lev—” Fuck it. I cut her words off with a hard, brief kiss that leaves her cheeks pink and her eyes wide when I pull back. I flick my gaze to the couch quickly to see her sister passed out and let out a breath of relief.
“Miranda’s a horrible person, Finley. Please don’t let what she said get to you,” I whisper.
“Yeah.” She looks down at the ground and her shoulders lift slightly.
“She’ll be out tonight. I promise you. I’m so fucking sorry.” I am, too. I feel like a complete ass to let something like that happen but the smile on Finley’s face after I tell her Miranda will be gone tonight gives me hope she’s not giving up on me just yet.
She smiles as she clicks the door shut and I run a hand down my neck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You’re screwed, dude,” Anders says on the walk back to my place.
“Is it really that bad? I thought we did good tonight.”
He laughs hard. “You two have everything riding against you at this point. Her sister? She’s scary but I think I may lover her. And that ex-girlfriend of yours? Danger written all over her. And the way you can’t seem to stop staring at Finley? Fucked. You’re fucked.” He laughs and pats my back and I groan.
“I need this to work out, Anders. And I don’t know how to make it any better.”
“It’ll work out if it’s meant to be.” He steps up the back porch stairs and looks inside the open back door when we hear a crash. “Looks like Miranda’s on a warpath,” he says, cursing and heading back down the stairs. “I’m taking a walk, man. You gotta deal with her, she can’t be here all week like this.”
“Yeah.” I curse under my breath and head inside, preparing myself for a fight.
***
“I still can’t believe you kicked her out of the house,” King laughs, taking a bite of his sandwich. It’s Tuesday and I haven’t seen Finley since that night that I dropped her off. We’ve texted almost all day every day, but I miss her. I miss her smile. Her body. Her scent.
“She was doing nothing but making trouble. And she showed up uninvited. And she called my girlfriend a cunt.” I shrug. “It was kind of a no brainer.”
She also broke my favorite picture frame and a vase my dad loved. As well as put a hole in the wall where she threw the vase. She’s a fucking psycho. Thank God I’m done with her for good this time.
“So we all still on for the official tour of the swamps tomorrow?” He smirks at me and lifts his hat off his head, swiping sweat off his brow.
“Yep. Last I heard we’re doing one with Finley and her friend Alexa.”
“Oh a friend?” He stands and refills his water. “Hot one?”
“She’s got tits and a pussy. Ain’t that all it takes to be hot to you?”
His boisterous laugh crinkles the tattoo on his temple and I shake my head. He’s a different breed. When he applied for this position a few years ago I was convinced my dad wouldn’t hire him because of the way he looks.
Turns out King’s amazing with his hands.
Maybe that’s why he’s so talented in the bedroom.
“Hey assholes. This roof ain’t gonna finish itself. I’m ready to get back to the beach.” Anders shouts, walking by us and heading for the ladder. The man would live outside in the sun if we let him. I swear he’s the outdoorsiest guy I know. All he wants to do is surf when we’re not working.
“I’m ready to go home for the year. This heat’s killing me,” King mumbles, knocking off the dust from his hat before sliding it back over his bald scalp.
“Stop moaning. We don’t have much longer left down here.” I nudge him as we head for the ladder.
Truth is, if the storm they’re predicting next week actually hits as hard as they say it’s supposed to, we may be stuck here a while. They haven’t called for a category five in years. We’ve heard talk of it being the biggest storm of the century since it plowed through Cuba and destroyed everything in its path. I figured it’d lose speed when it hit landfall but unfortunately, the projection rate is bringing it straight for us at the same speed.
“You hear about that storm they’re calling ‘Idiot’?” Anders says, laughing when King throws a glove at him. “I think I’m going to try and ride the caps.”
“It’s Idom, you fucking idiot. And don’t be a jackass and get yourself killed. I don’t have money to buy myself a suit for your funeral.” King grumbles and heads up the ladder.
“How about we not talk about the weather and get back to work, boys?” My dad chimes in which means we really should get the fuck to work. He puts up with a lot from us before pulling the ‘boss’ card.
I spend the rest of the day listening to King and Anders bitch back and forth like an old married couple and checking my phone every three minutes to make sure I don’t miss anything from Finley.
At seven pm, I finally break down and text her a selfie of me in my pajama pants already.
Me: You’ve turned me into an old man already.
I roll over in bed and stare at the TV, drowning out King’s sex noises from upstairs. Somehow the man has a different girl here multiple times a week. Where he gets them I don’t know but fuck, dude. My girlfriend lives two doors down and I can’t even fuck her that much!
My phone buzzes and I snatch it up, my heart in my throat from excitement.
Finley: That’s good to see. My sister’s driving me insane. And she’s needy. And I love her. But I’m ready for her to go home.
Finley: I miss you
Back to back text messages make my mouth turn
into a grin as I type out my response
Me: Can you take a walk later? Barefoot in the sand is my second favorite look on you.
Finley: Do I want to know what your first favorite is?
I let out a groan and shift, picturing her underneath me. My dick inside her. Her on that damn swing. Hell. My favorite look on her? Wet and waiting.
Me: It’d just add to the torture that this week is bringing me. Meet me out back at nine?
Finley: ;) see ya then
Two hours. I can wait two hours. That’s four episodes of whatever this shit is that’s currently on my TV. Or a nap. Maybe I’ll take a nap…
“Levi?” I hear my dad outside my door and sit up in bed, deciding against the nap.
“Yeah?” I call out. He swings open the door and walks in, heading over to the windows.
“What’s up?”
“I’m thinking we’re going to head out early this year. Close the house up real tight and pray for the best before the storm hits.” He won’t look at me because he knows what leaving does to Finley and I. A relationship that barely has had time to take root, interrupted by a sister who’s going through some type of midlife crisis, and now a hurricane threatening to ruin everything. His words make my stomach drop. I’m not ready to go back and there’s no way I’m leaving Finley here to fend for herself in this storm.
“When’re you thinking?” I clear my throat and stand, pulling a t-shirt from my drawer and yanking it over my head.
“We’ve got a couple of days to finish this project. I’d like to have the house boarded up by Saturday night. Head out Sunday.”
“Okay.” I’ve learned over the years not to question my dad on his methods, but this one is the hardest yet not to second-guess.
He turns and looks at me with pity in his eyes.