Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“What?” Scottie exclaims, over the moon at our turnout and the volume of our yell. “I thought you were all out of town!” She looks over her shoulder and meets Finn’s eyes, and he’s looking like a proud Pete. “This is your doing?”
Finn grins, the cool customer extraordinaire, and I nearly roll my eyes.
Oh yeah, like he hasn’t been losing his fucking figs over this shit for weeks. I haven’t dogged him about it too much, though. Number one, he’d beat the shit out of me. And number two, I’m a fucking weenie too.
I’ve been officially in the game of pursuing Julia for almost two months, and this shit isn’t getting easier. If anything, it’s getting harder and harder to keep myself under wraps.
Drew isn’t here tonight since he’s still in Aruba—thank fuck—but he’s always there in the background, lingering on her phone with texts and calls and surprise flower deliveries to her apartment. She deserves all of it, but I fucking hate that it’s coming from him.
I should be the guy. I should be the one. This should be us and our families still all together in twenty years with Julia as my wife and our own kids in the mix. Sure, I’d probably have our fathers talking to each other instead of still kind of fighting over a crocodile, and Julia’s mom here instead of dog-sitting Yoko for us, but the bones of the evening really are perfect.
Finn winks and leans down to kiss Scottie, and Julia nudges me with her elbow, the excitement over seeing our friends finding some normalcy again overwhelming her. It’s been a rocky road for Scottie, especially, but Finn too. I’m happy they’re both finding some footing in each other, even if my smile isn’t as chummy as my girl’s.
“Happy?” I ask, slinging an arm over her shoulder and rocking her into my side as Kayla claps in front of her face before teasingly punching Blake in the shoulder.
Julia is nearly bursting. “Are you kidding? I’m freaking ecstatic. I haven’t seen Scottie this happy in months.”
Tell me about it. Julia is the first to take off for the birthday girl when Finn finally stops monopolizing her space, trapping her in a hug and nearly squashing her limbs with the force of her love. Scottie laughs and, if I’m not mistaken, even squeaks out a few tears.
I wait my turn along with everyone else—there are so many people in here, I can barely fucking move—but when we’re all done with our initial hugs, Julia steals Scottie from the front and wheels her toward the cheerleading squad over by the big speaker in the corner.
Zip’s Diner is literally packed to the brim with friends and family, but my focus, for now, is on Finn and making sure he takes a well-deserved fucking breath. Blake Boden follows me over, evidently having the same instincts as me.
“You pulled it off,” I congratulate, clapping Finn on the back and rocking his big body gently back and forth. “She didn’t have a fucking clue.” I watch as a little stress leaves his shoulders, but then quickly returns when Blake’s face turns angry.
“Nope.”
Finn and I, both trying to suss out the problem, follow Blake’s sight line to Lexi, who stands beside some dude at the other end of the room. Honestly, Blake looks positively fit to be tied, and I should know because I’ve had the same constipated look every time Julia and whatshisname are cuddle-y and shit in front of me. It’s the I wanna fucking kill someone face.
It would be a little more confusing if I hadn’t seen him sneaking out of the lake house with Lex on the Fourth of July. I know some shit is going down between them, but I haven’t asked him about it and currently see it as my job to cast enough doubt to maintain his secret.
Lexi, for as sweet as she can be, would absolutely murder me if I were the one to out her secret dalliance with the star quarterback of our school.
And it wouldn’t be quick—it’d be gruesome. She’s too fucking smart not to know all of the very worst ways to torture someone without getting her hands messy.
“Who’s that guy?” Blake asks Finn, his voice all growly.
“What guy?”
“Seriously?” he questions, frustrated. I laugh. I can’t help it. It’s like looking in a mirror, he’s so damn pathetic. “The one talking to Lexi.”
I shake my head. The three of us. It’s incredible. We’re all fucking pitiful these days, and we all used to be so strong. It’s amazing what the power of a once-in-a-lifetime girl can do. Truly.
“You’re fucking intense right now, Boden,” I suggest gently, trying to encourage him to rein it in before the whole party explodes.
“I don’t care.” He meets Finn’s eyes again, desperate. “I need to know who he is.”