Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
I can’t take another second. “How do you expect me to believe this isn’t one of your own schemes?” I fire back at him. “Blaming some imaginary pretend ex-boyfriend when in fact it was you who took the pics, spooking me, toying with me, then selling them to the media for a buck?”
“I can’t prove it to you. I don’t expect you to believe me, either, and honestly, it doesn’t matter whether you do or not. I’m not here to … to win you back, Finn.” His face tightens, holding back his tears. “I’m here to do whatever I can to make this right.”
“It can’t be ‘made right’, Theo. Do you realize that my family is now dragged into this? The Hopewell Harbor and Fair? And just when we were on the fucking edge of going under—”
“Wait, going under??”
“—now this shit has been dumped on us, staining our reputation forever. And you don’t even know the full truth about River and what he’s been going through. And now? No one will care. All they see him as is a horn-dog who ran off to an island to fuck some easy, unsuspecting idiot on a beach. Me,” I say, jabbing a finger into my chest. “I am the idiot. You made me the world’s biggest fucking idiot.”
“F-Finn,” whimpers Theo, trying not to break down.
I get away from him, unable to be in this cramped-as-fuck space a second longer. I push out of the storage room into the back hallway of the club itself. Though ironically I haven’t come here as a customer since the days of Theo—not really the club-goer—I know my way around. At this hour, no one’s here except for the owner Luke and one or two workers preparing for tonight. Despite the doors being unlocked, I know this venue is safe from the mobs outside.
“What’re you looking for?” asks Theo after following me to the back of the bar.
“Charger.” I rummage underneath the counter where I know stuff gets shoved away. “Need to call Brooke.”
“Use my phone.”
“Like hell.” I’m being petty and I know it. “I need to make sure she’s okay. Heather and my dad probably know everything by now. All the shit is hitting every fan and I hate that I’m not there with my sister to address it.”
“I can call her.” He already has his phone out. “Let me call her and—”
I come right up to him. “You aren’t part of our family anymore,” I snap. “Stop pretending like you are. You and me are over.”
“I know. I’m not trying to pull anything. Finn, I really mean it, I was just …” I’ve already gone back to searching behind the bar. Theo stands there at the other end, watching me. “I should’ve been more responsible with my feelings. I was lost after we broke up, but … I never once thought we should get back together. I knew we weren’t working. And I know it even more now. I kept trying to be someone I was not, for years and years. Wanting to impress you. And your sisters. And your dad.”
“Well, Heather’s still your #1 fan, so there’s that.”
“I know. And I don’t deserve it.” He really lays on the self-deprecation thick, doesn’t he? “I should’ve just been myself around you. I just … I just never figured out what exactly that was.” He sighs. “Maybe I still haven’t.”
“Plenty of time to figure it out,” I say reassuringly. “As in, the rest of your life. Which I won’t be a part of.”
“I know. I get it now. We’re better apart.”
“That begs the question why you’re still fucking here.”
He grows still. “My whole identity was always ‘Finn’s boyfriend’ since I can remember, nothing else … I wasn’t even me, not even Theo, just Finn’s other half. Never knew who I was outside of us … I felt like … like a planet … adrift in space … nothing to orbit … just … adrift …”
“Forgive me if I’m not dripping in sympathy for you.”
“I want to fix this. Just … J-Just tell me what to do.”
I give up searching behind the bar and grip the counter with a sigh. “You can start by sashaying your way out of town and taking that circus outside with you.”
“Finn …”
“Or maybe you can just admit this isn’t about me and my family’s safety. This is about you and your guilt.”
He flinches like I hit him. “I’m not asking forgiveness. Just a chance to clean up this mess I made.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to be the one to clean it up.” I come out from behind the bar, shoving my way past him. “I bet Luke has a charger in the front podium.”
“Then I’ll help from a distance,” decides Theo through a choked and desperate laugh. “I don’t care how much you hate me right now. I’m not gonna let you and your family suffer for the mistakes I made in my weakness.”