“Eww, no.” Crossing my arms, I glance at Hadley through the trees and see she’s now talking to Nico, Rhonda, and Audrey. “Have you ever had a threesome?”
Finn does a double take as I look up at him. “Jesus Christ, Simone. Where did that come from?”
“Watch your mouth. Is that a yes? Did you have one with Ricky?”
He shakes his head. “I’m not doing this with you.”
“So, I’ll assume you let Ricky fuck Hadley.” Now, there’s a horrifying thought.
Finn’s eyes almost fall out of his skull as his face reddens. “Hell fucking no! I’d lose my shit, even if I were taking part. I could never let another man touch my wife and enjoy it. Not even my best friend, whom I trust with Hadley’s life and mine. By the same token, I don’t want some other woman touching me in front of Hadley. It would make me sick after everything... We would never do any of that.” Finn crosses his arms, matching me. “Why in the hell do you want to know? Have you had one?”
“No, but I thought it might be interesting.”
“With Rodwell?”
I roll my eyes and look away. “Not everything is about him. I don’t know why you think it is.”
“Because you’re my sister, and I think I know you. You’ve never been so...into a guy.” My brother frowns and wrinkles his nose.
“Yes, I have. I’ve had crushes and boyfriends. I wasn’t a virgin, Finn.”
He makes another face, regretting we’re talking. “I didn’t think you were, Simone.”
“Greg Rodwell is just another notch on my headboard.” I swallow and pretend to watch the traffic on South Sheppard to keep myself from screaming.
Finn frowns as we walk again. “Keep telling yourself that.” I have to.
I pull at strands of blonde hair on my shoulder and huff, “You don’t even like him.”
“But I like you.” He smiles at me, and I narrow my eyes. “Sometimes.”
“Do you? Well, then I want the truth.” I stop walking, realizing this isn’t the best place to ask, but it’s rare I get my brother alone anymore.
He stops and scrunches his face. “With what?”
“You love Hadley.”
Finn laughs. “That’s obvious, don’t you think?”
“Yes. But to what extent do you love her?”
He scratches his head through his hat, still appearing confused. “I married her. Had a kid with her.”
“You didn’t want to.”
“We resolved that.” He holds up his hand, glancing at his black-and-silver wedding ring.
“You went through hell and back to marry her. I saw it.” He nods, growing more anxious as he drops his hand, flicks his fingers, and shifts his gaze away from my face. “You didn’t want to live without her. You hated yourself for turning down her proposal and then...”
“What are you getting at?”
“I believe with all my heart you had reached a new low in Baltimore. How close did you come to ending it all?”
He responds with a drawn-out sigh and winces. “Simone.”
“No. Tell me the truth.”
When he finally looks me in the eye, he says, “If Ricky didn’t figure it out when he did, I wouldn’t be here. That’s the truth.”