Page 57 of Faking Ever After

“I don’t understand,” Percy whispered in dry shock.

So I told him. I told him everything from the first conversation Richie and my father had had over the phone. I told him how the scheme recruited poor people pouring their savings to inflate the price of these crypto coins until the rich ones were happy and sold their vast holdings, unloading them onto a market that didn’t actually exist. They had pulled their and everyone else’s money out and left us all with worthless digital coins. I told him how I’d tracked Richie down in exclusive clubs in New York City by doing odd jobs where he was likely to show up. I told him how I’d flirted with Richie under an alias and how I’d led him by his horny, coke-filled nose all the way to his penthouse time after time, making him beg and wait and hope for what he believed was promised. I told him how I’d seen Richard’s flash drive, his emails, his spreadsheets, and how I’d stolen the drive late one night before deciding I had to get out of the city.

“And you thought…” Percy said, his face contorting with pain.

I nodded. “I thought that you would hate me when you knew who I wanted to ruin. He made you rich, or so you tell everyone, even if it was your own brilliance that made any of it possible. He was once the love of your life. And I’m just a stranger who wants him behind bars.”

Percy was silent for a little while, his face moving between anger and hurt. I hated that I had done this to him. But now he knew. I was a toxic asset and all I brought to people was pain.

Finally, in a bitter and dark tone that made the remains of my heart shatter into dust, clutching the drive like I’d try to pry it out of his hands, Percy said, “And I let that monster right into my home, led him straight to you. God, Finn, I fucked up. I don’t know how to make this right.”

I waited a moment longer. Where was the outrage? Where was the hate for all I had done? Stunned, I licked my lips, then fell quiet even before I could make a sound.

“I was supposed to keep you safe. Instead, I brought the man looking for you right to you,” Percy said apologetically. “Forgive me. Please.”

“You…you’re supposed to be angry with me,” I told him thinly, struggling to speak over the lump in my throat.

“With you? What for?” Percy looked at me with blank confusion.

“B-because…” I stammered and choked up, hope bubbling in me like soap balloons and opening up that terrible fear that everything that was good and kind in my life would slip out of my grasp. “Because…”

Percy stepped forward, taking my hand in his and pressing the drive into my palm. “Finn, you were dragged through the kind of hell I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. People who are willing to sell you hope and leave you holding the bag arethe most despicable human beings, if you can call them that. No personal history can make me look past that, Finn.”

“You…believe me?” I dared to ask. I didn’t know where that courage came from. Hope was such a fickle thing.

“Even if you didn’t hand all the proof over to me, not knowing whether I would give it back to you or him, I would believe you. But as it is, you have all it takes to go to the authorities, Finn.” Percy balled his fists. “Say what you will. It was reckless of me to bring my ex into the mix, even if he wasn’t a criminal following your scent. And for that, I am sorry.” He licked his lips. “As for Richard, I wouldn’t dream of standing in your way.”

I reached over and offered him the drive back. “I can’t crack this. I’m the kind of person that inserts the USB drive correctly only on their third attempt.”

Percy met my gaze and chuckled. Then, gently, he took the drive from me. “I can help you with that.”

We stood in companionable silence that was littered with too many loose threads.

“I thought I lost you,” Percy said. “Because of my own carelessness.”

I shook my head. “Percy, you could never lose me. That’s not how that would work. But…have I not lost you by now?”

He let out a soft chuckle and stepped closer to me, taking my hand once he had pocketed the drive. “You think you’re such a terrible person, Finn, but the truth is that you’re the best man I’ve ever met. You’re bubbling with positivity. Everyone likes you. And the best attempt at lying had gotten you to the point of ripping by your seams until you told me the truth. I don’t blame you for distrusting rich assholes. I don’t blame you for not telling me. If I were you, I hope I would have done the same. So, no. You haven’t lost me. And you won’t lose me. Because the realityis very simple, Finn. I am in love with you. And I am in love with you more every time I see you.”

My heart tripped and stumbled. It skipped a few beats and hurried to catch up, then lifted in my chest. I had never thought I would hear these words from him. Tears brimmed in my eyes, and I trembled. Holding back these emotions took all the effort I had. “Can you please pinch me and make sure I’m not dreaming this?”

Percy squeezed my hand instead. “I promise that you’re not dreaming. I…I thought you knew. I love you, Finn.”

“I love you,” I blurted hurriedly before he could even assume I didn’t feel the same. Because I did. I very much did. “I love you. I love you.”

“I love you, I love you, too,” he said, a laugh bursting out of us both. “God, can I kiss you? I really need to kiss you.”

I laughed a little more and nodded. “You can kiss me all you like, Percy.”My love, I thought.

And he did. He kissed me then and he kissed me with blazing passion. He kissed me until the tears spilled down my cheeks, hot and happy. And still, he kept kissing me, holding me, keeping me in the safety of his arms and in the heaven of his lips.

He kissed me the way you only kissed someone you loved. Without questions, without judgment, without reservations.

And I kissed him back just as passionately.

CHAPTER 21

Percy

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