Page 54 of On Thin Ice

But Jacob didn’t say anything else. Finn leaned in, and even before their lips brushed, he was already drowning in the taste of him.

But before he could actually experience it, a buzzing shook the car.

Shook them apart.

Jacob sprang back, horror written across his face.

He doesn’t want you.

Correction:he doesn’t want to want you.

Finn knew it, but the truth still hit him like a bucketful of ice-cold water.

Jacob scrambled back, pulling his phone out of his pocket. That was what had buzzed, then.

He answered it, and Finn tried to ignore the way Jacob’s fingers were trembling around it. He dug his own fisted hands into his thighs, also pretending they weren’t shaking the exact same goddamn way.

“Hey,” Jacob said. “Oh.Oh. Well that’s . . .unexpected. Good, but unexpected.” He paused. “Sure. I can do that. I . . .I’ll make the reservation. Yeah. Same place. Same time. Alright. See you then.”

He clicked the phone off and set it on the console. He looked over in Finn’s direction, but Finn realized he was staring over his shoulder. That he wasn’t evenlookingat him. “That was Sophie.”

“Who’s Sophie?”

“My PR rep.” He paused. “She and Mark, my agent, are coming into town this week and we’re going to have one of our dinner meetings on Tuesday night. I . . .I want you to be there, Finn.”

Finn wasn’t stupid enough to believe it was because Jacob had acknowledged this was inevitable, and he wanted to introduce two of the most important people in his life to Finn.

No, it was time for Finn to earnhispart of the bargain they’d struck.

Finn moistened his lips. Pretended that if they hadn’t just gotten interrupted, he might’ve been able to taste Jacob on them, now. “Okay,” he said.

“I’ll text you the address of the restaurant. We’ll meet at seven. I know you have school and homework. Maybe even practice?”

Finn wanted to laugh wretchedly. What a time to be reminded that he was still incollege. Maybe Jacob wanted it, but he sure fucking didn’t.

“It’s fine. I’m free. We have Tuesday off. No practice.”

“Okay. Okay. Good.”

Jacob had still not looked him in the eye.

It was impossible to believe it was better this way, not when it felt so shitty.

“Finn . . .”

“Don’t,” Finn said sharply. If Jacob apologized . . .if he let him down easily,kindly, Finn was going to scream. “Just don’t, okay?”

“Okay,” Jacob said.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. But Finn, who knew he should get out of this goddamn car and away from temptation, didn’t move.

“I just . . .I want you to speak up in the meeting, okay? If you don’t like what they say. You know me—”

“And they don’t?” Finn interrupted.

“No, they do, but they have a lot of factors to consider that aren’tjustme, and how I am, how I feel, but you . . .” Jacob cleared his throat. “That’s what you’re there for. To have my back.”The way I have yours, was the unspoken end of that sentence. Finn heard it, even if Jacob didn’t say it.

“Yes,” Finn said. He wanted to tell Jacob to fuck off, that this all had been a massive mistake, a painful tempting of fate, but itwasworking, wasn’t it? He’d had a shutout tonight. He felt better about his play than he had in a long time. And Jacob would have someone at this meeting to stand up for him, to think abouthim.

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