Page 104 of Manhattan Tormentor
“I got you a beer.” I tell him.
“Thanks, babe.”
Babe. He’s started sneaking that one in the last few weeks. Finn knows I semi-enjoy it, part cringe, so he tortures me with it, especially when I’m weak from pleasure or exhaustion.
I’m killing many birds with one stone by having him meet Raene first. I can’t hold mom off any longer and she insists I bring Finn to a family dinner next week after I get back from our cabin.
I want them to like him more than anything. To see the Finn that I do. The guy who is crazy good with a camera in his hands. The same guy who stays up all night to write an extra credit paper to get his grades up so he can apply for a photography internship at the New York Post. He’s the guy who makes sure I’ve eaten when I’ve worked sixteen hours and the one who waits outside of the library for me or watches cooking shows with me, though we’re both shit at making homecooked meals.
I want them to like him so bad, and it starts with my sister who’s glaring across a table at him. Nothing much fazes Finn. I see a different, softer side to him now. But he’s still got enough cocky prick confidence to fill a hot-air balloon to carry us to France.
I must be insane to find it attractive.
“Good to see you, Maverick.” Thatcher says, climbing to his feet. He fist bumps my man. “You fuck him around and we’ll all take turns digging your grave, I’m excellent with a shovel.” He says it with a smile before he takes off across the bar, in attempt to throw Cohen-Hennessy charm at the Dragna girl. He told me recently how they’d been talking on the phone. We all know who her dad is, he’s taking his life in his hands to romance her.
“You have something to say, baby Fierro?” Finn asks, swigging from his bottle.
“Hmph. You don’t have the upper hand here, pal.”
“I’m in love with your brother, so I have some upper hand.” He says it casually as his hand finds my thigh under the table. My fingers curl instinctively around them, giving him a squeeze. That was a big deal for him, even if his nonchalant face doesn’t show it. Every time he acknowledges who he’s with and how he feels, he’s taking one step closer to accepting himself.
I know it takes time. Not every queer man can be like me flying my flag from birth. I’ve got enough love and encouragement to support Finn all the way.
Bunny is slack jawed and I laugh. “Damn, congrats, Maverick, you rendered Raene speechless. This is a diary day.”
“Oh, shut your trap,” she aims at me but concentrates her gaze on Finn. “You’re in love with Sage?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Oh,” she mutters, her eyes meeting mine, I smile and nod at her silent question, she wants to know if I feel the same. I watch her shoulders lower as she drops some of her instinctive defense. “Well, fine. I second what Thatcher says and add in, I’m a vicious little bitch.”
“Don’t call yourself a bitch.” I scold.
She ignores me. “And I will draw every drop of your blood out of your body, then hang your carcass on a flagpole for the crows to peck out your eyeballs if you do my brother dirty.”
“Damn, baby Fierro.” Finn whistles, amusement coating his eyes when he turns his head to me. I warned him, he didn’t believe me. Her sweet looks are deceiving.
If he’s going to be with me, then he takes on all the Fierro’s.
I don’t make the rules; it is what it is.
“You may call me Raene. Not Rae. Not Raeney. I hate when people add Y to the end of names, what are we, toddlers?”
“What about Bunny?”
I swallow my chuckle. My man is pushing his luck.
“We’ll discuss you calling me my family nickname in five years’ time if you’re still around.”
Finn nods and pulls out his phone, I’m curious what he’s typing, so I ask. “Putting it in my calendar this time in five years.”
Fuck. My heart pushes up against my ribs.
He winks at my sister. “I intend to be around, Raene.”
It’s only when Raene has had enough of our company that she skips off to boss her cheer girls, that I ask, “did it go okay?”
Finn groans and rubs a hand down his face. Because he’s apparentlybackfrom Alabama for the holidays, his parents expect him around.With Sofia. So he took her home for dinner. Can’t say I like that shit, but he texted me almost all the way through.
