Page 104 of End Game
“Pop—” Finn starts, standing straight up.
“And you,” she says, pointing a finger at him, “can shut the fuck up.”
“You twostillaren’t talking?” I say, looking from one to the other.
“He hasn’t apologized.”
“Poppy . . .” Finn all but whines. He’s desperate, and if he’s fighting it, it’s a sad, sad attempt. “Let’s talk.”
“I’m here to talk to Branch.”
“Can we talk after?”
“That is totally up to whether you want to be a man or not,” she shrugs, blowing him off. She turns to me. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I just left Layla’s,” she says, a hand on her hip. “And she said you left her.”
“You did fucking what?” Finn booms.
“Here we go again.” Poppy blows out a breath. “I’m going to give you a field goal for being hugely gentlemanly about this,something Finn could take a lesson from. But I’m taking away a touchdown because you’restupid.”
“You left my sister?” Finn asks again, trying to catch up. “I’m not following along.”
“Then stop interrupting and listen,” Poppy advises.
“I was here first. You technically interrupted me,” he fires back.
“Both of you,” I say, slamming the Jameson on the counter. “Stop it. Fuck it out later, but I can’t listen to it.”
My head falls into my hands. Poppy rests her palm against my back, a gesture that’s well-meaning but feels wrong.
“I can’t do this to her,” I say, my words muffled. “We’ve talked about this before, Finn. This is why you and I fucked around. This is why we didn’t try to go the normal route with life because it’s not possible in this industry. Damn it.”
“I think you’re wrong,” Poppy offers. “I think you’re using an excuse because you’re afraid.”
“Afraid?” I laugh. “I’m afraid I’ll never find someone like her again. I’m terrified I’ll mess this up with her and it’ll hurt our child. But afraid of loving her? As wild as it sounds, I’m not.”
“Then go for it,” she insists. “Stop being a baby.”
“And soil her life with mine? Look at what’s happened. The kid isn’t even born yet and the media has presented it to be a bastard child,” I say, gritting my teeth. “It’ll be the same shit, different day tomorrow.”
Looking up, I see Finn watching Poppy. There’s a quiet confusion in his features. “Maybe you have to take some risks.”
He’s talking about me, but not to me. Those words were aimed right over my head to the little raven-haired sass that’s removing her hand from my back.
“Maybe things wouldn’t have worked out before,” Finn continues. “Sometimes we have to sort of get to the right spot,with the right person, to see the alternate routes that we couldn’t see before.”
Finn cocks his head to the side. “You left her because you wanted to protect her?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m taking away a touchdown and a safety for being a pussy.”
“What?” I say, scooting off the counter. “This will ruin her.”
“No, you not being with her will ruin her. All this shit? Did you forget how strong she is?” He looks at Poppy again. “I forgot, until someone reminded me.”
