Page 92 of All Roads Lead to You

“Hey, everyone loves it.”

It was true, everyone did, though Chase got rather prudish about the language when Gus was around.

Predictably, Chase sighed. “Isn’t there anything more…family friendly?”

Levi shrugged. “Hey, the town voted, and they all voted forDie Hard. What can you do?”

The “vote” consisted of a box on the bar of the Rose, where everyone noted down their preferred movie on a slip of paper. Only one vote was allowed, but Levi had been known to cheat shamelessly.

“Come on, Levi,” said Teddy Grange, who’d placed her deck chair right in front of the screen, as close as she could get. “Let’s get this movie going.”

“Yes, come on.” Shirley, who was sitting next to her, agreed. “Hurry up.”

“Coming, ladies.” Levi grinned and moved away to deal with the DVD player and the projector.

“He’s not wrong,” Chase said after he’d gone. “What are you doing to that poor girl?”

It took Finn a moment to realize what Chase was talking about. “Who? Beth?”

“Of course Beth, you bloody idiot,” Chase growled, grumpy and not bothering to hide it. “Look at her. She’s upset.”

It was true. He could tell she was upset by the way her head was still bowed and the way the other two were gripping her hands. The sight made him ache, though he tried hard to ignore it.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” he said flatly, as if he could make himself believe it. “And why do you assume it’s got anything to do with me anyway?”

“Because she’s been happy right up until the time she got together with you and fell pregnant. Ever since then, every time I see her she looks bloody miserable.”

“She wasn’t happy right up until then,” Finn couldn’t help pointing out. “She was just pretending.”

“Right,” Chase said. “Like you’re pretending.”

Finn tensed. “I’m not pretending.”

“Don’t be a dick. Of course you are. You’re pretending you don’t give a shit about her, and quite frankly you’re not doing a very good job of it.”

Finn turned sharply to stare at his brother, defensive anger twisting in his gut. Chase stared back, gunmetal-gray eyes glinting silver in the twilight dusk.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you and her,” Chase went on, obviously in the mood to deliver a lecture, “but it’s clear she’s unhappy, and I don’t like it when my brother is making a perfectly lovely woman unhappy.”

Finn wished he could deny it, tell Chase that it was nothing to do with him, but he knew that it was. He knew that he was being unfair to Beth, because she sure as hell didn’t deserve it. The issue was, he didn’t know what to do about it.

“I’m trying not to,” he said after a long moment. “Believe me, I’m trying. But…”

“But what?”

Finn let out a breath and glanced back at the women sitting on the couch, trying to figure out what to tell his brother. “I have to keep some distance, Chase. I can’t…let her get close.”

Chase scowled at him. “Why the hell not? You’re going to marry her. How are you going to keep some distance when she’s your wife?”

“You know we don’t have that kind of relationship. It’s not the same as you and Izzy. You love Izzy and—”

“And what? You don’t love Beth?”

“No.”

“What about if she loves you?”

A muscle leapt in Finn’s jaw. “She doesn’t.”

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