Page 13 of Finn Rhodes Forever

I turned around and continued traipsing through the forest, eyes on the ground.

Our boots thumped on the soft ground, and something poked in my brain. Twelve years we had circled each other, leaving town when the other was about to come home.

I stopped and turned to him. “Why now?”

His eyes widened for a brief moment. “What?”

“Why now?” My brow creased and I swallowed. “You’ve had twelve years and now you come back and want to be besties again. Why?”

I caught a flash of insecurity across his face. “I, uh.” He lifted a hand and ran it over the back of his neck, breaking eye contact before his gaze came back to mine. Gray eyes like his brothers, but his irises were darker than theirs. “I realized I made a mistake.” His gaze roamed my face, like he was memorizing my features.

Did he think I looked different than before? Did he hate my pink hair?

I don’t care, I reminded myself.

Finn dragged in a deep breath, like he was steeling himself. “Liv, I know you hate me, I know I fucked up and deserve to rot for how badly I fucked up, but—” He took another deep breath. “I love you, you’re my soulmate, and we’re destined to be together.” He swallowed, and his broad chest rose and fell with another deep breath. “And I’m going to do everything I can to change your mind about hating me.”

Well, then.

My stomach fluttered with a flock of butterflies. My pulse pounded in my ears. This was a weird dream, and any second I’d wake up and laugh at the fucking bizarro world where Finn and I were soulmates.

We weren’t soulmates.

Fuck that shit.

I opened my mouth to tell Finn to go fuck himself. I’d tell him it would be a bitterly cold day in hell before we got back together. If he was waiting for me to run back into his arms like in some romance novel, he’d be waiting until the day he died.

Something occurred to me and I paused.

I knew Finn. It had been over a decade but Iknewthis guy. Finn would get an idea in his head and he wouldn’t let it go. He didn’t care how dangerous something was, or whether it was illegal or not.

My stomach bottomed out. It was just like graduation night. He had wanted to go cliff jumping, so he did. Drunk. Even when he said he wouldn’t.

Finn wouldn’t stop until I gave in, and a tiny part of me wanted to give in, even though he hurt me. Even though I knew he’d do it again.

I couldn’t have my heart broken again by Finn. I’d never put it back together again.

I had to convince Finn that he was wrong, that he didn’t want me. That we weren’t soulmates. That I wasn’t the same person as I was twelve years ago.

It had to be his idea, though.

Finn stood there, watching my reaction. I could see in his features—the lifted eyebrow, the cruel mouth curled into an amused smirk—he was ready for me to shoot him down. To tell him to go fuck himself and go bleed out in a ditch.

“I don’t hate you,” I lied.

He blinked, frozen. “What?”

I shook my head. “I don’t hate you. I agree with you.”

“With what part?” I nearly laughed at the surprised look on his face.

“The, um.” I cleared my throat and crossed my arms. “That word you said. We’re, um, that.”

“Soulmates?”

“Yep.”

His eyes narrowed. “You think we’re soulmates,” he repeated in a flat tone loaded with disbelief.

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