Page 19 of Finn Rhodes Forever

I shook my head adamantly. “No. He knew better, andIknow better. Finn will get bored the way he did before.” The way Cole did. My heart twisted at the lingering rejection.

This was safer. Falling for Finn again… When he inevitably left again, I’d be right where I started. Devastated.

On the table, Sadie smoothed out the list we had brainstormed, ways to turn Finn off and bore him to death.

“Okay,” Sadie said, a coy smile curving onto her mouth. “Let’s convince Finn to dump you.”

“Let’s do a cheers.” Avery lifted her glass and we followed.

I sat up straight, strength coursing through my veins with the power of my friends behind me. For the first time in a long time, I had a plan.

“Fuck you, Finn Rhodes,” I said.

“Fuck you, Finn Rhodes,” they chorused and we clinked glasses.

9

Olivia

I returned home that evening,optimistic about life. I had a plan to get rid of Finn, and it was only a matter of time until I found the flower. My heart squeezed with gratitude for my girls.

In the hallway upstairs from the bar, my key was in my front door lock when I heard a noise.

A rustling noise came from the wall on the other side of the hall. A sliding, scraping noise, and then a thump. My pulse picked up as adrenaline dripped into my blood.

There were two apartments above the bar, but the other one was empty. My dad used it as storage, and since it was after eleven at night, I doubted he was rustling through old photos in there.

Another scrape of something against the floor. The walls were thin. I swallowed, head tilted, staring at the door across from mine.

Maybe it was an animal. Maybe a raccoon got in and was causing chaos in there.

Footsteps thumped across the floor. Loud, clunky, and heavy. My stomach dropped. It wasn’t a raccoon. Someone was in there.

Fuck.

I glanced between my door and the staircase back down to the bar, flipping between my instinct to run inside my apartment, lock the door, and call the police, or hightail it down the stairs and get out of here. Before I could decide, the other door swung open.

Finn stood in the doorway, a devilish grin growing on his features as he crossed his arms and leaned on the frame. His black t-shirt from a local brewery stretched across his broad shoulders. My gaze snagged on his tattoos, inked over the lean, defined muscles of his arms. I recognized a few of those birds from the forest. His gray sweatpants hung low on his hips.

When my gaze returned to his, his grin widened. “Like what you see?”

Um.Yes.“No.” Shit, I was supposed to be his soulmate. “I mean,yes.”

He eyes glittered with amusement.

“What are you doing here?”

He tilted his head behind him. “I’m moving in.”

I strode over and peered past him. Boxes filled the apartment. “Like fuck you are.”

His smirk lifted higher on his lips. “My dad mentioned to your dad that I was looking for a place, and since it’s summer, there’s nothing left. I told Joe I’d be happy to clean the place up for him and do any repairs.”

Oh, fuck no. “What? No. Can’t you live in a shared house with a bunch of twenty-year-old surfers?”

He shrugged, smug gaze on me. “I think he liked the idea of someone being here in case of break-ins.”

I scoffed, blinking at him in disbelief. Our town was so safe. No one was going to break in. I loved my dad, I did, but sometimes, he was so clueless. He had no idea what happened with Finn because I didn’t talk to my parents about that kind of stuff. My mom would know better than to let him live across the hall, though.

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