Page 7 of Finn Rhodes Forever

"You need to find the flower to finish your studies, right?" I asked her.

"That's not a question on the form."

The corner of my mouth ticked up. "Just trying to get a full picture of what happened tonight."

She stared at me. Fucking hell, she was so pretty. I couldn't help but smile wider.

In my head, I replayed images from that night years ago. The way her soft, smooth skin looked in the dim lighting. The way her hair looked fanned out across her pillow. The sweet sound of her gasps as her back arched.

She must've seen something in my expression because she stiffened. "What are you doing here?"

I held her gaze, ignoring my heart beating in my chest like a drum. I could smell her shampoo from this distance, light and floral, and I had the urge to pull her into my chest and bury my face in her hair.

She'd bite me if I did that.

"I moved home," I told her.

Her eyes narrowed. "For how long." She didn't say it like a question, she said it like a statement. Like it was inevitable that I'd leave again.

My entire life, I had had a reputation. When I left, I cemented that reputation in Liv's head.

"For good," I told her, holding her gaze. "I'm not leaving this time."

She gave me a look likewho are you fooling?and my chest pulled tight. I didn't blame her, but that didn't mean I liked it.

"Okay," she said. "Sure. I won't hold my breath."

Her gaze flicked to someone behind me and I turned.

Beck Kingston, a doctor at the Queen's Cove Hospital and my older brother Wyatt's friend from school, leaned against the doorframe.

“Hey,” he greeted me with a smile. “I heard you were back in town.”

I beamed back at him. “You heard right. How’s it going?”

He shrugged, gesturing around us at the hospital. “Good. Keeping busy here. You know how it is.”

The town’s fire department worked closely with the medical staff at the hospital, and I knew the demands of Beck’s job in a small town where resources weren’t always available.

When he wasn’t working insane hours at our small-town hospital, he was out on his boat. I think a few years ago he had a crush on Wyatt’s now-wife, Hannah, but Wyatt put a stop to that. Beck was the kind of guy who moms mooned over. His dark hair was always combed like he was on his way to church, for Christ’s sake. He answered his phone at all hours of the night, hardly ever took time off, and remembered everyone’s medical history off the top of his head. Beck Kingston, Queen’s Cove most reliable guy.

My complete opposite.

Beck crooked a grin at me. “First day back and you’re here already, huh?”

I’d lost count of the number of times I’d been admitted to this hospital with injuries. A broken arm from climbing a fence, an ankle on backwards from falling out of a tree, a head injury from falling out of the same tree, a broken collarbone from falling off my bike.

I forced a smile. “Dr. Kingston, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m the perfect picture of responsible reliability.”

I used to revel in the troublemaker role, but now, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

He laughed before turning to Olivia. “Your checkup will only take a few minutes, and you can come back and finish the questions later if you need to.” He gave her an apologetic look. “It’s procedure.”

“I know. We’ve been through this before.” Olivia jumped up, and guilt stabbed me in the gut at how quickly she wanted to get away from me. "We're done, anyway."

I watched her disappear out the door before meeting Beck’s curious gaze.

Olivia’s hatred toward me was no secret around town. No one knew what happened, but everyone knew we had been best friends until we weren't.

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