Stone leans in and covers her hand over mine, making my chest expand, and my throat dry up with the innocent touch.
“I’m sorry he did that to you, Finn. You deserve to live your life how you want to,” she whispers tenderly, making the beating organ inside me thrash out in violence, demanding I tell her that the life I want is with her at my side.
“How’s your mom?” I ask, instead of laying out my bleeding heart at her feet.
Stone’s green eyes soften at the mention of her mother, making me tuck my hands under my legs just to keep them from reaching out to her.
“She’s good. In high spirits because of you.” She smiles genuinely, the first true smile I’ve seen on her pretty face since she arrived.
“I didn’t do much.”
She lets out a long sigh, looking up at the sky for a minute before her eyes land on mine again.
“This game has always been about us telling each other the truth. Don’t lie to me now, Finn. We both have to recognize that your friend Lincoln wouldn’t even know of my mother’s existence, nor my father’s situation, if you hadn’t had a word with him.”
“I would have paid for it myself, but my father cut me off. That’s why I went to Linc,” I confess, ashamed.
“I’m sorry,” she replies saddened.
Such words feel awfully wrong coming from her lips. She shouldn’t be speaking them, even if only to console me. I should be the one showering her with a million apologies, but I know none of them will make right what I’ve done.
“Going against your father’s wishes like that was a brave thing to do, Finn. I’m proud of you.”
Fuck! She’s killing me.
“Stone, please don’t say shit like that. Don’t be proud of me. I’ve done so many things not worthy of it. Especially from you.”
“Like being tested positive for steroids, you mean?” she asks without a single hint of disapproval in her sweet voice.
“I never did that. I’m not a cheat,” I reply steadfastly.
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You may have many faults, Finn Walker, but you are not a cheater,” she adds, and there is such tenderness in her green eyes, such unconditional belief that it makes me want to be the man she sees in me.
“Stone,” I choke, my hand already finding its home against her cheek.
She leans in and cups my hand in hers, closing her eyes to take in the warmth of my palm, everything around me suddenly seeming to play in slow motion. I hear birds singing above us as the heat of her skin scorches mine. The racing of my heart, threatening to leap out of my throat, is too poignant to ignore, and yet I do. Let it explode inside me if it has to. As long as I can stay like this forever, just cupping her cheek in my palm, feeling her skin next to mine, then nothing else matters.
“Stone—”
“You’re not a cheater. But you are a liar, aren’t you, pretty boy?” she asks, no judgment in her words.
“Yes,” I admit, forlorn.
She grips my hand and pulls it away from her cheek just to kiss my open palm. The erratic beating of my heart only increases when her lids open, and those green jewels stare into my eyes as if coaxing my soul to kneel in submission.
“Have you ever lied to me?”
“Yes.”
“Because you wanted to?”
“No,” I confess, struggling to find my voice as her gaze on me remains tender and true.
She kisses my wrist this time, and my own eyes shut of their own accord, treasuring her soft graze.
“You didn’t send those emails to Watkins & Ellis, did you?” Unable to speak, I just shake my head from side to side and keep listening. “But someone went through a whole lot of trouble to make it seem like you did.”
I don’t say anything to that either. Stone has always been clever. I was a fool in thinking she wouldn’t see through The Society’s ploys.
“The first night you came into Big Jim’s, it was because that same person sent you there, wasn’t it?” Even without uttering a word, she sees my guilt plastered all over my face. With her confidence wavering, she hushes, “Was all of it a lie?”
I open my eyes and look at the woman who has turned my life upside down more than The Society ever could. Stone came out of nowhere, and hit me like a freight train, changing the man I used to be. Before her, I was just going through the motions, detached and keeping an apathetic wall around me, holding everyone at arm’s length. I didn’t allow anyone to truly witness my chaotic mind, because I thought the version the world demanded of me was better than reality. Aside from the guys, Stone was the only one that didn’t fall for my pretenses and accepted me just as I am. That was never a lie.
“No.”
“Tell me, Finn. Which part was real?” she insists.
“The part where I fell in love with you, Stone. That was real.”
A small, meek smile crests her lips before she presses them on my knuckles, leaving one gentle kiss on each one.
“Stone,” I croak on ragged breath, begging her to either leave me to my misery or end it entirely.
“Do you still love me?”
“With all my fucking heart,” I vow.
Another soft smile rises from her lips as she wraps my hand around her neck. My thumb instantly caresses that soft hollow of her throat as she leans in and places her hands over my broken heart.
“So, this is mine?” she asks, stroking my bare chest where my heart beats.
“Yes. Then, now, and always.”
She sweeps her tongue over her lower lip, as she continues to stare into my eyes.
“If that’s true, then it can’t lie to me. Not if you want mine in return.”
“Fuck, Stone, that’s all I want,” I reply in earnest, cupping her cheeks with both my hands, cradling her gorgeous face in them.
“Then prove it.”
“How?”
“By telling me the truth. All of it, Finn.”
I bow my head and shake it from left to right, knowing if I do as she says, then there is no turning back.
“I can’t.”
“I believe you.” She shrugs with a sad smile. “But you’re going to do it just the same.”
“Stone,” I try to beg, but she stops me by leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to my hungry lips.
My fingers instantly weave through her hair as hers remain perched on my chest, keeping me from diving into the kiss and losing myself in it. She breaks away and lowers her head to leave one small kiss where my heart resides.
“No more games, Finn. This is the only chance you have to tell me the truth. If you love me like you say you do, then you will fight whatever is keeping us apart.” My eyes go wide as she pulls my chin down, and as we are just a hair’s breadth away from each other, she whispers, “Don’t lose me, Finn.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Good. Then you won’t.”