IsaacGray88: Remember the friend I told you about who stuffed Cheetos down his cast?
FinleyPark: Haha. Yes, I remember. What happened?
IsaacGray88: Well, he can’t get one Cheeto out, and he asked me to get it.
FinleyPark: Did you? A good friend would.
IsaacGray88: Hell no. He built his bridge. He can walk over it now.
FinleyPark: That’s true. Poor guy. He just needs a Cheeto removed.
IsaacGray88: And now he’s giving great advice to another friend of mine. His pregnant wife is mad at him.
FinleyPark: Seems he deserves the effort of someone trying to get the Cheeto removed.
I laugh out loud, and for a brief second, I consider helping Heaven.
Briefly.
That is, until he snatches my phone out of my hand and waves it in the air. He can be such a damn child.
“Who has you so happy?”
“Heaven, give me my phone back.”
“I won’t look at it if you tell me the truth.”
I reach to take the phone away, and Owen comes up from behind the couch and steals it out of Heaven’s hand.
“I’ll look through it. I don’t care.”
“You’re acting like children,” Sebastian says, sounding bored.
“Fuck you all. I’m serious. Give me my phone.” I stand and hurry around the couch, pushing past Sebastian, and become nose to nose with Owen. My phone buzzes, and he tilts his head and raises his brows, telling me silently that if I don’t fess up, he’ll look at my phone.
I start to panic. I don’t want anyone to know I decided to try a dating website. I don’t even know what this woman looks like. She could be ugly and have a mole on her face with a black hair growing out of it for all I know. I don’t care what anyone says, looks matters … a lot. It isn’t the hope of someone having a great personality that has you walking across the floor in a club or checking someone out at the store because they’re holding the exact same can of sauce you like to get.
No.
It’s because attraction matters. It’s the first thing you notice about another person.
I don’t want the guys to know about Finley because I’ll never hear the end of it. They will ask questions I don’t know the answers to.
“It’s just someone I recently met, okay? It’s nothing serious. She’s just a friend,” I admit and decide to keep the details out of it by giving them a partial truth. I hope Owen doesn’t click the power button and see the notification from the dating app. I’ll be mortified.
“I knew there was something that changed! I knew it!” Heaven claps his hands together and throws a fist in the air, cheering since he’s right.
Owen eyes me skeptically, twirls the phone in his hand, and then offers it to me. Right before I take the phone out of his palm, he jerks his arm back. “I think you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. Her name is Finley.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“The Lighthouse Grill. You know how much I love that place,” I lie, hoping I answered quick enough for him to drop the subject.
Owen is distracted by Jaxon entering the room again, his shirt wrinkled and his hair a mess. Looks like someone was easily forgiven.
I take the opportunity to steal my phone from him and tuck it safely in my pocket. I swear, these guys can be such children and so fucking nosey when it comes to wanting to know someone else’s business.
“Don’t even think about doing that again, either of you,” I say to Owen and Heaven. “Finley is not your concern, got it?” I crack my neck left to right, starting to feel caged in, in this house. The buildup of tension and anger has me wanting to plan a job, but since a few members of the team are still healing from the last heist, our hands are tied.
The sound of the buzzer going off alerts us that someone is at the garage door. Everyone turns their attention to the one and only entrance to the house. No one should be here at this hour. We don’t know many people so, of course, we’re all on edge now.
Owen unsheathes his knife from the holster clipped to his pants, and Jaxon and Sebastian both pull a gun out from behind their backs. Heaven is useless since his leg is broken, and he stays on the couch. He picks up the remote and clutches it in his hand, ready to throw it at the possible intruder.
“What the fuck is that going to do?” I sneer, cocking my gun.
“Distract him? He won’t see a TV remote coming his way. It will hit him in the face, and then Jaxon can subdue him.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. Heaven can be … exasperating.
Jaxon taps the screen next to the door, and his shoulders sag with relief. His gun falls to his side, and we all follow his lead, lowering our weapons. Jaxon exhales and presses the green button toward the bottom of the monitor. “What the hell do you want, Zeke?”
“Hey! That’s the thanks I get for flying all the way out here from New York? I left the busy city to come fucking camping with you assholes, and that’s the greeting I get? Unbelievable.”
We all groan when we hear Zeke’s New York accent. I’m not in the mood for him again. Didn’t he leave a few weeks ago? Why is he back already?
“Let me in. I have some news, and I’m afraid it isn’t all that delightful,” Zeke says.
“Don’t let him in,” Owen grunts, clipping his knife in the holster. “I say let the woods take him since he thinks coming to visit us means he’s camping.”
“I heard that, Owen. I’ll remember that when I’m standing over your grave, deciding if I want to kiss it or spit on it.”
“I already have a headache,” Heaven groans, rubbing his temples in small circles.
“I think it’s best to see what he wants, guys.” Jaxon does the one thing we don’t want him to do.
He presses the button to allow Zeke in.
I need a vacation from them.
Maybe I can go see Finley one day.
Chapter Four
FINLEY
“You’re talking to a guy you’ve never met?” my friend Alicia asks as we walk out of math class.
I readjust the book in my hand as we maneuver in and out of the busy hallway filled with all the other students, ranging from freshmen to seniors. The conversations are loud since everyone is talking to one another on the way to their next class. The lockers line either side of the hallway. The school colors are navy blue and purple, and the lockers are painted to match.
“Yeah, so? Who cares? He’s just nice to talk to. We don’t know what each other look like, and we don’t have each other’s addresses. What’s the big deal?”
Alicia grabs my arm and spins me around. “The big deal? Are you kidding me right now? The big deal is you’re seventeen, and who knows how old this guy is. It’s creepy. You need to stop talking to him. What if he’s a serial killer?” She pins me with her eyes, and I roll my own from her hysterics.
“He isn’t a serial killer.” The chances of that are slim to none.
“Oh, because you know him so well? Tell me, does he know you’re seventeen?” She flashes a smug smile, thinking she’s right.
I give her my back and twist the black knob to my locker as I chant the code in my head. It opens with a click, and I shove my book inside. “No, he doesn’t know. I lied about my age, okay? And he might have to. Doesn’t everyone online?”