12. Finn

Chapter twelve

Finn

My heart thumps against my rib cage, but even it can’t keep up with the thoughts jumping around in my brain. Happiness, joy, fear, frustration. All those emotions slam through me in mere seconds as the words that I’m not surprised to hear cross that beautiful man's lips.

I step closer, needing to really look at him, as if it will reveal to me what I missed before. My stomach tightens, my mind focuses. I lose track of everyone else.

Fuck. My parents told me about scent matches. They warned me one day I would find mine. I'd dismissed them, and after they’d died, I’d just kinda thought who would come to Twin Rivers, and how unlikely would it be to be my scent match.

But here he is. My one chance to have what my parents had. I inhale and catch the vanilla scent that has been haunting me.

Erin laughs softly and shoves Bray, who mutters something back. At least I’m not the only one who’s surprised.

Which draws me back to the problem in all this. Shane and Brayson together. They’ll kill each other.

“Stop thinking so hard, Finn!”

I glance at Erin. “Shall we go somewhere and talk?” I mean, privately, so I can discuss how epically wrong this is going to be.

I wish Karma was here, but with so many strangers, I always leave her with whoever is working at Destiny’s during the River Festival. It’s far safer up there for her.

“Yeah, let’s go back to your place and eat.”

“But the races!” Alma shouts.

I freeze in the motion of turning away. My shoulders curling in. I forgot. How could I have forgotten?

“You’re right, Alma,” I say to the tiny old woman who brushes past Locke and grips my arm. “We’ll stay for the races and then go back for dinner.”

Erin and Shane side-eye me, but I don’t take my eyes off the woman holding my wrist. She could break in a stiff wind. Her t-shirt looks like a dress, and her feet swim in her sandals. Rheumy eyes stare up at me with a shrewd intelligence. The woman is easily half my size, but she’s a typhoon. She looks like she’s dressed for summer, not spring, in Twin Rivers. Still, Alma is a long-time resident, one of the oldest. She was good friends with my grandfather.

“You can’t leave, we need you here,” Alma coos and pulls me with her very little strength. I allow her to guide me across the road. The others follow, but I can see they aren’t happy. Regret and guilt twist, but I keep my attention on Alma, following where she leads. I have responsibilities and commitments.

“Alma, slow down!”

She gives me a severe frown. “What are you doing, hanging around the likes of Brayson?”

My mouth opens and closes as I try to think of something to say. “He’s hanging around Erin and Locke, who I am showing around here. It’s nothing.” I feel like I’ve been caught stealing or doing something equally as bad.

“Finn, I worry about you sometimes. You are too good. Too kind. The town’s been talking. We’re worried.”

“Bray isn’t going to hurt me.”

“No, but he will lead you into temptation and wickedness. We’ve seen bad seeds like him before.”

Something aches deep inside, and my face burns as I fight not to look over my shoulder.

“I’m not going to be swayed. Listen, I’m simply helping some paying tourists enjoy our festival,” I hiss.

Alma searches my face. “All right, I hear you. Just remember your parents, rest their souls. They would want better for you.”

I wince, and that guilt becomes a noose.

We turn off the main street and walk down AppleBee road until we’re standing on the bridge. The shore on either side of the river is covered with cheering people. I lean on the rails as Alma wanders off, wishing I’d never seen her. Wishing we could be back at my resort.

Erin plonks herself beside me. “What are we watching?”

“This is the biggest ball’s contest,” I say and can’t not smile as I watch the entrants rush down the bank of the river. We have two rivers. This one runs on the left of the town and is much deeper, though not as wide. It’s named the Lauren River. The other is the Laurel River. The Laurel is the one that cuts through my family’s land. About half an hour’s drive away from our mountains, those two rivers join and become the Laura River, one of the biggest water sources in this region.

Erin watches all the men plunge into the water, and her eyebrows shoot up. “I want to say maybe you named this event wrong.”

I snicker. “So, the point is to prove one’s virility, endurance, and strength by plunging one’s entire body into the icy depths.”

“Sounds insane. Did someone put something toxic in the food down here? Hallucinogenic?” Erin mutters.

A guy gets in deep, dunks his head, lets out a shriek that has me laughing so hard I have to lean on the rail, and promptly runs out of the water.

“Marbles,” Erin whispers to me.

I snicker. “Peas.”

Shane is on my other side, staring down impassively.

“You should go prove yourself, Shane,” Erin says with a winning smile.

Shane frowns. “Why would I need to prove myself?”

I shake my head, but my smile stays. I’ve never shared an event like this with anyone. Normally, I’m watching over it or organising something, I don’t get to enjoy it.

“Because I want to see you without clothes on,” Erin purrs.

I choke. I want her to want to see me without clothes on.

Shane is staring at Erin. I know because when I check his expression, I’m positive he will be furious. I’m baffled to find he just looks confused.

“Why?”

Erin stands up and tilts her head to the side as if she is completely astounded. “Because you’re hot, and I’d like to see you naked so I can fantasize about you when I touch myself.”

I quickly look around, letting out a relieved breath when I realise there is no one close. “Not so loud.”

“You think I’m hot?” Shane asks as if I hadn’t even spoken.

“Don’t be daft, Shane. Everyone thinks you're hot,” Brayson growls.

Shane whips his head towards Bray. I don’t know what passes between them, but Shane fixes his eyes on the men in the water, and I think his cheeks turn pink.

“Are you always such a prude?” Erin whispers to me.

“I’m not a prude,” I snap, although I’m thinking I might be. “This is my town. Every person here knew my mother, fathers, or grandfathers. Every person is family who watched me grow up, who saw me rise and fall. All these people will still be here watching me when you’re all long gone,” I say quietly, allowing myself two seconds to feel the desperate loneliness that has been making the nights so unbearably long.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” She reaches out, and her fingers rest lightly on my wrist. “Finn, I apologise.”

“If this is all I have, one week with my scent match, the last thing I want to do is do it under the ever oppressive eyes of my town, watching every move we make.”

Erin’s eyes widen as she seems to grasp and understand exactly how I’m living. “Shit, Finn, that’s a horrible way to live.”

“It's not horrible-”

“You drank the water!” Erin hisses. “But it’s not like that everywhere else. You can live your life and make a fool of yourself and be free to make mistakes. It’s a glorious roller coaster of embarrassment and wonderful life experiences. The world isn’t like this everywhere else.”

I shake my head, almost amused by her sudden vehemence and desire to save me.

“Honestly, it’s okay, but I’d prefer to explore all this in privacy.”

“Of course. Because having Alma rock up to our group meeting would be an instant,” her eyes drop to a man crying as he dashes out of the river, “marble maker.”

I snicker again, and she shoulders me.

“I hear you, and I see it. You have responsibilities to these people. You owe them, and they own you. I feel like that sometimes, with the courts and cases. This enormous weight on my shoulders to protect my clients. To keep the reputation of my firm intact. To always be better and push harder, to bring in bigger clients and more money.”

I blink at her, trying to imagine living under that stress. “Wow, all I need to wonder about is when Deirdre Spears is going to forget seeing me naked in her bush twenty-five years ago.”

Erin bursts out laughing. “Has everyone here got a story like that about you?”

I flush, and though I try to hold her gaze, when I think of all the stories the town could tell her, it makes my whole body burn with humiliation.

She grins wider but pats my hand. “I promise, I won’t ask them.”

“Thank you,” I choke out.

She scoffs and shakes her head. “What are they doing now?”

“It’s the spring bunny hop,” I say with a grin. “Everyone dresses up as bunnies and hops up the hill. First one to the top wins.”

Erin laughs and rolls her shoulders. “I thought I heard swimming, fishing.”

“Well, yeah. They’re going to swim across the river. And fishing. They put floaties in the water and whoever catches them wins.”

Erin puts her head in her hand and chortles. “This town is so incredibly backwards.”

“But growing on you.”

She looks up, her smile fading. “Yeah, you’re growing on me.”

I can’t look away from her deep brown eyes. She is quite simply the loveliest woman I’ve ever seen. I suddenly remember where I am and look away. “This is all happening so quickly.”

“Do you need us to go slower?” Erin whispers. “Shall I ask Alma for permission to take you to the movies? Do you have a curfew?”

I smile as a group of people plunge into the river again, churning up the water.

“I need you to not do anything different,” I say at last.

Erin leans her head on me and sighs. “You got it, Finn.”

I put an arm around her and kiss her head. My heart pounds in the moments after, and I wonder if I should have asked permission. I’m being reckless and wild. I’m going to take this chance and see what happens.

I turn my head and see Alma’s husband blinking at me in shock. His eyes take in Erin, Locke, Shane, and finally stay on Bray. He looks back at me, and our eyes clash.

Guilt and shame wash through me, but I don’t let Erin go.

He turns quickly and spreads the word. I watch more and more people turn to look at us. Their eyes are like needles pricking my skin.

And I desperately try to pretend that they aren’t there.

I sit in the same booth we were in the other day and rest my head back. Locke slides in beside me and puts a hand on my thigh. I jolt in surprise, but when he makes a move to remove it, I put my hand over his and keep it there.

“Hey, Maya,” I say when the girl comes over. She’s nineteen and has a kid at home that her mama is helping her raise. Maya is smart and glows with health, which is a vast change from the day she came out here to beg for a job. “Can I get five specials? Five beers and garlic bread.”

“Sure, Finn.” Her moss green eyes are full of frosty disapproval when she looks at me again, making me flinch. Her hair is cut in a bob, and it just makes her thin lips in their straight, angry line stand out more. I know what I’ve done wrong. But it’s rich for her to be judging me right now.

It’s Bray, I think wearily. He is the reason everyone is looking at me. I can have anyone. Do anything, but Bray is bad people. And a town needs a scapegoat.

The golden boy and the town’s bad boy. We’re never meant to be together. The town’s been pitting us against each other since the day we were born. Me born to the town's favoured pack, and Brayson to his drunk of a mother.

Why have I never questioned it before Erin and Locke walked into my life? Why did I just accept this was how life was?

I smile gratefully as she leaves just as Shane walks in and slides into his seat, Erin sits beside him, and Bray takes the final seat, stretching an arm out behind Erin and casually touching Shane’s shoulder.

I expect him to blow up, but he just ignores it like nothing is happening. I consider Shane for a long moment and then decide not to worry about it.

Erin’s there. She can handle it if they explode.

“So,” Locke says with a wicked gleam. “Who’s going to do me first?”

Erin smiles and covers her mouth with her hand. “I volunteer.”

“Me first!” Bray says with a saucy wink.

I sigh. “Children!”

Three heads whip towards me and smirk. I cover my eyes with my hand and groan.

“Walked into that.”

“You really did, Daddy,” Locke teases.

I hate that my reaction to that word is all heat. My cock stiffens, and I have to reach down and adjust myself. Locke brushes his knuckles over my jean-covered cock, and I almost moan.

“So.”

I glance at Locke and note that his eyelashes are dark and unusually long. His eyes look greener in this light. He cocks a golden eyebrow and waits.

I squeeze his hand on my thigh and exhale roughly. “So, you’re our scent-matched omega.”

Locke leans back. “I am. I knew as soon as I met you all together. Well, I felt it, it took me a minute to calm down enough to figure it out.”

“How? How do you know?”

“The feeling, the pull towards all of you. Your scents drive me wild.”

I stare at him. “Are you going into heat, Locke?”

Locke’s blue-green eyes sparkle. “That’s why you’re daddy.”

Shane chokes and has to reach for the water. He skips the glass and drinks straight from the jug.

“Heat?” He croaks.

“Yeah, I wish I could control it, but alas, I’m a slave to my designation.”

Locke doesn’t look at all upset. In fact, he looks like he’s won the lottery.

Erin is frowning, appearing deep in thought. Bray looks a little unsettled, and Shane is still having kittens.

I close my eyes and let the panic roll over me and out again. When I open my eyes a moment later, I’m cool and calm and already formulating a plan.

“We’ll have to have it out at your cabin. It’s the safest place. We can figure it out, but I’ll get the cabin stocked with enough food and supplies-”

“Wait! Wait!” Shane protests.

“There is no waiting. You have one small chance with your scent match. This is about him,” I say the words with an air of command that cracks through the space and makes the two men straighten up. “It is our honour to see him through it safely.”

Erin just looks up slowly and hits me with a frown.

I meet her eyes, wondering what she’s thinking, but then our dinners are set in front of us, and the tension and whatever is going on in her mind vanishes.

I smile at Locke.

“Eat. You’re going to need your strength.”

It’s good to see the cocky smirk vanish and apprehension appear.