Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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There’s a stretch of silence. Long enough for me to weigh the pros and cons. Pro: could be entertaining. Finn, even with his tendency for dramatics, has always been a fun person. Con: definitely ends in an emotional migraine. I take a breath, step aside, and wave him in.
He walks past me and heads straight for the record player. He then turns the knob and silences my concert.
“Seriously?” I say, arms dropping to my sides.
“Seemed a bit loud, don’t you think?”
“That’s because it’s my house, and I want it loud.”
“Are you, like, permanently here? Or is this some sort of temporary arrangement?”
I narrow my eyes, snatch my rice back from the table, and flop onto the couch, legs curled under me.
“What do you want, Finn?”
He stays by the record player like a statue.
“You do one of those manipulation things they do in movies as a therapist?”
I blink at him. “What?”
“You know. Can you get into my head and change things? Make me forget certain things?
“If you’re talking about hypnotherapy, that’s not how it works.”
He starts walking toward me.
“I don’t care what it’s called, Serena, or what it means. I just want
1 set the rice aside. I suddenly don’t feel like eating anymore.
to
forget.”
ving clock and witchcraft thing movies do.”
“Forget what?” I ask, though I suspect I already know.
“Your sister. I want to forget that she was ever in my life. I want to stop thinking about her, wondering where she is or what she’s doing with my brother. Knox thinks I only want the women he wants. I gotta show him I can want other people. That I can get my own women. I’ve told Delilah to stay away from me. I need Sloane to be out of my life completely. That’s why I’m here. Make me forget.”
He’s not joking. His expression is raw, desperate. There’s a subtle tremor in his voice, the kind that slips out when you’ve run out of armor to hide behind. And for a second, just a second, I feel a pang of pity.
“Umm,” I say, “I have closed for the week. And like I said, that’s not how that works.”
“What’s it going to take? Money? A kidney? Tell me.”
“Honestly?” I deadpan. “I think it would take dementia.”
Finn glares daggers at me, and then he pivots and walks straight toward the bedroom.
“What the hell, Finn?” I say, bolting up and following him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
By the time I catch up, he’s already in the room. He’s prying open the closet with his good hand and pulling stuff out.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
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“Getting her stuff. I bet she left some here before going to play house with my brother. Maybe if I set something of hers on fire, it would free me from this
curse.”
I storm in after him. “Get your hands off my things, Finn.”
He pulls out the small white box I stupidly left in the same drawer Sloane found it. The pregnancy test kit.
He glances down at it. “You pregnant or something?”
My spine straightens like a wire. “None of your business.”
I shove him back, but he’s already yanked a shirt off a hanger, one I know belongs to Sloane, and turns to walk back into the living room.
“Could you please just leave?” I say. “You’ve gotten her shirt. Go do some voodoo or whatever. Just leave.”
The words come out in a quiet sigh. I’m not even mad anymore. I’m just tired. I follow him into the living room, crossing my arms and leaning against the
wall.
“Not until you help me forget her,” he says.
“Have you tried dating other people?”
“Dating is not the issue here,” he says. “I have a lot of sex. I just don’t want to have to make them wear a wig and glasses so I can pretend I’m screwing your sister.”
I pause. “I beg your pardon?”
He turns around.
“Make me forget, Serena. I’m a father now. I can’t be like this. I have to look organized when I see my son, who I didn’t even know existed for twelve years. Would you want to see your father looking this messed up?”
“Am I to answer that?”
“I don’t care. Make me forget. Because right now, the only other solution is to go for someone who looks just like her.”
It takes me a full breath to process the sentence.
“You didn’t come here for any hypnotherapy bullshit, did you?” I say slowly.
He doesn’t answer.
“You came here to look for a replacement for Sloane. And what better replacement than her bloody sister, huh?”
At least he has the decency to look guilty when he mutters, “Maybe. Will you help me?”
I stare at him for a long second. Maybe longer. The kind of stare that feels like time itself has slowed just so I can catalog every ridiculous thing about this moment–the audacity in his eyes, the desperation in his voice, the fact that he’s clutching Sloane’s old shirt while telling me he wants to screw me to get
over her.
And then I speak.
“The only kind of help I’ll be giving you, Finn Hartley, is helping you find the darn door.”
I push off the wall, march across the room, and grab his good arm–not gently. I can feel the tension under my fingers, the taut line of muscle and bone as
I yank him toward the exit. He doesn’t resist, but he doesn’t exactly cooperate either. It’s like dragging a reluctant golden retriever on a leash.
“Please, Serena,” he says. “For old times‘ sake.”
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Chapter 129
“I don’t want to hear one more word from your mouth, Finn.”
I twist the handle of the door, ready to throw the door wide and release him into the wild.
But when it swings open, there’s someone already kneeling there.
Black clothes. Black gloves. Black mask. He’s crouched low like he’d been fiddling with the lock, the glint of tools still visible beside hi the door opens and our eyes meet, his entire body tenses–and then he straightens.
A gun is in his hand the next second.
It’s small, fitted with a long, narrow barrel that tells me everything I need to know. Silencer. Professional.
“Don’t make a sound,” the man says. “Walk back slowly.”
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