Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 598(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“Oh my God!” Kayla bursts into laughter and startles the hell out of me. I glance over to find her looking at something on her phone. “You have to see what Julia just texted me.”
She turns the screen of her phone toward me, and I scan through their messages.
Julia: Girl, it’s a damn shame you and Scottie are in Durham because some wild shit has gone down here. (By the way, I saw you both on TV! You girls looked GORG.)
Kayla: TELL ME EVERYTHING.
Julia: Ace’s dad just pulled the prank of a lifetime at my parents’ surprise birthday party for me. He legit paid to close off city streets, bought a film crew, and even had police officers there to keep everything secure. Ace had no idea what was happening.
Kayla: What the hell was the prank???
Julia: Ace’s dad and my dad pretended to be all panicked that his younger brother Gunnar got arrested and told Ace and Finn to get in the car to go bail him out. And that ended in a pretend police chase scene through the closed-off streets of the city. ACE WAS FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. Seriously, just watch this.
Kayla clicks on the video Julia just sent over, and in an instant, I’m face-to-face with Finn’s gorgeous face. He’s sitting in the back of some kind of sports car with Ace, and in the front sits Ace’s dad Thatch and an incredibly handsome guy I’m assuming is Julia’s dad.
Ace looks petrified as his dad drives like a bat out of hell through city streets with no one on the road or sidewalk.
By the time police sirens sound from behind them, Ace is losing his fucking mind on the video while Finn tries to pin him down.
Kayla laughs her ass off at the clusterfuck.
Under normal circumstances, I’d probably find this hilarious too, but there’s just something about seeing Finn’s face this up close and personal that makes my chest become so tight I feel like someone has sucked all of the oxygen off the bus.
When Kayla can’t stop laughing, other girls on the bus start to get interested, and she busies her attention with showing them the footage.
I’m thankful, to be honest, because every time she glanced in my direction and I forced an amused smile to my lips, I felt like my face was going to shatter into a million pieces.
Finn Hayes may be done with me, but I can’t escape him.
Friday, November 22nd
Finn
“Come on, Finn. Churn those toddler-length legs,” Ace chastises as we run past Brower Center. Blake laughs and looks back at me while I do my best to look at my phone, give Ace the finger, and run without dying at the same time.
We got another Double C text half an hour ago, just as I was settling in for a night in bed watching Netflix on my laptop, instructing us to be at the back of McKinley Library five minutes from now. I begged off—even with the potential for more money—but Ace was relentless.
Now, though, my sibling group message is in full swing, thanks to Willow, and if I don’t answer, Jack and Trav will end up doing something stupid just to get my attention. Trust me, it’s happened before.
Willow: The dress is perfect! Thank you, Finney!!!
I smile down at the photo of my sister in her homecoming dress and roll my eyes a little at the redheaded idiot who is standing beside her. His name is Crew, and he’s my sister’s newest boyfriend. Poor sap looks like he thinks he has a chance at longevity.
Me: You look beautiful, Low. Have fun, but don’t do anything stupid.
Willow: So, don’t do anything Jack or Travis would do? LOL.
Trav: Hey, I resemble that remark! ;)
Jack: Finn’s the one robbing banks to buy dresses and shit.
Me: I’m not robbing banks.
Trav: Of course, Finney. Gotta keep this thread clean in case of an investigation.
Me: I’m not robbing banks.
Jack: Willow, how much did that dress cost again?
Trav: Maybe he’s just rich by association now because of all his rich friends.
Willow: Shut up, guys. Stop making Finn feel bad.
“Finn!” Ace yells again, waving me forward from the bottom of the steps that lead into the basement of the library. “Look alive, would you?”
I tuck my phone back into my pocket and jog down to meet them, and Blake holds open the door while we hustle inside. We take a place at the back of the crowd as Lexi gets everyone up to speed on tonight’s event. I don’t see Julia or Scottie anywhere, and I’m a fucking idiot for looking in the first place.
How long is it going to take me to get over her?
“Texas Hold’em,” she says matter-of-factly, lifting a hand to gesture at the green-felt-covered tables behind her. The décor is elaborate, as always, and I’m starting to wonder how they get these things set up without campus security noticing. They put a fucking fight ring in Nash, for shit’s sake. How?