Growling, Finn was tempted to knock Asher off the damn trail. “Watch it.”
Asher and Grady simultaneously hung back. Refusing to slow on principle, and so he didn’t lose critical momentum, Finn kept going. He could hear them gossiping like a judgy sewing circle, but blissfully couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Predictably, they caught up to begin their attack anew. Or maybe not. Grady sighed, “You know what? Why don’t you and Haley figure this one out on your own terms. Trace will be gone another few weeks, and you can cross that bridge when you come to it.”
“You working some kind of lawyer angle here? Trying to get me to confess something?”
Scoffing, Asher said, “Of course not. It’s none of our business. You and Haley are just having fun. Casual sex. No promises, right? I’m sure it won’t be a big deal at all. You’ll have finished getting your play with Haley by the time Trace gets back anyway.”
Grady nodded. “Haley will have probably moved on by then. After being stuck with that asshole since she was eighteen? She’s going to want to play the field a while.”
Adding with a flippancy that made Finn want to clock him, Asher said, “Damn, ten years with that piece of shit? Yeah, she’s going to want to mix it up. Might keep you in mind for a hook-up now and again if you don’t blow it.”
Gnawing in Finn’s gut digested the weird-ass day. Maybe beer on a hike was a bad idea after all.
15
Encroachment
“Ahhh,ohmygod,ohhh,” Haley hissed in blissful relief as Finn lowered the icepack onto her elevated ankle that was puffy and bruised. It had hurt like hell, but no way was she letting anyone carry her down that hill. She settled against the stack of pillows on her bed.
Finn laughed, then groaned with pleasure as he settled and set his icepack on his knee. “I know, right?”
He reached over and rested another icepack against her forehead. Taking over, she held it against the goose egg growing on her skull. Her head throbbed each time she even thought about moving.
Side by side, they leaned back against the mountain of pillows leaned against the wall, each with an elevated leg and icepack, her head boosted up on yet more pillows.
Both were still damp from the shower—not the sex-fest Finn had teased. By the time they’d reached the cars that afternoon, she couldn’t hide the limp anymore as the sprain declared itself. Finn drove them home. They’d both hobbled into the shower, taking turns under the spray, rinsing off the thick layer of dirt from the fall. He’d cleaned her wounds again, massaged the mud from her hair, and then patted the towel over her skin. She’d snagged one of his shirts from the clean laundry pile and curled up in bed while he grabbed the icepacks.
Sitting up to see the clock, Finn dropped back down onto the pillows and sighed. “It’s only six o’clock and I’m ready for sleep. You scared the hell out of me today.”
“Thanks for coming to rescue me. All heroic and attentive. You even ruined your shirt for me.” She grinned, only half teasing.
“I’ve got plenty of shirts. Not many women willing to tolerate me.”
“You’re such a chore.”
“I know, right? I’ve been told, over the last year, that I’ve been broody and inattentive. They weren’t wrong.”
“Really?” She was genuinely surprised. “I know you said you weren’t ready and your ex-girlfriend recognized that and ended things. But in the weeks that I have known you, you’ve been… well, not any of that.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek, groaning as he had to resettle the icepack that shifted off his leg in the subtle movement. “This rebound thing was a great idea. I do feel much better.”
Yeah. She felt, well, great. Since leaving Nate, she’d felt pretty damn good. A complete mess, yeah, but an independent mess.
Lately, she’d felt likeheragain. She’d fallen off a cliff today and hadn’t panicked. Okay, so the log had almost gotten to her, but she conquered it. Years ago, she’d thought herself a happy, adventurous person. And she was beginning to believe it again.
Even with sex. She’d always believed good sex was a thing. It couldn’t be so popular if it was as anticlimactic as she’d experienced.
She rather liked what she had become and recognized she hadn’t gotten here all on her own. Her family had banded around her, in their unique ways. Finn had a lot to do with it, letting her talk it out, pointing out her strengths, encouraging her to stretch her wings. This rebound thing was brilliant.
Finn scooted up and turned toward her again. He lifted her forehead icepack and scowled, inspecting her wound again. Hopping off the bed, he hobbled as he disappeared into the bathroom. He returned a few seconds later with the first aid kit she’d picked up after nearly driving a nail through her finger a few weeks ago.
He opened the plastic bin and shuffled through until he found what he was looking for. Opening a pack of antibiotic ointment, he dabbed a dollop over her wound. He redressed it, then closed up the kit and dropped it to the floor. “You probably should have gone in for stitches.”
“I’m not going in for two stitches for a wound I hardly notice. Besides, I don’t actually have any scars. I’ll sound cool if I can tell people I got one falling off of a cliff.”
He said with a goofy grin, “Puff up the story a bit, make it sound really good. Like it was a five-hundred-foot drop.”
