Page 14 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

“Okay, if you’re sure. There will be other icebreakers and activities during the cocktail hour, which begins in fifteen minutes,” the woman behind the desk said. Her name tag read “Vanessa - Assistant Principal.” She looked too young to have been around when Brad was in school.

“I’m excited to play even if he doesn’t want to. My card says…chocolate!” Chloe said, brandishing her card in the air.

They both thanked Vanessa, and Chloe took Finn’s hand and pulled him towards the rest of the gathered alumni. Finn grabbed Brad’s sleeve and tugged until he was sure Brad was following.

“You know, between the two of you, I’m not sure my sleeves are going to survive this trip,” Brad joked.

Chloe shrugged dramatically, throwing both hands up in the air and dragging Finn’s arm up at a weird angle. He pulled his hand free with a grumble that sounded something like “over-caffeinated Energizer Bunny.”

“I can’t help it that you two don’t communicate well,” Chloe said with an exaggerated sigh.

“I will not apologize for taking it upon myself to make sure both my high school besties are happy —oh my god, Candace!” Chloe made one of those whooping noises the entire cheerleading team had mastered at a young age and dashed across the room.

Finn sighed with the collective breath of tired best friends everywhere. “I’m sorry about this morning. She can be…”

“Scarily protective?” Brad offered.

Finn pressed his pointer finger and thumb into the corners of his eyes. “Yes. She can also be a bit meddlesome, so I apologize for everything else that happened in line.”

Brad’s hand felt slick against the glossy papers he was still clutching, so he tucked them into an inside pocket of his jacket. He didn’t miss the way Finn’s eyes traced over his chest and side. Brad had worn a fitted green dress shirt for a reason.

His icebreaker card seemed to pulse in his pocket, and he amended that he hadn’t worn green for that reason. He’d just wanted to make a good first impression, that was all.

“You don’t have to apologize for this morning, or today, or tomorrow,” Brad assured him. “I remember how Chloe could get. Defensive and sometimes a little over-eager.”

Finn huffed a laugh through his nose and ran a hand back through his hair.

“Over eager is right. I think she may have gotten the wrong idea from something you said this morning.” Finn’s eyes widened, and he waved his hands in the air between them.

“Not that I’m saying it’s your fault! Just that she’s insinuating something she doesn’t know anything about.

I can tell her to stop if it bothers you or gets to be too much. ”

Finn crossed his arms tightly over his chest again, and Brad took a step closer until his bicep was pressed into Finn’s shoulder.

If they were still as close as they’d been in high school, he would have yanked at Finn’s arms until he relaxed.

They were adults now, though. He could put an arm around Finn’s shoulder.

He’d done that earlier, but without the added presence of Chloe under his other arm, it felt like it might be inappropriate.

Instead, he bent his head down so he wouldn’t be overheard.

“I promise, I haven’t minded anything Chloe has said or implied.

I would love to see you both after the reunion.

As far as your injury, there’s a strong possibility that I would have been distracted if I knew you were hurt during a game.

I was already distracted enough as it was, watching you get lifted and thrown around. You were…kind of incredible to watch.”

Finn’s breath caught, and the muscles in his shoulder quivered against Brad’s arm. “Thank you. Although…I feel like I should warn you, Chloe’s only going to get worse if she hears you say something like that.”

Brad wanted to say that he didn’t mind. He wanted to say a bit of friendly meddling might be exactly the push they needed, because it was becoming pretty obvious something was cooking between them.

If he was being totally frank with himself, it felt like there had always been something between them.

Whatever it was, it led to them playing the spin the bottle game at Cory’s grad party.

When the bottle landed, either one of them could have chosen to pass, since they never played by any hard and fast rules.

Neither of them had, though. He could still feel the way Finn’s hand had cupped his cheek and their bodies had pressed together.

They’d both known they couldn’t start anything—or, at least, Brad had known that, given he was leaving for football camp only a week later.

He’d been the one to stop the kiss and give Finn a friendly hug, whispering, “Thank you for being in my life.” Finn had clung to him, but when they finally released each other, one of Brad’s football buddies had pulled him into a foosball tournament, and Brad lost sight of Finn for the remainder of the party.

Unable to put all that into words, Brad instead said, “I really don’t mind, but I also don’t want to accidentally ruin your cover story.”

Finn barked out a short laugh and shook his head, staring down at his shoes on the scuffed wooden flooring. Back in the day, the basketball coach would have had a field day if his students wore black soled shoes in his gym. It seemed like it was a bit of a lost cause now.

“I appreciate you being so supportive of our cover story,” Finn said.

“I just…I feel like sometimes, back in school, you’d prioritize everyone else over yourself.

You really don’t need to do that for us.

I’ve got it handled—and as you can see, Chloe doesn’t actually need the moral support.

I think she just wanted an excuse to bring me to the reunion. ”

Brad leaned against Finn, and his entire chest warmed from the inside out when Finn leaned back.

Just like Chloe that morning, Finn was scarily accurate with his observation.

Brad had spent most of his life worrying about his mom, his college scholarship, and his career.

Then, as his mom got older and wasn’t able to work the same grueling hours at the shop, he worried about his mom again .

The only time he’d fought for something he wanted was this promotion.

A tiny voice in the back of his head reminded him that the promotion wasn’t really all for him, either. So…maybe he really hadn’t ever fought for something he wanted only for himself.

A few football guys approached Brad, and Finn ducked his head and said he’d catch up with Brad later. As he watched Finn hurry back to Chloe’s side, Brad thought maybe it was about time he started fighting.