Page 13 of Burden of Proof

“No, of course not.” Finn shook his head at me like it was obvious. “But I don’t know, Hunt. Maybe you picked something up, and you tried to plant the seed as a coverup or an excuse about why you’re on a seven-day antibiotic track.”

The corner of my mouth quirked up. “How do you know it’s seven days?”

“Fuck you. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answered.

“I can’t believe you’re lying to me. Of all people.”

Finn folded his arms in front of his chest and had the decency to look offended. When I rolled my eyes at him, he stuck out his lower lip and pouted.

“I’m not lying,” I said. “At least, not in the way you think I am. I’ve just had a lot going on in my head lately, and I’m trying to sort it out.”

“Talk through it with me.”

“It’s not a talking kind of thing,” I said.

Finn frowned and let his arms fall to his sides. He propped himself up against the sink, and I leaned against the paper towel dispenser, head resting on the wall.

“Marshall and Silas have just made me a little lonely,” I admitted.

“They are a little sickening, aren’t they?”

I nodded. “But it’s nice. I mean, it’s nice for him.”

“You want it to be nice for you?” he asked.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been with anyone seriously, I don’t even remember what it feels like,” I said. “But I don’t think I want to be alone forever.”

“You should seriously use that app I set you up on. I’m sure you can find people there.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, waving the black screen at me. “I find people all the time. Well. I…”

He trailed off, and I narrowed my eyes.

“You what?”

“There’s lots of single people on it, Hunter,” he said. “But I bet you didn’t even open it up after I set it up for you.”

“I’ve never gotten an alert since the first day,” I told him, which was the truth, because the sound the app made was so glaringly obvious, I’d turned notifications off entirely. I onlyopened the app when I was bored and wanted to fuck. I didn’t need it pinging off in my pocket at all hours of the day.

But none of that even mattered because I was going to delete the app. Dollar sign in the bio or not, I’d already seen what sort of people were there, and if that worked for Finn, more power to him, but I wanted more than a one-night stand. I wanted more for my brother too.

“You should give it a chance.” Finn held out his hand, clapping his fingers against his palm like he wanted me to give him my phone.

Instead, I shoved him in the middle of his chest.

“I’m not giving you my phone.” I exhaled a long breath, giving him the smile he was after. “I promise I’m fine. Just been working a lot and thinking about the future, and I’m a little too tired to be drinking vodka is all.”

“Alright,” he conceded after giving me a disapproving onceover. “I’ll believe you for now.”

“How magnanimous,” I muttered, stepping into one of the bathroom stalls and slamming the door closed in his face. “Now if you don’t mind.”

Finn laughed, the joyous sound of it echoing off the walls before dying off with his exit. Only after he was gone did I take a second to balance myself and breathe. I waited until my hands weren’t shaking to pull my phone out of my pocket, ready to clear all evidence of my use on the app into the trash in case Finn ever did get ahold of my phone.

There weren’t any alerts. No messages.

“I’ll delete the whole thing later,” I told myself, deleting the old messages and shoving the phone back into my pocket. It was plausible deniability, but Finn hadn’t tried to physically wrestle me since high school, so I was relatively confident I’d be safe for the rest of dinner.

I pissed—for good measure—washed my hands, then rejoined my brothers at our booth. Someone had ordered fresh drinks for everyone except me, and I didn’t know if it was Finn trying to punish me for lying or him being thoughtful and not putting another drink in front of me when I told him I was too tired for it.