Page 95 of Burden of Proof

Does it need to be?

I don’t know.

If it needs to be, it is. If you want it to be, it is.

If you don’t, it’s a suggestion. It’s my preference.

He didn’t say anything else to that, so I shoved my phone into my pocket and went to find Finn. It was easy enough, considering how tall he was, tucked into a very small table in the corner, his legs stretched out into the walkway and a bottle of beer held loosely in his fist.

“One of those days?” I asked, sinking down into the chair opposite his.

“It feels like it’s never-ending,” he admitted.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

Finn shook his head, blinking hard. “Would you tell me something interesting?”

My heart twisted in my chest at my absolute inability to help my brother in any ways that really mattered. “Not dinosaur related?”

He frowned at my joke, and it was answer enough.

“Alright. Let me think a minute.”

I’d known Finn for almost my whole life, and he was many things, but miserable was rarely one of them. He’d always been the most happy-go-lucky of the bunch of us, ready to crack a joke or give someone a hard time when they needed to be put back in line. And Finn did a very good job of hiding his currentunhappiness when Smith and Marshall were around, but when it was the two of us, he dropped that mask entirely. I was grateful, I realized, to give him that. Wondering how much I would have to give in order for Lincoln to feel the same way with me.

Maybe someday.

Across from me, Finn’s frown deepened, and he picked at the corner of the beer label with his thumb. I knew there was only one thing for me to tell him that would shock him out of his mood.

“Alright,” I said, clapping my hands together. “I’ve got it.”

He scoffed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this animated.”

“This interesting fact deserves some extra pizzazz.” To demonstrate, I waggled my fingers at him, and he chased his amusement at me back with a swig of his beer.

“I should have called Marshall,” he said.

“Wrong.” I flagged down the waiter and ordered a beer for myself and another for my brother. “Do you remember when you set up that account for me on that hookup app?”

“The one you never bothered to use?” Finn arched a brow at me. “I remember.”

“I have used it,” I informed him.

He narrowed his eyes, but his mouth twitched up from a frown and into a straight line. “You little liar.”

“I never lied. I told you I’d never gotten an alert on it, which is true because I never turned them on.”

“That sounds like the opposite of using it,” he said.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket again and set it on the table, stopping short of pulling up the app to show him, but letting him know I would if I had to.

“I have used it, but not for the way you expect,” I told him. The waiter brought our drinks, and I took more than a healthy swallow of mine. “If I tell you this, you have to promise not to tell.”

“Oh.” Finn finally smiled, leaning in and resting his chin in his hands. “This isdefinitelyinteresting.”

“You have to promise,” I repeated, raising my pinky in the air. “Lincoln is the only person who knows.”

“I bet he does.” Finn was positively giddy, bursting at the seams.