Page 25

Alexa play: Santa Monica by Everclear

“ W hat are you doing here?” I scowled, and Riddick narrowed his eyes at me. I didn’t miss the way his gaze dropped to where Quinn’s hand was still resting on top of mine.

Quinn glanced at me, then over to where Riddick stood, her brow creasing in concern.

“What’s going on?” she asked, sounding confused.

“Nothing, let’s go get a drink,” I said, turning away from Riddick.

“So you’re drinking now?”

“That’s none of your business,” I snapped, and Quinn looked even more concerned. Her gaze darted back and forth between us like she was afraid I was going to get into another fistfight.

“You fucking her too? ”

“Again. None of your goddamn business, Riddick!” I snarled, abandoning my plan to take Quinn to get a drink. I turned to face him and leveled him with the hardest look I could muster.

“Finn,” Quinn said. Her voice was shaky, and she was talking to me like I was some rabid animal that was going to lose control at any second. “Maybe we should?—”

“Go find Turtle, Quinn,” I snapped.

Quinn hesitated and bit her lip. She kept glancing between the two of us. We were glaring at each other so hard I knew she probably thought we were going to kill each other.

“I don’t think I should leave…” she whispered, and I glared at her.

“I said go, Quinn!”

Her frown deepened, and finally, she nodded before hurrying away.

“I want you to come home,” Riddick said the second she was gone.

My blood rushed in my ears at the way he said home. Like it was our home. I shook my head. No. I wouldn’t let him do this to me again—make me hope with all these tiny little morsels of implied commitment and affection.

I deserved better than that.

“I don’t really give a fuck what you want, Riddick.”

“That wasn’t a request, Finn,” he growled, and I shuddered. Some deep-seated part of me ached to submit to him and obey, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t go back to days of mind games and never-ending sexual tension. I was going to go crazy.

“The answer is no,” I hissed, spitting his own words back at him. He visibly flinched.

I turned to walk away, but what he said next stopped me in my tracks.

“I’m sorry , okay? Please come home.”

I glanced over my shoulder, and the way he was looking at me made my heart ache. There was this deep, yawning sadness in his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Why should I? ”

He glanced around the party, and I followed his gaze. We were getting some weird looks, and a growl rolled through my chest in frustration.

Fucking nosy assholes.

“Not here… Can we talk? In private? Please?” he asked, and I swear to God it was the please that got me. I was so used to him bossing me around that hearing him beg made my spine tingle with the strangeness of it.

I glanced around at our steadily growing audience and sighed.

I was shit at holding grudges. Although I wasn’t ready to fully forgive him, I could admit to myself that I obviously still wanted him. If he wanted to talk, I would hear him out.

“Alright. Fine. Let me go find Turtle to let him know I’m leaving. I’ll meet you at ho—I mean, the shack.”

“Alright.” He nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Fine,” I snapped, then went off to find my friend.

I found Turtle chilling with Blake by one of the bonfires. He grinned at me as I approached and held his fist out to bump.

“Hey man, what’s been going on?”

“Not much. Hey, any chance you can drive me home?”

“No can do, Finn Man. I’ve had a couple crispy boys if you’re catching my wave.”

I felt myself deflate. The walk wasn’t impossible, but it was a bit of a hike.

“Here, you can take my car; just bring it to Sharkies tomorrow for our shift,” Blake said, handing me her keys. I grinned at the faux lucky rabbit’s foot keychain she had attached to it.

“Thanks, Blake.”

“Don’t mention it.” She winked at me.

“Hey, have you seen Quinn?” I asked, and she shook her head. “No, not yet. ”

“Make sure you check on her. She’s had a bit of a rough night,” I said, and Blake nodded.

“Okay. Noted. Thanks!”

“No worries,” I called over my shoulder as I trotted away, suddenly more anxious than I’d ever been in my life to get home.

What could he possibly want to talk about?

Was he finally going to admit to wanting to be with me?

By the time I pulled up in my driveway, my heart was pounding in my chest.

Fuck, why was I so nervous?!

My slides crunched on my gravel driveway as I approached the front door to my beach shack. I wondered how long I would need to wait for him as I unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

“Hey.”

“Jesus Christ!” I yelped, accidentally sending my keys flying.

Riddick was standing in my kitchen with his hands in his pockets and a miserable expression on his face.

I’d forgotten how built he was. It hadn’t been as obvious out in the open, on the beach.

In here, with all my condo-sized furniture and low ceilings, I felt dwarfed next to him.

I wasn’t sure when my tastes had changed from the small, dainty features that girls like Quinn wore so well to this towering wall of sheer man that stood before me, but there was no denying it.

He just did it for me, and it was taking all my self-control not to just melt into a submissive puddle of goo at his feet.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“How’d you get here so fast? On second thought, how’d you get in here? I locked the door when I left.”

His mouth tilted in that classic Riddick smirk, and he shrugged.

“Magic fingers,” he replied, and I narrowed my eyes .

“More like felony fingers,” I grumbled, and his lips twitched again. Then, his gaze fell to my hand, which was swollen and bleeding from punching Nigel Thornberry in the face so many times.

“What the fuck happened?” he growled, rushing forward, reaching for my hand like he wanted to inspect it closer.

I jerked away from him and took a step back. “Nothing. The mayor’s douchey son tried to hurt Quinn, so I kicked his ass.”

Riddick’s nostrils flared with rage. “Did he hurt you?”

“What? No. He couldn’t even land a hit on me.”

Riddick was clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, his gaze still trained on my bleeding hand.

Suddenly, I felt tired. So tired of all his fucking mind games and mixed signals. Maybe coming back here was a mistake.

“Why am I here, Riddick? Say what you need to say so I can go.” I sighed, and he bit his lip, his small smile disappearing.

“I wanted to apologize.”

“Yeah? For what?”

He remained silent, and I scoffed.

“That’s what I thought; you don’t even know what you’re apologizing for.”

“For hurting you.”

I growled. All this was doing was pissing me off even more.

“Well, I don’t forgive you. Now kindly fuck off.”

“Finn…”

“No! You’re either in this or you’re not. If you’re not into me, then that’s fine, but fuck off then and leave me alone. I’ve made it clear how I feel about you, and I’m sorry, but I don’t want to train every day with someone who clearly doesn’t want me back.”

Suddenly, he was crowding me, and my back was pressed against the door. He was cupping my face in his large hands, and he rubbed the tip of his nose intimately against mine.

“You think I don’t want you, Finn?” he murmured against my lips.

“I— ”

“I want you so fucking bad I could have killed that silly little girl for putting her hands on what’s mine.”

What’s…mine?

My whole body was suddenly on fire. His lips were so close to mine that he was practically swallowing each one of my breaths.

“I’m not yours, Riddick. You’ve made that perfectly clear.”

A low, animalistic growl built in his chest, and he pressed me more firmly into the door.

“I’m trying to protect you , Finn. Can’t you just trust me on that?”

“Protect me from what!?”

“From me! I’m not good for you. It doesn’t matter that I want you so badly that you’re all I can think about. Because it’s not about me. It’s about you and what you deserve.”

He was telling me all the things I’d been dying to hear, but it still wasn’t enough. I needed more than pretty words. I needed him.

“And what do you think I deserve, Riddick?” I asked, though my voice was a whisper. He rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes, both thumbs stroking my cheeks tenderly like I was something precious to be worshiped and treasured.

“Everything… Anything , Finn. You deserve anything you want in the world, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like you don’t.”

“What I want is you.”

He pulled away slightly so he could search my eyes. I stared back at him, holding my breath as I watched his resolve crumble.

“You’re still going to try to ride Leviathans, even without my help, aren’t you?” he choked, and I nodded.

“You know I am.”

He stroked my cheeks again, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he made a decision that would change my life forever.

“If I give in… If we explore this… thing , will you come home?”

Still unable to breathe, I nodded once.

“Say it. I need to hear you promise me you’ll come home and let me help you. ”

I let out the breath I’d been holding in a rush and nodded again.

“Yes, Riddick. I’ll come home if you agree to give this a chance.”

The longest second of my life ticked by as my words hung between us, and then he wrapped his large palms around the backs of my thighs and hoisted me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist.

“I hope you can forgive me one day, Finn… I fucking tried. I really tried,” he murmured, his voice rough. My heart was slamming in my chest, and for a moment, I thought he was going to refuse me again. I shivered as he turned his beautiful but horribly sad blue eyes on me, and I watched him break.

“But I’m too fucking weak to fight this anymore.” He grabbed me roughly by the jaw and held me firmly in place while he massaged my hip with the other. “You deserve so much better than what I’m about to give you, Finn.”

I whimpered as he pressed me further back into the wall, digging his fingers into me hard enough to bruise.

“But I’m a shitty fucking person, and I’m going to give it to you anyway.”

Then, he slammed his lips into mine.