Page 47 of Forever Finn
“Here, honey.” Jin reaches into his pocket before leaning over and gliding a soothing layer of ChapStick over my sore lips.
“Thank you, Jin,” I rumble. “At least one of you is civilised, which is more than I can say for this bunch of morons.” I glare at Jesse, Deak, Nat, Beck, and Colin.
“It’s a cross we must endeavour to bear,” Jin says sagely as he tucks the ChapStick into my pocket with a wink.
“Where’s your other partner in crime?” I glare at them. “Wherever you idiots are Ryan is never usually far behind.”
“We don’t know.” Jesse frowns. “He said he had something he needed to take care of, and then he disappeared on us… I can see another intervention in our near future.” He turns to his husband and Deak nods in agreement.
“If it’s anything like this one, I feel sorry for him already,” I growl. “What did you think you were doing?”
“Saving your arse,” Deak says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re welcome.”
“What?” I frown in confusion.
“Look,” Jesse intervenes. “You’ve been moping around for days. It’s pretty obvious to anyone with eyes how you feel about Finn. We couldn’t just let you walk away without even trying.”
“I didn’t walk away, he did,” I sigh, preparing to repeat the same things I’ve been saying to myself for days now. “It was only casual sex, he has a life in L.A… seriously, guys. It was just a fling.”
“That’s what we said,” Nat says, nodding toward Beck and holding up his hand and wiggling his finger to show off his engagement ring.
“Not everything has a happily ever after,” I sigh tiredly. “Finn’s not just anyone. He’s a big deal.”
“So what? He can’t have a normal relationship?” Jesse counters.
“He doesn’t want one,” I snap, the hurt throbbing in my chest. I know these fools mean well, but they’re prodding all my most tender spots.
“How do you know? Have you asked him?” Jesse continues relentlessly. “Look, we’re not here to force you… either of you, into something you don’t want. But we’re your friends, and if there’s a chance you two can work this out and have something real, well, I think that trumps a kidnapping charge.”
“Oh my god, we’re not actually going to be charged with kidnapping, are we?” Colin’s eyes widen. “I don’t think I’d do well in prison.”
“Okay, calm down, Shawshank.” Deak pats his shoulder affectionately. “No one’s going to prison.”
“Okay, good. I don’t think I can make an orange jumpsuit work with my red hair.” He frowns.
“I think that’s just American prisons,” Nat replies.
“Uh, guys, off topic,” I remind them.
“Okay, here’s the thing, Wyatt,” Jesse explains. “Finn was completely blindsided the other day, and he freaked out and split before we could do anything to help or support him. We’re not prepared to wait another couple of decades for him to find his way home to the bay. We decided to track him down and tell him we’ve got his back. If he wants to stay in the closet, we’ll support him, if he wants to come out, well, then he’s not alone. He left the bay last time broken hearted and guilt ridden for something that was not his fault and none of us stopped to check he was okay. We didn’t even ask why. We’re not going to make the same mistake twice. We’re going after him to make sure he’s okay, and we figured if we gave you the choice, you’d probably be a dick head about it and decide he was better off without you or some shit like that so we decided to hedge our bets.”
“And kidnap me?”
“I prefer to think of it more as a time out with restraints,” he muses.
“I don’t know what you think is going to happen between us.”
“I think we are all going to go and support our friend through a really shitty time, and if we just happen to bring with us the guy he’s in love with, well, that’s a bonus.” Jesse shrugs.
“He’s not in love with me.”
“Wyatt,” Beck says quietly. “You didn’t see the way he looked at you that day. We did.”
“Beck’s right,” Nat chimes in. “There’s something there between the two of you. At the very least, you need to have a conversation. If you don’t, you’ll always wonder. Do you want that regret?”
I sigh deeply. “Untie me.”
“Why?” Jesse says warily.