I swallow hard and fall into the computer chair.
For the next few minutes, all that breaks the silence is the hum of the hairdryer and the croak of the toads outside. Finn’s touch is surprisingly gentle as he runs his fingers through my hair. When he grazes my scalp, it feels amazing, and I groan.
He stops immediately.
“Don’t stop,” I rasp, half-awake. His scalp massage feels amazing, and my eyelids are growing heavy.
I turn when Finn doesn’t move and notice that he’s gripping the hairdryer hard enough to break it.
Alarmed, I blink up at him. “Finn?”
Without warning, Finn stomps away, and the bathroom door slams shut.
My eyes burst open.Idiot. I can’t let my guard down. Finn knows way more about me than he’s letting on. He’s clearly biding his time, waiting for me to trip up so he can accuse me of being Jinx. Helping him and his brothers now and again won’t erase his suspicions.
I should be more alert. What do I do if he’s already dug into my past?
My real name?
My family’s?
Does he already know the secret I’ve spent my life running from? Is that why he’s losing patience with this game of cat and mouse?
I hear water running and my chest tightens. Hesitantly, I slip around the bed and turn down the covers. But then I realize that Finn probably doesn’t want to sleep in the same bed as someone he mistrusts. Before he goes around accusing me of wanting to slit his throat in his sleep, I decide to find another room.
The Kings claim there are no spare bedrooms, but the couch should be free.
I tiptoe to the landing and reel back in shock when I see Zane pulling a comforter over himself. Why is Zane sleeping on the couch?
“What are you doing?” Finn’s voice snaps behind me.
I jump.
He looks over the railing to where Zane is fast asleep, and his eyebrows hunker low. A storm brews deep in those dark brown eyes, and his chest is heaving. I watch a trail of water drip down the side of his face and over his firm, dull pink lips.
Electricity sizzles deep in my chest, and my watch warns me not to keep watching that trail any farther.
“Are you sleeping in the bed tonight?” I avert my eyes to his massive California King.
Finn says nothing.
“Th-that’s fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.” I shuffle past the hunkering beast disguised as a man and take a pillow off the bed.
Finn walks right up to me and folds his arms over his chest, drawing my eyes to his sinewy arm muscles. “Get in the bed, J.”
“It’s fine. It’s your bed. I’m not going to ask you not to sleep there, so I should be the one?—”
I’m unceremoniously lifted off the ground, and before I can finish the sentence, Finn tosses me on the bed. I believe this isthe second or third time he’s thrown me on a mattress. It’s really starting to piss me off.
I push up to my elbows, my eyes blazing fire. “What the hell, Finn?”
He glowers down at me. From this vantage point, he looks like a monster about to swoop in and devour me.
Finn’s eyes dart to my watch. That’s when I realize the device is beeping like crazy.
It’s weird, but I had totally tuned out the sound until now.
“I’m not going to eat you,” he says. And it’s a surprisingly accurate interpretation of my thoughts.
