“Answer the questions and I might be nicer.”
He glares at me and then, slowly, with his other hand, he shows me a phone.
“Is that yours?”
Finn arches a brow as if to say “can’t figure it out yet?”
I rip the last of the gauze away. “You got it from the thug?”
He winces and snarls, “I told you to be gentle.”
“Sorry, Finn.” I bat my eyelashes.
His nostrils flare. “His phone dropped, and he was too busy punching me to realize it was gone.”
“Oh.” I fight to hide the admiration from my face. That was really smart of him.
With the gauze fully removed, I work on rolling the fresh bandage around his arm. The cut on Finn’s skin is thin and long, moving in a perfectly straight line mid bicep to just above his elbow. Blood isn’t oozing anymore, but the gash still looks angry and red. How did he get that kind of injury?
My instincts are screaming that something big is going on. The Kings have their share of enemies, all royalty does, but this seems beyond the scope of a bar fight after a concert. Is this Jarod Cross’s doing or something even worse?
“I should thank you, actually,” Finn says.
My eyebrows lift. “For what?”
“Distracting someone. Then stealing their phone? I didn’t come up with that idea myself.” His eyes burrow into me.
My watch beeps as my heart jumps with guilt.
Uh-oh.
Chapter Twenty-Four
FINN
This morning, the Redwood Prep office called, saying my wallet had been found in the chem lab. It struck me as odd because I didn’t remember taking out my wallet after entering the practice room last night.
The mystery bothered me all the way to school.
How did I lose my wallet?
And then I recalled—in startling detail—J kissing me.
Her kisses are usually close-mouthed and unfeeling, but last night’s kiss was different. She was all over me. Her fingers played in the loop of my belt and teased me over my jeans.
I didn’t think anything of the change because I was focused on her watch. I wanted confirmation that I could get her excited again.
It was my own pride that blinded me.
J was too busy concentrating on stealing my wallet to actually feel anything when she kissed me. My obsession with her watch played right into her hands.
Honestly, I’m impressed.
Sunlight gleams in her golden hair as she looks down, hiding her expression from me. Her voice is carefully light when she says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Of course she’s going to deny it.
“Why did you want my wallet, J?” I ask. “If you needed money, you could do what you normally do.”Trade a secret for a secret.
