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 saidhome.Like it wasourhome. 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 arequest,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 isno,”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’msorry, 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 thepleasethat 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 foundTurtle 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!”
