I chuckle, and Finn sighs. “Trust me, there won’t be any of that. I don’t want anyone else but h—” He cuts himself off before finishing the sentence, then he clears his throat. “I’m going to be different next year, promise.”
“Anyone else but who?” Ivy asks curiously.
No surprise he hasn’t told Ivy about Maya.
As I open my mouth to speak, a chip lands directly on our table and splashes into Ivy’s wine. We all jump back startled and I glance over my shoulder at the same time Finn does, of course it’s the jackasses Ivy was worried about.
“Hey, Finn.” One of them flashes him a cocky grin.
“Do you mind, Tom?”
He pushes himself off the bench and walks towards us. I don’t take my eyes off him, but I’m ready to go if he pulls any stunts. “Funny how you distanced yourself from us after Ben went to prison.” Tom sighs heavily.
Finn pushes himself up from the chair, and I watch Ivy’s eyes fill with dread as he squares up to Tom. “Funny how you guys backed a guy who tried to kill my sister.”
Tom scoffs. “Because girls make guys fucking nuts, you trying to say that your precious sister over there was the perfectgirlfriend? We all know she wasn’t.Youknow what she did, Finn.”
This time, I stand up and tower over him by a good four inches. He stares at me and then scowls.
“Shut the fuck up, Tom,” Finn grits. “What Ben did was fucking disgusting and you know it.”
“Do I?”
“Yes,” Finn snaps.
Tom shrugs. “A good guy went to prison over one little mistake; a lot goes on behind closed doors. We all know Ivy was… getting around, shall we say.”
Finn steps right into Tom’s chest and pushes him backwards. “Say one more word, I dare you.”
“What’s the problem? It was you who?—”
“Shut the fuck up, Tom,” Finn growls.
I feel a grip on my wrist, and my head turns to find Ivy standing there. “Let’s just go, please.” She latches onto Finn’s hand and tugs him too. Finn glares at Tom before he steps back. “Please.”
My blood boils because Tom deserves to have his teeth knocked out, but Ivy doesn’t want us to cause a scene, and right now, she’s the priority. Finn wraps his arm over Ivy’s shoulder, and we step away. Tom smirks in our direction.
“That’s right,” he calls out. “Walk away like a bunch of cowards. It doesn’t take away from the fact that Ivy was probably a little bitch to Ben, she deserved it. Whores always get what they deserve. You sleep around, you find ou?—”
Before I think about what I’m doing, I turn around and swing my fist directly into Tom’s face. He staggers backwards, blood dripping from his nose. I take him by his shirt and shove him into an empty table.
“What the fuck did you say?” I bellow at him.
A groan falls from the back of his throat as he stares at me through hazy eyes. I pull my fist back again and hit him in the jaw, blood splatters against his T-shirt and across my knuckles.
I grip his shirt between my throbbing fists again and drag his face to mine. “I said, what the fuck did you say?”
Finn is beside me, pushing off a group of boys who are storming towards me.
Then the next thing I know, chaos erupts in the beer garden.
I’m notproud to say the police were called, but they deserved it, and I don’t regret what I did.
None of us were arrested, but never have I seen two police officers so angry in my entire life. Luckily the pub didn’t want to press charges; they barred us instead, which doesn’t bother me.
I glance down at my bruised knuckles and smirk. Worth it. Totally worth it.
As we get back to the house, we’re all silent.
