Would you still say that if you knew I wanted it to be your hot dad?
"Is that all you think about?"Finn scanned the menu again, hoping something appealing would jump out at him other than the nagging he had brought upon himself.
"In this moment, hell yeah."Bevin sounded a bit indignant on his behalf."Who the hell goes on vacation and doesn't get laid?"
"I…"
"I worry about you, Finn," Bevin continued, cutting him off."You want to know why I don't talk about the future with you?Because you have never tried living in the present."
"I know," Finn whispered."And I get it.You don't have to stress about my love life."
"It's not only that, Finn."Bevin sighed once again."Just listen to me for once, Mommy boy.I won't go into details now, but I've got our future covered.All you need to do is have fun."
Finn frowned."What do you mean by that?"
"I'll explain when you get back from your trip.For now, just do what I said, enjoy your vacation.Let that ass of yours loose.I mean it literally and figuratively.Find me a step-daddy, dammit.I gotta go."
"Wait, Bev…" That was all Finn got out before Bevin hung up, leaving him wondering what the hell he was talking about.But as much as he wanted to dwell on it, his stomach reminded him that he needed to eat.Getting the server's attention, Finn ordered a healthy but simple lunch.
"Live in the present."The words kept playing in his mind while he ate and followed him into the next day, leaving him distracted enough that he veered off the normal terrain and onto a slope reserved for expert skiers that was rarely used.
As the terrain grew steeper and more aggressive, it pulled Finn back to reality, but it also caused him to lose his balance, teetering forward and side to side as he tried to stop himself from falling while he kept barreling toward a steep hill so fast that even the ski poles weren’t helping.
Finn was losing control of his skis, and if he didn’t do something quickly, he was going to lose his life.Swallowing his fear and panic, Finn recalled some of his training and twisted his waist, shifting his boots to the side, making his skis slide sharply across the hill.Snow sprayed out from under them, blinding his vision.
Rather than changing course, his skis rattled and shifted, pushing him further toward the steep drop and dragging him down with terrifying speed.Just as he struggled to regain his balance, something slammed into the back of his head, hard and unexpected, sending a jolt through him that threw him completely off guard.
Finn's vision blurred, and the ski poles fell from his hands as he rolled and tumbled down the mountain, his ski blades breaking off his boots.The fear he had tried to suppress surged to the forefront, and all he could think was that he was going to die.Still, he reached out desperately, trying to grab onto something, anything, but he couldn’t grip the snow because of how fast he was moving.
"Ahh!Help," he shouted, hoping someone would hear him.
The fear of dying continued to grip him.His heart and mind raced the farther he went down the hill.Everything was starting to blur.The pristine snow he had loved staring at on any given day had become something he feared was going to take his life.And how sad was it that, as moments flashed before his eyes, he realized he had lived a peaceful life, but as Bevin said, he had not truly lived.
He had never allowed himself to fall in love, and even though he wore his confidence on his sleeve, he was afraid that all his dreams would never come true.Finn didn’t know how long he had been falling.It could have been seconds or minutes, but he was losing his breath and his grip on reality.
He could have sworn he saw someone zoom past him.Finn tried to call out, but suddenly his body twisted and his back hit something hard, taking what little breath he had left.Blood spurted from his mouth, staining the snow red.Finn lay still as his breathing became labored.He couldn’t move, but he kept telling his body to.
Fuck.He grunted, forcing his body to move no matter what.Finn knew he was in pain, but because of how cold it was, his body must have been in shock, which was why he couldn’t feel it.What he knew was that he needed help.He didn’t have an ounce of strength left, and the sad thought that he was about to die returned.
Finn's body grew heavy as he sank deeper into the snow.He still couldn’t move, not even his arms to reach for his cellphone.He tried to keep his eyes open, but it was no use.All Finn could do was lie there and pray someone would find him.
As his thoughts drifted in and out of consciousness, images of Prince appeared behind his closed eyes.In that moment, Finn felt a sharp wave of regret.One was not taking Prince up on his offer to be his partner, even if it wasn’t as his lover.Maybe if he had said yes then and there, they could have found ways to grow close and perhaps even fall in love while working together.It might have been a secret fantasy of his, but Finn promised himself that if he made it out alive and well, he would shoot his shot with Prince, come what may.
Prince checked his watch,then his phone, then the analog clock hanging on the wall.They all showed the same time, not a second more or less.
"Finn should have been back already," he mumbled.
Prince looked down when Gray meowed and hopped onto his lap, staring up at him with big gray eyes as if asking where her other person was.The truth was, Prince didn’t know.He was wondering the same thing as the kitten.Although he had only been back for a couple of days, he already knew Finn's schedule inside and out.
Finn got up every morning at the same time, enjoyed his coffee for two or three hours, then returned later to make dinner for himself.The delicious scent would fill the cabin and make Prince irrationally jealous.Prince had been eating dinner with Roderick at the resort's restaurant.The meals weren’t bad, but they were missing that special touch he had tasted when he ate Finn's cooking.
Other than the scent of Finn's cooking, whenever he opened the door to their cabin, he was always greeted by Finn playing with Gray, who had become more lively.But tonight, after returning from the airport from dropping Roderick off, when Prince opened the front door, there was no enticing scent and no sound of Finn's joyous laughter as he played with Gray.There was only a soft light and the quiet sound of Gray purring on the couch.
That had been three hours ago.
Prince didn’t want to think about the reason Finn was not back.
He tried to tamp down his jealousy, fighting the urge to conjure images of Finn in the arms of another man.Prince reminded himself that he had no claim on Finn, but that did nothing to quiet the feeling twisting in his chest.He gently moved Gray onto the sofa, then stood and grabbed the coat he had thrown over the back of it.Checking for his keys, wallet, and cellphone as he went, Prince headed out the door.
