“Pride and Prejudice,” Summer and Ivy said at the same time.
“Precisely,” Lucy said, turning the TV on. “Are you a fan, Olive?”
“I’ve never seen it,” I confessed.
Their jaws all dropped.
“This is an emergency!” Lucy shouted as she logged into a streaming service and pulled up the movie. “Your life is about to change.”
“Isn’t this the movie you said Finn hates?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, he totally hates it,” Lucy said. “Maybe because I would always make the guys watch it when it was my turn to choose the movie for family movie night.”
“Not everyone understands the brilliance,” Summer sniffed.
I snuggled under my blanket, the soft sounds of a piano washing over me as the movie started, my hands staying busy cutting out colorful paper leaves.
“I don’t know why Finn doesn’t like this,” I said as I watched Elizabeth run away from Mr. Darcy in the rain. “He has a lot in common with Mr. Darcy.”
“That’s what I’m always saying,” Summer almost shouted. “He’s grumpy and a bit pretentious. It’s like that Spider-Man meme where they’re pointing at each other.”
I grinned as an idea started to form. “Do you guys know the owners of the Hollywood theater?”
“Missy and Herbert? Yeah, we know them pretty well. We grew up going to the theater, and I tailor Missy’s dresses,” Lucy said. “They’re such a sweet older couple.”
“Well… do you think there’s any chance they might help me get some revenge on Finn?”
“Has he done something again?” Ivy asked, eyes wide.
“No, no, this is still from the first thing. I made him eat a pickle sandwich.”
“Oh, that’s excellent. But you think it’s not enough?” Summer asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You can love someone and still plot revenge against them,” Lucy said, nodding sagely. “And the movie theater was the original scene of the crime, right? I like it.” She tapped the end of her scissors against her lips in a way that made me concerned she would cut herself. “They’ve never shown a Hollywood movie… but I bet I could convince Missy to arrange some sort of secret showing for the sake of revenge.”
“Missy’s a girl’s girl,” Summer said. “We’ll get it set up, don’t you worry.”
The plan took hold in my mind, and a delightful sense of evil anticipation filled me.
I’d forgiven Finn for that night at the theater. I understood now why he’d behaved the way he did, and wehadjust been two strangers hooking up in a dark room. He hadn’t really owed me anything, and I was sure the reason I’d reacted so strongly to him leaving me was because my omega knew before I did that we belonged together.
My mom and dad had always called each other soulmates, even though they couldn’t be properly scent-matched since she was a beta. Designations didn’t matter to dad, and he didn’t act like your typical alpha, except for the protectiveness. He’d had that in spades.
So while I wasn’t angry with Finn anymore, just eating a pickle sandwich seemed to be getting off too easily.
I paused cutting out leaves as Mr. Darcy walked towards Elizabeth in a field. All four of us sighed.
“I hate the mornings, but I would stand in a field at dawn if a man like that was walking towards me,” Lucy said with a sigh.
My guys didn’t like mornings either, but they went out to thebeach with me. I swallowed hard as my chest filled with that sensation again, the one that was suspiciously close to love.
The rest of the evening flew by—my guys returning with stacks of pizzas, Summer putting on Spider-Man, Finn tending to the fire so the cottage stayed warm and cozy, and Easton carrying me into my nest at the end of the night, all of us piling onto the brand new mattress.
42
FINN
