After a night I would never forget, Cooper left to ride with Tori, leaving Finley and me alone again.
“Did you like it?” When I raised a questioning brow, she added, “Singing on stage?”
There were no words to truly describe it. The closest I could come was it was a hundred times better than being on the field after scoring a touchdown. Those moments had shown me what I really wanted to do after I finished school.
“How did you find this place?”
Her grin was irresistible.
“Finn helped me. A friend of a friend knew of it. But I would have found it eventually,” she said in her defense.
It didn’t matter to me. I cupped the back of her head and drew her in for a long kiss.
“I don’t think it’s possible for me to love you any more.”
I’m not sure how we made it home. We could barely keep our hands off of each other. Once we were there, in my bed, we made a different kind of music, no less powerful in its lyrical movements.
Eventually when we’d caught our breaths, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what? I should be thanking you.” She slapped my ass.
I smiled, but this was important. “You saved me.”
It was so much more than the cloud of suspicion I’d been under. I’d felt another part of my soul click in place on the stage. The two halves of my heart were complete because of her.
Days later, I got to give Finley the good news.
“What?” she asked as an easy smile played at the corners of her mouth.
I repeated myself. “Her parents caved. They don’t want the confession you got to play on social media.”
Cooper came downstairs. He knocked my fist having heard me speak.
“It’s done?” he asked.
“Not exactly. Sawyer and Shelly think she should publicly apologize to me on the record.”
Finn came in. “I hope she gets more than a slap on the wrist.”
I shrugged. “Her parents want to—”
“Pay to keep your silence,” Finley said, her smile gone. “That’s what they did to Lonnie.”
I didn’t contradict her as she’d hit the nail on the head.
“What are you going to do?”
I glanced up to see August had joined us.
“I don’t know. The money could make things easier for my mom.”
August nodded. “Don’t sell your soul,” he said and disappeared back upstairs.
Once August left, Finn asked, “How about school?”
“My lawyer thinks I should be reinstated by tomorrow.”
Finley wrapped herself around me. “I’m so happy for you.”
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of having her in my arms.
The next day, I was officially let back in school with a written apology from the dean.
I had a monumental road ahead of me. Though I’d kept up with the reading, I was still so far behind.
With Finley focused on her project, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together outside of sleeping and showers, both of which turned out to be my favorite times of day.
Stiff from sitting at my desk, I got up to stretch my legs. In the hall, I ran into August.
“Hey,” I said, testing the waters.
His gaze slowly met mine. “Hey.”
I thought about what Finn said.
“I should have told you,” I admitted.
He nodded.
“Would it have changed anything?” I asked.
He spread his hands. “We’ll never know.”
“Do you really believe I’d do anything to hurt her?”
I’d rather slit my own throat first.
His cold eyes held mine a second before he shook his head. “I don’t.”
“Can we squash this then?”
His jaw worked as he mulled it over. “You really do love her?”
“Yes.”
“I’m trusting you.”
When he was about to leave, I held out my hand.
“Friends.”
Unspoken pain revealed itself as he stared at my offered hand.
“You broke trust, bro.” I let my arm fall to my side. “But you’re family. And eventually, you forgive family.”
He walked away but left hope that one day things could get back to normal or close. But I worried for my friend. It took a lot to steal a smile from his face, and I hadn’t seen it in weeks. Though, I didn’t believe that my relationship with Finley was the only thing bothering him.
I got a call later that day about Lacey. Despite her bullshit charges against me, I didn’t want to see her in jail. She needed help more than being put in the system. She’d been wronged and needed help. At my lawyer’s urging, I took the settlement not to sue her for defamation of character. But I didn’t sign anything that would force me to keep my mouth shut.
Plus, I had conditions of my own. I wanted her gone from school. Last thing I wanted was her to do this to someone else or try to hurt Finley. My lawyer assured me she’d withdrawn from school. The final thing I insisted on was her setting the record straight, not only about me but Lonnie as well.
finley
It cost me too many nights away from Shepard, but I was proud of my presentation. I knocked on Professor Wright’s door for my appointment with two minutes to spare.
I was invited in, and I closed the door behind me.
“Miss Farrow, I’m prepared for you to dazzle me.”
I pulled out my computer. I’d digitized and animated my presentation in a YouTube video.
“Interesting choice,” he said with an unreadable expression.
I’d planned to rehabilitate a former industrial plaza and turn the warehouse into an indoor theatre on one side and an open-air theater on the other with plenty of green space for people to sit.
“And the park could be used for traveling carnivals or the balloon festival.”
He nodded and looked thoughtful, not annoyed. I hoped it was a good sign.
“How much will this cost?” he asked.
My video gave broad strokes, but I pulled out a portfolio from my backpack and handed it over.
“You can skip page one, which is just a rendition of the completed project.”
“Did you draw
