Dangerous Play

8 » double trouble

————

Finn was in a foul mood all day, which was strange. Usually Abby was the one fuming like someone had shit on her precious car, while Finn was more of the happy-go-lucky type.

After the dinner, he had rushed to practice, cutting the half hour. drive down to a record seventeen minutes and breaking probably every single road law that existed along the way. He had all but forgotten about the money by the time practice was over, and it wasn't until he'd pulled into the garage and grabbed his waiter uniform that he remembered what had happened only a couple hours beforehand.

Finn was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case, he was determined to return the $2000. Never mind the fact that his car was beginning to make suspicious noises, probably from his demonic driving, and he could use the money to get it repaired. He hated feeling like he owed people something. There was no way he was taking anyone's charity money, and especially not Qadir Sayed's.

With his mind made up, he decided he would return the money to the only connection he had to Qadir: Eden. Which was why, after going to an ATM and withdrawing a fat stack of Benjamin Franklins, he found himself parked outside of St. Lawrence Academy for the second time that week on Friday afternoon.

This time, however, as he wandered the school, someone stopped him by the stairwell of a random hallway. He glanced around in confusion, looking for whoever had just called his name, when he heard an exasperated noise coming from somewhere around his chest.

Finn looked down to find the tiny blonde menace named Marissa Willingham glaring at him through narrowed icy blue eyes. He wasn't used to having to look down at people to talk to them; Kieran and most of his teammates were about his height, while Abby was only a few inches shorter. Distractedly, he wondered how on earth Kieran had managed to date this miniature demon.

"Hello?" she snapped, bringing him back to reality. "Are you deaf? I asked what you're doing here!" The volume of her voice more than made up for their height difference. It felt like she was screaming directly in his ear. Other students streamed around them, but Marissa didn't seem to care that she was causing a scene in the middle of the stairwell.

He blinked and opened his mouth to respond, but she continued talking. "Never mind, I don't actually care. Tell your sister to back off my boyfriend." She spat the word sister like it was the worst curse she could think of.

Finn felt a surge of protectiveness rise up inside him. He'd witnessed firsthand the damage she'd done to Kieran, and he wasn't about to let Marissa talk about his best friend and his sister like that. "First of all, you guys broke up months ago. Second, neither of them wants anything to do with you, so why don't you just mind your own goddamn—"

"Sorry, Mari, I got caught up talking to Adrian." Eden came down the stairs and froze. Her eyes darted from her best friend to Finn, whose temper flared again at the sight of her. Even her distractingly short skirt and heeled sandals that emphasized her defined calves weren't enough to deter him from his mission.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, frowning at him.

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Who cares? Let's just go."

Finn crossed his arms. "Actually, I need to talk to Eden."

"Oh yeah? That's too bad, because we're leaving." He nearly laughed out loud at the ridiculous amount of imperiousness in Marissa's tone. Who does she think she is, the fucking Queen of England?

"You go ahead, Mari," Eden said. "This should only take a minute."

Marissa looked mutinous, but a sharp glance from Eden had her departing with a dramatic huff. The stairwell had emptied quickly, with most students eagerly departing for the weekend, leaving just the two of them behind. Eden pinched the bridge of her nose and heaved a sigh. "You really need to stop stalking me at school."

"I'll make it quick," he snapped. "I don't want this." He held out the money toward her, but she made no move to take it, instead frowning at him incredulously.

"What is that? What are you doing?"

"I don't need your dad's handouts, okay? I'm not a charity case."

"It's not charity, it's gratuity! You literally work in a restaurant. You should know better than anyone how tipping works."

"Yeah, but this is ridiculous!" he spluttered.

"Then go donate it or something if it makes you that uncomfortable!" she retorted, crossing her arms. "No one said you had to keep it, but I'm not taking it to my father. It's really not that big of a deal."

Finn had to admit, part of him was very tempted to just turn around and walk away with the money, but his pride refused to let him. "That's exactly the problem. It's a big deal to me, principle-wise. I didn't do anything to warrant this much money."

"That single meal took the entire afternoon and I know it made you late to practice. I'd say you more than earned it, so just take the damn money, okay?"

He paused, momentarily thrown. "How'd you know I had practice?"

"That doesn't matter."

Finn opened his mouth to reply, just as two girls came bounding down the stairs, gossiping excitedly about their weekend plans. Their eyes landed on the two of them. One girl froze mid-laugh at the sight in front of her. Finn still held the wad of cash out toward Eden, whose mouth had puckered like she'd just eaten a lemon.

Immediately, Finn shoved the cash in his pocket, but the damage was done. The two girls—one blonde, one brunette—glanced between his reddening face and Eden's stony expression. He could practically see their imaginations kicking into overdrive, spinning one outlandish rumor after another about the scene in front of them.

Both girls unfroze and continued down the staircase, rounding the corner of the hallway. Before they were even out of sight, they collapsed into giggles once again, and this time Finn had no doubt who the subjects of their latest conversation were.

Eden glared at him. Her golden eyes were narrowed dangerously, and he couldn't help but feel like he was being cornered by a tiger about to go for the kill. He let out an exhale. "Great."

That was all it took to set off the explosion. "Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone? As if people don't already talk enough shit about me! I can't wait to see what ridiculous rumor they come up with this time."

He bristled indignantly. "How is this my fault? You should've just taken the money back. Then we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with!"

Eden's hands balled into fists. "I'm done with this. Screw you, Finn. Do me a favor and don't come looking for me again." She whirled on her heel and strode away, her spine stiff with anger.

God, she was infuriating. He glared at her retreating figure. If his life were a cartoon, Finn was positive there would be steam pouring from his ears. His whole face felt suffused with too much blood, like he'd been dangling upside down for too long.

Belatedly, he realized that the money was still stuffed haphazardly into the pocket of his khakis. He swore. Well, there was no way he was keeping even a single dollar after this fiasco. Still cursing under his breath, he headed for the parking lot, dreading the gossip that was probably already circulating.