Cruel Infatuation (Underground Kings 3)

I’m so glad the attention is off me. My phone buzzes, and I glance down and see Finley’s name. Warmth spreads across my face, and a slight sweat takes over my body from excitement and nerves. We didn’t get to talk much yesterday since there is a three-hour time difference between us. It’s ten in the morning here and seven in Virginia. I have to keep it in mind when I don’t hear from Finley, or I’ll scare her away with how many messages I truly want to send her.

FinleyPark: I want to get out of this town so bad. I hate it here.

I frown when I see the message. She’s not having a good day, but maybe I can make it better.

IsaacGray88: What happened? Do you want to talk about it?

FinleyPark: It’s my stepdad. He’s a jerk. I swear his goal in life is to make me depressed. None of that matters. How are you doing today?

I don’t want to press her for more information. She clearly doesn’t want to talk about it, and since we don’t know each other well enough yet to get into personal issues yet, I’m going to tread carefully.

“Jaxon, women don’t want to have to ask. They want you to be thoughtful and considerate enough to think of sweet things to do on your own. Your wife is pregnant, twice, and her back will hurt for months, so will her feet. Rub her down. Draw a hot bath. Do things like that,” Heaven says, taking all of us by surprise. It’s good advice.

IsaacGray88: Remember the friend I told you about who stuffed Cheetos down his cast?

FinleyPark: Haha. Yes, I remember. What happened?

IsaacGray88: Well, he can’t get one Cheeto out, and he asked me to get it.

FinleyPark: Did you? A good friend would.

IsaacGray88: Hell no. He built his bridge. He can walk over it now.

FinleyPark: That’s true. Poor guy. He just needs a Cheeto removed.

IsaacGray88: And now he’s giving great advice to another friend of mine. His pregnant wife is mad at him.

FinleyPark: Seems he deserves the effort of someone trying to get the Cheeto removed.

I laugh out loud, and for a brief second, I consider helping Heaven.

Briefly.

That is, until he snatches my phone out of my hand and waves it in the air. He can be such a damn child.

“Who has you so happy?”

“Heaven, give me my phone back.”

“I won’t look at it if you tell me the truth.”

I reach to take the phone away, and Owen comes up from behind the couch and steals it out of Heaven’s hand.

“I’ll look through it. I don’t care.”

“You’re acting like children,” Sebastian says, sounding bored.

“Fuck you all. I’m serious. Give me my phone.” I stand and hurry around the couch, pushing past Sebastian, and become nose to nose with Owen. My phone buzzes, and he tilts his head and raises his brows, telling me silently that if I don’t fess up, he’ll look at my phone.

I start to panic. I don’t want anyone to know I decided to try a dating website. I don’t even know what this woman looks like. She could be ugly and have a mole on her face with a black hair growing out of it for all I know. I don’t care what anyone says, looks matters … a lot. It isn’t the hope of someone having a great personality that has you walking across the floor in a club or checking someone out at the store because they’re holding the exact same can of sauce you like to get.

No.

It’s because attraction matters. It’s the first thing you notice about another person.

I don’t want the guys to know about Finley because I’ll never hear the end of it. They will ask questions I don’t know the answers to.

“It’s just someone I recently met, okay? It’s nothing serious. She’s just a friend,” I admit and decide to keep the details out of it by giving them a partial truth. I hope Owen doesn’t click the power button and see the notification from the dating app. I’ll be mortified.