Snatched

“You’re incredible,” Finn whispers to me, then pats me on the ass gently.

“I’m embarrassed,” I admit.

Finn smiles. “Don’t be. I want to do everything to you.”

I exhale, relieved, exhausted. “I want that too.”

Chapter 13

“You have a hickey on your neck,” Mandy says flatly when I return to the apartment hours later.

I jump, then duck to look in the entryway mirror. It’s small, but yep, Finn has left a hickey just under my jaw. I don’t even know when it happened.

“I can’t believe you’re having sex with one of your tutoring clients,” Mandy says, rolling her eyes.

“I’m having sex with my boyfriend,” I say bluntly, something Mandy and I have never discussed before. “And he happens to be one of my tutoring clients too.”

“Yeah, okay. Your secret boyfriend,” Mandy says. She’s avoiding my eyes, staring instead at her laptop screen, which probably doesn’t have anything important on it— she just knows lack of eye contact drives me crazy.

“I’m done talking about that. It doesn’t bother me, so I don’t really care if it bothers you,” I say, and start toward my bedroom, dropping my bag by the couch— because I know that leaving stuff out like this drives Mandy crazy.

“Fine, sure. Secrecy is what you want, right?” Mandy asks, then lifts her eyes, catching mine just before I open my door.

“Yes. Dr. Reams can’t find out, so it’s for the best,” I say, repeating things she already knows.

“Cool,” Mandy says. “But are you sure it was your idea? It’s convenient for you, yeah, but are you really, really sure that you’re not just a convenient secret fuck buddy? If Finn is smart— and you seem to think he is— you don’t think he’s smart enough to get action from girls who won’t ask for anything else?” She pushes back from the kitchen table, leans back in her chair like a doctor offering a diagnosis. “No dates, no drama, no meeting parents. You’re the perfect booty call. And I bet you aren’t the only one.”

“Whatever, Mandy,” I say.

“You see him what, three times a week for a few hours? You don’t think that’s enough time for him to have something else on the side? Kenley, you are literally scheduled sex.”

I pause, and hate myself for it— because I’m thinking too hard about what she’s saying. I mean, yes, I’m scheduled sex for Finn. But he’s scheduled sex for me too. And we get along great, even when we aren’t having sex. Even though we do always have sex. It’s a given. And just today I’d been worrying that I was a scheduled booty call…a fear I’d forgotten because of how great the sex we just had was.

Well. And the green bean casserole. Though…

“See?” Mandy says, just as I’m wondering— what if he’s done that before? Whipped up a meal to keep a good thing going?

“It’s not like that,” I say, but I hear my resolve weakening. What if he didn’t name names not because of our tutor/client situation, but because there are multiple names? “Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s happening. It’s possible Bradley is having sex with other girls too.”

“Sure,” Mandy says, and shrugs. “But that’d mean he’s cheating on me. He’s breaking a clear arrangement. You don’t have that arrangement with Finn. You just have sex with him.”

“That’s not true,” I say. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“The kind of boyfriend you don’t go on dates with. And if you’re the only one who knows it, does it really make it true?”

God, Mandy is so good at this sort of shit. I just had amazing sex with the guy, was all in for believing in our relationship, and now I’m questioning it even more than I was this morning.

“Fine, I’ll talk to him about it next time I see him.”

“Before your next scheduled session,” Mandy says.

“Then what do you suggest?” I snap, putting my hands on my hips.

Mandy looks almost apologetic. “Look, I’m not trying to make you mad. I’m just worried about you. Seriously. Having sex with a client isn’t like you. Having sex with a football player really isn’t like you. Thinking that you’re in a legit relationship with a football player? It’s like he’s hypnotized my sister.”

“What do you suggest?” I press again.

Mandy takes a breath, like she’s blowing out a number of additional statements she wants to make. “I’m going to a party at Football House tonight. Come with me. Watch what happens when he doesn’t know you’re there.”

“He didn’t know I was there last time, and he didn’t do anything.”

“Uh-huh. But what would have happened if he hadn’t seen you?” Mandy asks, and she has a point, I guess, sort of. “Look, let’s just go. No one knows you’re together, right? So no one is going to tell him you’re there. Just stay out of sight.”

“And if nothing happens, will you lay off the two of us?” I ask. I sound confident— like I know nothing is going to happen. And I am. Sort of. Not really. I want to be right about this, but Mandy does have a point about Finn being very much not my type of guy. So he’s sweet to me, so he’s good in bed…if he’s also faithful, then this will prove it to Mandy and me and will make life so much easier.