Snatched

“Come on,” a female voice says, purring and dangerous and electric.

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” Finn says. “You asked me to show you where the bathroom is, and this isn’t it.” I’m confident that it is, in fact, Finn, and my heart slows to a crawl. Is Mandy right? Has she been right all this time? I cast my eyes toward the floor, willing to listen but unwilling to see whatever’s about to happen.

Please don’t do this, Finn. Please don’t do this. Please please please please—

“You don’t strike me as the type who follows rules. Didn’t you get arrested for fighting Stewart Adams?” she says. Their shadows cross past the closet door; Mandy is watching intensely.

“He had it coming,” Finn says, sounding annoyed. At least, I think he’s annoyed. I hope it’s not just wishful thinking on my part. I close my eyes.

“Come on. We’ll be quick,” the girl says. There’s a squeak of leather as one— or both of them?— sits down.

“Having sex on a couch my entire team has fucked on isn’t my style,” Finn says. My eyes open. I’m not sure where he’s headed with this— not sure if it’s better or worse or both if he suggests they go somewhere else instead. Would I rather see it with my own eyes, here, or have to imagine her in his dorm room, in the exact spot I’ve been?

“We can do it any style you want,” the girl says voice like a whip. Finn inhales. Mandy finds my hand in the darkness and squeezes it.

“Look, you seem like a nice girl. But I have a girlfriend.”

Mandy gasps softly, the noise just low enough that I don’t think Finn or the girl could have heard it. My eyes find hers, wide and astounded, relieved and disbelieving. He’s not going to do it. He’s got a girlfriend — he’s got me. My trembling lips spread into a smile.

But the girl isn’t done yet.

“Ah, she’s not here though. And she’ll never have to know. I’m not looking for anything serious. I just think it’ll be fun. Come on,” she says, a tiny bit pleading.

“Sorry. Though I hear Adams has an eleven-inch cock, mostly because he tells everyone— he’s never turned down some not-for-serious fun.”

“It’s not really eleven inches. I’ve already been there,” the girl says, pouting— I can see, because my courage is bolstered, and I’m peering through the crack in the door. I want to push it open, want to dash toward him, but then he’ll know I was spying and…god, now that I know he’s a good guy, what I’m doing does feel incredibly, incredibly wrong, and—

“Hey, Finn? There’s some older dude at the gate who wants to see you,” a new voice says from the room’s door.

“Who?”

“He didn’t say. You on probation for anything? Like, legal probation, I mean? It isn’t anyone from Harton.”

“I’m basically always on probation for something, but I haven’t done anything. Shit,” Finn says, shaking his head, and I hear his loud footfalls as he storms from the room, his form passing by the closet door crack in a flash. Once he’s gone, Mandy pushes the door open.

“I did my best,” the gymnast says, shrugging. She’s remarkably pretty, with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. “You landed the only faithful football player we’ve ever had,” she adds, to me.

“Jacob Everett is still with that other girl, isn’t he? So we’ve had two. Two in two years! That’s a record,” Mandy says. I’m staring at the door, looking at the space Finn just burst through, my heart beating. We’re together. We really are together, and I don’t need to worry about anything, and Mandy and Bradley will lay off, and he really, truly wants me, just like he said—

“I still think he’s a weird choice for you. But sorry I thought he was a dick,” Mandy says, barely capturing my attention.

“Yeah— I— I need to go see him,” I say. A balloon in my chest is filling to the point of bursting, happiness and excitement and love— love?— yes, love, and I need to go to him right now. I push out of the room and race down the hall, to the porch, where I spot his massive form walking down the front path to the gate.

There’s a freshman there standing between a man with silvery hair and the gate itself. I’ll just wait off to the side, I think. Once he’s done, then I’ll tell him what I did and he’ll forgive me and we can be together. I hustle down the steps as best I can in the godforsaken too-tight jeans, then slow as I reach the path. Finn is slowing as he approaches the gate.

“Hey there,” the man with silvery hair says cheerfully.

Finn freezes. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come on. I knew you wouldn’t answer if I called. I sent you a million emails.”