Snatched

I nod in agreement even though I don’t really see it the same way. And then we turn on Netflix to binge-watch some nineties television.

It’s nearly eleven o’clock I’m headed toward bed, when someone knocks on the door.

Mandy frowns and walks over to it, careful to look through the peephole rather than opening it straight away.

“Who is it?” she calls through the door.

“It’s Finn,” a voice says back. “Kenley?”

My eyes widen and instantly I feel the goose bumps standing out on my skin, just at the sound of his voice. Finn is at my suite.

It’s totally surreal, but I can’t deny that I’m absurdly excited by this turn of events.

Mandy folds her arms at the door. “This is her sister, Mandy. Kenley isn’t available right now,” she says without even turning my way to get my reaction.

“Mandy!” I hiss. “I’m available!”

“It’s late, he’s a tutoring student, and he just got arrested today. You’re not available for anything he needs,” Mandy hisses back.

“I can hear everything you’re saying,” Finn says through the door, sounding exasperated.

“Good, then you’re clear on why she’s not available,” Mandy says back.

“I’m available,” I call out, loud enough that Finn can surely hear me. Mandy narrows her eyes at me, and I shrug. Truthfully, I’m not sure why I’m available, exactly. I guess because when someone got into a fistfight for you, you’re willing to bend some of your own rules about the kinds of men you’ll have in your apartment at night?

Mandy sighs and walks away from the door, giving me a wary look; I step forward and swing it open, remembering at the last minute that Finn is super hot and I, at the moment, am wearing pajama pants with cats on them.

“Hey,” Finn says immediately, his eyes on mine.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He’s gorgeous, and he’s smoldering, and I shouldn’t be thinking any of this right now.

I want to look away, like the weight of his gaze is too much for me, but I’m equally worried that if I look away, he’s going to have the chance to see the cat pants. So I hold his gaze, even though the longer I look, the more strangely wobbly I feel.

“Hi,” I finally say.

“I need to talk to you for a minute,” Finn says. It’s not a question— does he even ask questions, or simply make statements? I glance over my shoulder to see Mandy pretending to put dishes away while she watches our exchange.

“Sure,” I say, and step through the door— whatever we’re going to talk about, I’m not sure I want Mandy to hear it. I know she’s going to harp on Finn later— on his late night visit, his arrest, his being a football “barbarian,” and all the other things that make her nervous about him.

Hell, I didn’t even tell her about the towel incident, but if I did I’m pretty sure she’d go ballistic about the whole thing. Something about me wants to protect Finn from her, to keep her from having ammunition to lob at him.

We step outside and close the door, and I lead him down the stairs. We live in one of the on campus suite apartments— Wells— and because of our mother, managed to get a semi-private two person suite for the price of a four-person.

I know it’s still nothing compared to the luxury apartments the football players live in, but still, it’s nice, and homey, and there’s a fountain in the courtyard. Finn and I walk down to the fountain; he sits on its edge. The fountain seems small with Finn’s hulking body perched on it, and I wonder if he might somehow crack it in two.

I take a spot two feet away from him, trying not to focus on the warm tightness in my lower belly.

“Sorry to hear you got arrested,” I say almost instantly.

Finn shrugs. “It happens.”

“It happens?” I gasp, shocked at his indifference. “You weren’t totally freaked out having your mug shot taken and being handcuffed?”

“I’ve been arrested before. I’ll get arrested again. Where I’m from, everyone’s been arrested a few times,” he says.

“Florida?”

Finn just looks at me. “Lake City. It’s not the best area.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this—you’re not in Lake City anymore.”

He runs a hand through his hair. “I get that,” he says. “After they bailed me out, I got a real earful from everyone.” Finn sits forward a little, elbows on his thighs, and looks straight ahead.

For the first time, I can see that he’s under stress, even if he tries to hide it.

“You can do this,” I tell him. “You can pass all of your courses, play football, all of it. You just need to take it seriously.”

He nods, still looking into the distance. “I can’t fuck up anymore,” he says, as if to himself.

Somehow, my heart feels like it’s breaking.