Chasing the Wild Sparks (36 page)

Morgan stops and grabs my arm. “What do you mean?”

“He said things that sounded like marriage vows. Why would he do that when he’s so against the whole idea of marriage?”

She gapes at me. “Hadley, I think he’s changing his mind.”

I scoff, “I doubt that.”

“Sounds like it. I think he was trying them on, or trying them out. To use it as a baseball analogy: It was his turn at bat, he stepped near the plate and he took a few practice swings to see how the bat felt. Do you know what I mean?”
What the hell
?

“You think he was actually vowing to me?”

She throws her arms out and shrugs. “Why the hell not? He doesn’t have to legally marry you to pledge his undying love to you, does he?”

I bite my lip. “No, I guess not.”

Grinning, she smacks my arm. “Did he do that before or after sex?”

“Before.”

“Wow. He really did want to get laid.”

“Shut up!” I laugh.

“When do you think you and Ivan are going to get married?”

She tucks some of her hair behind her ear. “Soon. I wanted to ask you if you’d be my maid of honor?”

“What about your sister? Don’t you want to ask Tonya?”

“I was going to ask her to be my matron of honor. I’ll have two of you.”

“Of course I will!” I hug her and we both giggle.

“Thank you so much, Hadley. You’ve don’t know how much it means to me.” She sniffs and wipes her eye. I smile and blink my tears away. “It’s going to be a small, intimate wedding. We’d like to get married on a beach, so it’ll be in a few weeks when it’s a little warmer. I won’t make you wear an ugly dress. I promise. You can wear whatever you want.”

“I’ll wear a big, metal trash can if you want!”

“Do you think there’s a chance Finn will come with you?”
Nope. None. Nada. Zilch
.
Nil
. I have a better chance of actually wearing a trash can.

I frown. “No.”

“Oh, well. Rod will be your date then.”

“You’re inviting
Greg Rodwell
?”

“Why not? I’ll ask him to DJ.”

My jaw pops open wide. “Are you fucking serious, Morgan? That would make his
life!
”

She laughs. “I won’t care! I’ll be too happy about marrying Ivan. It’ll be fun. Don’t tell Dick Rod I’m actually thinking about asking him to do that, either.”

“I won’t. That’ll be so much fun.”

“Your date will be busy embarrassing you and everyone around us.”

“Unfortunately.” I sigh and put my arm around her as we start walking again.

As we come upon the statue, I see Finn right away. He’s posed with his elbow propped on the green, metal railing, overlooking Williamsburg Avenue and the James River in the distance. Talking to the camera, his hair is now a sparkling blonde. He’s wearing dark blue jeans and a red polo shirt, and I can see his magnificent smile from here; prompting me to think about those lips and how less than an hour ago, they were on my breasts.

We stand amongst a cluster of trees, so we’re not immediately noticeable. Morgan asks, “How do you want to do this? Do you want him to see you? Do you
not
want him to see you? Do you want to run up to him right in the middle of filming? Take your shirt off. Never mind. He just saw that at lunch. We wouldn’t want him to throw a fit on camera.”

I laugh and push her away. “I didn’t think about all that,” I admit. “Maybe we should just go back.” Looking over as the people break apart, I smile as a short, brunette woman walks over to him. He stoops so she can fix his hair, while he talks to a taller, blonde woman.

“I have an idea.” Morgan pulls her phone out and starts tapping away. “I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but it’s worth a try.” When she’s done playing with her phone, she peers over at Finn.

I cautiously ask, “What did you just do?”

“I texted him.”

“Shit! That reminds me. How in the
hell
did you get his phone number to send him those pictures?”

“I swiped it from your phone when you were changing. Genius!”

“I hate you,” I snap.

She shoves my shoulder. “You do not.”

I peek over at Finn. As he’s talking to the brunette, he slides his hand into his back pocket and pulls out his phone. He looks down at it and then immediately searches around him until he sees us. I give him a small wave and instantly wish we hadn’t bothered him.

I turn to Morgan. “We should just go. We’re bothering him. I don’t think he wants us here.”

She looks to where Finn is, while I stare at her profile, not wanting to see any more of his reaction to me being here. “Why? He hasn’t said anything.”

I pull at her arm. “Let’s go.”

Morgan says, “Too late. Your man is heading right over here.”

I close my eyes. “Shit,” I mutter. “He’s going to be mad that I’m here.”

“He doesn’t look pissed,” Morgan observes. I’m beginning to feel the anxiety creep through me. “Hey, Finn,” Morgan greets rather casually. I finally look over and see Finn walking towards us; his expression is unreadable from here.

“Morgan,” he says as he stops beside us, looking at her and then at me. “What are you doing here?”

I insipidly proclaim, “We happened to be in the neighborhood.” It’s the truth!

Finn’s eyes shine as he smirks. “Where’ve I heard
that
one before?”

I shrug and gaze at his handsome baby face. “Um, sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt. Morgan had to go to City Hall, so we really
were
in the neighborhood.”

“That’s okay,” he says quietly and turns to Morgan. “Morgan, I-uh, I wanted to apologize for the other night. I’m sorry for the way I acted. I was a total ass.”

Crossing her arms, she says, “Yes, you were. We have something in common, Wilder: your girlfriend, who also happens to be my best friend. The next time you hurt her like that again, I will snap your dick like a twig. And that would not bode well in your relationship, now would it?” She doesn’t wait for an answer as she steps closer to him. “Am I clear?”
Holy fuck
. I stare at Morgan in astonishment. I’m not even sure whether to yell at her to defend my boyfriend, or to cheer and hug her. It’s a toss-up.

I furtively look over to Finn. His eyes pop and he nods, while taking in a sharp breath. “As day.”

“Then, apology accepted.”

“We’re going to go,” I say and back away.

He swiftly looks from Morgan to me. “No, wait. I’m glad you’re here. We’re taking a break.” He grabs my hand. “Come on.”

“What are you doing?”

Determined, he tows me forward. “Something I should’ve done three years ago.” He leads me over to the smattering of people. I feel so many eyes on me. I recognize Milo right away with his curly, dark hair, goatee, and glasses, drinking a bottled water.

“Milo,” Finn says to him.

Milo lowers his water. “Yeah?” he asks and then notices me next to Finn, and he suddenly grins. “Is this who I think it is?”

“Yep.” Finn replies kind of shakily and I hear him take a subtle, deep breath. “Milo, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Hadley.” I can’t believe he actually is doing this. Just like he said he would. Just like he
vowed
he would?

Milo smiles and says, “Yes, she is.” I bite my lip and squeeze Finn’s hand, in which he squeezes back. Milo puts out his hand and I take it. “Hi. I’m Milo Bray, Finn Wilder’s cameraman extraordinaire, as well as his poker buddy, sounding board, upcoming roommate, and all-too-often, moral compass.” From the corner of my eye, I see Finn shake his head and grin.

“Hi. I’m Hadley Beckett, Finn Wilder’s best-kept secret,” I reply, taking Milo’s offered hand.
I can’t believe I just said that
! Finn vigorously caresses his interlaced fingers over mine.

Finn twists and motions to Morgan. “This is Hadley’s best friend, Morgan.”

Morgan shakes Milo’s hand and she says, “Nice to meet you. Is Finn being nice to you?”

He grins as he shakes her hand. “He never is. He’s a total scumbag.”

Finn laughs. “Jerk.”

Milo takes a sip of his water. “Did you come to see Finn make a fool out of himself? I mean, he was humping the Statue of Liberty’s leg before you got here.”

“She
dared
me to!” he exclaims with a grin.

“Didn’t you already get enough?” Morgan jokes. Finn’s hand tightens on mine and I swing my head over to her and widen my eyes, essentially telling her to shut the hell up. Why do my friends have to torture me? Am I
that
entertaining to mortify?

“What did I miss?” Milo asks, laughing.

“Nothing,” Finn mutters. He turns to me and nudges my arm. “Over here.”

Morgan says, “I’ll be back to pick you up in a few. I’m going to run over to City Hall.”

I nod at her and walk with Finn.

“How did I do?” he whispers down to me.

I beam. “Perfect, baby. Thank you. That means more to me than you’ll ever know. I’m so proud of you.” I stroke his fingers with mine and he smiles at me before looking up. We walk to the woman rummaging through a case set up on a portable table. I notice her short, cropped, dark brown hair and black-rimmed glasses.

“Pam.” She looks up at Finn and then her eyes fall to me, her blue eyes regarding me knowingly and a smile spreads across her face. “Hadley?”

Finn nods and bites his lip as I glance up at him. He tenses his fingers between mine and motions with his other, “Hadley, this is Pam. She’s the lady who gives me this.” He swirls his free hand in front of his face and smirks. “She’s quite the miracle worker.”

She puts a hand on her hip and looks over at me. “I’d say so. I have to use a gallon of foundation for him on a daily basis. Don’t even get me started on the concealer!” She puts a hand up to her mouth. “I even have to use lipstick on him,” she whispers loudly, making me laugh.

He mockingly groans. “Pam, that was
our
secret.”

“You shouldn’t keep secrets from your woman, Wilder. Rule
numero uno.
”

“Got it.” I hear a buzzing sound and Finn pulls his phone back out of his pocket. “Shit. I have to take this. Sorry. I won't be long.” He lets go of my hand and answers it, walking away from us and over to the railing.

“So, you and Wilder have been together three years?”

I smile and nervously play with my ponytail. “Yes.”

“I can’t believe it’s been that long. Well, I didn’t find out about you until a year into it.” She clasps her hands together and looks to the sky, her numerous metal bangle bracelets clambering together. “I’m so glad that kid
finally
grew some balls and introduced you to me.” She lowers her head and smiles. “I’ve been waiting
forever
for him to bring you around. Wilder talks about you to me nonstop.”

I stutter, “Really?”

“Oh, yes.” While looking at me, she nods her head in his direction. “He’s outrageously in love, that boy is.” I glance over at him and he’s leaning on the railing, his color-changing, sunlit-blonde hair waving at the City of Richmond in the breeze.

I grin dreamily. “I am, too.”

“I can see that.” I turn my attention back to Pam and she laughs. “You can’t help checking him out.” I warily smile; somewhat horrified that she caught me gawking at him.

“I thought you might like to know that I go to bat for you all the time.” Another baseball reference for my baseball-loving boyfriend. So cute.

I scrutinize her face and statement in bewilderment as I sweep stray hair out of my face. “What do you mean?”

Pam looks over at Finn, who is still talking on the phone, before she turns to me and lowers her voice, “I mean that I tell him at least once a month that he needs to put a ring on it.” She nods at my left hand and my fingers automatically flex.

I can’t hide my surprise. “You do?”

“I know he needs a good, swift kick since he’s so stubborn, but I’m working on him. He’s starting to cave.”
What
?

“Why would you think that?” I’m going to have a stroke. I know it. They’ll have to cart me off in an ambulance because Pam just told me that he’s truly thinking about marriage.

“I work closely with him every day, so I know his tells. He might be a good poker player, but not at hiding his thoughts about you.” She smiles. “I pay attention and I can read him like a book.” I wish
I
could.

“What does he say to you when you talk about it?”

“I usually have to get him talking or sometimes he’ll reveal a little piece of himself by mistake. He’s scared of losing you. That’s essentially what it all boils down to, Hadley. Finn Wilder’s biggest secret is that he’s a huge pussy.” She gives me an apologetic smile and shakes her head. “Give me a little more time and I’ll have him down on his knee by Halloween, if not before. Don’t tell him I told you that, though, because then my plan will backfire.” She laughs, but I am too stunned to nod, speak, or breathe.