Finding Faith (17 page)

Excitement filled her eyes and she
licked at her lips.

“
That’s what I’m talking about,”
she said as she leaned in to kiss me.

I pulled back. “Hell no. We’re
done. As a matter of fact, I think you should go.”

I was about to release her when I
heard Kevin’s loud voice behind me.

“
Damn, man! I thought we were
going to practice. Knock that shit off. You can fuck her
later.”

I turned around and started toward
my mic again, but I stopped when I came face to face with Faith.
The wounded look in her eyes shot right through me. I knew exactly
what she was thinking.

She turned and left the garage
quickly, and I cursed and followed behind her. It was going to take
some quick talking on my part and a lot of trust on
hers.

“
Wait up!” I said as I grabbed her
by the arm and spun her around.

A single tear rushed down her cheek
and broke my heart. I reached up to wipe it away, but she turned
her head and looked away from me.

“
Faith, nothing was happening. I
was telling her to leave, I swear.”

She swiped at her face and rolled
her eyes. “Yeah, that’s exactly what it looked like!”

I’d never heard her yell before.
More tears spilled from her eyes and I cussed myself for being so
stupid.

“
I’m so sorry, baby. Please don’t
cry.” I pulled her tighter to me and wrapped my arms around
her.

She tried to pull away and I held
tight until she relaxed against me. I felt her body shaking as she
cried against my shoulder. I rubbed her back softly.

“
I’m so sorry you saw that, but I
swear, Faith, I was telling her no. I was asking her to leave. I’ll
go get her right now and she’ll tell you. I promised you that I’d
never do anything to hurt you and I meant it. Please just trust
me.”

She looked up at me and sniffled.
Even with a red face covered in tears, she was
beautiful.

“
This is all so new to me, Finn. I
don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what this is that we’re
doing. If this isn’t anything and I’m seeing things that aren’t
there then just tell me. I’ll walk away no questions
asked.”

I chuckled softly to myself. She
was so far off.

I captured her face in my hands and
softly kissed her.

“
That’s the last thing I want you
to do. I know I’ve been quiet lately, but that’s only because I’ve
been out trying to get a job and get my life in order. I want to be
good for you, Faith, and right now I’m not.”

It was weird putting my emotions
out on the table like that, but I trusted her with my life. She
would never hurt me and I felt safe giving my all to
her.

“
You are… you’re perfect for me.
Since I met you, everything’s better. You make everything better
and…”

I didn’t let her finish. I couldn’t
take it anymore. I needed to kiss her. So I did. She gripped the
front of my shirt and I filled my hands with her hips and pulled
her closer to me. There’s was no such thing as too close when it
came to Faith.

We held hands as we went back into
the garage. The guys, who were lounging on the couch, waiting,
rolled their eyes and bitched about me running out.

“
It’s about fucking time, dude.
Are we going to do this or not?” Reynolds asked.

I smiled at Faith as I sat her on
the couch. It was then that I was able to actually look at her. Her
hair was pulled back and I could see every inch of her face and
neck. The top she wore was black and low on her shoulders,
revealing even more of her creamy skin. Her tight jeans accentuated
every curve and dip of her hips and legs.

She looked so fucking sexy and
sweet that I almost scooped her up right then and took her to my
room. Leaning over, I whispered in her ear.

“
You look so sexy
tonight.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and I
softly kissed her lips before turning away from her.

I sang my heart out that night. Not
once did I break eye contact as she watched from the couch. Every
word I sang was for her, and when she smiled up at me and bobbed
her head a little to the music, I felt accomplished. I’d always
loved being a part of Original Malice, but something about singing
with Faith as my audience made it feel real.

When practice was over, everyone
left but Faith. I promised Amanda that I’d get her home safely, and
I would, but I wanted to spend some alone time with her. It had
been days since we’d seen each other and I since she’d already
snuck out anyway, there was no need to waste a perfectly good
night.

“
You have a beautiful voice,” she
said as I sat beside her on the couch and pulled her onto my
lap.

She wrapped her arms around my neck
and kissed my cheek. She felt so good against me, but I remained in
control of myself. My body begged to be with her and my mind spun
every time she moved in my lap.

“
You have a beautiful everything,”
I said as I captured her lips with mine.

I’d never been so happy in my life.
I’d never made plans for the future. There was never a person in my
life that was a constant. I wanted Faith to be that person. We were
young, but it didn’t matter. She was the one I wanted and I wanted
her until I was no more.

I made sure to take my time with
every move I made. As badly as I wanted to have sex with Faith, I
knew I needed to take it slow, and as unmanly as it sounded, I
wasn’t really ready to take that step with her. It had to be
perfect for her since she was so perfect.

An hour later, I took her home and
walked her to her window. I kissed her again and helped her climb
in. Her ass and hips felt amazing in my hands and I had to stop
myself from squeezing and pulling her back out against me. She was
going to be the death of me.

Once she was in, she turned around
and smiled. “Same time tomorrow night?” she whispered.

I couldn’t help myself, I chuckled.
My little angel was turning into a devil. I didn’t like the idea of
her sneaking out, but I also didn’t want to deny her anything. If
she wanted to see me, then she was going to get what she
wanted.

“
I’ll park at the stop sign. My
car’s louder than Kevin’s. Goodnight, beautiful. I’ll see you
tomorrow night.”

“
Goodnight.”

She kissed me one last time and
then slowly pushed her window closed.

I didn’t even remember the walk
back to my car. She made me higher than any drug I’d ever taken and
I was becoming addicted to her.

Thirteen

Faith

I was definitely in love. Period.
There was no longer any doubt in my mind about that. Finn was it
for me. There’d be no other. I understood that the minute I stepped
foot into his garage and saw him standing there holding another
girl against the wall.

The look on his face when he saw me
could only be described as broken. Pain filled his eyes and his
mouth fell open as if he’d just been told someone he loved dearly
had died. The moment seemed to pause as everyone around us looked
in and tried to figure out why the world felt like it was
crumbling.

I didn’t care. I felt like a fool.
Amanda knew everything about me and Finn, and she walked in on the
same thing I did. I couldn’t get out of that garage fast enough. I
didn’t want to cry like a big baby in from of a room full of
strangers. I’d had enough humiliation.

When he stopped me and told me what
had really been going on in the garage, I had no choice but to
believe him. He’d never given me any reason not to trust him and
the look in his eyes sealed the deal for me. He was just as
heartbroken for me as I was for myself.

Thankfully, his ex left as soon as
we went back inside. Maybe I was being a jealous freak, but I
didn’t want her there. She looked like the complete opposite of me
and I didn’t want Finn having any reminders of what he could have
if he wasn’t stuck with a church girl who was clueless to anything
sex related.

He spent the rest of that night
singing sweetly to me in front of everyone, and once the garage
cleared out and it was only us, he spent the rest of our time
showing me and telling me how perfect he thought I was. It was
amazing. He was amazing. I knew in the back of my mind that I was
far from perfect, but he truly believed it and as long as he
thought I was, then that’s all that mattered to me.

I spent the next day at school
watching the clock. I couldn’t wait to be alone with him again. I’d
decided that I was going to throw caution to the wind and do
whatever it took to be with Finn. I accepted the fact that I had to
lie and sneak out. There was no way my dad was going to allow us to
be alone together, and after the whole leaving the movies incident,
I was put on restriction until I graduated practically.

I made sure Amanda brought me a set
of clothes to school, and once I heard my parents snoring down the
hallway, I shut my door, locked it, and changed. I giggled to
myself as I looked down at my bare knees. I’d never worn a skirt
that landed above the knee, but there was a first time for
everything. The truth was I kind of liked it.

A few old welts remained, but
nothing that was so noticeable that I couldn’t feel comfortable
showing my legs. I hadn’t thought about it much, but it had been a
while since dad pulled off his belt for me. Not since the incidence
where he actually broke skin. I wasn’t complaining. Maybe seeing me
bleed is what it took to make him stop.

The shirt that Amanda sent over for
me could never really be called a shirt since it barely covered
anything. Instead of wearing it, I threw it in the back of my
closet and pulled out one of my sweaters. Doing one last check in
the mirror, I decided to leave my hair down and put on a little lip
gloss that I’d also borrowed from Amanda. By the time I heard Finn
knock softly on my window, I was ready to go and full of
excitement.

We held hands in his car as he
drove us toward the coast. He didn’t think I noticed, but he kept
peeking down at my legs, checking me out. I liked it. It made me
feel attractive. I gasped when he slid his warm palm over my knee
and rested it there.

“
Where are we going?” I
asked.

The truth was I didn’t care where
we were going as long as we were together.

“
To our spot.” He grinned over at
me and shifted the gears when we hit the interstate.

He looked so good driving his car.
It wasn’t in the best shape, but it purred loudly and vibrated
beneath us, letting us know it was powerful. It fit him well since
he was such a powerful guy. I felt safe with Finn, like nothing or
no one could ever hurt me when I was with him.

When he turned onto the familiar
wooded street, I smiled to myself. I remembered the first time I’d
gone down that road and the beach that it led to. That night had
been so perfect and it was romantic of him to bring me back
there.

Once we parked and got out, we
walked down the beach holding hands and stopping for tiny kisses
along the way. I had no idea what time it was. I only knew the
water was beautiful beneath the moonlight and Finn couldn’t keep
his hands and lips off of me.

“
So I think I got a job,” he said
as he kicked at a seashell.

He leaned over and picked it up for
inspection.

“
That’s great. Doing what?” I
asked.

He shrugged like it was no big deal
when we both knew it was.

“
Kevin’s dad owns a construction
business. I’m supposed to go up there on Monday and talk to him,
but Kevin said he’s positive his dad will hire me. It’s not big
money, but it’s money.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and
continued to walk.

“
I think that’s great.” I slipped
my hand through his elbow and pressed my cheek against his
arm.

He smiled sweetly down at me before
kissing me on the forehead.

“
So how’s Sister Francis and
everyone doing?” he asked.

I was shocked that he cared enough
about my church family to ask about them.