Finding Faith (30 page)

“
Oh, come on. Enlighten me on this
one, Faith. How’s your dad feel about the fact that you’re in my
home every day?” He chuckled to himself.

I’d had enough. I was exhausted and
tired of Finn’s smart mouth.

“
Just stop already! I’ve seen my
father once in the last three years, okay? I was going back to
school to try and get my diploma. I was forced to quit school
before I graduated. I’m sure it makes you happy to know that my
life isn’t all peaches and cream, but that’s what it
is.”

I turned and attempted to move away
from him.

“
What do you mean ‘was’ going back
to school? Are you not going anymore?” he asked.

His eyes moved across my face,
leaving me feeling entirely too exposed.

“
I had to quit. It’s no big deal,”
I said as I sidestepped him and made my way into the laundry room
to drop off the dirty towels.

Again, he followed behind
me.

“
Please, Finn, just drop it. I’m
tired and I don’t feel like this today.”

I was starting to feel weak. I
didn’t know if it was his poking into my personal life, the lack of
sleep I’d been getting, or the fact that I hadn’t really eaten
anything in the last two days. Either way, it didn’t matter. The
room was moving under my feet and the gray laundry room walls were
starting to blur.

“
Are you okay?” he asked with
pinched brows.

I wasn’t sure what he was seeing,
but I definitely wasn’t feeling okay. I just wanted to finish the
job and go home and relax for the weekend. I turned toward him
again.

“
I’m fine. Just let me finish
my—”

I never got to finish my sentence.
The room danced around me a few times before going completely
black.

Twenty-Four

Finn

She dropped like a sack of potatoes
in a mix of dirty towels. I flew across the room and scooped her
into my arms. She felt lighter than the last time I’d carried her.
Something was up with her and as much as I tried not to care, I
couldn’t help it.

All this time I’d wanted nothing
more than to watch her suffer, but now that the pieces of Faith’s
life were coming together, I wasn’t so sure I was happy to see her
so unhappy. She never smiled—ever. It was as if she didn’t know how
to anymore. I wasn’t sure if she just hated being around me, which
was understandable since I’d gone out of my way to get under her
skin, but she always looked so damn miserable.

I laid her on my bed and got a cold
rag to press against her flushed cheeks. I was the only one in the
condo since everyone had gone out for the night. I contemplated
calling an ambulance, but by the time I got my cell, she was
already starting to come to.

I sat on the edge of the bed and
watched as she blinked and slowly figured out where she was. The
room was so silent that I could hear her stomach growling loudly.
Had she not been eating? And by the look at the dark rings around
her eyes, she was either strung out big time or not sleeping. I had
to go with no sleep since I knew Faith would never touch drugs. At
least the girl I thought she once was never would have.

She tried to lean up on her elbows,
but she wasn’t successful.

“
When’s the last time you ate?” I
asked.

She looked over at me as if she was
just realizing I was there and closed her eyes again.

“
I ate earlier. I can’t believe I
fainted. Just let me finish up around here and I’ll be out of your
hair.” Again, she tried to get up.

It was obvious she was weak, and I
was starting to feel bad for her.

“
Don’t worry about the damn condo.
It’s fine the way it is. Earlier like when? An hour ago? Lunch at
noon?” I asked.

Something told me she was lying. No
way would her stomach be growling so loudly after only a few hours.
I knew hunger and I also knew that stomachs that growled like hers
did had gone a few days without food.

“
I ate lunch.”

She couldn’t even look me in the
eye with that lame-ass lie.

“
You’re lying,” I said.

She glared over at me.

“
I don’t lie,” she
growled.

I chuckled. “That’s a
lie.”

She jumped off of my bed, grabbing
the edge when she lost her balance.

“
What are you doing?” I
asked.

“
I’m leaving. I don’t have to take
this crap,” she said as she tried to walk to the door. I stopped
her and forced her to sit back down.

“
You’re not going anywhere until
you can walk straight.” I crossed my arms over my chest as I stood
above her.

She looked up at me and rolled her
eyes. “You can’t keep me prisoner here, Finn. I have somewhere I
have to be.”

Did she have a date? Why the fuck
did I hate the idea of her dating? She was beautiful. Of course,
she was dating. Why wasn’t the guy she was dating making sure she
was eating properly? What if it was someone who treated her badly?
What he beat her or some crazy shit like that?

My brain wouldn’t stop as I thought
every bad scenario she could’ve possibly gotten herself
into.

“
You can stay put right here while
I go make you a sandwich or something. You need to eat.”

“
You don’t know anything about
what I need. What I need is to be away from you!” she yelled. Her
voice sounded rough and it cracked.

Her words stung a little, but I
guess I deserved them, considering I’d been a dick since we ran
into each other again.

“
You yell a lot. I don’t remember
you yelling you so much before. You’ve become a bit of a bitch over
the years, huh?” I shook my head and sighed.

“
Don’t call me that!” She stood up
and pushed me.

“
And you’re awfully abusive, but I
guess I know where you got that bad habit.”

I hadn’t meant to sound so rude and
I hadn’t meant to be mean when I said that. It was the truth. We
both knew it was. Her father used to beat her. It only made sense
that she’d pick up the habit.

She didn’t like what I said. She
pushed even harder and literally growled at me. I almost laughed,
but I figured laughing in her face would only piss her off
more.

“
Come on. Sit down and I’ll get
you something to eat.”

“
I don’t want anything from you! I
just want to go home!” Again, she pushed me.

I was disgusted by the fact that
her pushing me around was kind of turning me on. It wasn’t every
day that anyone stood up to me and the fact that this tiny girl did
just that was kind of hot.

“
Why are you so angry all the damn
time? You need to relax. Let’s call a truce until you eat
something.”

I was trying to be reasonable, but
she wasn’t having it.

“
Why am I so mad? Maybe because of
you! You push my buttons and you make me so… you make me so damn
mad!” She covered her mouth when the word came out. Her face was
bright red in anger and embarrassment. It was probably the cutest
fucking thing I’d ever seen. Faith had probably never said a cuss
word in her life.

I couldn’t help myself. I burst out
laughing. It was uncontrollable laughter that hurt my stomach.
Apparently, laughing at her was all it took. She charged me with
tiny hands and pushed me up against the wall. I could have stood
strong, but it was too funny to watch her rough me up. It was super
hot and I was getting hard.

“
Don’t you dare laugh at me. I’m
so mad!”

I didn’t know she was capable of
such anger. She’d always been so meek and mild—always letting
people run over her like she was nothing. It was one of the main
reasons I’d been so shocked when she up and left me hanging. Part
of me knew it had to be someone else’s fault, but at the same time,
I was upset that she didn’t care enough to stay.

“
I’m sorry. I can’t help it.” I
continued to laugh. “You’re like a rabid Chihuahua
puppy.”

Anger flared in her eyes again.
“Are you calling me a dog?” Again, she pushed me up against the
wall.

I stopped laughing and took a good
look at her. She was so different—so jaded. What had happened to
her to change her so much? For me, it was her leaving me high and
dry—literally—but her leaving me couldn’t have done this to her.
Someone else had to.

The thought of anyone else hurting
her made me irate.

“
What happened to you?” I asked.
“Who made you this way?”

The better question was why did I
care?

She stepped away from me with sad
eyes. Her face dropped and for a second I thought maybe she’d pass
out again.

“
You happened,” she said as she
looked me straight in the eyes.

A tear wobbled on her lashes, but
she swiped it away before it had a chance to fall.

“
No.
You
happened to
me.
You
left me,”
I said as I dug my finger into my chest. “You don’t get to be
altered. You don’t get to be hurt by it. I do.”

Her face paled before her cheeks
filled with red heat again.

“
You’re joking, right? I hurt you?
Yeah, you were so hurt that a week later you were screwing your
ex-girlfriend? Wow, Finn, you must’ve really been heartbroken.” A
tear leaked down her cheek before she turned and hauled ass out of
the room.

I was on her heels. I had no
fucking idea what she was talking about, but I hadn’t had sex with
anyone for a freaking year after Faith left. She didn’t know what
the hell she was saying, but I wasn’t having it. She wasn’t allowed
to play the victim in this. I was the victim. I was the one who was
hurt—not her. She was the one that left me.

Before she could open the front
door, I caught it and slammed it shut.

“
Are you fucking kidding me right
now? You don’t know what you’re talking about. I suggest you get
your story straight before you start pretending like the poor
preacher’s daughter with me,” I yelled back.

“
Oh, I don’t know what I’m talking
about? I saw you, Finn. I saw you with my own two eyes. I came
back. I ran away from California and I came back to you, but you
were there with her on your couch. I turned and walked away and I
never looked back.”

Again, she tried to pull the door
open to leave. She was talking out of her head. Maybe she was
medicated or something. She had to be on something. Her story was
nuts and there was no way in hell I was falling for it.

“
You’re crazy. You’re really
crazy,” I said as I released the door for her.

I’d dealt with crazy bitches
before, but Faith took the cake. She was talking out of her head
and making up stories on the spot. I hadn’t touched Jenny and I
knew for fact that Faith never came back. I knew that because I’d
received a letter from her saying how much she hated me a week
after she left. She was nuts. It was impossible for her to be in
two places at once.

“
Yeah, you’re right. I am crazy. I
should’ve never gone back to South Carolina. Especially after that
awful letter you sent me,” she said before pulling the door open
and running out.

She left me there staring after her
like she was a fucking nutcase. She left me there with doubts about
the past and the way things really happened, and she left me there
wondering what fucking letter she was talking about. I’d never sent
her any letter.

An hour later, after sitting and
thinking over the argument we had, the memory of Leroy telling me
he had to pull Jenny off me came back quick and clear. Had Faith
really come back for me? And if so, was it at the exact moment that
Leroy told me about? Things were getting complicated, and as much I
knew I should’ve just let the past go and move on, I couldn’t. I
wanted answers and I wanted to not feel things for
Faith.

Twenty-Five