Lies Inside (36 page)

After they dressed, Lucy helped Finn take the tray downstairs to the kitchen.

Empty.

They went into the living room.

Empty.

Lucy heard a squeal that could have only belonged to Olivia come from the behind the house. They ventured out to the back terrace to find everyone assembled there.

“And the newlyweds finally grace us with their presence.” Aiden ran to Lucy, giving her a huge hug.

“Easy, man,” Finn said. “I would like to keep her in one piece.”

“Sure, all right.” Aiden let her go, but not before pecking her on the cheek.

Rylan latched onto Lucy’s arm and pulled her down into the chair as soon as Aiden let Lucy go.

“Come on, spill. I’ve been waiting for hours.” Rylan’s sparkling smile put Lucy perfectly at ease somehow.

Lucy pulled them in a little closer as she saw the guys drag Finn off.

“The negligee was a major hit.”

“I knew he’d love it.” Rylan wiggled in her seat. “What else?”

“We...well...we made love.”

“Was it okay? Did it hurt very much?” She was noticeably worried, afraid that Lucy might be broken or something.

“Only for a second. He was really careful. It was really slow at first, but once we got going, I never imagined feeling anything that good. Then the second time...God, it was even better.”

“Second time?” Rylan questioned with her cute little eyebrows raised.

“Yep.” Lucy’s smile reached from ear to ear at the thought of her first night as a married woman.

“Go Finn!” She nodded as she saw Lucy was unconsciously fanning herself. “I’m glad that talk with the boys helped.”

“What did you do?” Lucy stared her down.

“We just wanted them to give him a nudge in the right direction. A few pointers.” Rylan dipped her head to the side. “Oh, and don’t be surprised if you find a feather lying around. I had Jack give him one. You will so thank me for it later.”

Lucy laughed at her new sister as she saw Finn coming towards them.

“Now you know a lady shouldn’t kiss and tell.” Finn looked back and forth between the two ladies.

“Lucy doesn’t keep any secrets from me, Finn. You’ll have to get used to the fact that I know what a great lover you are.”

“Rylan!” Lucy smacked her on the arm.

“What? No, seriously Finn. You should have seen her face when she started talking about-”

Lucy cut Rylan off when her hand flew in front of Rylan’s mouth.

“Bragging about me already? Guess I must be doing something right.” He took Lucy’s hand off of Rylan’s mouth and pulled Lucy out of her chair. “Hate to tell you, but this is our honeymoon so she won’t be spending it gossiping with you. Hopefully she’ll be spending it making more memories to gossip about.” He wrapped his arms around his bride’s waist as hers went to his chest. She got up on her tiptoes, letting her lips caress his. The tip of her tongue lightly swept across his bottom lip before she pulled back.

“Another memory.”

“I’m so going to have to try that one on Jack.” Rylan bounced out of her seat with a soft laugh.

“We have a couple things we need to do.”

“What’s that?”

“We need to talk with Aiden. He has to leave this afternoon and he kind of wants to talk with the both of us alone.”

Lucy knew what was coming. What would Aiden say to all of their friends? Did he want them to tell him what to say? Lucy didn’t even know what she wanted him to say.

“He’s waiting for us in the den.”

“I don’t want to do anything to upset the two of you. I’m not sure what to say. I don’t want to go, but I have to honor my scholarship for at least a year.”

“I know I’ve put a terrible burden on you. I’m so sorry.” Finn dipped his head down.

Aiden put his hand firmly on Finn’s shoulder. “You are my best friend. I would kill for you. For both of you.”

“And you are family to us, Aiden.” He took his hand from Finn’s shoulder to rest in-between Lucy’s. “We trust you. We know whatever you say will be fine.”

“I wanted to make sure.”

Lucy rubbed the back of his hand as Finn’s arm went around her shoulder. “You can always call us. We’re here for you as much as we know you’ll be there for us.”

“Yeah, man. We’re just a phone call away. You’ll be coming with us in September, then there is Christmas break. The semester will be over in no time.” Finn’s other hand was on Aiden’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe you two are the ones reassuring
me
.”

“Look, we know it hasn’t been easy for you either. You were a big part of all this before I even came in the picture.”

“You were part of the reason I kept getting up every day.”

“Only because I kicked your ass out of bed.” Aiden let the corner of his mouth creep up.

“Yeah and you never gave up on me even though you knew I was holding something back. I don’t think I could have got through this without you.”

Aiden let a tear fall from the corner of his eye, which caused Lucy’s dam to break.

“We are so lucky to have you in our lives,” she sniffled. “Now stand up and give me one last hug.”

They all stood up and Aiden pulled Lucy into him tight. “I love you guys.”

She pulled back from him and wiped a stray tear from his cheek with her thumb. “We love you, too.”

He let go of her to pull Finn into one of those manly hugs. “I’m going to miss you guys.”

Finn pulled Lucy into their hug. “We’ll be the three musketeers again in no time.”

“Yep.” Aiden laughed. “All for one and one for all.”

They hadn’t been married long, but Finn had learned so many ways to push just the right buttons to make his wife sing. He thought they were both a little shocked and surprised by how much they were enjoying exploring their new physical relationship. So much so, they had only left their room for an hour or so here and there to eat.

“I guess we have hit our groove.”

She flipped over to rest on her stomach. “Whatever you call it, I really don’t care. Just as long as we keep doing it. You are totally spoiling me.”

“Me?” Finn turned on his side and trailed his fingertips up her spine. “I think you get the award for fastest learner. The things you can do with your body.” His thumb caressed at her jaw as she smiled wide at him. “I never knew you were so...flexible.”

“I got some pointers, just like you did.”

“What?” He suddenly realized that she too had gotten pointers from his sister. He prayed that his mother was not part of the conversation.

“Ry told me that the boys talked to you about our wedding night and warned me about the feather.” She lifted her eyebrow as if she was intrigued. “Where are you hiding it anyway?”

“I was saving it. If either of us can walk tomorrow, maybe we can work it in.”

She lifted her head to bring her lips to his before sinking back into her pillow. “I think I might have the most perfect husband on the face of the planet.”

“Lucy, how would you know? We’ve hardly even made it out of our room.”

“I know.” She winked at him.

“You are so bad, Mrs. O’Malley.”

He went to roll over on top of her when he heard his cell phone ring.

“Round four postponed until further notice.”

Lucy let out a slight pout before letting her lips turn into a smile. Finn grabbed for his phone on the nightstand before pulling what there was of the sheets over them.

“Aiden, man! How’s it going.”

“Good. Hey, I didn’t interrupt anything?”

“No.” Finn let out a soft laugh. “We just finished.” He didn’t feel at all shy discussing those sort of things with Aiden. He had listened to every single one of his stories since Aiden lost his virginity when he was fifteen. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to let you know what’s going on here.”

“Everything okay? You getting hassled?”

“No, it’s pretty much the opposite. Everyone is treating me like I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. That I’m such a great guy for being such a great friend to you. They all really hate Veronica now.”

“People giving her a hard time then?”

“Yep. She’s thinking of transferring. One of her roommates said she would rather sleep in a dumpster than in the same room as her. Guess she’s been sleeping in the common room on the couch.”

Finn shook his head at the thought of how much Veronica was suffering. It was horrible, of course, but he couldn’t help but think she might have brought it on all by herself.

“Priceless. You think she’ll leave?”

“No. She’s too stubborn for that. Plus, it’s nice to see how jealous she is.”

“Jealous?” Finn thought Aiden moved fast. Not even back at school a week and he already has a girl on the line.

“Yeah and you won’t even believe who it is?”

“She’s got to be beautiful, that’s a given. Your standard long-legged blonde probably.” Finn had to think of all the blondes at Two Roads, who hadn’t he dated or slept with. “Amber? No, you dated her for like a week. God...I don’t know.”

“Bryn.”

“What? Bryn.” Bryn was like the sweetest girl ever. She was little and cute, like someone you wanted to pick up and put in your pocket. Finn and Bryn had so much fun competing against each other, but no one ever seemed to think of her as more than a little sister.

“She came to my room the night I moved in. She offered to be a shoulder if I needed one. You remember how sweet she is. The girl would throw herself in front of a bus to stop it just so it wouldn’t splash you. Anyway, she was in my first class Wednesday morning. We started talking again, and I can’t stop thinking about her. The sound of her laugh. The way her eyes crinkle when she smiles. I never thought about that stuff with any girl before.”

“You’re growing up, my brother.”

“You think?” They both laughed. “Maybe you and Lucy have rubbed off on me. I think I might be able to have something really special with Bryn.”

“I’m happy for you, man. I’m glad things are going well.” Finn turned to see Lucy was fast asleep at his side. He was eternally grateful. He loved the woman, but he was starting to think she’d never get tired.

“Okay, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”

“It’s okay, Aiden. Lucy’s asleep now.” He lightly stroked her hair.

“Wore her out, huh?”

“I think we wore each other out.” He nodded in agreement with himself.

“Okay, well...I was thinking if things keep going the way they are, maybe you and Lucy could make it out for a visit before Christmas.”

Finn felt the air leave his lungs, but not flow back in. He wasn’t sure he could handle going there and seeing the faces of all those people, knowing what they thought of him when he left.

He let out a long breath before speaking again. “We’re taking things one day at a time. We’ll see.”

“Okay, sounds fair. I’ll let you go. Give Lucy a hug for me.”

“Sure and you keep me up-to-date on the Bryn situation.”

“I will. Later.”

“Later.”

Finn set his phone back down on the nightstand and cuddled next to the breath taking beauty lying beside him.