Twisted Minds (24 page)

Twenty-Seven

Twisted Minds

The motel didn’t appear any better in the light of the morning.

I was somewhat relieved I had made it through the night without being killed in my sleep. As I walked out, I saw the motel manager peering at me through the “office” blinds, which I think were actually the blinds of his own room.

Thankfully, my Ferrari hadn’t been stolen, which was a miracle in itself. I quickly climbed in and got back on the interstate, heading back to Ripley. Lost in my thoughts, I guess I’d driven further than I’d realized yesterday. It took me almost an hour to arrive in town and get back to Finn’s neighborhood.

The familiar streets greeted me; picture-perfect, large houses, green lawns. When I pulled up outside Finn’s house, I was still trying to figure out what to say to him and how I would convince him not to shut the door in my face.

With a sinking feeling, I noticed Cass’ car was still parked in the driveway. Shit. It looked like she’d spent the night, which meant she’d had extra time to get in his ear about me and fill his head with more bullshit.

As I crossed the street, I lifted my head to Kira’s window. Even though she wasn’t there, a sharp pang hit me in the center of my chest. This wasn’t just about Finn; it was also about her, too. I’d started my journey here being a complete jerk, a creep, with only one goal in mind—to sleep with Kira.

It wasn’t about that anymore. It was about being the person Finn believed I was deep down; the person his parents thought I could be; the person Kira had caught glimpses of. I wanted to prove I could be that person, even though I had let everyone down.

Taking a deep breath, I headed up the front steps, hesitating outside the door. Reflected in the glass panels of the door, I saw a haggard, weak man with a pallid tone to his skin. It was hard to believe that man was me.

Drawing as much courage as I could, I raised my arm and rapped on the door with my knuckles. Several seconds went by before the door swung open. It was like déjà vu all over again. Kira stood on the other side, her long hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall, her expression taxed.

She blanched when she noticed me. Her hand shot to the edge of the door as though she was about to slam it in my face.

“Wait!” I said a little too loudly.

“What do you want, Nate?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at me. “Haven’t you hurt enough people already?”

I couldn’t say I hadn’t expected her to be hostile towards me, but her words still sent a prickling sensation sweeping through me. There were a few seconds where I really thought I was going to be sick.

“I need to talk to you, to Finn…” I trailed off as Joe appeared in the doorway behind her.

“Well, hey there, Nate,” he greeted me with a widening smile. “Why don’t you come in? We were just about to work on the fence some more. Everyone’s out back.”

Apparently, no one had told Joe what had gone down yesterday, because he was acting completely normal.

“Dad, I-” Kira opened her mouth to argue, but Joe ignored her.

“Come on in, ol’ boy.” He held the door wider for me so I could come inside.

“Thanks, Joe,” I said gratefully, squeezing in past Kira who was fuming at this point.

“This way,” he said, beckoning me with a hand as he led the way to the kitchen as though I didn’t know where the backyard was.

With some apprehension I followed after him, wondering if he was just trying to throw me off with his kindness. Maybe they had told him what had happened and he was so mad that he planned on killing me. This could be his way of luring me in, making me lower my guard, and then-

“Dad! I really don’t think this is a good idea!” Kira was a few furious steps behind us, in a fit of rage.

“Sure, it is.”

Joe continued past the kitchen table to where the glass sliding door was. Sliding it open, he stood aside so I could walk out first. Without the safety of Joe, I felt vulnerable as I stepped out onto the deck and saw that Finn was by the back fence with Buddy and Jackson, a small pile of wooden planks beside them.

They were prying out the rotting wooden planks; Finn with a crowbar and Buddy with a hammer. Jackson was staring at a rosebush as though it had somehow entranced him. It also looked like he hadn’t washed his hair in weeks.

Theresa, Cass, Amy, and Amanda were engaged in conversation as they sat at the round, glass table on the deck, watching them. A large pitcher of lemonade had been placed on the center of the table with numerous glasses placed around it, most of them half-empty. No one had noticed my arrival yet.

“Finn!” Kira’s voice was shrill as she strode past me towards the edge of the deck.

Everyone’s heads turned simultaneously at the disturbance, their eyes growing when they caught sight of me standing there. I noticed Cass’ lip curl involuntarily, and I resisted the urge not to walk over there and push her chair over.

The door behind me slid shut and Joe moved beside me, placing a firm hand on my shoulder as though encouraging me not to budge. His steadying hold filled me with a sense of confidence I otherwise didn’t possess at this very moment.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Finn yelled at me, throwing his crowbar down on the ground rather forcefully.

For a second, as I stared at my best friends’ face, it was like looking into the face of a stranger. There was so much anger emanating from him, even at this distance, that I became tongue-tied.

“I think Nate here has something he wants to say,” Joe kindly supplied right at that moment. “Maybe we should hear him out.”

Finn took angry steps across the yard and bounded up the stairs onto the deck. “Dad, you have no idea what he’s done! He doesn’t deserve to be heard out!”

All the shouting seemed to have roused Jackson from his reverie, and he stared around at us in confusion. Buddy walked over to the bottom steps of the deck but didn’t advance any farther. His mouth formed a scowl as he regarded me.

My tainted soul—if I even had one anymore—was drowning in a pool of hatred, disgust, and anger that was radiating from everyone’s bodies. Finn and Kira’s friends all probably knew about my journal. It was a small town—news got around quick.

“What has he done?” Joe asked nonchalantly.

Great. Now Finn was going to tell his dad exactly what had happened between Kira and me, and then Joe was going to personally throw me out of the house with a shotgun pointed at my head.

“He seduced Kira!” Finn cried, moving towards me as though he wanted to hit me. “He slept with her and wrote about her in his perverted journal!”

All the women at the table stood up. A look of content slithered across Cass’ face as she stared right at me. This was what she’d wanted all along—Finn to turn against me.

Joe revolved towards Kira, raising his brows at her. “Is this true, Kira?”

“Yes.” She bit down on her lower lip, hanging her head as though she had somehow shamed her family.

Guilt flooded me at her reaction. I had never wanted her to feel bad about the things that had happened between us. I would always look at my time with Kira as life altering, but she would look at them as scars from an awful situation.

“And this journal? The one I see you writin’ in all the time?” Joe turned to me. “You wrote about my daughter in it?”

I nodded my affirmation. “I did, but-”

“And he keeps a list of multiple other women in it,” Cass interrupted, stepping forward eagerly. “I read about it on the internet.”

I wished a black hole would open up and swallow Cass whole. She was only making the situation worse, and loving every second of it.

“So, let me get this straight, Finn,” Theresa spoke up, moving into the center of the chaos. “You invited your good looking, successful, interesting friend to stay with us, and didn’t think for a second that your sister might take a liking to him? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Finn stared at her, gobsmacked. “W-what?” he spluttered.

“And you’re trying to tell me that he
seduced
your sister?” Joe asked, squinting at Kira as though he was trying to see her better. “Are we talking about the same stubborn, strong willed woman, or do you have an illegitimate sister I wasn’t aware of?”

“Well, I, uh, um.” Finn appeared to be at a loss for words.

“Kira is at such a young and impressionable age,” Cass supplied, shooting Finn a dark look as though he had somehow failed her. “Nate took advantage-”

“I think Kira can speak for herself.” Joe held up a hand to silence Cass, and she looked as though she’d been struck across the face. He turned to his daughter in question. “Kira, were you taken advantage of by Nate?”

Kira’s breathing was returning to normal, as though her anger had been sapped by her parents’ words. “No, I wasn’t.” She seemed surprised by her own admission, lowering her head to stare at her feet. “It was consensual.”

“But you’ve been so upset!” Cass interjected. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Kira and tried to make eye contact with her. “You’ve been crying and cussing about him!”

“Yes, because I was upset about the journal.” Kira glanced up, meeting my eyes. “I was upset because I thought I was just another number on his list.”

A pang of regret streaked through my body as my eyes searched her sad, blue ones. “For what it’s worth, you’re not just another number, Kira,” I said, before I could stop myself. “Being around you has made me see all the things that are wrong with me. You make me want to change.”

“Aww!” Amy said in the background, in what was probably the worst timing ever.

A moment passed between Kira and me, flickering as though an unseen force was weaving through our bodies and binding us together. Kira’s eyes were warm as she regarded me, and for a moment I saw all her anger waver in that single gaze and then fade away

Theresa stared around at all of us, her hands on her hips. “So in the span of five minutes, the old people have managed to figure out something that was apparently a big deal? So much for young and progressive.”

Joe approached his wife and wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her butt in the process. She smacked him on the arm, making him burst into laughter.

“This is ridiculous!” Cass suddenly cried out. “Nate had sex with Kira! He’s a serial womanizer! He uses women and then leaves them! What kind of parents are ok-”

“Cass, chill out.” Finn reached for her, trying to calm her down, but she pushed him away.

“No, I will not calm down!” She was still yelling, throwing her hands up in frustration. Her auburn hair was becoming a little unruly now. She literally looked crazy. “Nate is disgusting, vile, a fucking pi-”

“Says the girl who gets dressed up and goes to lavish parties to flirt with wealthy NYC guys,” I interrupted, unable to hold my tongue any longer. I was done keeping the reason for Finn and Cass’ breakup a secret. I owed her nothing. “Oh, and let’s not forget about the night you came into my room and tried to have sex with me.”

Everyone fell silent, their eyes landing on Cass in shock. Buddy finally hurried up the final few steps onto the deck as though he realized the drama was about get even more intense.

“Shit just got real,” I heard Jackson say as he moved away from the rosebush and neared us slowly, exercising caution.

Amanda and Amy shot each other sidelong glances, while Finn just looked humiliated and defeated. Kira drew closer to her brother on instinct and placed a hand on his arm as though to comfort him.

Cass gaped at me, her mouth opening and closing. “Don’t you fucking turn this around on me, you piece of shit! This is about you!”

“No.” I shook my head at her, a sense of calm descending upon me. “This is about you. This is about your anger towards me for telling Finn that you came onto me. This is about you making me look bad so it would be easier for him to overlook what you did.”

“Griffin?” Theresa looked to her son, her brow lined with concern. “Is this true? Cass propositioned Nate for sex? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I-I.” Finn covered his face with a hand, letting out a groan. “I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell you because I wasn’t ready to accept it was over.”

“Oh, Finn,” Kira said, wrapping an arm around her brother. “You can tell me anything, and I will never judge you for it.”

“Yeah, ol’ boy,” Joe said, shooting Finn a sympathetic look. “Ya know, we’re always here for you.”

“Wait!” Cass was livid. “This isn’t about me! It’s about Nate and what he did! He’s the bad guy here, not me!”

The cracks in Cass’ normally composed demeanor were starting to show, and it was becoming clear to everyone that something was going on here that didn’t quite add up. Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to give her a little push over the edge.

“That’s why you stole my journal,” I began, pacing around her in a semi-circle as though I was a shark closing in. “That’s why you contacted Flash Feed and had them publish an article about me. Because to you I’m the bad guy.”

“Is it true? Did you do it?” Finn suddenly spoke up, stepping forward to grab Cass by her tiny shoulders as he searched her face. “Because if you did, then I understand completely. Actually, it was pretty clever of you.”