Twisted Minds (25 page)

What the fuck? My best friend had lost his mind.

Cass gazed up at him, her eyes wide with surprise. “You mean that?”

“Of course.” Finn nodded. “I love you.”

“Yes, I took Nate’s journal. I took pictures of it and sent them to Flash Feed so they could write an article about him.” She studied Finn with adoration. “I did this for us, and I knew one day you would understand.”

Amy gasped quite audibly.

Kira looked like someone had punched her in the gut.

Amanda’s creepy blue eyes were bright; this was probably the most entertaining thing that had happened in Ripley in a long time.

But Finn—he looked crushed. He dropped his hands and backed away from her as though he’d been shot. “Why, Cass? Why would you do something so terrible?”

“What?” Fear flashed across her face at his words. “But you just said you understood.”

And then it dawned on me as I understood the look of heart-splitting devastation on Finn’s face. He had been playing her, trying to coax the answers from her instead of demanding them. I didn’t think he had it in him.

“I lied,” Finn said, putting a hand to his head as though he was in pain. “Just like you lied this entire time.”

Cass’ eyes darted around the circle of people that had enclosed around her, their expressions scrutinizing as they wondered how someone could be so vindictive.

“That Cass,” I said, a sneer curling my lip, “that is the magic of doubt. You should know all about it.”

The fear turned in her eyes turned into shame, and silent tears rolled down her face as she reached out for Finn, who was refusing to look at her. Theresa had gone by to stand with him, and she was bracing him with her hands as though she was worried he would break.

“But Nate tore us apart. I was in your life first, but you took him on his word and cast me aside like I was nothing to you.” Cass’ voice was small and pathetic. “I fucking love you, Griffin Walsh. I wanted a future with you!”

“Then why did you try to sleep with him?” Finn demanded, his hands shaking with anger. “Why did I constantly hear about you out on the town hitting on guys when you were supposed to be at work? If you were so loyal to me, none of that would’ve happened.”

The tears were flowing faster down Cass’ face. She stumbled towards Finn, but he stepped out her reach, holding up a hand.

“No, Cass. I’m done. There is no future for us. Not now, not ever. You sabotaged a friendship that was built on honesty and trust. I could forgive you for hurting me, but I can never forgive you for hurting Nate.”

A sense of relief filled me at his words, but it was bittersweet. Things never should’ve gotten this far in the first place.

“Finn, no! Please!” Cass grappled for him desperately, but he pushed her away and headed towards the glass sliding door. “Please, don’t do this! I’ll change! I’ll fix this!” She was hysterically sobbing as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Theresa approached Cass, and began speaking to her in a dulcet tone as she tried to calm her down. Amanda also approached them, patting Cass on the back more out of pity than anything else.

My eyes were drawn to Kira. She stood with her arms hanging by her sides, looking as though her world had just shattered. I really wanted to go to her, to talk to her, to see if she would forgive me, but my gaze returned to the glass sliding door.

There was someone who needed me more right now.

I had to be there for Finn.

Twenty-Eight

Brothers

He was standing atop the slope, facing the lake as the breeze rippled his clothes.

Hesitating for a moment, I took a breath for courage and stepped towards him with determination in each stride.

I’d followed him all the way to Ripley Beach in my car without him knowing. Maybe he wanted to be alone, but I wasn’t going to give up on Finn, not now, not ever. Just like he hadn’t left me lying in the middle of campus that night many years ago, I wouldn’t leave him alone even if he told me to piss off.

No matter what happened, no matter all the fights we’d been through, the shit that had gone down over the years, we’d stuck by each other. We weren’t the same person, but that didn’t mean we didn’t love each other.

Something swept through my heart, turning my eyes to liquid.

Love. I loved my brother. He was the family that, deep down, I had always wanted.

This was what this feeling of unwavering loyalty was. It wasn’t a feeling you had to have for someone simply because they were your blood. It was a feeling you earned, just like he had earned mine.

I swiped a hand across my eyes and came to a halt beside him. We stood in silence, two men, directionless, confused. The breeze weaved around us, ruffling our hair, but we were otherwise motionless.

“You must think I’m an idiot,” Finn finally said, disturbing the peacefulness around us. “You must think I’m a fucking moron.”

Releasing a long breath, I turned my head to find him watching me with a broken expression on his face. There were plenty of times I’d seen Finn upset—most of them had to do with Cass—but this was probably the worst.

On one occasion, they’d had a heated shouting match, where she’d accused him of holding her back from her dreams. I wasn’t exactly sure what dreams she was talking about exactly, expect for what appeared to be an interest in social-climbing. She was exactly like my mother.

“Those thoughts have crossed my mind multiple times,” I said, my expression quite serious.

Finn stared at me a second longer before his mask cracked. A smile appeared on his face, and then his shoulders began to shake with laughter. His laughter was deep and booming, and so infectious that I began to laugh along with him.

The laughter was so overwhelming that Finn slid to the ground and held himself as he laughed. Even I couldn’t hold the weight of my resounding laughs; I collapsed on the ground next to him, suddenly feeling drained.

Beside me, Finn’s laughter also died down, leaving a hollow silence hanging in the air. The laughter—not one of happiness, but one of disbelief that things that turned out this way. The acceptance that the events that had just taken place in our life were so fucked up that there was no way we would’ve been able to avoid it from happening.

It felt good to laugh with him, to know that even in our lowest moments, we had each other’s backs and that even in the aftermath of Cass’ evil, we could still laugh about it.

“I should’ve listened to you,” Finn said softly. “She got to me with stories of our past, of when we used to date in high school. Being back here, all the past memories resurfaced of the places we’d been together. It was so easy to forget all the shit that happened in the city. It was so easy to believe her.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” I placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. “I know how manipulative she is. I know how easily lies fall from her tongue.”

“What do I do now?” he asked me, his voice somber as he gazed out at the lake. A slow breeze was casting ripples across the surface.

Silence engulfed us as I let his question hang in the air. Normally, I would lead Finn in the direction of how life should be lived the Nathaniel James way, but now I was learning that my approach wasn’t any better than the next person’s.

The greatest thing about life was that we grew from our own mistakes. To learn a lesson was being handed the ability to shed the shell of our former self and transform into something better.

“Evolve.” The word came to life as it left my mouth. “Evolve into someone who takes chances, who hurts deeply, who loves fiercely. Evolve into someone who can change the world by being a superior version of their self.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I felt the weight of them. It was a discovery my parents—especially my mother—had never attained. This was my moment to be different. To really break free from being the product of messed up and bullshit that I already was.

In the moment of striking revelation, I made a promise to the universe—I would try. I would try to be something more than they were. It wasn’t too late for me.

The yellow in Finn’s eyes seemed to glow as he stared at me, dumbfounded. “Dude, where the fuck did that come from? What happened to the Nathaniel James I used to know?”

I shrugged, casting my eyes back to the lake. "He fell in love.”

Silence—painfully long and drawn out.

“You and my sister-” Finn began, but I cut him off.

“There’s nothing there anymore.” My tone was wistful as I spoke. “I’m not the kind of person she wants to be with. I’m not the kind of person she
should
be with. Even I know that.”

My words were true, but it still left a bitter ache behind.

“Nate, I know I lost my shit when Cass first told me about it, but my parents are right.” There was sincerity in Finn’s voice. “Kira is an adult now; she’s not a child. If she wants to be with you that’s her choice. It’s not something I can be mad about.”

A coldness, brittle and harsh, squeezed my chest as realization dawned on me. “That will never happen now. She hates me.”

Finn gave me a sad smile, but then he started to shake his head as though something had occurred to him. “Can you imagine? You and I actually brothers?”

“Being related to you for the rest of our lives? Sounds fucking terrible.” Despite the situation, I had to chuckle.

“Yeah, what a nightmare,” Finn agreed with a laugh. “Having to see you for every family gathering. And the kids you guys would have. Yech! With your genes, they’d have to be hidden in the basement.”

I elbowed him rather sharply in the ribs, which made him laugh even harder. But I was glad he was acting a little more like his usual self.

My attention was momentarily drawn to a figure hurrying along the beach towards us. It was hard to make out her face, but she had a distinctive feature that stood out even at this distance—vivid auburn hair.

My heart sank. It was Cass.

“Fuck,” I swore, shooting to my feet.

“What-” he began to say, and then caught sight of her too.

“Finn!” she was sobbing as she broke into a run.

For a moment, I seriously considering grabbing Finn and running in the opposite direction. It was a completely plausible plan—we had both run track. We could outrun her any old day.

But I was done running away. Finn and I were going to face this head on. We were going to confront Cass for all the fucked up ways she had tried to ruin our lives. And we were going to do it together.

Cass looked like a goddamn nightmare. I didn’t know what she’d been doing in the past hour, but she looked about as bad as a person could look.

Her face was streaked with black from her mascara; her lipstick was smudged; her normally tan complexion was pasty. Even her perfect, auburn locks were in complete disarray.

With a start, I realized this was the real Cass; for the first time her exterior perfectly reflected what was on the inside. A messed up girl who barely had control over her own life.

“Griffin.” She was sobbing before she even reached us, extending an arm towards Finn. “Can we please talk? We have to talk! We have to solve this. We have to be together.”

Oh, fuck. Bring on the shit show.

“Get the fuck away from me,” Finn said, his tone matching his icy expression as he pushed her arm away.

Cass stumbled a few steps back, her grey eyes as dead and lifeless as her heart. To be honest, I’d never seen her like this before, and I’d known her for a long time. Maybe she was finally realizing the seriousness of her actions. Maybe she really would change after this, but that didn’t mean Finn had to take her back.

“I need you to understand,” she sniffled, wiping her tears away. “I need you to forgive me. I-I don’t have anything else.”

Which was true. She didn’t have anything else. I knew she had unsuccessfully tried to find a wealthy, affluent guy in the city and failed. Then she’d tried to worm her way into Finn’s life again because he was her only ticket out of here.

Cass really was the same type of person my mother was. It wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if my mother had done some fucked up shit in her young life to get to the position she was in today.

“Forgive you?” Finn spat, leaning towards her in disbelief. “That’s the last thing I’ll ever do, Cassidy. You don’t deserve forgiveness. You deserve to spend the rest of your life trying to figure out why you do the horrible things that you do; why you lie and deceive people for your own personal gain.”

Cass clutched her chest as though his words had pierced it. Her eyes shot to me, and in them I saw a broken girl. She took a shaky breath. “Nate, I know I did some messed up things, but you have to understand how much I care for Finn. I did all this so he and I could be together.”

As I studied her desperate face, I couldn’t believe I actually felt bad for her. The things she had done were a product of a sick mind, and she needed help to fix herself. Regardless, there was no way Finn was going to be a part of her life anymore.

I shook my head slowly, looking away from her. “I’m sorry, Cass. You’ve done too much shit for us to overlook.”

As the words left my mouth, Cassidy’s face crumbled and the tears began spilling down her face. “Please, I know I shouldn’t have done what I did.” She spun around on Finn again. “I know I can change. Please don’t punish me for this. We belong together.”

Finn rotated his body away from Cassidy, facing the lake once again. “Cassidy, I will never be with you again. You didn’t just hurt me; you hurt my best friend, you hurt my sister, you hurt my parents. You destroyed any chance of us having a future together when you made a decision to act this way.”

“Finn, I-” she started to say, but Finn cut her off.

“Let me finish.” He held up a finger to silence her, still refusing to look at her. “I’m not a moron, Cass. You did this because you were bored. Because you wanted a life well beyond your means. With me, you knew you had a chance to get out of here.” He faltered, taking a moment to compose himself. “I’m not punishing you, I’m simply walking away. Which is what I want you to do right now. Walk away. When I turn around, I want the air to have replaced you.”

A choking sound escaped Cass’ mouth; defeat colored her face. In all the time I’d known Cass, I’d never seen her give up. She was a fighter, but it seemed like she knew when she had lost the war.

Cass’ eyes shot to me; blank, dead.

Once again, pity stirred in my chest as I regarded her. We both studied each other for a long moment; my mind was empty. Finally, she set her mouth in a tight line and walked away. I watched her go, until finally she disappeared through the trees that lined the entrance to the beach.

Reaching out, I placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder.

“She’s gone.”

“Good.” He exhaled, meeting me with pale yellow eyes that were as dead as hers.

“That was rough,” I said, realizing that it was finally over.

“It was necessary,” Finn responded.

He looked like a broken man who’d won a war, but had lost a lot in the process. Cass was gone from our lives forever. The feeling was bittersweet, but slowly things would get better.

The breeze brushed against us as we stood there a little longer, gazing out at the peaceful lake. My mind was still reeling; my emotions were trying to catch up to the events that had taken place.

It was hard to believe that within twenty-four hours, the messed up situation we’d been in had completely turned around. I was scared to even admit to myself that the unthinkable had just happened.

We were finally free of Cassidy Turner and her twisted mind.