SWNOVELS Finn Rhodes Forever: Chapter 27
ONCE WE PLACED our dinner orders, Finn turned to the Thompsons. “Tell us more about how to keep your relationship alive after ten years of marriage.”
Oh my god, Finn. What the fuck was he doing? He was trying to get them to say more weird shit.
Shannon opened her mouth. “Butt pl—”
“Hiking.” I cleared my throat. “Finn and I love hiking and camping. We used to do it as kids and then teenagers so it’s nice to spend time out in nature together again.” I glanced at him. “I missed doing that.”
His gaze softened as he studied my face and his mouth tipped up in a sincere smile.
“I missed it too, baby.” He gave me a lingering, sweet look before his eyes turned wicked. “Shannon, Jackson, you should join us sometime.”
I sucked in a breath. No!
Shannon gasped. “We would love that.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “Have you guys ever seen a Sasquatch?”
Finn’s hand twitched on my thigh. “Not yet.”
Jackson glanced up from scrolling on his phone. “If you do see one, you should capture it so you can sell it to the government.”
I blew a long breath out and glanced at the door. I should leave and walk straight into the ocean.
Shannon clapped her hands together. “We know so many camping songs.” She elbowed Jackson and he flinched.
“What?” he asked.
“I was saying that we know so many camping songs.” She waved her hand. “What was that one about the raccoon?”
“Oh, uh.” Jackson rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Little Timmy something.”
“Yes!” Shannon lit up. “Little Timmy Trashrat.”
“I don’t know that one.” Finn cocked his head. “Sing it for us?”
I closed my eyes and fought the urge to sink under the table.
“Little Timmy Trashraaaat,” Shannon sang and Jackson joined in, slapping the table to create a beat. Half the restaurant was staring at us. “Timmy loves to forage through trash,” she sang in falsetto. She closed her eyes, swaying. “He visits at night and the bins go—” She pointed at me, waiting.
I shook my head. “I don’t know this one.” It wasn’t even about camping.
“Crash!” she finished before they sang the rest of the song about a racoon who ate garbage, three more verses. She drew out the last few notes then bowed in her seat to Finn’s applause. My face was burning red.
Jackson looped an arm around Shannon’s waist and dragged her closer. “God, Shan, you’re so fucking hot when you sing,” he growled.
She shot him a sexy smirk, narrowing her eyes. “Behave and you’ll get to hear more.”
He bit the air in front of her face. “I’m going to spank you for being a bad girl.”
Uh.
“Do it. Do it now,” she snarled.
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. Were they this weird with everyone?
“I will,” Jackson said, chomping at the air. “God, you’re so sexy.” He leaned in to sniff her neck and she moaned loudly. He whispered something in her ear and her eyelids drooped.
Jackson sat back in his chair and slugged back half his wine while Shannon fanned herself. Her chair scraped as she stood quickly. “I’ll be right back. I have to use the ladies’ room.” She widened her eyes meaningfully at Jackson, who wiggled his eyebrows at her.
I sucked in a breath. Noooooooooo. Not here.
Shannon disappeared to use the washroom and Jackson’s eyes followed her. I could see him mouthing eight, nine, ten before he stood.
“I need to use the washroom as well,” he informed us before he followed his wife.
“You think he’s checking her labia?” Finn asked, and I guzzled half my glass of wine.
“You say that like you even know what the labia are.”
He snorted. “You say that like I didn’t make you come twice that night.”
A shimmer of lust hit me between my legs and I sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the heat. “Whatever.”
“Mhm. Whatever.” His voice teased me but I refused to look at him.
“When our food arrives, let’s eat as fast as possible so we can go home.”
He pulled my chair closer to his and looped his arm around my shoulder. “Go home, huh? You got something planned after this?” His breath tickled my ear.
“You know what I meant. The bar. Where we both live.”
“Come over for dinner tomorrow.”
I turned to meet his gaze and his sincerity struck me right in the chest.
“Come on,” he whispered, winking. “No weird poo emoji t-shirt, no ugly bag dress, just you and me eating dinner. I’ll put a movie on and we can hang out. You don’t even have to check my feet for fungus.”
My mouth curved up against my will. “Promise?”
“I promise I’ll never ask you to check my feet for fungus. Ever, Liv.”
I snorted. “Okay. Tomorrow, then.”
He pulled me a little closer to his chest and I smiled. This was nice, sitting like this. In an alternate universe, we would have been sitting here on a Friday night, eating dinner together. Maybe we’d already be married. We’d go home to the apartment we lived in together.
My heart twisted thinking about all these sweet thoughts, and a stab of worry pierced through. Those things weren’t real.
Something caught my attention and I turned toward the hallway with the washrooms. Beside the bar, Avery’s eyes narrowed as she listened with a frown.
Oh my god.
Moaning. There were moaning sounds coming from the bathroom. And was that…slapping? Oh my god.
Finn lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do you think that’s him spanking her or his balls slapping against her?”
Avery’s eyes went wide as she realized what was happening in there. The moaning was increasing in volume and she gestured frantically at Max, the manager, pointing at the music.
“Turn it up,” she mouthed at him, pointing at the ceiling.
The music got louder, barely drowning out Shannon’s wailing from the bathroom as she climaxed.
“When they come back,” Finn murmured, “let’s ask them to be the godparents of our children.”
I sighed, closing my eyes and ignoring the little pulse of pleasure at our children. “Finn, I want to leave.”
“What about our food?”
My eyes pleaded. “I’ll fake sickness. I’ll say I got my period.”
“Alright.” He shook his head at me, eyes bright. “You’ve had enough torture for tonight.” He gestured to our server for the bill.
A crashing noise came from the hallway and Shannon stumbled out, pulling her dress down over her thighs, tears streaming down her face.
“Baby, I’m sorry!” Jackson hurried after her, buckling his belt. “I was kidding.”
“You always call me a bad girl,” Shannon sobbed, stopping in front of our table. “How come you never call me a good girl?”
Finn and I, along with the entire restaurant, watched in stunned silence.
“I can’t spank you and call you a good girl,” Jackson protested. “Those things don’t go together.”
“It’s never about what I want,” she wailed before lurching for her wine glass.
I clutched Finn. “Oh god.”
Shannon threw the glass of red wine in Jackson’s face and people around us gasped. The wine splattered all over my baptism dress.
Jackson wiped his face off. “See, you are a bad girl.”
“Ugh!” Shannon grabbed his glass of wine and tossed that in his face before storming out.
Jackson followed, hot on her heels. “You do this on purpose to make me horny, Shannon. Get back here.”
The front door slammed and the restaurant sat in silence, watching through the big windows as they argued outside.
“Oh no,” Finn droned in a flat voice, glancing at all the wine that had stained my dress. “Your dress.” He reached for his glass and tipped the rest onto my lap.
My eyes widened even more and I held back a laugh.
“Wowwwww.” Avery appeared at our table. “You brought the Thompsons here, huh?”
I winced. “I’m so sorry, Av. You can drink for free at the bar for the rest of the summer.”
She snorted. “Deal.”
After Finn and I argued over the bill—he won—we left, climbing into the beater minivan I had begged to borrow from the mechanic.
Finn laughed all the way home.