Chasing the Wild Sparks (22 page)

“Are you okay?” Rod asks in my ear.

I nod and rest my head against his chest. I wish Finn would slow dance with me. He did this morning, but I had to force him to. I think he hated every second of it.

Rod’s arms tighten around my waist and he angles his mouth to my ear. “Finn and I kind of got into it after you went for a walk.”

I lift my head and look up at him. “What do you mean?”

“I made a smartass remark about him being pissed because Morgan was getting married before him.” He smiles contritely. “He didn’t like it. He would’ve punched me if it weren’t for Ivan breaking us up.”

“Rod!” I whine.

“I also made a remark about him not knowing what your real name is.”

“You did? Great. No wonder he’s upset!”

“What? I was wrong, but come on, Hadley. He’s being a jerk to you. What would you have done if he had punched me, even if I did deserve it?”

“I would’ve been mad!”

“He wouldn’t have cared. He doesn’t seem to care much about anything.”

“Yes, he does.”

“Look, I know he loves you. I just don’t think it’s enough. I hope I’m wrong.”

“So do I.”

“I don’t want to see you hurt. It breaks my heart to see you so sad.”

“It’s my own fault. I know how he feels, but I keep spurring him. Maybe he’s done with me. He needs someone who doesn’t want to get married.”

“He needs
you.”
I give Rod a small smile and kiss his cheek.

He sucks in his bottom lip, looking shy. He precipitously looks around the room. “We need a fast song. This slow dancing kind of sucks.”

I laugh and put my head back on his chest. “It does.”

“I want you to be happy. If he refuses to make you happy, then maybe you should rethink things.”

“Maybe. I love him, though. I want him to be happy.”

He sighs. “I know you do.”

“I just don’t know how to do that.”

“Your happiness is important, too.”

“Sometimes I forget about that. That’s not good to do.”

“No, it’s not. You don’t need a fucking man to make you happy, Hadders.”

I giggle. “Are you sure you’re not a woman?”

“Yeah.” He moves his hand down to his belt buckle. “Do you want me to show you proof?”

Grinning, I push his arm. “Shut up!”

The lights suddenly flash everywhere as a new song blares through the speakers.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Rod yells and spins away from me. “Come on, Hadders! Blow my whistle!”

I check out the crowd around us and laugh. He holds his hand out and I bound over to him, grab his hand and he swings me around his body. He takes me in his arms and cheekily shoves my shoulders down until I’m staring at the zipper of his jeans. I look up and he’s grinning down at me. My face heats up. Now he’s teasing me because of our conversation earlier. What a bastard.

Smirking wickedly, he mouths to me, “No?” He heaves me up and I slap his chest. He grabs my hand, putting his other hand on my lower back, right at the top of my ass as he swings us together; reminding me of doing that to Finn earlier. Rod has more rhythm, surprisingly. He pops his hips into me with the beat of the song. I really hope he is wearing a cup now.

I see Morgan and Ivan at the corner of my eye. They’re watching us and laughing, probably from also seeing Rod push me down to his crotch. How mortifying!

He moves his hands to my hips and spins me around. Leaning down, he rests his chin on my shoulder and rocks us together; whistling next to my ear and grinding us downward then back up over and over. We go down low enough that I can sit in his lap if I wanted to. I have to keep remembering my short skirt and keep my legs tightly together. He repeatedly bumps his groin up against my butt, popping with the song. I wonder what his facial expression looks like because mine is priceless, I’m sure.

The song ends and my favorite Usher song starts. “Yes!” I yell.

“Sorry. I’m not dancing to this.” Rod starts to walk away and I grab his arm.

“Get back here, Gregory!”

He grins and picks me up, twirling me around before setting me down. He takes both of my hands and intertwines our fingers, wrenching me to him. We swivel our hips together and he throws our hands up over our heads with the song. Our arms still above our heads, Rod and I grind our hips in a circular motion while rotating in a circle. He stops swiveling and walks me backward, staring down into my eyes, but occasionally flicking them up to see where we’re going. He lets go of my hands and clutches my hips, pushing me out with his and I push back into his with mine. This looks really bad, but it’s so fun.

I shove away from him and whirl around. He raises his arm and does his lasso he was doing this morning, but it’s more refined and looks good this time. He gyrates his hips along with his arm and casts his “lasso” out to me. I giggle and twirl back to him. He grabs my forearms and I hold onto his as we twist our hips rapidly around with the beat.

Briefly glancing around, I notice we’re in the middle of the dance floor and everyone is watching us.

Oh. My. God.

I try not to let it distract me as Rod keeps us going. He drops his hands and grabs my hips, rocking us widely to the sides. He slides his hands down to my legs and squats as I twist my hips around, his face hovering in front of my stomach. Tugging on my hips, he twirls me in place and I spin around a few times before stopping. He hops up and bends me backward. I can see and hear people cheering us on. This is embarrassing, but I don’t want to stop.

He yanks me up, holds onto my waist and grinds us in a circular motion to the beat. With my hands on his chest, I pop my hips against his, getting more into it. He grabs my hip and I hitch my leg up against him again, still careful not to flash anyone, and I incline back and he leans over me. Was Morgan right? Does it really look like we’re having sex? We’re just dancing!

We stand straight and I turn my back to his chest and he quickly does his move and draws me up. I turn around and we throw our hands up and circle our hands above our heads to the rhythm of our hips, while staring at each other. People are clapping to the music and encouraging us.

Too soon, the song ends and another slow one begins. I shyly smile at people as they compliment us. Rod is eating it up, though.

With my hands on his forearms and his on my hips, he leans in to me. “Let’s blow this and get a beer!” he shouts over the music. I nod up to him as he looks around us. Abruptly, his eyes grow wider than I’ve ever seen them before.

“What’s wrong?” I shout and grip his arms. What the hell is happening? Is it Morgan?

Rod doesn’t look at me, but mutters as his fingers tighten on my hips. “Fucking shit. Damn it.
Son of a bitch
!”

A hand from behind me grips my arm and wrenches me out of Rod’s hold.

I turn and look up into the very livid brown eyes of a Finnigan Robert Wilder.

And again, Rod stole the words right out of my mouth.

CHA
PTER 14

“What the hell are you doing here, Finn?”

“What the fuck are
you
doing here, Becks?” Finn has a hold of my arm and it’s starting to ache. He leads me off of the floor and over near an empty table, while Rod follows. I jerk my arm out of his grasp so I can turn around to face him. He’s still wearing his white dress shirt, but his sleeves are unbuttoned and rolled up past his elbows. His plaid tie is loosened and his hair is a mess, like he’s been running his hands through it. It’s extra loud where we are, since we’re not far from the huge, thumping speakers on the pillar next to us.

“You’re working!”

He shouts louder, “It’s almost midnight!”

“How did you even find me?”

“It helps when your best friend is a cop! It didn’t exactly take him long to find you!”
Damn you, Ricky Tesco!

“
Why
? I told you I wanted a night away from you!”

“I wanted to talk to you! And I’m definitely
not
leaving after the fucking shit I just saw!” He glares at Rod. “I ought to rip your fucking nuts off!” Finn sidesteps me towards Rod, and I throw myself into Finn’s chest.

“Finn, stop it!” I hold onto his arms, pressing my chest against his to feebly restrain him. Even over the heavy bass, I can feel his pounding heart in his chest accompanying his quick, angry breaths huffing down onto my forehead. I look over my shoulder to peer at Rod
, and motion with a nod in the direction of our booth.

He steps up behind me. “I’m not leaving if Wilder is going to hurt you!”

“Fuck you, Rodwell! I would never hurt her!”

“So you think!” Rod disparages loudly. Finn lunges, but I move with him and he stops.

“Rod! Go!”

“Fuck no, Hadley!” He glowers back at Finn and I’m caught in the middle of the two.

Finn growls over me, “What? Are you really going to protect her? That’s a joke! She’s
not
yours!” I cringe against him. Why is he flipping out over
Rod
? I’ve never seen Finn like this. He’s doing a lot of things lately that are new.

Morgan runs over. “Finn?” He ignores her and locks his hard stare onto me. Morgan turns her glare from him to me. I shake my head at her and move my eyes to our table, pleading with her to go. She turns to leave, but instead, swiftly pivots and points her finger into Finn’s chest.

“Listen to me Wilder, and listen to me good! If you don’t stop hurting Hadley, I’m going to tear your dick off and feed it to your most feral Finnatics! I’ll make it so that you’ll
want
to jump off of a bridge without a harness!”

His eyes leave my face and he returns Morgan’s glare. “This doesn’t concern you!”

“It doesn’t? Your girlfriend is also my best friend! She cried the whole ride home! I take that back—She
bawled
the whole ride home! So, don’t even tell me it’s none of my fucking business! You treat her like shit! You don’t even deserve her!”

“Is that why you brought her here? To find a replacement?” His shining brown eyes flick from Morgan’s face to mine. Does he really think that?

She taunts, “You never know! Just look at how sexy she is! Isn’t it driving you fucking crazy that other men have been lusting after her all night?”

His eyes are liquid fire, but I’m not sure if it’s from anger or the lights glaring off his contact lenses. “So,
you
are the one who sent her pictures to me right before I went on the Air!”

“What? You didn’t like them?” Finn narrows his glare, while Morgan’s eyes sparkle. “Did they make you want her all through work? I bet you even had a hard-on for her while reporting basketball scores!” Finn’s jaw tightens and his lips press together. Is that why he’s so mad? Morgan sent him pictures of me? What pictures? The ones she took at the house? Or did she take some of Rod and me dancing?

I look at my friends. “Morgan and Rod, give us a few minutes!”
“No!” Rod shouts.

“I’m not leaving you alone with him!” Morgan shouts adamantly.

“Five minutes!” I plead. Rod begrudgingly grabs Morgan’s arm and she tries to shake him off. I clasp Morgan’s shoulder. “Morgan, give me some time with him! Please!”

“Why? He only wants back into your vagina!” Wow.

“Morgan!” Finn seethes.

“What? Are you going to say that’s a lie? You think of her as a dick cozy!”

Shit. Finn’s going to kill her, too.

I jerk her out of his line of fire, just in case. “Morgan, go!” Ivan comes up behind her
just in time to pull her away.

“I’m watching you, Wilder!” she imparts. Ivan leads Morgan over to the table. Rod stays and I widen my eyes at him, willing him to go. He blinks a few times and stares at me. I nod at him and give him a reassuring smile. He gives Finn a steel glare before he finally steps back; both of my best friends looking over their shoulders as they walk away.

I turn back to Finn. “Go home, Finn!”

He looks away from me and runs a palm over his mouth, his thumb
, and index finger brushing through his stubble, before replying. He does that whenever he wants to say something, but has to restrain himself from actually saying it. He is
beyond
pissed off. I’ve only seen him do it twice, but both times the action wasn’t aimed at me.

Not this time.

He whips his head to glower at me. “Are you fucking kidding me? How could you do that with him?”
Do what
?

Incredulous, I ask, “Dance? With Rod?”

“That was not dancing, Becks! He was practically fucking you! How could you do that to
me
?” I guess he couldn’t stop himself from articulating what he really wanted to say for too long.

I drop my hands from his arms to put some distance between us. “I can’t believe you just said
that
! It was dancing!”

“I’ve been here for a while! That was
not
dancing!” Finn’s brown eyes burn into me, raw with a myriad of emotions that choke my soul; however, he’s this mad about me dancing with Rod? This is outrageous.

I turn to walk away. I can’t deal with him here and now. I need time, just as he said he does to think things through. I’m not having this fight with him next to a huge crowd during a slow song.

Finn grabs my arm again and lurches me to him.

“We’re not done, Becks!”

“Yes we are! We’re done! You’re not even supposed to be here!”

“What do you mean ‘we’re done’? Are you breaking up with me?”

I close my eyes. Am I?

I love Finnigan Robert Wilder.

With every ounce of my existence. I just can’t fight with him now.

I once again turn from him, but he reaches an arm around me and takes my hand, spinning me around so I’m facing him. Still holding my hand, he puts his other arm around my waist and we stare at each other. I let go of his hand and try to leave, but he pulls me up against him, winding his other arm around me. With my arms still down at my sides, he gently rocks us as he leans down and says into my ear, “I love you, Becks. You can’t leave me, baby.”

I reach back and pry his grip off of me and move out of his grasp. “Finn, I’m not doing this!”

His face is alarmed. “Becks, don’t go!”

“Why? You don’t want me around Rod? He’s just my friend!”

“He didn’t look like your friend five minutes ago!”

“At least he acknowledges to people we are! We don’t keep our friendship a secret!” He reaches for my hand, but I snatch it away.

He angrily throws his hand outward. “Greg Rodwell is in love with you! Why can’t you fucking see that?”

I’m appalled. “He is not, Finn! I thought you said you weren’t jealous?”

He drops his hand and puts both on his hips. “I’m not!”

I cross my arms. “In a lot of ways, I think Rod does love me more than you do!”

“Becks!”

“What? You don’t agree with that?”

I see him taking a deep breath as he glowers at the area around us. “Can we please go home? I hate having to yell in here!” Well, he did pull me near a big speaker.

I shake my head. “I’m here with Morgan and Rod! I’m not leaving!” I have to stand my ground. He’s not going to try and seduce me with his bedroom eyes and smooth voice.

I walk back to our table as a pounding song starts. I don’t look behind me, but I know Finn is following me. I can feel him.

When I get to the table, I hold my hands out to both Morgan and Rod. “Let’s dance?” They peer over my shoulder before looking at each other. Rod stands first and keeps his eyes focused behind me, a confirmation that Finn is definitely there.

Morgan says something to Ivan and rises from her seat. Ivan watches all of us edgily. This must be a difficult position for him to be in. His pregnant fiancée is stressing herself out over something that she shouldn’t be worrying about.

They stand in front of me and I slowly turn, grabbing a hand of each. Finn is there, his hands on his hips and a frown on his lips. I quickly avert my eyes and drag my friends around him out to the dance floor. I have no idea what Finn is going to do now. I can still sense his eyes on me, though.

Morgan leans on me and says into my ear. “Hadley, what happened? What did he say?”

“Nothing. I told him I’m staying with both of you.”

“He was going to beat the hell out of Rod!” she exclaims. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for her?

“No, he wasn’t. I wouldn’t have let him,” I state judiciously.

“Oh, fuck! I bet he’s beyond fucking pissed now!” Rod shouts and looks over his shoulder.

“Yes. He is,” I admit.

“Where is he at?” Morgan asks, pushing Rod to the side so she can see.

Rod glances around and I turn away. “The bar,” he replies. “Doing shots.”

“What?” I spin around and sure enough, Finn is picking up the first glass of a row of shots. There are women gathering around him as he swigs them. He doesn’t usually drink hard liquor. He drinks beer. What’s he trying to prove?

“Looks like he wants to get plastered fast,” Rod observes, reading my mind. “Did he drive, I wonder?”

I shrug and watch him down shot after shot. “Let his best friend escort him home.”

Morgan pulls on my arm. “How did he know where you were? I thought you said you didn’t tell him!”

I look up at her. “I didn’t! His best friend is a cop, Morgan, and I’m pretty sure Finn knows what car you drive. If he doesn’t, well, I’m sure it didn’t take much for them to figure it out. I also know that Ricky knows Richmond pretty well, since he grew up here and his job requires him to know the bars and nightclubs. Ricky probably kept an eye out while working and called Finn when he found your car in the lot. That’s how Finn got here so fast after work. No doubt in my mind.”

“Nice BFF!” Rod says.

“Shut up, Dick Rod!”

Rod asks, “How did he become friends with a cop?”

“Through his coworkers. The media works with police to get scoops and exclusive updates for their stories, and in turn, law enforcement gets hot tips and such about old or current cases, or new crimes happening. It can work as a mutually beneficial relationship. So, Ricky knew the other reporters at Finn’s station. Ricky’s also another extreme sports fan. They met when Finn got the job there and have been joined at the hip since.”

Rod coos, “Aww! His BFF is a Finnatic! How cute!”

I roll my eyes. “It
is
cute!” I giggle at our own absurdity. We finish out the song, as we all limply sway, keeping a watch on Finn, who is talking to a few people around him. He’s leaning, his elbow propped on the bar and he’s smiling as he listens to something he’s being told. He shakes his head and laughs, his eyes sliding over to me. I look away as a familiar song starts playing. Oh, shit.

“Ricky Martin! Come on, Hadders! My favorite song!” Forgetting about Finn, Rod grabs my hand and swings me around. His other hand goes to my back as he swings us to the rhythm. Does he not fear for his life?

Rod spins me and I surreptitiously check on Finn. He has a shot in his hand while heatedly watching me. That’s the perfect time, of course, for Rod to lift me off of the floor and twirl us around. So close to popping out, my breasts are now hovering above Rod’s face. Shit. Morgan is squealing around us, loving every second.

I bend as far as my back will let me, clinging to Rod’s hips w
ith my knees while throwing my arms out. Rod whirls us around and I swing back up, sliding down his body. Am I trying to make Finn jealous now? That wasn’t my intent, but since he’s here and downing shots, I’m going to loosen up, as well. Soon, he won’t even know what I’m doing anyway.

Spinning around, I rock against Rod’s chest. I think he’s picking up on my vibe because he slides his hands down my torso and to my hips, gripping my skirt. I don’t want Rod to do his signature move. Finn saw it once already. It’d be downright cruel to make him endure it again. Instead, I clasp Rod’s hands behind me and bend him forward with me, like a reverse dip. We stand; I turn and raise my hands above my head and swing my arms in a circular motion, causing my hips to follow suit. Rod then takes my lead and we move our hips tightly together.