Lies Inside (9 page)

“Yeah, two little girls. Four and two. I thought it might stop after they were born, but it just seemed to get worse.”

She was scared to ask the next question. She knew she didn’t want to hear the answer. “How many times?”

“I lost count.” He threw his head back and closed his eyes as a few more tears escaped to run down his reddened cheeks.

“Did he make you...do that...to him?” She could hardly get the words out.

“No.” He brought his eyes back to hers. “At first, he’d make me touch him. Then he got to the point where he put himself...” Finn shook his head and continued, “Toward the end, I’d take whatever drink he’d give me, just so he’d get it over with. I let him. I let him do it to me.”

“Finn, he was the adult in the situation. You never deserved any of it. It was never your fault.” She cupped his cheek with her hand. She saw in his eyes that he was starting to believe her. “Do you think there were others?”

“No, thank God. He’d always say I was ‘the only boy for him.’ It made me sick. He could go and make love to his wife and kiss his daughters goodnight after he’d spent hours torturing me.”

“It won’t happen ever again. We’ll move to Borneo if we have to. He’s never going to touch you again.”

He looked up at her confused. “Where the hell is Borneo?”

“I don’t know, but it sounds far away. You know I love you?”

“Yes. I really do.”

Finn and Lucy spent most of that Sunday locked away in Finn’s room. They talked a little more about Two Roads. It was still all pretty raw, so they moved on to other subjects. They ended up playing “Name That Tune.” Finn would hum a few bars of a song, and Lucy would guess it. He got a little frustrated that he couldn’t stump her after she’d guessed about twenty right.

Rylan and Jack hadn’t come looking for them all day. Finn believed they should just leave them to their assumptions. Lucy didn’t know if her brother could handle knowing if she had been intimate with Finn. For the time being, they’d just let them wonder.

There was one thing they did need to do though. Call Aiden.

“Was I right? Did she purr?”

“Aiden, I’m right here. You’re on speaker.”

“We didn’t get that far.” Finn took a long deep breath. “She knows. I told her.”

Aiden was silent.

“Aiden? Come on, man. Say something.”

His voice was low and coarse. “Did he tell you who it was?”

“No, I don’t think he’s quite ready for that yet.” Finn brought his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

“I’m glad you’re there for him. There’s only so much I can do from here.”

“I let him know we’d both be here for him when he’s ready.”

“Absolutely.”

Finn rubbed his hands against his face. He was trying to stop himself from crying again. “Thanks, both of you.”

“Okay, if you guys are going to start making out, can you call me back later?”

“We’re not making out.” Lucy rolled her eyes as Finn brought her hand to his lips.

“Not yet.” That was the first time she’d seen that melt-worthy grin grace his face all day. It was so funny how two little words could cause her face go from pale pink to tomato red in an instant.

“You know I have to go back to school tomorrow even if you bastards still have one more day off.”

“Fine. We’ll call you tomorrow. Thank you, Aiden. For everything.” He was a good friend to Finn. He’d even broke up with a girl he loved over what she’d done to Finn. Finn even seemed a little grateful about Veronica spreading the “rumor” of the picture. If she hadn’t, he might have never felt like he had an excuse to come home. Home to Lucy.

“Anything for Finn and his best gal.”

Finn shut his phone off and kissed Lucy. She let him lead while still letting him know she was enjoying each moment.

The end of the school year was rapidly approaching. There was prom, then finals and graduation. They all had college mapped out. Rylan accepted a cheer leading scholarship from NYU. Jack worked out all spring and traveled on weekends trying out for several scholarships for basketball. He had a hard time choosing between Western Connecticut State and NYU, but after he and Rylan discussed it, they knew they couldn’t be that far away from each other. The four of them began planning their new life as NYU students.

In the meantime, Claire worked day and night on the huge graduation party for the kids. It seemed as if she were sending out over a hundred invitations. She might have very well invited the whole town.

Aiden arrived at Finn’s house right before they were all supposed to leave for graduation. Finn grabbed his stuff and ran inside with it. Lucy felt the need to talk to Aiden for a few minutes while they waited by Finn’s new car, a black Mazda6.

“He looks great. I’m proud of you, Luce.”

She laughed when he called her Luce. “It’s not all me. He’s worked really hard.”

“Well, whatever you two have been doing, it’s working.”

She ran her fingers through her hair and over her new dress. For a girl that hardly ever wore dresses, she kind of liked getting all dolled up for Finn. Lucy had found the white strapless dress with a black paisley design the day before. It had an empire waist with a little black bow right beneath her breasts and a skirt that flowed to her knees.

He brought her into his arms for a soft hug. “I’m never going to stop telling Finn what a lucky son of a bitch he is. I can’t believe all you’re doing for him.”

“I really just hope he doesn’t hate me after what we’ve got planned.”

“On the trillion to one chance that he does, I’m telling him it was all your idea.”

She smacked him on the shoulder as he leaned against Finn’s car.

“You think he’s really ready for all we’ve got planned?” Aiden’s voice was low and deadly serious as he stared in front of him. He and Lucy had been talking for months about what they needed to do this summer, and Finn had agreed to try.

“I think so. He knows what we want to do. I think he’s just scared of what will happen when it all comes out. His family and the police, he’s ready to tell us, but them too?”

“He thinks it’s going to be hard to prove?”

“I guess so. I mean, there’s you. You saw the pictures and the bruises. You can testify to that at least. He just thinks it will be a he said/he said kind of deal.” Lucy looked down as her fingers twisted together nervously.

“Hopefully, that won’t be a problem.” Lucy gave him a slightly confused look as she arched one eyebrow. “This is the part when you call me a genius.”

“What did you do?”

“Did Finn ever tell you after he slammed his computer against our dorm room wall that he left it with me?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“He did. I fixed it. I’ve got the file and e-mail on a CD. I even got the guy’s IP address.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“No, someone local was all I could tell. I didn’t get into it any further. I figure when we go to the cops, they can look into all of that.”

She turned and wrapped her arms around Aiden and planted a big, wet kiss on his cheek. “You are a genius.”

“I leave you two for five minutes.” Aiden sighed and released Lucy as Finn pulled her into his arms.

“I’m just so irresistible. She can’t help herself.” Aiden smiled before Finn grabbed his head and shoved him into the backseat of the car.

It was the smallest graduating class in about a decade, making the ceremony bearable. Jack was one of the last to cross the stage. The crowd erupted in thunderous applause as the prom king and basketball star received his diploma. Most of the cheers came from the O’Malleys and Lane, but it was sweet just the same. Lucy had to hand it to her brother, for all his faults, Jack had really pulled it together. He had Rylan, who adored him, and a full ride basketball scholarship to the NYU. She hoped that maybe the NBA was in his future, too.

“I thought this day would never come.” Lucy’s little arms barely made it around Jack’s gargantuan neck.

Lane came up behind Jack and Lucy and joined in their little moment. “I’m so proud of both of you. I can’t believe this is it—my twins graduating and going off to college. I know your mother is looking down on you today.” He started to tear up.

“Dad, it’s okay.” Lucy took him in her arms.

“I feel so bad that she missed so much of your lives. I know she would have been here with the camera and confetti. Now you both are leaving me. I feel the empty nest syndrome coming on all ready.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to spend with us. We have all summer. Plus we’re only going to be an hour’s drive away.”

“I know. You both grew up so fast.”

Jack took Lane from Lucy and wrapped him in his arms. “We love you, and we wouldn’t trade you for any other dad in the world. You have done the best you could. Don’t ever doubt that. You are a big part of the reason Luce and I turned out as well as we have and have our heads on straight.”

For a basketball player, Jack sure had a way with words.

They ended the family bonding before returning to the O’Malley’s place. It really was an extravaganza. Most of the senior class and their families were there plus every friend or acquaintance of Murphy and Claire’s on the east coast. Overall, about three hundred people fit under the monstrous white tents set up behind the house. Rylan’s favorite restaurant in Manhattan catered the food, and there was a massive dance floor with a deejay that played everyone’s favorite songs.

Finn wore one of Lucy’s favorite colors, black, which made Lucy want spend the rest of the day staring into his eyes. He looked so damned sexy in his black slacks and black button up shirt.

It was barely evening, and Lucy had already danced with Murphy, her father, Jack, and even Aiden. She was in desperate need of a break—a Finn break. Every time she caught a glimpse of his black shirt across his shoulders, she shuddered. He finally got her back in his arms and twirled her around one last time before he made a suggestion.

“Everyone’s out here. The house is completely deserted.”

“Why, Mr. O’Malley. What on earth are you suggesting?” She batted her eyelashes as he held her closer.

“Aiden is going to be here for two weeks. How much Finn and Lucy alone time are we really going to get?”

“You’re probably right. We should squeeze in as much as we can.”

Finn grabbed her hand, dragging her off the dance floor and up to the front of the house. They sprinted up the front steps, and she almost lost her shoe. As soon as they got inside and shut the door, Finn crushed Lucy to him and kissed her passionately. She moaned softly into his mouth as she felt the heat radiating throughout her body. She thought maybe he was ready for some real alone time. She could only hope that this night would be the night.