The Heiress {Finnick Odair}

Let Her Go

Amara stared at Finnick, who was breathing so heavily that Amara wondered if he'd run there.

He glanced over her shoulder and made eye-contact with Jade, who jumped off the couch and disappeared into her bedroom.

"Amara," he breathed. He was looking at her like the morning without her had been the worst morning of his life.

This was what she hated. These longing looks after a night with someone else. Being with him and never being able to have him while he used her to satisfy whatever emotional need he had was driving her crazy. He was asking her to be his without being willing to be with her. Without loving her enough to choose her every time.

"What do you want?" she asked, and she saw him flinch slightly. She didn't have it within herself to care.

"Can I come in?"

"You can tell me what you want," she said.

"What happened? Please tell me what I did."

"You were so wasted that I'm not surprised you don't remember." He waited for her to tell him what the issue was. He thought about what Beetee said: The kiss isn't the issue.

"I can't solve a problem if I don't know what the problem is."

She was silent as she continued to glare at him.

"Please, Amara." He was willing to beg. He would get on his knees in front of her. "You're my best friend--" she flinched, and he wondered why that would cause her so much pain. "Is it because I kissed you? Because I'm so sorry and I was completely wasted."

"Why do you do it?" she asked. He blinked. Why he did what? Clearly Beetee was right; this wasn't about the kiss.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Why do you go to those parties? Why do you meet up with those women? Why do you come home and look at me like you want me? Why do you ask me to be yours in everything but name? Why do you do it?"

It was slowly killing her, and she could see the exact moment on his face when he realized.

He could never tell her. He could never tell her about why he did the things he did because he was forbidden to. He could never tell her how he was sold and how everything he did was to protect her.

But he understood. He understood that he had never really tried to hide that he was in love with her. He understood that if all the victors noticed, she had to as well. Their friendship hadn't been just a friendship since that first year. It had always been something more, but he could never explain to her why he was doing what he was doing without endangering her life, or worse- condemning her to his fate.

But he was killing her. It was killing her that he asked so much of her and turned and went to those parties. Was with all those women.

"You came home last night and I could still smell her perfume on you. You go out and you do whatever you want, and I'm the one you come home to. I'm the one you ask to pick up the pieces."