𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟎𝟐

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟎𝟖

FINN

“You’re back to being weird,” Farhan points out from his place on his bike.

We just finished riding around the empty road. Farhan wanted to go for a ride and I joined him.

Just like Jack, Farhan needs supervision. The man has gotten into so many minor accidents with his bike even though he knows perfectly how to ride.

We parked our bikes near the barriers. The sun set long before we got on our bikes, the sky is dark, clouds moving lightly across it, passing through the bright moon.

Farhan is seated on his bike, his helmet resting in front of him while I’m leaning against mine, my helmet resting against the handle.

“What?” I ask.

“You’re back to being weird.” He repeats, “in a good way. You’ve been a pain to be around for the past 8 or 9 months. At one point, I thought something was wrong with your hormones.”

I swear, this man says the most out of pocket things.

“Again, what?”

“You and Bree are talking again,”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He raises an eyebrow, “did you stop having those feelings for which you avoided her for that long time period?” when I don’t say anything, he shakes his head, making a ‘tsk’ sound.

So yes, I avoided Bree for 9 months. And like I said, I was a being a jerk. A jealous jerk.

During that time period, Jake and Bree were dating and it made my blood boil. Everytime I caught him touching her, I had to force myself not to punch him right then and there.

Worst of all, he knew how much it affected me and purposely touched her or kissed her in front of me.

Farhan and Faizan were the only ones who noticed my weird behavior, maybe the girls did too- except Bree. Jack was always busy being drunk to notice and Ryan was always glaring at Jay.

Their relationship shouldn’t have affected me as much as it did. Bree and I have had no romantic relationship over the years we’ve known each other and she has always seen me as a friend.

Just a friend. And that always bothered me.

It made sense. Ryan trusts me around Bree but as his brother, he keeps reminding me to keep my distance from her.

Even the day I first met her, Ryan told me point blank to stay away from her or else I’d be dead. He gave that threat before I met her and I was confident that there was no way I would fall for her.

That confidence quickly died down when I officially met her.

She was not only beautiful but kind. All of her gestures were genuine. The way she greeted me, the way she smiled and laughed at my jokes.

When the weekend came to an end, I knew I would have a hard time keeping my cool around her.

I started looking forward to spending holidays with Ryan and Jack because they always went to visit Bree. I was being selfish but I started to love spending holidays after boycotting them for years.

I never made a move on Bree, never asked her out because I knew Ryan won’t act the same around me. I saw how he was with Bree’s partners, how his walls would build up when he was meeting them. He is always on alert around them.

I spent so much time trying to figure out a way for me to ask out Bree without having to destroy my friendship with Ryan.

There was one problem.

Bree never showed that she liked me the way I liked her. She always saw me as her brothers’ friend and kept her distance. If I asked her out and she had said no then it would’ve been awkward from then.

So I tried just being friends with her.

It’s harder than I thought.

“You know…” Farhan starts, pulling me out of my thoughts, “you can’t act like that again. Friends are supportive of each other,” he grins.

“I’ll support you if you run into a tree and break your bones,” I say and smile.

“No, thank you. I need to keep my bones intact. Not only because Faizan will give me another lecture but because I’m close to grasping my goal,”

Right. He has been trying to track his goal since I could remember. Faizan said whatever he’s doing he started it the moment he got a grasp of the situation. The only reason he moved here was because of that goal.

From the things he has said, it’s hard to pin point what his goal actually is. He’s been after the Morgan family, tracking their location but somehow they always slip through his fingers when he’s getting close.

The Morgan’s are known to be a very secretive family so that makes sense.

“What is your goal?” I ask after a moment.

He grins, “marriage,”

I stare at him, unblinking for more than a minute.

“What the fuck?”

“You won’t understand,” he puts his helmet back on, “don’t worry your small brain,”

“I have a bigger brain than yours,” I say, standing straight and picking up my helmet.

He hums as I put my helmet on, “must be why you can’t date the girl you like,”

My jaw clenches and I glare at Farhan, only to earn a grin from him before he shuts his visor. I do the same. I swing my leg over the bike and place my hands on the handle, ready to start it.

“Race you back to the building,” Farhan says before he revs his motorbike. Without another sentence, he speeds off.

I quickly start mine and speed off after him, determined to beat him in the sudden race.

He ends up beating me and rubs his win on my face.