Synonym

Chapter 46

"Who are you texting?"

Finn was furiously glaring at his phone like it was the sole cause of all his pain. If I ever thought I saw his glare, I was sadly mistaken. His eyes snapped from the device in his right hand, softening as he looked at my exhausted expression, the front strands of my hair falling from my ponytail to frame my face.

"My mother," He muttered before slipping the black phone into his back pocket, picking up a heavy cardboard box off the wooden floor of Owen's one person dorm room.

"How did she get your number?" I asked probably a little too bluntly. I picked up another box and turned to look at Finn again, who was standing there, his intense eyes watching me.

"Dad gave it to her. She keeps bugging me about seeing my siblings before we go to Tokyo. I don't want anything to do with her. Especially after what she said about you. That was fucked up and it wasn't even her place to voice an opinion."

Owen walked into the dorm room again with a small sheen of sweat starting to form on his forehead. "Thanks again for helping me, I know you guys are busy." Owen was moving into an apartment and out of the dorms so Finn and I agreed to help do some of the heavy lifting with him. Emma was here but she wasn't the strongest or the most handy person so she took small things.

"No problem, man. What are friends for?" Finn responded with a small smile before slipping through the door with the box of books. I followed him into the empty hallway, hoping to continue our conversation.

"Well like it or not, she did raise you so I think she had a little bit of a right to voice her opinion. Even though she was kind of a bitch about it." I heard Finn let out a deep breath of moderate annoyance when I defender her so I kept talking. "Are you thinking about meeting them?"

Emma's petite figure dressed in a white T-shirt and black jeans rounded the corner and smiled at the two of us as she headed back towards Owen's room. Finn and I passed the corner, hitting the down arrow on the elevator. "I don't want to see her ever again and I certainly don't want to see her new husband. My siblings are under four. It's not like they'd even grasp what was happening or even remember it when they're older."

I could sense by the suddenness in the way he ended his sentence and Finn's partly opened lips that he wasn't done talking but he stayed silent. When the steel doors of the empty elevator opened, we both stepped in. This box wasn't too heavy, but my arms were a little sore from constantly carrying them. Emma needed to move out of her dorm for the summer too, so this morning had been spent at her place moving.

The doors shut in front of my eyes before I spoke up. "But?" I prompted gently.

A wistful sigh escaped Finn's pink lips. "But they're just children. They haven't contributed to this mess. You know I'm a sucker for kids. But I know if I go, I'll be expected to see them again. You can't tell a three year old that's her brother and then have him leave until she's in her teens. I also don't want them growing up thinking their brothers an asshole who wouldn't give them the time of day."

Finn was usually the calm, cool, and collected one. He worked problems out in an orderly fashion to find the most logical answer. Right now, he was anything but calm, cool, or collected. His analytical brain was like mine in the sense that he couldn't make up his mind because he always saw all the tinny little negatives. That ability was in hyper drive right now.

"I think you should forget about your mother and her husband. Forget about your father and me. Don't think about the future. Just; do you want to meet your siblings?" I spoke as the doors opened, allowing us to walk into the cold lobby and through the class doors, into the sweltering late May heat.

"Yeah," He answered without hesitation as we crossed the parking lot to Owen's white sedan. I plopped the box in the trunk with some of the other boxes, my arms relieved that I wasn't carrying the weight anymore. "But all those things you just told me to ignore are kind of a big deal." Finn added while placing his box in the car.

"Are you tired?" He asked exasperatedly while watching me stretch my sore arms by swinging them behind my back. "Guess that means we'll just have to hit the gym more." Finn smiled with a taunting look.

"No! Just because classes are over does not mean I'm spending my life in the gym." I rushed to defend myself. But I hate to admit it, but now that I wasn't playing 14 hours a day, only 8, I was feeling a little weaker. I didn't want to start losing all my muscle tone but 8 hours was probably healthier than 14.

"Well, when we're in Tokyo you know training is going to get amped up."

"Stop changing the topic. The kids. Do you think you are going to go see them?" I dodged his attempt at changing the topic and crossed my arms, leaning on the taillights of the car while crossing my ankles.

"I don't know. There's positives and negatives." He sighed while running his hand through his dirty blond locks. I knew what he was doing, Finn was going to keep playing both sides in an attempt to frustrate me into giving an opinion which he would ultimately follow.

"That's not going to work this time." I stated plainly. "I'm not going to tell you what to do."

"It worked last time." He smirked at me while crossing his bulging arms. I mean call me violent or demented, but I loved myself a man who could beat the living shit out of someone for me. Not that Finn would ever need to throw a punch for me, but he could and he would. I found that sexy as fuck. I don't exactly find violence sexy but then again, I'm not about to turn of an MMA fight or look away from a fair bar fight.

I'm fucked, I already know that. Sue me.

"And it's not going to work this time so stop it." I argued back. "Look Finn," I sighed. "I'll support either choice you make. I'm honestly indifferent but all I'm saying is don't drag me or your mom's dislike for me into this."

"Okay. I'll think about it." Finn relented while glancing at the door to see Owen and Emma coming down with the last two boxes.

"That's all I'm asking." A smile formed on my face despite the fact that I felt like I was inside of a furnace. How does it get this hot in the North? I hate the outdoors.

Finn moved towards me with a mischievous grin on his face. His arms uncrossed and widened to engulf me in a hug. "No! You're all sweaty!" I protested while putting my hands out.

"We're always sweaty after practice. A lot more than this." Finn reasoned with a smirk. He wasn't even that sweaty, just sticky like I was. I couldn't stop him from trapping me between his body and the car, his hot arms wrapping around me. I groaned in protest while he laughed at me, his deep voice filling my ears like liquid gold.

"You're lucky I love you." I muttered into his chest.

"That I am."