i'm not yours | f.balor

forty

Dinner starts off well. Small topic conversations. That is, until Roman says, "So, tell us, Tayla. What did you and Finn talk about last night that you stayed up so late and couldn't come to breakfast with us this morning?"

I almost choke on my bite of mac n' cheese when Finn says, "We talked about houses. I brought up the idea of moving into a neighborhood with security and everything to make sure she's safe and away from Tony."

My mom says, "That sounds very thoughtful of you, Finn." She takes a bite of her food. "What kind of houses did you talk about?"

Finn says, "We just talked about neighborhoods that were nearby that had extra security. Like gated communities."

Roman looks at me as I stay quiet and he says, "Any community in particular? I know of a few that have a few houses that are up for rent."

I jump into the conversation and say, "Griffin Park and Storey Lake are the top two that we came up with." Finn doesn't know any of the gated communities so I had to jump in so it wouldn't look very suspicious.

Roman seems to believe it and Galina says, "I heard Storey Lake has beautiful homes."

"They do," I say, taking a bite of my mac n' cheese. "We looked." Well, I looked when looking for apartments after Tony attacked me.

My mom says, "Finn is a very smart man."

I nod and look over at Finn. He smiles at me and I say, "Yes he is. He's also very generous, humorous, and quite attractive if I do say so myself." Galina and my mother both laugh and I smile.

Roman groans and says, "God, just please get together already. We're tired of the waiting." His wife hits his shoulder.

Finn and I laugh as Finn says, "Give us some time, Roman. We're both not ready for a relationship yet."

"We're ready for it," my brother says.

By this time, Finn's left hand rests on my right thigh under the table. I keep eating like nothing is happening under the table.

My mother says, "Roman, leave the kids alone. Pressuring them won't do anything."

I say, "Thank you, Mom."

Finn laughs beside me and I smile up at him. He looks over at me as he takes a bite of his food. "This tastes amazing, Mrs. Anoa'i."

"Thank you, Finn," she says. "It's Tayla's favorite recipe. She'll have to make it for you when you visit her in her new house."

I look at my mom then look at Finn and Finn says, "Yeah. She will have to." He smiles at me and grips my thigh a bit and I gasp, covering it with a cough.

Galina asks, "You okay, Tayla?"

I nod and say, "Yeah. The food just went down the wrong pipe. I'm okay. Everything's good." I bat Finn's hand away from my thigh under the table and he snickers under his breath.

Finn teases, "I don't have to give ya the Heimlich, do I?"

I shoot him a glare and say, "Shut up."

Roman laughs again and says, "Stop being hostile toward Finn, Tay. The man just wants to make sure that you are safe."

I mumble under my breath, "It's his fault I almost choked and died." Finn hears me and laughs softly.

My mom says, "So, Finn. What are your plans for tomorrow? Will you be able to stay for breakfast or is your flight early?"

Finn finishes up what's on his plate before he says, "My flight isn't until eleven tomorrow morning so I'll be able to stay for breakfast. I was going to leave at ten."

Roman says, "I can drive you to the airport, Finn. It wouldn't be an issue."

"That sounds good," Finn says. "Thank ya, Roman."

My brother looks at me then looks at Finn before he says, "Anything for my sister's future boyfriend." I kick Roman under the table and he groans in pain.

My mother scolds me by saying, "Tayla Reigns. Apologize to your brother."

"He deserved it," I point out. "Tell him to stop making future boyfriend jokes because it's getting annoying at this point."

Roman says, "Someone spit in Tayla's mac n' cheese."

I shoot glares at my brother before I get up. Finn calls my name but I walk upstairs into my room. I shut the door.

Sighing, I sit on the bed, crossing my legs. I put my head in my hands and sigh again.

The bedroom door opens and I look up to see my mother. She looks at me with sad eyes as she asks, "What's wrong, Tayla? You can talk to me."

"I feel like everyone just expects me to get over what happened to me," I say, voice cracking. "I ended a relationship and got assaulted for it all within twenty minutes. I can't just get over that, Mom."

Mom walks into the room and sits next to me. She hugs me and I put my face into her shoulder. She says, "No one is expecting you to get over what Tony did to you. Not this soon, anyway. I'm not and Roman's not."

I start to cry and I say, "I'm trying to get over it because I do want to be with Finn. The nightmares aren't helping and the fact that he could show up at any house show is terrifying."

My mother runs her fingers through my hair as she says, "We're all just trying to help, Tayla. You know how your brother can be."

I look up at my mom and say, "He made jokes about me ending it with Tony right after I met Finn, saying I should break up with Tony and be with Finn, and now that I'm not with Tony, it feels like he's pressuring me to be with Finn."

Mom says, "I'll talk to him about it but Tayla, know that no one is pressuring you to be with Finn. We all adore Finn, but you'll make the decision to be with him when you're ready. We're here to help you through everything you're going through and we're ready to support you when you do decide to be with Finn."

I nod and my mom wipes my tears away, drying my face. I hug her again, squeezing out a couple of tears in the process.

There's a noise from the doorway and I look up to see Finn leaning against the door frame. My mother lets me go and I walk up to Finn, immediately wrapping my arms around him. I bury my face in his chest as he wraps his arms around my shoulders.

Mom leaves the room and Finn lifts my head up. "I didn't know that's how ya felt," he says to me softly.

"It hasn't bothered me until that moment," I admit. "I don't know what it was that set me off."

Finn kisses my forehead and he says, "Everyone has a breaking point and I think ya have been passed yours for a while so ya snapped. No one blames ya either, Tayla. Ya have been through a lot in the past month or so."

I say, "I'm glad someone understands it."

He closes my room door and he says, "I'm all yours for the night so we can do whatever ya want. If ya need to talk about things then we'll talk. If ya want to watch movies then I'll put on Netflix."

I give him a soft smile and say, "Netflix and cuddles sound amazing right now."

"Then Netflix and cuddles until we fall asleep it is," Finn says, smiling down at me before we get comfortable in bed for the night.