Chapter 8 08 | thrill

"Sienna and I are spending the weekend at a friend's cabin by the coast. She wants to know if you'd like to come."

I turned to Nate and gave him an incredulous look. He was behind the wheel, driving me to go pick up my car.

"You want me to be a third wheeler? No, thanks."

Nate smirked, a smug expression on his face. "That's on you. Yusuf, the guy who owns the cabin wouldn't mind at all. We'd have fun."

"If I knew this conversation was going to be aimed at harassing me for being single, I would have never told you to drive me." I grinded out in disdain.

Nate chuckled. "I'm more or less the only family you have in this city and your well being is my responsibility."

"Rub it in gently, please."

The car came to a stop and I took a deep breath. I've been dreading and putting off coming here. It meant I would have to see Finn again, and after the little stunt he pulled yesterday I didn't think I'll be able to turn away next time. He was so damn confusing, cold one minute and hot the next.

"What are thinking about? I'll go with you, I want to meet the guy too."

I shook my head at his suggestion. "No, it's okay. I'll see you later."

I pushed the door open and stepped out, closing it behind and waving at Nate as he pulled away. The sky had transformed into a myriad of colour; faint purples and pink as the day slowly faded into night.

I took the elevator up to the last floor and Maggie told me to wait at the reception area because Finn was busy at the moment. Ten minutes later his door came open and a stubby man marched out, a briefcase in his hand and a tall lady following closely behind. A good thirty minutes passed after.

"You can go in now." Maggie said to me.

I smiled to her in response, feeling relieved more than anything. I twisted the knob of the door and pushed it, stepping into the office.

Finn wasn't the only one in. A red haired man was seated opposite him, his eyes widening behind a pair of glasses when they saw me.

He got up immediately and approached me, a brilliant grin appearing on his face.

"Oh, damn, you're an angel. I actually thought you'd be a huge, burly guy with two many tattoos and a hunger for blood." I blinked in confusion as he held my hands. He noted my expression and chuckled. "I'm Elliot, the guy who hit your car the other day. I was drunk as fuck, by the way."

He was good-looking. I came to the realisation that everybody in Finn's world was. I wish I had Elliot's charm. And blue eyes. Mine were blue-grey, but his were so blue like the ocean.

"Nice to meet you, Elliot. I'm Amanda." I smiled, taking his hand in a handshake. My eyes shifted to Finn who was still seated at his table, watching us carefully.

"Oh, I know who you are, you're all Finn talks about."

Finn growled and got up from his seat, his masculine figure approaching us as his long legs ate up the floor in a few strides.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me after him towards the door.

"Hey, what the hell?" I yelped after him, trying to pull my hand from his firm grip but failing miserably. There was no getting out of this one.

"Good luck, Amanda. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more often than not." Elliot said as he stood behind with a mischievous smile that told me he knew something that I didn't.

We got out to the reception area and Maggie stared after us, her eyes zeroing in on his hands on mine. Her face tinged pink and she ducked her head, her auburn hair forming a curtain around her face.

"I'm going out, Maggie. Cancel my appointments for today." He said in a clipped tone, sounding edgy all of a sudden.

"But you have a meeting with Callaghan at eight thirty." Maggie nagged, mildly panicked.

"I said cancel. Tell them I have a flu or something."

He sounded ticked off. I was still trying to free myself when he pulled me with him into the elevator. After it shut, he finally let go.

Maybe I should have allowed Nate come with me.

"What are you doing?" I bit out, narrowing my eyes at him even as he regarded me softly.

"What do you do when you're stressed out?"

"What?"

"Tell me."

I looked around. "I-I don't know. I meditate or read a book. Oh, and I clean. Aggressively."

When I turned to him the sides of his eyes were crinkled in laughter. "Cleaning? Meditation?"

I folded my hands over my chest defiantly. So what if I chose a calm approach to pent up frustration? "Yeah? You have a problem with that?"

He smiled, shook his head. "None at all. I'm going to show you one of the things I do when I'm stressed that doesn't include punching a face. Punching faces is trouble. This is a better alternative."

"What does it have to do with me?" I asked, swatting the loose strands of hair that had escaped during the struggle earlier out of my face.

He stepped closer to me and lifted his hand to my face, his skin making contact with mine. I sucked in a breath as his hand trailed across my cheek and tucked the hair behind my ear.

"I like your company."

I didn't say anything more as the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors retracted open. As I walked with Finn out of the building, I noticed how people literarily stopped everything they were doing to stare at us. They seemed to hold him in high esteem, a good number of them greeting him with unmerited respect and using the punctuation sir a lot.

When we got to his car, I felt a tinge of reluctance to climb on. Was I really doing this? The beckoning look in Finn's eyes gave me the answer I needed. Ten minutes into the drive, I finally gathered myself to ask.

"To my place." The paling of my face must have been pretty evident, because he chuckled and added, "just to get something. Don't look at me like that."

Then I turned to the window so he wouldn't see me blush. I think I've been doing that a lot lately since I met him; blush. I used to hate ig, seeing it as a form of weakness especially when it reminded me of when I used to be carefree and put myself in the hands of people to decide my fate, but now I was beginning to embrace it. A little. Only because of the serotonin boost.

Finn drove into an underground parking lot of a pristine apartment complex and stepped out, telling me to stay put. While I waited, I took the liberty to appreciate the interior of the vehicle. It scented of cedarwood and lemons, much like Finn himself. That is if you subtract his intoxicating cologne.

A caught a figure approaching the car and Finn came into sight, looking totally different, like at the day at Luna's shop. His suited attire had been replaced with dark jeans, boots and a grey T-shirt.

"Like what you see?" He asked, a small smile teasing his lips. I rolled my eyes. He took me out of the car and lead me to the other end of the private parking space, past more cars I could take note of. A black Lamborghini sat menacingly, light bouncing off the shiny surface.

"That car definitely tops the list of my favourites," his voice came. I turned to him and saw he was watching me.

"It's okay, I guess."

"You guess?" He scoffed, stopping in front of a power bike that was parked in one of the sections. No.

"We're not riding that, are we?" I asked in horror. It looked like it would eat me alive if I climbed it, never mind actually riding it.

Finn chuckled. "Don't tell me you're afraid. Didn't your highschool boyfriend give you rides in one of these?"

I shifted uncomfortably at his comment. My lips remained sealed shut, afraid that the next words I uttered would be disastrous.

Finn sensed my hesitation. "Ok, I'll teach you how to ride it. You just-"

"Give me my helmet."

He blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I know how to ride a damn bike, just give me my helmet." I grinded out in annoyance. I didn't mean to sound the way I did, but it happened.

Finn didn't look mad. He smirked at me and handed a helmet over as he settled himself on the bike.

"Looks like I wasn't wrong about the boyfriend."

I laughed humorlessly. "There was no boyfriend." I strapped on my helmet, finding a spot behind him. My older cousin owned a bike, so I wasn't new to the ritual. I wrapped my hands around his large torso and leaned into him, not too much so I could maintain person space.

He revved the bike to life and I felt it vibrate me to my core, numbing me to all external sounds.

"Hold on tight." Finn said as the bike jerked to a start, zooming out of the parking lot. Once in the open road, he accelerated and I felt excitement course through me. I didn't know when I leant into his back, feeling the now welcome feeling of excitement overwhelm me. Riding was fun but riding with Finn was a lot more thrilling.

By the time the power bike stopped, the sun had set and the sky was ink black, with dazzling stars lighting the night. It was beautiful to say the least. I wasn't usually out at night long enough to appreciate its beauty.

Finn stopped in front of a giant house that looked like something out of a lifestyle magazine, built with concrete and glass. The front porch was adequately lit, illuminating the lawns and pretty trees and cars that lay parked on the driveway. I counted five, a majority of which were sport cars.

Finn walked ahead of me up the porch stairs and through the doors that were left ajar. I hurried behind him, desperate to know what the hell I was doing here. By the time I caught up to him, past the posh decor and sky light, he had pulled all his clothes off.

Except his underwear.

He turned around to make sure I was following behind and caught me with a smile. I stared at his body, at his bare chest. His entire torso was taut and built, hinting that he made good use of a gym. God, he was the most beautiful man I'd set my eyes on, it hurt.

Why was he half naked, though?

As if to answer my question, he took in a running stance and bolted out of the back door, leaping into the air and letting out a loud cry.

I let one out too and ran to the edge, my beating heart in my throat and dread filling every inch of my being. I'd never felt frightened like that before, and I stared down a wall to find a large body of water at the bottom. I exhaled in relief when I saw him emerge from the water with a reckless grin as he flipped wet hair out of his face.

"Are you mad?" I yelled down. I noticed they were a handful of people down too, all half naked in bikinis and shorts. They all paused and looked up at me. Heat rushed to my face.

He brought me to a party? With people I didn't know? This had to be a cruel joke.

Finn climbed up a long set of stairs cut out of the cliff and stood a few inches before me, panting like a cheetah that had just ran a mile. His body was dripping wet, soaked hair taking on a darker shade and underwear sticking to his skin in all the right places. Oh God, I'm the one who needed a filter.

"Surprise."

"This is what you do to de-stress?" I asked, folding my arms in annoyance.

"Jump off a cliff into a pool? Yeah, pretty much. The guy who owns the house is a solid partner in the company. A lot of young blood. Come on, the others want to meet you."

I shook my head. "You mean do what you just did? No, thanks. Unlike you, I don't have a death wish."

"It's fun. You'll love it, I promise." He said, a sexy smile on his lips that I found myself liking more than necessary.

"Nope. I'd rather go wait inside until you're done... swimming. I still have my car to pick up after all."

His face hardened and I could have sworn he looked disappointed. I suddenly felt a wave of guilt. Maybe it wouldn't hurt?

A blonde haired girl climbed up the stairs in a designer bikini. She walked up to us, her flirty eyes solely on Finn. I bristled.

"Hey, Harris," she said, running her hand along Finn's chest with a champagne flute in the other. She was pretty, I'd give her that. "Won't you and your friend join us?" She said friend like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to convince her to jump." He said like he was completely oblivious to her flirting. Well I wasn't.

"Oh, you don't have to, babe. It's okay if you can't handle it," she said to me. Her tone was condescending and I wanted nothing more than to wipe the mocking smile off her glossed lips.

"No, I'm fine with it." I said, sliding my top over my head and tugging my jeans off. I knew I had... assets, a lot more than miss bimbo over here, and watched as Finn's eyes went the size of saucers. I was lucky I had on a pair of my sexier underwear, which were lacy and crimson coloured. I removed the band that held up my hair and dropped in on my clothing pile. Leaving a good running distance, I ran to the edge and jumped off, feeling one thought echo in my head.

Oh, shit, I'm going to die now.

But with the thought also came a feeling of excitement instead of dread. The cool air whipped around my face and body, my hair flailing behind. I found myself laughing like a loon at how breathtaking the activity was, and I let out a yell as I expertly dove into the water.

The impact was instant, my body submerging into the pool. It seemed like I wouldn't stop descending before I found my bearings and pushed myself up to the open air.

"What the hell was that?"

Finn swam towards me, an endearing smile on his lips. He looked so carefree and happy, and I instantly understood why he chose this activity to let loose. I was enjoying it too.

"I want to go again." I half spluttered, half coughed.

He held my forearms and I realized our bodies were ridiculously close now. A tattoo of birds was inked on his left side of his chest. They were a tiny cluster, moving from under his rib and dotting up his chest. It was beautiful.

"You're amazing," he said, staring intently at me. His green eyes were darker and the look in them both enticed and scared me. Desire.

He began to lean in and I froze on the spot, feeling his lips press against mine.