The Outskirts (The Outskirts Duet #1)

“Fuck, you’re perfect,” Finn groaned, rocking against me. His hand fell from my hair and wrapped around my waist, trailing down to knead my butt cheek through my shorts and then lower, reaching up into my shorts and taking another handful. I moaned at the contact. His skin against mine.

I wanted more.

I rocked against him to try and ease the ache growing in my lower belly.

He gripped me hard, holding me still. “Don’t do that,” he warned with a groan. “It feels too fucking good for you to be doing that.” He playfully pushed against me until I staggered back and connected with the corner. He followed me and caged me in with his hands next to my head on the wall. My breathing was erratic. Finn’s pupils were dilated as he reached down and popped the top button of my shorts. “Tell me you want me, Say.”

The back door swung open. “You need a hand?” Critter called out.

Finn released me.

“No, I got it,” I said, breathlessly.

I turned back around to where Finn was just standing, but he was already gone.

I was righting my apron just as Critter stepped outside.

“You sure? You sound a little winded, kid,” he asked, eyeing me skeptically.

“I’m sure,” I reassured him. “The bags were just heavier than I thought.”

I ducked under Critter’s arm and when I came face to face with a picture of a younger looking Finn with his arm around a beautiful blonde hanging in the back hallway I paused. “Who is this with Finn?” I asked.

“That’s Jackie,” Critter said. “Unfortunately, she’s no longer with us.”

“What happened to her?”

“How did I know you were going to ask that?” Critter teased. “Not my…”

I finished his sentence for him, “story to tell. I know.”

I leaned in closer to get a better look at the picture. Finn was smiling from ear to ear. I’d never seen him smile like that before.

“The lord’s lady,” I whispered to myself.

“What was that?” Critter asked.

“Nothing.” I grabbed two more bags and hauled them back outside.

Maybe it was for the best that Critter had interrupted us because I was just about to tell Finn that I wanted him too.

But when I saw the picture of him and Jackie, reality washed me over the head like a bucket of cold water.

I didn’t know the details, but it was stupid to give myself over to Finn when he clearly had already given himself to someone else. Someone who even in death still had a hold over him he couldn’t shake.

I grabbed another set of trash bags and went out back, hoisting them into the dumpster. When I turned around, I noticed the package Finn had been carrying was sitting on top of a metal trash can by the door.

In my fumbled attempt to pick it up, I dropped it on the ground. I knelt down and tore a strip of the brown wrapping off, revealing a book.

The title was only partially visible, but I didn’t need to see the entire thing to know exactly what it said.

I ripped the rest of the packaging off and ran my fingers over the cover. Each raised letter I felt was somehow making it harder and harder to breathe.

When I got to the end, I read the title out loud to myself.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.”





Chapter Twenty-Five





Sawyer





“Finn called me last night,” Josh announced, handing me a big mug of coffee with a cartoon policeman on the side peeing off the top of a bridge.

It was seven in the morning. After my shift, I’d told Sterling I’d walk with him another time and took Josh up on her offer to drive me back to her place.

“He did?” I asked, perking up at the sound of his name.

“He called me to ask about you. He wanted to make sure you were staying with me and that you were okay.”

“And what did you tell him?” I asked, looking into my mug.

“I told him you were fine.” Josh set down her mug and put a hand on her hip. “What’s going on with you two?”

“What do you mean?” I took a sip of coffee and immediately spit the thick bitter mud back into the mug when Josh turned her back.

“I mean you two, as in Finn and Sawyer. That man hasn’t called me in two years. TWO FUCKING YEARS. And I was his best friend. Then you roll into town and suddenly he remembers my number?” Josh shook her head. “Something about this don’t add up.”

“Maybe he just wanted to make sure I didn’t plan on staying at his place again,” I offered, knowing that wasn’t the case.

“Nooo,” Josh sang, cocking her head to the side. She tossed me a pastry. Some sort of donut wrapped in sugar and cinnamon. “I don’t think that was it.”

All thoughts of Finn were momentarily smashed from my mind. “Holy hell that’s good,” I said with a mouth full of pastry deliciousness.

“Ha,” Josh laughed. “I like it when you swear.”

That’s exactly what Finn had said.

“Let me ask you this.” Josh leaned on her elbows against the counter. Her fluffy pink robe opening at the neck to expose a t-shirt that read MILLER SUCKS. “I know for a fact that the swamp shack only has one bedroom and one bed. After Miller checked on you the other night, where did Finn sleep?”

“On the couch,” I replied, the lie getting stuck on my tongue on the way out. Since I was terrible at lying, I switched to avoidance. I lifted my bag and started rummaging around with the contents like I was looking for something.

“Uh huh,” Josh said. “Sure, he did.”

“So, not to change the subject,” I started.

“But changing the subject,” Josh interrupted.

“What’s the deal with you and Miller?” I pointed to her shirt.

Josh tightened her robe. “I told you. He’s just Miller…” she poured herself another cup of mud-coffee.

“That doesn’t exactly answer the question.”

“Neither does your liiiieeee,” Josh sang. She looked me dead in the eye and we both burst out laughing until tears pooled in her eyes and my ribs ached and cheeks burned.

For the first time in my life, I’d laughed until it hurt.





Chapter Twenty-Six





Sawyer





It was only eight and my shift didn’t start until noon. When I left Josh’s I decided that a walk around my new town was in order. I’d been an Outskirts resident for a while and had barely gone anywhere besides work and home.

And home was no longer an option.

I ignored the pain in my gut. I didn’t want to spend the morning dwelling on what no longer was but on the possibilities the day might bring.

When I came across a junkyard I was about to pass right by it, not giving it too much thought, when something caught my eye. I pushed open the metal gate which had a sign on it that read LET YOURSELF IN. I passed a mound of tires and rows upon rows of kitchen sinks, making a beeline right for my target on the far side of the yard. When I reached it, I sighed and butterflies danced in my stomach.

It was even prettier in person.

It was a house. And not just ANY house.

It was the house.