Learning Curve

Finn

If I didn’t think Ace Kelly was rich before, I certainly do now. All thanks to his personal driver, Gary—whom he has on speed dial—the three of us made it to Westchester in thirty minutes flat.

I was set to take a train to Westchester and then hike the three blocks to the side street where I park the car I bought without my parents knowing. It’s a Buick LeSabre from the nineties, but it gets the job done, and if my dad knew, he would have sold it for cash. Still, the whole thing would have taken me hours, and with Jack and Trav drunk and impatient, I’m actually thankful Ace butted in.

During the drive, I found out I’m not the only one who Ace’s powers work on as Blake regaled me with how Ace won him over during their one elective class together—which is bookkeeping, of all things. Evidently, Ace sacrificed himself on the sword of their professor when Blake’s checkbook balance was off by saying he’d sold him a black-market calculator that changes ones to fours. It’s fucking ridiculous, but so is Ace. One stupid class together, and Ace has the star quarterback on his squad.

It’s amazing, really. A case to be studied by historians in the next century.

As Gary pulls the shiny black Escalade into the dim parking lot of the Westchester Catacombs, all vestiges of the good-time guy I was on the ride here are gone, and the hard-ass older brother in me takes over.

My twin brothers Jack and Travis are screwing around at the edge of the parking lot, while our little sister Willow sits on a bench near the entrance door to the stairwell that leads underground. Jack is wearing a damn parking cone on his head, and Travis is swinging his shirt around his head like a lasso.

“I’m going to kill them,” I mutter as I hop out of the SUV before Gary has a chance to pull it to a stop. Music from the still-open Grotto vibrates the ground as I stalk toward my two idiot brothers.

“Finney!” Jack shouts at the top of his lungs. “You’re here!”

“Hells yeah! Finnsishere!” Travis cheers, alcohol hindering his tongue’s ability to enunciate.

Willow cringes on the bench, fully knowing that her brothers’ theatrics aren’t helping with my already volatile state. I don’t bother with hellos. “You brought Willow to the Grotto? Have you two asshats lost your minds?”

“Don’t be mad, Finn,” my sister jumps in, standing up from the bench as she does and crowding me away from Jack and Trav. “I begged them to let me come out tonight. It’s not their fault.”

“Not their fault?” I snap disbelievingly, staring down Jack and Travis. They’ve sobered enough to stop screwing around in the parking lot and actually listen, but the parking cone is still on Jack’s head and Travis is still shirtless with his T-shirt resting in his hand haphazardly by his side. “I’m gone for what? Not even two weeks? And you’re letting our sixteen-year-old sister come to this sketchy-ass place so you can drink?”

“I’m not a child, Finn,” Willow attempts to interject. “I’m more responsible than Jack and Trav, and you know it.”

My sister may have a valid point about responsibility, but the Grotto is the last place a sixteen-year-old girl should be.

Travis is the first to break.

“Sorry, Finns. She begged.” He holds both arms out wide, but that movement makes him trip over his own two feet.

“Yeah, Finn.” Jack’s head bobbles up and down. “Her jackass boyfriend dumped her, and she didn’t want to be home alone while Mom was at work.”

“Wait…what?” Travis questions, looking over at Jack before his eyes land on Willow. “Stupid Steve broke up with you?”

“What the hell?” Willow cries out, pointing an accusing index finger at Jack. “I told you not to tell anyone.”

Jack is bashful, though the parking cone on his head really lessens some of the effect.

“Willow, why didn’t you tell me?” Travis questions, his eyes softening around the edges.

“Because I’m embarrassed, okay?” she mutters, and I don’t miss the fact that a few tears prick her eyes. “And you’re a total hothead.”

“Low, I swear, just say the word. I’ll kill him.” Travis steps toward her to place a gentle hand on her shoulder, proving that he is, in fact, a fucking hothead. “No questions asked.”

“Travis,” I chastise when I realize shit is going way off the rails. “Cool it.”

“What? I’m being serious. No one makes my baby sister cry. I’ll bury Stupid Steve’s body in the backyard. I don’t give a flipping shit.”

“Tabasco Hot. Maybe Fire. I dunno. Too early to tell,” Ace remarks from directly behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to find him and Blake standing there with amused smiles on their faces. Gary still sits behind the wheel in the idling Escalade.

I sigh. Run a hand through my hair. “Jack, Travis, Willow, this is Ace Kelly, my roommate. And Blake Boden,” I halfheartedly introduce, hoping my brothers are too drunk to notice who Blake actually is before I get back to reaming their asses.

Unfortunately, Jack doesn’t miss a beat.

“Oh, holy balls!” he shouts at the top of his lungs, his parking-cone hat falling off his head when he starts to gesture wildly with his hands. “The Blake Boden? As in, one of the best fucking college quarterbacks in the nation?”

Blake smiles and waves, the motion making him look like a young, super-muscular Ron Howard. Gee golly gosh might as well be the next words out of his mouth. “Nice to meet you, man.”

“I just want you all to know I’m uncomfortable living in this kind of shadow. Blake, I don’t know if we can be friends anymore,” Ace teases, and Blake shoves him in the shoulder.

“Finn, your new college friends are hot,” Willow says, propelling her breakup with Stupid Steve distinctly into the past.

“Low, you’re too young,” I interject without remorse. “And you two idiots—” I turn to Jack and Travis “—if I ever find out you brought Low here again, I’ll be the one burying bodies in the backyard. We clear?”

“Yeah,” Travis says, holding up two hands.

“Fine,” Jack agrees.

“Finn Hayes. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” The distinctive voice is as aggressive as always, and my balls make a bid to climb halfway inside my body as I turn in the direction of it.

Dressed in a pair of cutoff jean shorts, cowgirl boots, and a crop top that barely covers her pushed-up tits, Sara Dean, my ex-girlfriend, flashes a flirtatious smile in my direction as she pushes through the door from underground and sashays toward us.

Son of a bitch. What a special hometown reunion this is turning out to be.

“Oh, by the way, Finn,” Jack whispers, “your ex-girlfriend is here tonight.”

Ace, the fucker, practically chokes on his own saliva, he laughs so hard.

I roll my eyes and force a neutral smile to my lips. “Hey, Sara.”

Her hip sway is obnoxious as she approaches our small group, and she doesn’t stop until she’s directly in front of me, so close her breasts brush against my chest. “That’s it? Just ‘Hey, Sara?’ C’mon, Finn. You’ve had your dick in me. Pretty sure I deserve at least a hug.”

I’m annoyed at her for saying that shit in front of my sister, but she doesn’t give me a choice, wrapping her hands around my shoulders and gripping tightly as she hugs me. Her face falls into a frown when I pull away sooner than she wants.

“Did you come to party?”

“No. Just here to get my brothers and sister.”

“Who are your friends?” she asks then, eyeing both Ace and Blake up and down. Sara loves attention, and if I’m not giving it to her, she’s willing to find it somewhere else.

“Ace, Blake, this is Sara.”

“Sara. Receiver of Finn’s dick. Got it,” Ace says, the shit-stirrer. I glance at him over my shoulder, the obvious context summed up in a glare. He raises both his hands, a picture of innocence. I shake my head.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sara says to Blake specifically, and it comes out like a purr. She licks her lips. “Why don’t you come inside for a drink?”

Fuck no. It’s time to end this shit. “We can’t,” I interject.

“Why not, Finn?” she questions, stepping closer to me again. “It’s been a while since you and I have had some fun…”

A year ago, sadly, this shit would have worked on me. I was lonely enough and angry enough that wrapping myself up in Sara seemed as good an option as anything else.

But these days, for some reason, it doesn’t seem like enough.

“We gotta go. Sorry.”

She starts to open her mouth, but Ace surprises the hell out of me by cutting her off at the knees.

“While I’m always up for a good time, Sara, we need to head out.”

She pointedly looks at Blake, and he nods in agreement.

“Maybe some other time.”

“Boo.” Sara pouts. “You boys are boring.”

Thankfully, her best friend Maddie peeks her head out the door, shouting, “Sara! Get your bony ass in here! Rusty just bought a round of shots!” The call of alcohol on other people’s tabs is too strong for her to deny, and Sara heads back into the Grotto with a little wave and more flouncing of her ass.

“Sorry we didn’t give you a heads-up,” Jack comments immediately.

“Yeah, man,” Travis agrees. “She’s here all the time now. I think she’s still dating Zach King. You remember him?”

Of course I remember Zach King. He’s one of the biggest pricks who went to my high school and the first guy Sara fucked after we broke up. I don’t bother telling my group of current company that, though.

“Get in the Escalade. Now.”

It’s then that all three of my siblings notice the car we pulled up in. Their eyes damn near bug out of their heads at the sight, but they know better than to say anything at this point. Willow takes off at a run behind Ace, who is already leading the way, opening the back passenger door for everyone to climb in. Trav and Jack get in next, followed by Blake and me pulling up the rear.

“Where are we headed, Ace?” Gary asks from the driver’s seat, completely unbothered by my drunken siblings as they fumble around inside.

Ace looks at me expectantly. He doesn’t know our address, obviously.

“Thirty-two Oakwood,” I instruct. “It’s about four miles from here.”

Gary is already putting the address into his GPS. “You got it.”

“By the way, Gary, this little trip is under the radar,” Ace remarks with a sly smile. “Don’t want the parental units to get jealous that their life is way more boring than mine.”

Gary laughs. “Roger that.”

“I can’t believe you have a fucking driver,” Travis marvels, looking at Ace.

“Dude. You’re like rich, rich,” Jack adds, staring at Ace like he’s a damn celebrity. “I want your life.”

Ace just shrugs. “Gary’s been with me since I was fourteen. And before you agree to Freaky Friday with me, you should meet my parents,” he says with an overzealous laugh. “They’re fucking crazy.”

Willow bites into her lip and stares at her lap, and Jack and Trav look straight at me. We know crazy parents too. Just not the good kind.

“Heard your dad showed up to Winslow’s class on the first day to prank your ass,” Blake comments, and Ace just rolls his eyes.

“Yeah. Rat bastard.” Ace sighs and laughs at the same time. “All I know is that once I figure out my next move, payback will be a bitch for him.”

Blake and Ace chatter back and forth about Ace’s possible future pranks on his big-ass dad, and my siblings become less and less preoccupied by our shitty upbringing and more and more riveted by Ace’s explosive storytelling. I don’t miss the way both guys include my brothers and sister in the conversation, and I’m grateful for it.

A friend like Ace Kelly was nowhere in the cards when I was planning my first year at Dickson. And yet, I think I’d miss him. It’s so fucking weird.

By the time Gary pulls up to the house, Jack and Travis think they’re going to attend a college party—because Ace took it upon himself to invite them—and Willow’s face might as well be the fucking heart-eyes emoji every time she looks at Blake.

I sneak them all into my house while Blake and Ace wait in the driveway, and I slip out the back door once I know everyone is safely in their rooms with their doors locked.

There’s still a chance they’ll have hell to pay in the morning if my dad noticed them missing, but if he’s asleep now, he probably had no clue.

With my sister and brothers safely tucked away, there’s only one person left to worry about tonight—the girl I have no business thinking about at all. Before I climb back in the car with the guys, I send her a text I probably shouldn’t.

Me: Are you okay? It’s Finn.