A triple nightstand organizer felt silly in comparison to the gift Daniel and Sophie had given me just by loving me as I was.
Hunter knocked on the door, and I could hear Sophie’s music drifting through the house, the sound of heavy footsteps as Daniel headed for the front door. It opened, and I blinked hard before looking down at my feet.
“Everything is fine,” Hunter said, patting the small of my back. “But I’ll let him share the details.”
Daniel reached out for me, took my hand, pulled me toward him.
“I’m fine,” I murmured into Daniel’s chest. He wrapped me up, angled me toward the living room.
“Thank you for bringing him over,” Daniel said.
“I’ll come get my car later,” I said to my brother.
“I don’t care about your car.”
“Of course not.” I squared my shoulders. “Thank you for driving me, Hunter.”
“Just for driving?” My brother let out an amused laugh, and I found the strength to flip him off. He jangled his keys and took a step away from the front door. “Sophie has Marshall’s number, have her text him to get mine. If you need anything?—”
“I’ll call,” Daniel promised.
“I’m fine,” I said again, and both of them ignored me.
Rightly so.
CHAPTER 39
DANIEL
“I’m fine,” Finn said as soon as I shut the door, but he let me shuffle him down the hall and into the bedroom without any protest. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and I took off his shoes, then shoved him onto his back, watching intently as he rolled onto his side and curled into a ball. His long limbs had no right compacting themselves into such a small space, but I didn’t protest while he settled, rubbing a circle across the center of his back once he went still.
It was like a flashback to our first times together, Finn so caught up in his head it was as if nobody else was even in the room. I supposed this was a sharp reminder that even if he’d moved on from old hurts, he still carried them. I situated myself on the bed behind him and wrapped my arms around him, dragging his back flush with my chest. In the bathroom, the shower shut off and it wasn’t long until Sophie padded barefoot and damp into the bedroom, towel still in her hair.
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine,” Finn grumbled.
She crawled onto the other side of the bed and brushed his hair back from his face. “You’re a liar.”
Finn’s eyes were closed, and he exhaled dramatically.
I looked up at her and tried to tell her with my face I agreed with her, but she was quick to turn her attention back to Finn, gently stroking the edge of her nail across his temple. It didn’t take much longer than five minutes for Finn’s breathing to level out, for the worry lines around his eyes to soften. Slowly, I untangled myself from around him and gestured to the hallway. Sophie nodded and dressed, following me into the dining room. Music still played from her laptop speakers, and she turned it down low before sinking into her usual seat and stretching out her legs.
“What on earth?” she asked.
I sat down beside her and mirrored her pose until my toes pressed into the swooping curve of her arch.
“I don’t know. Hunter dropped him off and didn’t say much. Finn’s pretty much only said he’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine.”
“Well, obviously not.” Sophie picked at her cuticle, brow furrowed. “Do you think Marshall and he got into it or something?”
I shrugged helplessly. “Maybe, because he was with Hunter. But I don’t know. He was…before. When you still lived in Portland, the first time I met him, he was like this.”
“Do you think he’s unhappy? Have we done something wrong?”
“I don’t think that’s it.”
“The wedding is so close, Danny. Like, are we including him enough? Should we tell him about our plans?”