Rachel clinks her glass to mine and I fight my scowl at his full name. No more Killian sounds too proper but she's not wrong, there is life after highschool love and Killian will never matter to me again.
"Lucky for you revenge is my forte." Rachel pulls me to my room and closes the door then swivels me to look in my vanity mirror, making her eyes crazy in my reflection.
"So, exactly where do we find this Finn?" Rachel asks
"Probably hanging from his nuts at his club like every other night" I deadpan.
"Ohh, So that's why Killian hates him, he's THAT Finn, the Chain Knight as they call him, he owns all the best clubs in NY" Rachel bursts in realization, taking a step back and looking me up and down in approval.
She pulls one of my little black dresses in front of me considering my assets
"You can't be Finn's latest booty call wearing Killian's heart" and throws it in my face. "You need Finn to want you from your clothes to your cockblock" Rachel states the obvious so I pull the dress off my head and scowl at the hideousness of it.
Killian was my first and my only love in high school so I've been with no one else...
"I don't know Rachel, Finn is, kinda dangerous" I pull my second LBD over my head "He brings a lot of Bad men over to Killian for business, the kind of people that you know instantly, they've got something dangerous going on"
Finn has the worst friends; thugs, dealers, handlers, holder's , smugglers from here and across the border.
I know this because I worked at one of his clubs for a while and he had problems with these kinds of people on multiple occasions.
Rachel gives me a 'So what look' and puts my hair in a tight bun, it accentuates my high cheekbones and hazel green eyes but she shoves more lipstick at me in a shade so dark it matches my black soul
"Stop stalling; Finn hates Killian but has no choice but to do business with him because his company attract the best customers , right?"
I nod my head at Rachel and fix my lipstick in the mirror
"And Killian hates Finn because, he hired you at his club, Right?"
I give Rachel the side-eye "NO, Killian hates Finn because he's his father's favourite son despite being the black sheep of the family "
"You never told me they were BROTHERS!" Rachel shrieks and pulls me into my closet pushing black clothes hangers faster than I can reject until she screams 'AHA" holding my backless burgundy dress
"They don't act like brothers, Killian and Finn don't even have the same mother!, Finn isn't his only stepbrother yet Finn's the only sibling Killian didn't even bother to invite to his stupid wedding" -Rachel quickly Googles The Lores Family and stares at the search results
"Finn looks exactly like Killian though! " she mumbles under her breath
"Looks are the only thing they have alike" I state
"Finn runs the New York nightlife; Killian owns his corner in the light, he's the public image for The Lores™, somehow the nightlife deals always bring more profit
"So the seedy underground works" I continued "the Diamond black market is run by Finn. Killian hates to be related to anything 'dirty', so he says, so he keeps his distance from Finn as much as possible"
"Dang"
"Yh, if working with these prominent places have thaught me anything, it's that everyone who is good is two faced and honest people are really just brutally honest"
"That's deep Marissa" Rachel seems disappointed and I can only guess Killian's hate for his black sheep brother Finn stems from their father; Finn is the illegitimate half-brother with a side of "dirty money"
She holds my burgundy dress against me giving me the 'I'm offended look' as I sigh in relief it fits me.
Rachel and I finish my dark make-up and give me her blessing so I head for Finn's club.
"We're only going to take a few sexy photos with Finn, so you don't have to feel under the sand when Killian's wedding photos start flying around the web" Rachel reminds me and I hold the inside rail as the taxi takes a sharp corner, I agree with a meh noise unsure about our plan, my anger got a bit stronger with Killian marrying some trophy daughter for no real reason, then I had to get away from Egypt for the stupid weekend wedding.
"Worst case scenario" Rachel continues "you end up looking like the cheating ex so Killian looks worse" I point my finger at Rachel "Bad for PR" she defends her idea "Best case Finn actually wants to get to know you better " she wiggles her eyebrows and my phone vibrates "Finn already messaged us; his limo's waiting for us outside The Chain Knight club ".
The door man scans our fake ID's, obviously there's nothing special about Rachel's, but when the door man scans mine and a little notification appears "0 VIP P", I give Rachel side eyes who feigns innocence and guides me inside.
A little card pops from the electronic slot and we snatch it "Private room VIP" I sigh holding up the card and follow Rachel into the flashing lights.
Rachel guides us right past the queue, obviously, she's been to this club multiple times
The door man orders so we step on the escalator that wraps around the dance floor and opens into two silver poles.As if they expect a stripper any minute there's a scantily dressed hostess ready to guide us.
"Hey, Candy" Rachel nods to the hostess "Need a word" I look around and hold tight to the steel railing to avoid touching Candy as she rubs against me when turningaround.
"Finn upstairs at the VIP rooms" Candy yells in Rachel's ears "VIP Ps only I'm afraid "
"Booty call?" She eyes me down staring at my pass
Rachel tilts her head and Candy shrugs leading us to a roped off stair and leads up to two massive bouncers.
The heavy door closes behind us and Rachel gives a tight smile to Candy leaving without so much a goodnight.
I frown at Rachel who's eyes stay fix on Finn
My jaw drops as he rises to greet us in skin tight dark trousers and an unbuttoned white shirt showcasing his wash board abs and huge chest
Rachel whistles and Finn chuckles then gives me a strong embrace; Killian did a good job burying Finn so no-one related to him would be connected to his family.
"Mr Knight" Rachel presses my arms and pushes me towards Finn "we me a while ago, this is my friend, just out of a long term relationship" Finn pushes my chin up smiling sympathetically as Rachel whispers in my ears
"I'll catch you in an hour" then disappears closing the thick wooden door.
"Did Killian send you here to spy on me? Or something?" Finn pulls me to the soft couch so I sit in shock and let my head flop at this Finn guy who looks exactly like Killian only a thuggish type
He must know I work for Killian
"No" I breath out and Finn sits his buff arms spread apart on the couch to look directly at me
"I don't work for Killian anymore" I state dryly
Finn smirks "Does he know you came here?" He pulls a beer from a chilled bucket so I quickly drink as much as possible because alcohol might give me some confidence before the hot rich dude gives me a face full of rejection.
Finn sits next to me staring silently and the music outside is muffled until he suddenly reaches under the low wooden coffee table between us.
"What I need you to do is push this button" he holds my arm gently staring at my face in fake interest
"What will the button do?" I mumble trying to read Finn's expressions, surely Rachel just ditched me and doesn't plan to rescue me from whatever she signed me up for.
Finn gently guides my fingertip onto the discreetly built button
"That's your call for help, when you push that button, Killian's best man will be here in exactly two minutes"
I scoff looking into Finn's green blue eyes
"I just told you, I don't work for Killian anymore. Why would I need help, did I just put myself in the line of fire?
Finn must read minds when suddenly two bodyguards join Rachel coming back in with a bottle of champagne
Finn rises to greet Rachel with another friendly embrace then presses me further down in the couch giving me no choice but to sit back on this button I don't care to push anytime soon.
Oh no
"I'll ask one time only" Finn rubs my lower thigh
"Did Killian send you to spy on me? or something " he repeats in a creepy low voice.
The bodyguards don't seem necessary until Finn signals Rachel to pour us drinks from her champagne bottle; Finn tenses up staring at me the tension in the room is building then he stares intently at me and Rachel giving me weirdly silent eye signals and fake smiling as she pours champagne glasses to everyone, then smiles nervously glancing towards one of Finn's bodyguards who look huge!
Rachel slides her phone behind her champagne glass sending me silent signals "Push it" her hand gestures a button which must be Finn's but Rachel's obviously stalling something;
She probably expects me to push that stupid button and some "king's game" prank shit like a bucket of ice water to pour over us
"Killian didn't send us here, we came here on our own free will, and I came here to ask for a favour" I press Finn
Finn still presses me onto the button until his bodyguards have to physically move Rachel out the room holding tight onto her arm "Is there a reason for this" I shout at Finn; my voice raising a little shaky realising I'm trapped with Finn alone as one of his bodyguards clicks the thick wooden lock
Finn wraps my shoulders with his hand until our noses bump
"Ask me for the favour then leave, so Killian can't play you with my problems" he presses his finger over my mouth as I try to speak
Rachel starts banging on the door from outside yelling then suddenly she's not outside
I follow Finn's stare behind the black curtain and Killian's best man Jax must appear because Finn whispers in my ear
"The favour is? What do you want from me" he slides his finger along my cheek and presses harder against this stupid button Finn will never let me leave alone
"I need pictures of you having sex with me for revenge with my Ex Killian ".
My confession hangs in the air and Finn seems impressed.
"Marissa Times" he nods considering me silently as I slide my fingers along the cold champagne glass "He's getting married to some bondie somewhere and you want to make him jealous?" Finn holds my arm questioning his eyebrows creasing like Killian's do when he's irritated "Isn't that more of a "revenge to yourself " Finn reads my face as he stares silently again
"What happens if I don't agree Marissa?" Finn tilts his head in question and rubs his fingertips together like he already has an idea
I stifle a gulp as he suddenly rubs along my upper thigh suddenly interested, I'd imagined how I'd manipulate Finn for his pictures for revenge but his smouldering eyes made my mind go blank
"Then I'd find someone else to do the job Mr Knight " I clear my throat faking confidence
Finn signals his bodyguard to open the wooden door letting Rachel back in so they have a hushed conversation; my throat is too dry for champagne or I'd down that like an addict to block them from staring at me
Finn pulls me closer to whisper "Go Home Marissa" Finn grabs my arm then signals Rachel to take me home "Killian doesn't care about you ".
My confidence plummets and Finn finally pulls his big bodyguards away to talk outside in the hall.
Rachel frowns reading my expression but whispers
"We can get your revenge pictures another way Marissa" as if she was planning the same strategy all along
"Forget it Rachel, he wouldn't care anyways " my voice raises a little as Finn leans on the doorway; it sounds pathetic as I finish my champagne then storm out the room; Rachel runs behind me to find Candy at the bottom of the escalator; she says the back exit for her friends
Finn's bodyguards suddenly follow us too close and I hear their hard footsteps on the dancefloor, secretly hoping that Finn's friends following behind us do not to punch my lights out and throw us in a dark room until we forget how to scream.
The cold air hits my face when Rachel and I run down a filthy alley out the club's backdoor but a low red car engine revs then it stops across the bottom of the dark alley.
"Car NOW!" Rachel mouths silent so we climb in as quickly as possible then Rachel shuts the car door and the driver floors the pedals like this car could fly if the tires were given an option against gravity.
"Marissa times, Mr Knight has assigned me to take you home safely " the driver reports
Rachel suddenly stifles a giggle biting her hand
There's no doubt this bitch has been drugged
I shove her pointing as her silent as Finn's driver texts on his phone silently
I roll my eyes in Rachels face when we pull outside my house suddenly and Rachel wishes me goodnight as she calls a taxi to get home.
This is a residential neighborhood, ain't no taxis in here, plus her house is just six blocks away.
"Rachel I'll take you home" I insist locking my arm with her and tugging her in the right direction to her apartment.
"There's no need for that, I'll drive her home, it's important that you get to your house first" Finn's drive countered gently leading wasted Rachel to the car
I'm too nervous for Rachel to settle down in my house.
Maybe I should have followed them
I sit at my front porch waiting some kind of confirmation or for Finn's driver to drive his car outside the estate.
"Hot Uber guy just dropped me off" she texts me that she's home. Feeling relived I go upstairs to my bedroom feeling Finn's driver stare from his car window, surely he's finished babysitting me when I check my door is properly locked then try to shower my makeup off from a wasted Saturday night.
I take a quick shower and flop on my bed turning off all my lights
I'm not the creep that loves the dark and all the things that crawl in the night, but I do need to sleep with the light's off.
Somehow, I can't help but race to my bed after turning off tye lights before the demons in my head pull me under my bed.
I turn on my phone to read my unread messages. Rachel sends a meme to cheer me up so I snapchat a sleepy face when my door lock clicks silent; my bedroom door is suddenly flung open without even a knock and a hulking silhouette flops on my bed beside me with no invite.
I had locked and chained my front door when Finn's driver drove us here so I must be trapped, hopefully I can calm my heart trying not to react as my eyes adjust to the dark and I scream into a warm palm covering my lips then pinch my wrist tight and Finn rolls me to face him.
My door must be broke open then I'd obviously be in serious trouble to scream at Killian's half-brother Finn who obviously breaks locks without an invite; he even presses his huge palm tight along my lower back and mouth preventing me from making a noise
"Don't Scream" Finn whispers so close I feel his breaths "The pictures of us will happen " he sighs relaxing his grip along my mouth; my lipsopen on his hand
"Just not the way you want it " Finn stares deep in my eyes silently "Marissa Times, will you marry me?"
I hesitate for an inordinate amount of time; it feels as if even my heartbeat stops. His piercing eyes begin to fixate on mine with more focus and I have a wild thought about the impossibilities that might make all the pieces of my life be blown to pieces.
"What?" My voice comes out as barely audible and in my heart of hearts; I don't know if Finn could actually have heard me.
He could, wouldn't he?
Why the heck would I say yes straight away?
He holds out a velvet black box out towards me with a shiny white-gold diamond ring waiting at the core for its lifelong mission to perform and
Finn simply raises his eyebrows and rephrases "The answer is easy Times" I remain silent
"Yes or no Times" Finn coaxes me into an answer further "This is the last proposal"
Speak Bitch
"No" My answer is shaky at the most part
Finn smiles brightly as if I have answered a trick question in a class; his confidence is brimming through the roof as I shake like a leaf under my covers
"Okay Marissa, you will have a rethink about this because next time you answer 'no', the proposal is definitely done " Finn assures me and for some reason he doesn't sound the least bit sad with himself
I turn away from him and wrap the sheets over me properly as his cold gaze slowly feels a little bit hostile on me
"Please leave Finn, please"
"Marissa Times... one more question"I flinch
"Stop calling my last name, will you!" I snap at Finn's peculiarity
how on earth do I tell this man off after proposing to me twice?
Finn stares blankly for a while as if contemplating deeply about some fine aspects of me then asks,
"How old were you Times, when you stopped?"
I swallow
"When I stopped what?"
"Dancing" Finn presses me his blue orbs almost spark in an intriguing emotion
I haven't thought about that in a while
"Fifteen" I squeak quietly
Why the hell did I say that?
Finn needs to know none of my secrets.
"Please leave Finn" I counter my blurt
"I'll leave when I want to" he remarks. Just then; I turn abruptly to my night stand to reach for my phone , but I hear a notification and I realize it's on the other night stand on the other side of my bed, right beside Finn.
Shit!
"Looking for this?"
Finn dangles my pill case outwards and I almost snatch it from him.
"When was the last time you went a day without these"
My pupils almost burst out of their sockets; what Finn doesn't know that has been a well-guarded secret since ages from everyone in my family and friends
"How do you know this?" I stutter
"Marissa Times, what will you do if I took away this bottle?"
What will he gain out of such childish manipulation. "Nothing" I swallow hard as Finn begins to lift the case further in a silent threat to walk towards my closet door, he lifts my perfectly folded sweats and pulls out my other bottled stash
I bolt in front of him "No, no please, you can't do that" I'm surprised at the desperation Finn has suddenly wrought up in me for my medication
Finn nods "I just did and I expect nothing from you" I reach to snatch the bottles, Finn takes me in the neck, lifts and throws me to my bed again; he suddenly seems taller and meaner
"Do me this favor Times" He ransacks my drawers again as I become aware that I am completely naked on the covers when his arm pulls out one of my socks, to retrieve my backup "Go to work tomorrow "
Finn slips off my pill stash into his slacks, pats them carefully then strolls out of my door.
I was speechless about this man's audacity
He peeps in through my door as I remain in bed like a fool and still my first and foremost thought is to cover myself
"We have business to deal with and a lot of catching up to do " Finn's lips curve upwards
I know that to retrieve those meds will just spell out doom for me, which will require immediate explanations and re-dos to be properly made up with my pharmacist and doctor; the last thing Finn wants is for me to have those pills.
"How the heck do you even know about them?" I whisper harshly and try to find answers but Finn has now already sauntered down the stairs out my front door
I watch the front door closing as I got to the foot of my wooden staircase naked without the pills I have been addicted to since I was a teenager
"Why me Finn Lores?" My whisper remains still unheard; my door remains wide open with just a slight hint from the moon providing visibility
Why indeed.