Sweet Little Lies Read online

  Archer’s gaze cut to Finn’s face. “Nah,” he said. “He’d be more dazed. And happy.”

  Spence joined them. “What’s going on?”

  “The debate is whether or not Finn got laid,” Archer said.

  Spence took his turn studying Finn’s expression. “He’s not happy enough.”

  “That’s what I said.” Archer gave a rare smile. “Given how long it’s been, I’d assume he’d be doing cartwheels and shit.”

  Finn took a deep breath as they both laughed at his expression. “How about I assume my foot up your ass?”

  This only made them crack up harder.

  Eddie got himself together first. “Gotta go,” he said and headed for the alley. Trash day was his favorite day of the week because he loved nothing more than to go dumpster diving for treasures.

  Twice now, the entire building—all fond of Eddie and protective of him as well, had implemented a system where everyone bagged up anything that might be of interest to him separately so that he didn’t have to go searching.

  And then they discovered that Eddie was dumping out all the bags into the dumpster regardless.

  Turns out, Eddie liked the thrill of the find.

  “You smell like a skunk,” Archer said to Eddie.

  Eddie blinked. “Is that right? Well, I’m sure we have skunks around here somewhere.”

  “You think?” Archer asked casually. “Because I’m thinking it smells like weed.”

  “Huh,” Eddie said. “Good thing you’re not a cop these days, huh?”

  Oh boy, Finn thought. Even Old Man Eddie knew better than to remind Archer of his cop days, which in turn would remind him why he wasn’t one anymore.

  Archer’s eyes went flat. “You growing?”

  “Only exactly what I’m allowed,” Eddie said and pulled out a laminated card on a ribbon from beneath his shirt.

  “You selling?” Archer asked.

  “Sir, no sir,” Eddie responded, adding a smartass salute.

  Finn and Spence both grimaced. “Man,” Spence said. “What have we told you? Archer has zero sense of humor.”

  Eddie grinned. For reasons that Finn had never figured out, Eddie liked to fuck with Archer.

  Archer gave a slight head shake, like he was talking himself out of making Eddie disappear. “You know the rec center on Union?” he finally asked.

  Eddie nodded. “Past the porn shop but before the COME TO JESUS sign?”

  “Yeah,” Archer said. “They’re having a free meal tonight. Pot roast and potatoes.”

  “I love pot roast and potatoes,” Eddie said.

  “You want a ride, come by my office at six,” Archer told him.

  Eddie grinned at him. “See, I knew you liked me. Though not as much as Finn. Finn gave me five bucks.” Eddie looked hopefully at Archer.

  Well versed in this game, Archer snorted. “I’ll pay you ten if you tell me why lover boy here’s limping like he was rode hard and put away wet. I know you know more than you’re telling.”

  “You think he got his knob polished,” Eddie said.

  Archer flashed another grin. “Yeah.”

  Finn flipped Archer off, which only made Archer’s grin widen.

  “I don’t know everything,” Eddie said. “But I guess I do know some things.”

  “Such as?” Archer asked.

  Eddie held out his hand.

  Archer rolled his eyes, fished through his pockets and came up with the promised ten.

  “Okay,” Eddie said. “I know he went inside Trouble’s apartment with her, but only stayed a few minutes. He came back out in this condition. It wasn’t long enough for him to get laid . . .” He slid Finn a sideways look. “At least I hope it wasn’t. You ain’t a quick trigger, are you, boy?”

  Spence about busted a gut and handed Eddie another ten. “Totally worth every penny.”

  Finn shook his head and walked away from those assholes, and he wasn’t going back to the pub either. He needed a few hours horizontal on his bed—where he would absolutely not think about how he’d rather be getting his knob polished.

  Nineties Karaoke Night cheered Finn up considerably. First Archer bet the gang that Spence couldn’t rap “Baby Got Back.”

  Spence rapped “Baby Got Back.” Perfectly. He was in a suit too, evidently fresh from some business meeting.

  The ladies went nuts.

  In penance, Archer had to sing “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred.

  Shirtless.

  The crowd went wild. But even better was what happened when the girls showed up. They walked in together, Elle, Willa, Haley . . . and Pru, all dressed in vintage nineties.

  It was a cornucopia of hotness but Finn’s gaze went straight to Pru. His heart about stopped. She wore a tight, short, high-waisted denim miniskirt that showed off her mile-long legs to mouth-watering perfection, a cropped white tee with an equally cropped leather jacket that kept giving sneak, tantalizing peeks of smooth, flat belly, and some serious platforms that told him Elle had been in charge. Her hair had been teased to within an inch of its life and she appeared to be wearing glitter as makeup.

  Everyone had fun ordering nineties-style cocktails, so he made Pru a special one—a Chocolate Mock-tini. She raved over it so much that everyone else wanted one as well, and it became the night’s special.

  Eventually the ladies all got up to sing “Kiss” by Prince and brought down the house. Not because they were good. But because they were so bad.

  Pru had been right. She couldn’t sing. Couldn’t dance either. Or keep rhythm. Not that this stopped her or the glitter floating around her in a cloud everywhere she moved.

  Finn loved every second of it.

  That was until she dragged his ass up on stage and made him do a duet with her. “The Boy Is Mine.”

  He was pretty sure not a single one of the guys would ever let him forget it either.

  Sean bailed shortly after that, a woman on his arm, a smile on his face. Finn was happy for him, but when the night ended and the girls went to leave, he realized he was screwed because he didn’t have the option of taking Pru home.

  Even if that was only up two flights of stairs.

  He had to stay until closing, add up the till, make sure everything got closed and locked up.

  Which means he got to watch Pru, his Fun Whisperer, walk out.

  She hugged him good-bye, and the feel of her up against him almost had him saying fuck it to the pub. But he couldn’t. He showered and hit his bed two hours later. Alone.

  And when he woke up the next morning he had glitter all over his pillow.

  Chapter 12

  #BiteTheBullet

  The next few days were busy at work, with Pru’s shifts consisting of one cruise after another, but she still had plenty of time to think. A lot.

  Karaoke night had been fun. Watching Finn laugh with Archer and Spence had been a highlight for her.

  Fun looked good on him. It made her happy to see him happy, and she realized it’d been a good week for her, too. Willa, Elle, and Haley had been so welcoming, taking her in, adding her to their group without hesitation.

  It meant a lot. It also meant that she wasn’t entirely alone. She knew she had Jake, but he was like a brother at this point. An overprotective, obnoxious one.

  You have Finn . . .

  Even if she had no idea what to do with him. Although she’d had plenty of ideas the other night.

  It turned out that dancing and singing karaoke in front of a crowd with Finn’s eyes on her had been shockingly arousing.

  Which apparently had been obvious. Haley had given her a knowing glance at the bar. “You look hungry,” she’d said.

  “Oh, no,” Pru had told her. “I’m fine, I had a plate of chicken wings.”

  Haley and Willa had laughed.

  Even Elle had smiled.

  “You’re not hungry for food,” Elle had informed her, with Curly and Mo nodding their heads in agreement. “You’re hungry for a good time. With ou