Walk Me Down by HJ Bellus Page A

him and his dad. I helped Jimmy fix up the tiny fish for dinner. We also made burgers and a green salad since the fish were basically an appetizer. Finn disappeared while we cooked, and I could only guess it was to decompress fully from the night’s events. 
    Something Jimmy said to me while we cooked is still haunting me hours later.
    “Finn needs you. If you aren’t ready to fully stand up for him, you need to let him know. The boy lost one love of his life. I don’t think he has it in him to lose another.”
    His words brought me to tears, and I cried right in the middle of his kitchen. Will has always tried to fill the void of my parents, but he’s more like a big brother to me than anything else. Jimmy, on the other hand, is so fatherly I wanted to pour out all my fears right there in the kitchen with him. I desperately wanted to share all of my pain, fears and just how broken of a person I am. Then maybe he could see that I’m a strong enough woman to be there for Finn.
    “Baby,” Finn’s groggy voice drags me from my thoughts.
    Finn is laid out on his back with me clinging to his side.
    “Yeah,” I whisper.
    “Why are you crying?”
    “I’m not,” I say.
    “I feel your tears rolling off my stomach.”
    Touching my face, I realize Finn is right, which causes more to flow. I feel Finn sit straight up in bed and drag me up to his chest.
    “I’m sorry for waking you up.”
    “Babe, it’s three in the morning. What’s wrong?”
    Climbing up into Finn’s lap, facing him in the dark, I let go of all my fears.
    “I’m not a strong enough woman for you, Finn. I’m broken and hurt from my past. I want my parents back. I want the Tess who lived recklessly back and I’ll never get that. I’m a broken, weak person, but I do know one thing…I love you, Finn.”
    “I hate life,” Finn replies.
    I know exactly what those words mean, and that he just understood every single one of my words. With everything I have I melt into him. My need builds up for the man, reaching down between us I free him from his boxers and then grab both of his hands raising them above my head and then sink down onto Finn.
    His groan of pleasure sets me on fire, and I take the lead this time. Every time we’ve been together,  Finn’s has always been the driving force. Not tonight. He tries to move his hands, but with all my might I keep them pinned to the wall above us. My hips quicken up their pace as I feel my want and desire mingle. I can feel Finn begin to buck underneath me and each time he pushes up in me, it causes me to drive closer to releasing.
    “Finn,” I scream as I let go of everything.
    I let go of past pain and memories. I let go of all my insecurities and only see me as Finn does. I let go of everything except for my love for Finn.
    Collapsing down onto him once again, he whispers, “You just wrote another chapter of our love story that I’ll never forget, Tessa.”
    “I love you, Finn. There’s something about you that I just know I have to have and be with.”
    I feel Finn pull my head up, forcing me to look into his eyes. “What’s this all about?”
    “I love fishing with you. I love spending time with you, eating lunch or riding in your truck next to you and I just don’t know if I’ll ever be strong enough to keep you forever.”
    “One day at a time, Tess. We are both afraid to death of having our hearts broken, so let’s just take it one day at a time.”
    “I can do that,” I whisper.
    I go to get out of bed to clean up, but I’m stopped by Finn.
    “What are you doing?” He asks, pulling me back down on him.
    “Going to clean up.”
    Finn’s room is above the shop not even in the same house as Jimmy’s. Thank God, because I’m pretty sure I just did more than moaning with the man.
    “I don’t think so,” he says, rolling me on top of him again.
    “Finn, are you hard again?” I ask, feeling him pressing up into my belly.
    “Nah, it’s just a semi,” he says.
    “You are