A/N: I only own Briar.
ruizx3, Ghostwriter, and Yankees01- Thank you for the reviews and nice PM. I appreciate it.
I sighed as I looked over the railing at the crashing waves below me. I envied their freedom to come and go as it pleases.
"I thought you could use this... I heard from Becky that they had lots of advice." a voice said and I turned to see Stephen walking up to me with a mixed drink. I smirked and took it.
"Thank you." I said and he nodded. We hadn't really been alone since the party that we kissed.
"I need to apologize to you... I shouldn't have kissed you that night. You are Finn's." he said and I nodded. I knew that he wouldn't be my savior here, but I had hoped for someone who would let me be myself.
"It's ok... I am not sure what's normal in this family." I said with a chuckle.
"We don't usually share our other halfs." he said and I nodded.
"Good to know." I said as I drank some of my drink and I heard him sigh.
"I know that you don't like Finn or any of this, but I am amazed at how you have adapted to it." he said and I looked at him strange. I never expected him to be the nice one.
"Thank you." I said slowly and he nodded.
"I was actually sent out here to ask you to come inside, but I wanted to give you another minute." he said and I gave him a side hug, but as I went to pull away he stopped me.
"Just don't run." he said and I knew what he meant. I nodded and he offered me his arm. I took it and we walked inside. I surveyed the room before anyone realized we had walked inside. Finn was talking to his mother and his aunt. Becky was talking to some family friend with Wade holding onto her. I saw Mr. Balor talking to some of his men with whiskey in their hands. I was watching it when I saw Finn and our eyes connected from different sides of the room. He gave a small smile, and it looked like in that moment that he cared I was back in the room. I returned it and knew that we were both in this fucked up situation for good or for bad. I had a feeling there would be more bad than good.
I walked over to him and he instantly slid his arm around me. I knew that this couldn't be the worst thing that I had ever endured, but I was still getting used to it.
"You alright?" he asked me and I nodded.
"Kind of tired." I lied and he nodded.
"We are going to skip the rest of the night." he annouced to this mother.
"What, are you alright?" she asked with concern looking at me.
"I am tired." I said and she gave a gracious smile.
"Go get some rest before tomorrow. I will cover for you." she said and Finn kissed her forehead. She hugged me and Finn took my hand.
"Thank you." I said as we walked to the waiting limo. He nodded and let me get in first.
"I was tired of dealing with it. We have all day tomorrow." he said and I laughed.
"I want to take you somewhere tonight." he said and I looked at him with a curiosity. He gave a small smile and pulled me closer to him. I snuggled into him as the car took us to his destination.
Finn POV
I knew that Briar had been through a lot in the past few weeks. She hadn't run away yet, and I was surprised at this. I had talked to Becky and I knew that she was still debating on wether she hated us or not.
We got to the compound and it took us to my house. I knew that it would be our house after tomorrow.
"Take off your shoes." I said and she did it as I helped her balance. She did it and looked at me. I held out my hand to her and she accepted it. We walked around to the cliff that over looked our beach. I took her until we came to the hidden waterfall and pond.
"I wanted you to have your own place here. I had them fix up this area so you can come here without any problems." I said as we walked into the clearing. I had a small canopy put up with a bathroom, some lounge chairs, an outdoor sofa/mattress to sun on, a fire pit, and outdoor bar, an outdoor shower, and a waterproof radio.
"Thank you." she said and I smiled at her.
"I wanted you to be able to have a moment to yourself here. You can swim in the pond and anything you need is here." I said and she nodded. I had the area lit with rope lights so that she would be able to come here at anytime.
"Let me show you the best part." I said and held out my hand. She took it and I led us over to the mattress. I leaned it back and laid down. I pulled her to it and pointed to look up. I used the remote to turn off the main rope lights and the stars instantly appeared.
"Wow." she breathed and I smiled at her. She snuggled closer and I pulled her to me.
"Thank you." she said after a few minutes and I smiled.
"You need to know a few things before tomorrow... and I should have told you sooner." I said and I felt her nod.
"A lot will change... and a few facades will come down. Dad won't be so secretive about the business, you will be judged more, and I can't protect you from everything in the family." I said and she sighed.
"I figured a few of them." she said in a sad voice.
"You also weren't my families first choice. I had someone here before you. She couldn't take it. She ran." I said and she nodded.
"Becky told me." she said and I nodded. I figured that Becky had said something.
"After tomorrow I can't protect you from that... this is it. You will meet a bad end if you run after tomorrow." I said and she sat up to look at me.
"Finn, I appreciate the truth, even if it's late... but, I'm not running. I would have if I was going." she said and I looked at her. I couldn't make out all her features, but I knew what I wanted. I sat up and captured her lips. She put a hand on my chest, but didn't push me away. I put my hands on her arms and pulled her down onto me. I was waiting for her to run away from me, but she wasn't. I had hope that she was trying as I rolled us over so that I was on top of her. She moaned as my hips pressed against her. I hadn't really tried anything since that day on the beach because I had the feeling that she just wasn't ready yet. I pulled away and sighed. I was the one who now had a conscious... this was stupid.
"Tell me why you aren't running?" I begged her because it didn't seem right.
"What?" she asked me with a chuckle.
"Why aren't you running? I know that you don't like it here. I haven't been the nicest, and you had a run in with them... you should be trying to leave, but you aren't." I confessed.
"I honestly don't have anywhere to go. I lived the life that I was my own person, only to find out that my family sold me, for whatever reason, years ago to your father. I guess I don't feel like I have a place anymore, but you all, for better or worse, have accepted me. I was accepted out of necessity or because someone wanted to get to know me. I guess that somewhere that means that I should stick around and show my thankfulness. I don't hate any of you, but I didn't like being told that I had to do something." she said and I was amazed at her answer.
"So, why not accept anything I have offered?" I asked her and she chuckled.
"I am not a door mat. I am who I am because of my beliefs... that includes not sleeping with you until we are married or I am ready. I will accept it no matter which comes first. I don't hate you, Finn." she said and I couldn't help it I kissed her.
"I thought you hated us." I mumbled between kisses.
"I did when I first got here." she said and I laughed as I looked at her. I knew that my feelings had grown for her and it seemed like her's had grown as well.
"Come on, we do have to get married tomorrow." I said and she smirked as she took my hand to help her up. We started back and saw a huge light in the sky.
"What's over there?" she asked me and I looked. The only thing that I could think of was my house.
"I'm not sure. Come on." I said and we took off running to the house. We came out of the clearing to see my house burning.
"Oh, Finn..." she said and I pulled her to me. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I had a feeling I knew who was behind it.
We were standing there watching my house go up in flames when Becky, Wade, and mom came flying up in a car.
"What happened?" Wade asked me as Becky hugged Sheamus.
"They were here." I said as I hugged Mom. I was livid now.
AN: Please review!
