Page 26 of A Violet Obsession

A pause.

“It’s sweet that you’re worried, Finn.”

Another pause.

“Why are you worried? You’re never worried.” Her tone is laced with suspicion.

My little sister might be loud, dramatic, and a general pain in my ass, but she’s not stupid.

“You asked me to look out for her, didn’t you?” I glance at the woman on the sofa again, very clearly, deeply asleep. My lips quirk at knowing something about Lily my sister doesn’t, and I don’t examine why I care.

“She is sleeping. But she’s not at her apartment. She’s here.”

Silence. The longest silence I’ve ever gotten from my sister.

“Why,” Emma says slowly, “is Lily at your house?”

“We’re not at my house. We’re at⁠—”

“You better not have had sex with my best friend.” Her voice goes from zero to full snarl in under a second. “Finneas Markham, I swear to God! I told you she was vulnerable. She’s had the worst day of her life, well, other than when her parents… you know… and if you took advantage of that just because she’s deluded enough to think she’s in love with you.”

Everything inside me stops before my pulse restarts with a hard kick against my ribs.

“She’s in love with me?”

Dead silence. Then a sound that I’m fairly certain is my sister slapping her own forehead.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Emma’s voice is strangled. “Pretend you didn’t hear it. That was… It was hyperbole. Forget it.”

“Pretty hard to forget.” My gaze is on Lily as she frowns in her sleep.

“She’s not in love with you,” Emma snaps. “She doesn’t even know you. She used to have a stupid, gross—completely unbelievable and beyond all rational thinking—crush on you. Past tense. Ancient history.”

“Really?”

“I know, right? Totally nuts. But teenage hormones… What are you gonna do?” She huffs a fake laugh.

I’m not buying it.

Lily has a crush on me.

Had?

“No offense, but you were a complete dork back then.”

“None taken,” I say dryly.

“Like, caricature dorky.” My sister doubles down. “The glasses, the gaming, the—you know what, we don’t need to relive it.” She pauses. “You still haven’t told me why Lily is at your house.”

“We’re not at my house. We’re at Elite Security. You were right. It looks like Lily needs some help clearing her name in this robbery situation. We came here so I could do some research.”

I can practically hear her deciding whether to believe me.

“Why is she asleep?”

“Because she’s exhausted, Emma. I told you. She said she was up all night with the police. She sat down and passed out.” It’s not a completely accurate retelling of Lily’s story, but it’s all the information my sister needs right now.

“But she doesn’t sleep.” Emma sounds genuinely confused. “It’s… like… a whole thing.”