Heart to Hart ✔️

31. Birthday dinners and goodbyes

"Get away from my sister." Alec took a few steps forward and quickly re-buttoned his shirt. "Chloe, get your hands off him," he seethed through gritted teeth.

Finn and Chloe stayed frozen to the spot, neither one of them moving as they peered up at Alec, their mouths agape in shock.

"Away." Alec gripped his sister under her armpits and pulled her to her feet. After his rough action, his face paled with guilt and he ran a soothing hand over her arm.

I stood, my back glued to the wall as my face prickled with second-hand embarrassment.

"Can't believe it. I don't need to ask either of you what's going on as this-" he waved his hand towards Finn- "speaks for itself. How long has this been going on?"

"How long?" he screamed after no one answered. His unusual aggressive demeanour caused us all to flinch. Unease crept through my pores and my mouth was suddenly parched.

"A month," Chloe said as Finn answered back with, "a week."

"Which one is it then a month or a week?" Alec snapped, glaring at Finn.

Chloe's eyes welled up as she glanced over to a fidgeting Finn. He readjusted himself in his seat and crossed his arms. "Does it really matter at this point?"

"Yes, it matters. I need to know how long my so-called friend's been messing around with my little sister while he has a girlfriend." Alec tugged Chloe into his arms and rubbed her back as she held back tears.

"We only shared a brief kiss maybe a month ago. I can't remember when it was. But nothing else happened. I told her I was with Abby. Then a week ago, Abby and I got into a massive fight-" Finn leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees and ran his hands over his face- "Chloe was there for me and we slept together," he mumbled the last few words.

Chloe hid her face into Alec's chest and let out a loud sob.

"I swear. It was that one time, and she kept coming on to me. Trying to get me alone. That's what this is." Finn stood up to face Alec and squared his shoulders.

"Liar!" I shouted, pushing myself off the wall as I finally found the courage to speak up. "You've been texting her, you have been chasing her. You were here two weeks ago, hoping to sleep together. Stop lying. Falling for your lies and letting you use her were the only things Chloe did wrong. You were the one with the girlfriend."

"You knew about this?" Alec said as he glanced my way, his voice void of all emotions.

I bit my bottom lip and nodded, lowering my eyes to the floor.

"It's not her fault, Alec. I made her promise not to tell you. I was going to tell you. I swear," Chloe stammered. She gripped Alec's shirt and peered up at him through her eyelashes. Her shoulders shook from the tears she tried to stifle. Once her breathing calmed, she turned to Finn and kicked him straight in the shin. "You piece of shit. A week? You've been sleeping with me for weeks and I have all the messages proving it wasn't one-sided."

"Ouch, you psycho! I thought I told you to delete them. It was just sex. Alec, come on. You know what it's like."

Chloe growled at his comments and lunged forward, her fingers ready to claw his skin. Alec yanked her back before she could make contact and shoved her my way.

"Can you take her to her room or the annexe without my mum seeing her? I need to talk to Finn on my own." Alec pinched the bridge of his nose and released a deep sigh. I extended my hand to stroke his arm, but he shuffled just out of my grasp and gave me a tight smile. "We'll talk later."