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He was leaving? And he had said nothing?
Jay was right. If I hadn’t shown up, Griff would have been on his way to the other end of the state by now.
“I didn’t expect you to show up,” he said. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I called you all morning, and you didn’t respond.”
A faint pink hue crept up his cheeks, mingling with the rough stubble on his jaw. Guilt. My heart sank. He had been intentionally ignoring my calls. I wrapped my arms tightly around my body for comfort. If only I hadn’t come.
“Let’s talk inside.” He set the suitcases to one side of the hall and held out his hands, but I slipped through his arms. “Shit. You have all the right to be mad at me, I know. I’m sorry.” He closed the door, but we didn’t move from the small hallway.
The bags, though pushed to the side, stayed imprinted on my mind. “What are you sorry for?”
“At first, I didn’t deliberately ignore the calls. I swear. I was sleeping. Well, more like passed out.” He sighed and threaded his fingers through his hair. “The truth is that I got wasted last night, and I didn’t want you to know. I spent the night at a… friend’s apartment. How’d the talk go with Jay?”
A lump formed in my throat. “Not good. I’m staying at a motel for now.”
“What?”
Griff reached for me again, but I stepped back—right into the wall and stumbled. “Don’t.” I batted his hands away.
“Scottie, what’s wrong with you?”
“You got drunk. Again. Do you know I needed you this morning, but you were not there for me?”
“What do you mean?”
“My asthma flared up, and I’d left my inhaler in the car.”
“Fuck.” The color drained from his face. “Jesus, Scottie, I’m sorry. Are you okay now?”
“Thanks to Jay, yes.”
“Last night with Jay, the whole situation had left me feeling terrible. I know it’s not an excuse, but I don’t make a habit of this.” He tugged at my hands, and this time he wouldn’t take no for an answer and gathered me against his chest. “I’m sorry, baby. I swear I’ll pay more attention from now on.”
I melted against him, then tensed. “What about those bags?” I pulled back to look into his eyes. “Where are you going that you couldn’t tell me and I had to find out this way?”
Griff choked. “Wait a minute. Did you think I was fucking off somewhere without you?”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
He chuckled, cupped my face in his hands, and planted a hard kiss on my lips. “You’re so fucking pretty, you know that?”
Butterflies swarmed my stomach, and the familiar shyness took over. “Stop that. You’re distracting me.”
“Why should I? It’s true.” He chucked my chin and rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip. “I’m gonna tell you all the time, Scottie. You’re all I have now.”
“Don’t give up on Jay.”
“I don’t want to, but he’s made it clear he wants nothing to do with me.” He let out a heavy sigh. “The only thing I can do is respect that. Did he give you a hard time?”
I nodded. “It sucks losing my best friend, Griff.”
“I know, baby.” He tucked my head to his chest and held me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and clung to him tightly, still not clear on why he had his bags packed but less worried now that he intended not to leave me behind.
“Griff.”
“Yes, pretty boy?”
