Page 126 of All Packed Up

He couldn’t help but chuckle, and it gave away his presence. Nic glanced over his shoulder, and for a split second Grif saw the carefree Nic he’d fallen in love with so long ago.

Then his gaze flicked to the porch, and Grif stared while Nic watched Wendy be pulled inside by a laughing Arlo.

The simple joy in her laughter made a smile twitch on his own lips, but at the same time Grif could appreciate the cute and sexy omega, he wanted Nic’s attention on him.

“Hey,” Nic said and let the silence wash over them.

The door slammed, signaling Wendy’s complete exit, and the silence was suddenly too much.

“You better not be playing favorites,” Grif said to the mutt as he drew closer, far too satisfied when Daisy’s excitement tripled.

Nic was quiet as Grif stroked Daisy’s ears for a moment, and Grif wondered how to politically ask Nic if he’d told everyone about their past.

“If I haven’t said it already… thanks for letting us stay here.” Nic brushed a hand through his hair and glanced away.

“Can I ask you something?” Grif blurted. Real smooth.

“What’s up?” Nic asked, fixing those amber eyes on him. Griffith swallowed and tried to organize his thoughts into some semblance of order.

Running a hand over the back of his neck, Grif sighed. “Uh… Wendy just said something earlier that made me wonder…”

“Wonder what?” Nic pushed.

“Wonder if you told her about us—me, I mean. In prison.” When he finally got the words out, he wondered if he could ask Nic to start over and try this conversation again. Couldn’t he try not to sound like an idiot in front of Nic?

When Nic didn’t say anything for a long moment, Grif’s nerves possessed him to open his mouth and keep talking. “I mean, I understand if you did, what with the circumstances and all, but what exactly did you… say?” Grif’s voice trailed off the longer he talked, and he ran a palm down his face in pure misery.

Why am I the way that I am?

Nic was the only person that could reduce him to a blubbering idiot, and it had been years since Grif had felt this nervous around the beta. Before… everything, Grif was as comfortable around Nic as he was being alone.

But so much time had passed. He was a different person and he suspected Nic had changed too.

Nic stared at him for a long moment before shaking his head. “You know, I wondered when you would admit you were pissed at me, I just didn’t think something like that would be the catalyst.”

Grif snapped his head up. “Pissed at you? What are you talking about?” Even if Nic had told the others, he wasn’t… mad, per se. Just disappointed at the idea of the others creating their own skewed notions about him.

Nic glared him down. “I’m not stupid, Grif. You have every right to be pissed, which just makes me even more thankful that you agreed to let us come out here in the first place.”

“But I’m not pissed! And I would never turn you away,” Grif assured him.

Little did the beta know, there wasn’t much Grif wouldn’t do for him.

He just hated that it’d taken Nic finding an omega that needed Grif’s help before Nic decided he needed Griffith.

Ouch.

No wonder he was so upset. Nic might have told them something personal about Grif. Might have given them the ammo to make their own assumptions about him.

And it hurt. He’d expected more from Nic because of everything they’d been through. Together.

His intrusive thoughts cultivated a collection of ways Nic might have spoken about him. Shaking his head, he tried to dislodge the thoughts, but it was Nic’s voice more than anything that caught his attention again.

“—misplaced, because I had to tell her… a lot.”

A lot.

“How much is a lot?” he asked, staring at Nic as if subtitles would come on and fill him in on what he missed.