Page 213 of All Packed Up

“I know you did not just say that,” Griffith warned, steps silent as he stalked Nic down the hall.

“Uh…” Nic began, backing away at the intense expression on the alpha’s face.

“I know that after staying for so long at my house, after sharing a nest and an omega’s heat, that you are not expecting me to sleep in a different room,” he ground out, smacking a hand against the wall on the other side of Nic’s head as the beta ran out of space to retreat. The alpha leaned down close, eyes ablaze with affection, arousal, disbelief, and even a little… hurt beneath all of that. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that to get rid of me.”

“What do you want from me?” Nic asked with a wince.

Griffith growled. “I don’t want anything from you. I just want you.”

“But you know it’s not that simple,” Nic argued, face burning with embarrassing heat. “This is so much more than just you and me.” He didn’t know when it happened, but this had become about so much more than just him and Grif reuniting after so long. It was so much more than just two exes finally crossing the other’s path.

“I know, but I’m saying that it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“You’ve done nothing but mind since I showed up with Wendy! You two can’t stand each other.” Nic wouldn’t be able to choose, it was impossible. And if Grif was about to make him decide between them, he—

“I know we’re not best friends or anything, but… she’s not the worst.”

Nic groaned, dropping his head to run his hands through his hair, and Grif’s chuckle distracted him.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. And I mean, I can’t speak for Wendy, but in my opinion… I was waiting for you, Nic. At the stop. At my little house, all this time. You turning up was what I had wanted for so long. And newsflash, I’m not heartless. I care about Wendy too.”

Nic glared at him, and if Grif had tried to tell him this before the heat, before what happened tonight, Nic didn’t know if he would have believed the alpha.

But after seeing him bark at the Sterling Pack, after watching him and Wendy scare the shit out of her alpha together.

Maybe there was some truth to what he was saying.

“So what does that mean? You care about me. You care about Wendy.” Nic’s stomach was twisting. “You have a whole life two hours away! A whole house, a fucking farm! How would this work—”

“I don’t want to go back, Nic.”

The ground fell out from beneath him. “What?”

“I don’t want to stay at the farm forever. I never wanted to.”

“What do you mean? That’s your home!”

Griffith shook his head, a somber expression falling across his features. “No it’s not, Nic. It’s just the only place I had to go once I got out.”

“You can’t mean that. You put so much work into it.”

Grif stepped away and started pacing. “I only did that because I had to. It was practically unlivable when I got there. I was only there because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. No one wants to hire a goddamned convict,” he spat. “It only took me a handful of days to realize it once I got out. It didn’t matter that I was a fuckin’ teenager when it happened. It didn’t matter that I came out of that place a totally different person. It only mattered that there was a stain on my record.”

He spun back toward Nic. “I’m self-sufficient because I have to be, because I have no other choice. That house is just another prison, except I was able to disguise the bars.” Grif pointed a finger at him. “Wipe that look off your face right now.”

Nic’s cheeks heated, sliding his gaze away and wiping the sympathy off his face. “From the looks of it, I thought you loved that place.”

Grif shook his head, and Nic had to follow after him like a puppy when the alpha decided to enter his room. He glanced around.

“At least this room looks like someone lives here. It doesn’t seem like you cared to do much with this apartment.”

“It’s not that I didn’t care. I just… the gym was my life. I threw myself into it after… After.”

After he’d watched Grif get carted away in a cop car. After his entire life had been changed in one moment.

“I’m thankful to my uncle for leaving the place to me.”

“You did right by him,” Nic murmured, standing by the door.