Page 115 of Love Felt Like This

“Ugh. Show me, Griffy.”

Griffin lets out a long sigh, swiveling his eyes to me.

“What?” I ask.

“Ohh,” Poe says. “He’s making sure you’re safe, darling. He’s very protective. This”—he gestures to the space between me and Griffin—“will be hard when he goes on tour in a month.”

My hands tingle as Griffin clears his throat again. We really need that water.

I lean on the counter to call the bartender again, but he arrives with the two waters before bustling off down the opposite end of the bar.

“Toilet,” Poe whines. “Show me the way, O Griffin.”

Maybe he’s Ava tonight instead of me, and Griffin is the dad watching over us all. Boy, Griffin Harvey needs a night off.

Griffin shifts on his barstool and peers at me again, concern laced through every line on his face.

“I’ll be fine!” The last word drags out. I even tack on my Bernie Bird voice to say, “Not a big deal!”

Poe bursts out a laugh. “She’s funny, Griff. So, so funny. I think I peed a little.”

“All right, let’s find you a restroom.” Griffin then eyes me. “Do not move, ya hear me, Lark?”

I flush. I think I like it when he calls me by my last name.

“But what if—”

“I’m serious,” he says. So stern. “Stay right here.”

“But how do I know you’ll come back?”

Griffin huffs out an exhausted laugh, rolls his eyes, and removes his Bee Gees necklace—the one just above his patch of chest hair peeking out from his white shirt. He holds it out and lets it pool down into the creases of my palms. “I’ll come back for this, all right?”

“Is it special to you?”

His eyes dart between mine. “Yeah. So take care of it, deal?”

“Deal.”

With one last glance, Griffin finally escorts Poe away, elbowing past a crowd of people and disappearing into a side hallway with a restroom. For the next minute, I attempt to secure the necklace around my own neck until it clasps.

The music is very loud. The song’s beat pounds through my chest. The bar top is like a crutch I’m clinging on to as I look around, seeking out other people’s conversations but unable to hear anything beyond the booming music.

Time feels like it’s passing slowly. Am I doomed to wait at this bar forever? Is Griffin ever coming back? Maybe I should go find him.

No.

He told me to wait. I trust him.

But God, it’s so boring, and it feels like every passing moment gets hazier, and I can feel an itch tickling my stomach. I think I drank too much.

“Funny seeing you here.”

That tickle in my stomach transforms into an unpleasant twist as a very familiar voice whispers in my ear. Next thing I know, Beau slides into the exact bar seat Griffin was occupying earlier.

Beau is in the same well-fitted tux from the award ceremony, sans the jacket. He always looked good in semiformal. Off-duty formal, I guess. Not as good as Griffin, though.

“I didn’t believe them when they told me,” Beau says.