Page 175 of Love Felt Like This

I shrug. “We’re busy.”

“Hmm,” Greg muses.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Hmm,” he repeats.

“Look at me, Greg.” I poke a finger toward my eyes and the bags underneath. “I’m the walking grim reaper right now.”

He squints. Beneath the silly clothes and weird interests, Greg has this way of seeing what you don’t want anyone to see.

“So?” he says.

“So…” I say with a nonchalant wave of my hand. It’s not like I think about this every day. “Griffin and I will stay in touch. We’ll see each other. I mean, he’ll need to be a guest on the show eventually.”

Greg scoffs. “A guest? That’s it? Take this more seriously.”

“Take what seriously?” I ask with a laugh so forced I almost choke on it.

“Why are you blowing this off?” he asks. “You aren’t happy without him here.”

“I am happy,” I counter through strangled words. “I’ve just been working a lot, so it’s hard to tell.”

“That’s an excuse. You’re disappearing into work. You’re distracting yourself. You two were obviously more than just him being a guest on the show.”

“We were just friends.”

“Rob told me you and Griffin kissed.”

My cheeks heat. “God, he’s worse at gossip than Dad.”

“For the record, he wasn’t upset about it either. He likes Griffin.”

That doesn’t make me feel better. Not only do I have to worry about Ava feeling abandoned, but now my brother? I hate that for him.

“And we all see how he looks at you,” Greg says.

“Griffin and I, we’re…” I give another smile, but this time it’s a struggle to lift even the corner of my mouth.

We’re what, exactly?

All we did was kiss. And sleep together. And sure, I might have watched him lie there afterward, tracing my fingers through his hair and over his tattoos. But that’s beside the point.

“I don’t know what we are,” I stammer out. “And even if I did—” But I’m interrupted by a ruckus behind me. Mom and Dad are back on the porch, now borderline arguing with Nana about the flight details. With the way her eyes shift back over to us, something tells me this conversation was premeditated.

I exhale heavily and cross my arms. “Greg, did Nana put you up to this? I’m fine.”

“If you did…?” he says.

“What?”

“You said that, even if I did…”

“It doesn’t matter!” I toss my hands in the air. “We’re busy. He’s going on tour. He’s leaving the country.” God, he’ll be so far away. “It would be too complicated. Too risky. I’ve taken enough risks with famous musicians before.”

Greg pauses and blinks. “But Griffin isn’t Beau. You know that.”

I do, but our complicated relationship is much easier to navigate when I can fit it into that safe box.