“We almost died. There was a gun. A gun. Pointed at me. At you. A gun,” she cried, her words incoherent as the policeentered the supermarket, coming to our rescue almost too late. I barely heard the sounds of everyone beginning to panic, crying and yelling, and the police officers trying to contain the situation.
“You’re safe. You’re alive,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. I ran my hands over her hair before bringing them to her sweet face, cradling her damp cheeks in my hands. Using my thumbs, I brushed some of her tears away, but more only fell to replace the ones I swiped away.
“Because of you,” she whispered back, her voice shaky and trembling.
Before I could say a word, two police officers strode up to us, wanting our statements. They wanted to question us in private, but I wasn’t allowing that to happen. Tatum was a mess, her words almost incoherent through her tears and sobs. I did my best to console her while I gave my statement and whatever characteristics I remembered from the robber who’d held Tatum at gunpoint.
“Tate,” I murmured as I led her to her sedan. She wasn’t in any state to drive. She was still shaking, and I could see exhaustion weighing down her shoulders. Tiredness lingered in her green eyes as she looked up.
“Thank you. Thank you, Griff.” She looked away before she finished speaking, focusing her green eyes on her car.
“What are you doing tonight?” I blurted before I could stop myself. But I didn’t regret my question.
For me, there was no more waiting around. I wanted her as mine. I was done wasting time. I just needed to convince her of how I truly felt. And fuck dinner with my parents. I’d almost just watched the girl from next door, the one I’d always been so madly in love with,die.
She snapped her head in my direction, and I smirked despite the situation we’d just left and the crazy, nightmarish night we’djust experienced together. A night that bonded us in a way we could never ignore.
“Me? Going home and thanking God that I am alive,” she said softly, not an ounce of teasing in her words. She truly meant what she said. My heart clenched in my chest for her and everything she’d gone through tonight.
“How about some pizza, and we thank Him together?”
She bit her lip and started to shake her head. A lump formed in my throat, and I roughly cleared it. I wasn’t letting her walk away tonight.
“My treat,” I coaxed, and she sighed before looking back at her sedan for a moment.
She was going to deny me. I was sure of it. I couldn’t expect this night and our trauma bond to suddenly make her want to be around me. So I was surprised when she quietly said, “Come to my place, and we can order something.”
My parents would just have to have dinner without me. Tatum was more important than a weekly dinner.
CHAPTER 17
TATUM
PRESENT
Come to my place, and we can order something.
What had I beenthinkinginviting Griffin to my condo a second time?
Clearly, I hadn’t been thinking at all. Griffin was theenemy. He’d turned his back on me years ago. Chose his popularity over our friendship and everything we’d shared together. And despite his kindness the other night and at the gym earlier today, he was still a class-A douchebag.
Yet, here I was, inviting him to my place like we were just long-lost friends. I guess, technically, we were, but he’d ditched me years ago. Not to mention the train of women he liked to parade all over Atlanta, and let’s not forget how he kissed me the other night.
Clenching the steering wheel in a death grip, I checked my rearview mirror for the tenth time. Griffin’s black Escalade was still tailing me, and if I stared long enough, I thought I could make out his cocky grin. But I had to be crazy, right? Because who could smile at all after the night we’d just had? And why did he need two cars?
Did I clean the kitchen before I left?
Did I make my bed?
God, were my floors a mess? Did they need to be vacuumed?
I hated this side of me. The side that obsessed over every little thing. The anxiety that riddled my day-to-day life and activities.Why should I care what Griffin thought of my condo?He’d seen it just two days ago, and I hadn’t cared then. I didn’t know why, but I cared a whole lot right now.
Pulling into the small condominium community I lived in, I parked in my designated spot and watched through the back window as Griffin easily found the guest parking.
Drumming my shaking fingers against the wheel, I forced myself to suck in some deep breaths and get my racing heartunder control. Once my trembling had eased, I turned the car off and exited the vehicle.
It’s just Griffin Silver, your childhood best friend and a guy who used to bully you in high school.He’s not that person anymore. He very well could be. But a bully wouldn’t try to save me, would he?Twice. He wouldn’t save me twice if he was truly a monster. Or have my car delivered here the morning after the kiss.
