I snickered. I loved my best friends. Just texting them made this night a little more bearable.
Griffin
I need to get some sleep. But I wanted to check in and let you guys know what was going on. It’ll probably be all over the news tomorrow. You can fill the team in or let Coach know. I’ll call him in the morning so the PR teamcan get on top of this.
Graham
Sounds good, man. Take care of yourself, all right? We’ll hold down the fort. And tell Tatum we said hi.
I scoffed but sent back a thumbs up before locking my phone and setting it on Tatum’s nightstand. Yeah, I wasn’t telling her they said hi yet. She never really liked them after they joined in on my teasing of her in high school. But maybe I could get her to give them a second chance.
Because, like me, they’d grown up too. None of us were the same stupid kids we’d been in high school.
CHAPTER 19
TATUM
PRESENT
I slowly cracked open my eyes. Sunlight washed over my bed, warming my body through the sheer curtains over my floor-to-ceiling bedroom windows. My eyes were puffy, swollen, and a bit tender when I rubbed the sleep from them.
Groaning, I shut my eyes again, pulling the blankets tighter around me, partially wishing last night had never happened. But I couldn’t bring myself to wish it all away, even if I really tried. Because Griffin had been there.
He had been kind.
He had taken care of me. Soothed my fears.
He’d been the guy I remembered growing up with instead of the cold-hearted monster he’d turned into when we started high school.
The smell of frying bacon and coffee infiltrated my nostrils under the blankets, and I pushed them down, blinking blearily into the room. Groaning, I rolled onto my back and sat up. Had he really stayed the entire night? Ivaguelyremembered pleading with him to stay, which made my cheeks turn the shade of a ripe tomato, but I hadn’t expected him to still be here this morning.
And ithadto be him. Because Millie had zero cooking skills, and she also didn’t have a key to the condo. So unless someone had broken in and decided to make me breakfast, it had to be Griffin.
I slid out of bed and quickly made my way to my attached bathroom, taking the time to wash my face and brush my teeth. After pulling my messy hair, which needed a wash, into a bun on the top of my head, I wrapped my robe around myself and shoved my feet into my slippers before heading out of my room and into the kitchen.
“Good morning,” Griffin called without turning around. My heart skipped a beat in my chest. Hewasmaking me breakfast. The only other man to ever make me breakfast was my brother, Dustin. Speaking of my elusive brother, I had to tell him what happened last night before he saw the news.
I did not feel like a surprise visit from him or, worse, my father. Which reminded me, Dustin had said he was going to fly in this weekend. He wanted to have a celebration of life dinner and talk about our supposedly sick father. Yet it was Monday, and he was nowhere to be seen.
“Morning,” I said softly as I made my way to the Keurig. I started myself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter, my arms wrapped around my chest as I watched him flip the bacon in the pan. Scrambled eggs were already made, and he had a stack of pancakes waiting to be devoured. My stomach rumbled at it all. It looked delicious.
“I put your phone on the charger,” he said, jerking his chin in the direction of my phone where it was laying on the bar. I wondered if maybe Dustin had texted me about not coming or changing plans.
Silently, I walked over to it and unlocked the screen, only seeing one message from Millie letting me know she was safe and staying over with a guy she met at the bar. I shook my headat her message with a heavy sigh. She was so reckless, and no matter how much I warned her that she was doing something dangerous, she never listened. Just turned a deaf ear to everything that came out of my mouth.
“Trouble?” Griffin asked, eyeing me when I set my phone back down and walked back over to the Keurig to add sweetener, a scoop of vanilla protein powder, and milk to my coffee.
I shrugged as I spooned sugar into the mug. “Just Millie. Out being reckless again. Nothing new.”
He hummed. “She was always super weird in high school. Surprises me you two are still friends,” he told me.
I frowned at him, not liking what was implied. “Why? She stuck around, Griffin.”
He visibly flinched but didn’t say a word. I sighed, forcing myself to breathe. I wasn’t a morning person, not before the first cup of coffee, and I didn’t have the energy to fight with him this morning.
“Sorry, she’s my best friend. I get defensive over her,” I mumbled.
He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry, Tatum. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s thanks to her I found you again.”
