“Logan,” I interject. “Stop. Do not buy her a car. You’ve already bought her food.”
“But I need to do more,” he whines.
“No, you don’t. Youneedto give her her space, and buying her a car is just going to push her further away.”
“But—”
“No, Logan. I’m telling you, if you want any chance of having anything with her again, you’ll give her the space she asked for, and that includes not suffocating her with expensive gifts—like a car. She needs space right now, in every way. She’s hurting becausewehurt her. She needs time to heal herself.”
I feel bad as Logan’s expression crumbles. “She’s hurting,” he says in a broken rasp. “You could tell?” His face is pinched, his eyes shining with self-disgust.
“She just looks a little lost,” I tell him, blowing out a breath. “We haven’t made life easy on her.”
“Me, especially,” he says in a dejected tone.
I remain silent because, well, he’s not wrong. He equally shouldn’t carry the entirety of the blame. We all participated, and Grayson should shoulder a fair amount of the responsibility. However, Logan possibly hurt her the most.
He’s used to fixing things by throwing money at them or brandishing one of his charming smiles, although neither will work with Riley. If he wants her forgiveness, he’ll have to respect her boundaries instead of barreling full steam ahead and throwing whatever he can at the problem until it’s fixed.
“I’m heading to bed,” he says with a heavy sigh.
“Alright, man. See ya in the morning.”
With a half-assed wave of his hand, he climbs the stairs, and I wait until I hear his bedroom door close before heading up to my room. I fall asleep to dreams of Riley dancing on stage solely for me.
I’m standing in the kitchen the next morning, cooking breakfast, when Grayson walks in. Logan left early this morning, looking like shit after presumably barely sleeping all night. When he’s not moping around the house, he’s spent as much time as possible at the rink, trying to forget about a certain redhead. Or perhaps trying to prevent himself from going to see her.
Casting a glance over Gray, I can’t say he looks any better than Logan did. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” he grunts sarcastically, before pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot.
Just like Logan, he’s been mostly MIA since Christmas Day, holing himself up in his office at work. Whenever he’s home, there’s a noticeable tension in the air that was never there before.
Before Riley careened into our lives.
Before we had the stupid idea to kidnap her.
Before I realized how badly we fucked up.
Now, it’s impossible to miss. Our friendship is fractured, and until Grayson gets over his little vendetta, I don’t see how we can repair it.
“Off to the office today?” I ask, even though it’s obvious being that he’s dressed for work in a tailored Armani suit.
My only response is another grunt, and giving him my back, I plate up the bacon and eggs I made for myself. He scowls as I sit down at the island with my plate for one, not having offered him any. Usually, I’d cook breakfast for the three of us, but not anymore.
Behaving like an angry bear, he pulls open cupboard doors until he finds a cereal box, bowl, and spoon, fixing himself breakfast.
“How long are we going to ignore the elephant in the room, Grayson?” I ask with a sigh.
“Until the two of you come to your senses.”
I shake my head. “If both of us are telling you you’re wrong, then can’t you at least consider the fact that you’re actually wrong this time?”
He scoffs. “Maybe if I didn’t know what she was capable of.”
“What about what your dad’s capable of?” I argue back, earning an icy glare from him. “He stole from his own company.Hedid that. Isn’t it possible he’s also crossed other moral and legal lines?”
“Theft is a far cry fromrape, Royce. Just because he committed one crime doesn’t mean he committed the other.”
