Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 158872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 794(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 530(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 794(@200wpm)___ 635(@250wpm)___ 530(@300wpm)
“I know, baby. It’s going to be okay.” He shifts and turns us to the side. “Come on. Not now!” he barks.
I open my eyes. The blinding light burns my eyeballs again and I squeeze them shut. “They’re filming us?” I whisper.
“I guess.” He growls. “I love you, Molly. A few weeks are nothing. We can do this.”
I gather my courage and pull away from him. Straightening my spine, I lift my chin and try to give him a reassuring, confident smile. “I’ll be sending you winning vibes every day.”
“Don’t worry about me. Kick butt on all your finals. Don’t let any of this distract you, okay? I’ll be back before you know it.”
I nod quickly. “We’ll finish my car?”
“Yup. And take it to the drive-in.” He leans in and kisses my forehead, stopping to take a deep inhale.
“Win for us,” I say.
He seals his mouth over mine, taking a long, slow kiss.
“Niiiice,” the camera guy says.
Griff curses, and we pull away.
“We gotta go, Griffin.” Diane waves at me. “Molly, it was nice to meet you. I’m sure I’ll see you again at the reunion show or something.”
Reunion show?
Does that mean this goes on for more than eight weeks?
I turn my questioning gaze on Griff, but he’s picking up his bag.
“Call Remy,” Griff says. “Have him come get you.”
“You can follow us downstairs,” Diane says to me.
“No.” Griff and I answer at the same time.
If I go downstairs with them, I’ll throw myself on the car and try to force them to stay.
“Stay here. Lock the door behind us,” Griff says.
“Okay,” I agree.
The crew gathers their stuff and follows Griff with their cameras. Diane’s careful to stay out of the shots. I follow her lead and keep to the side.
At the door, Griff turns. I rush to him and give him another kiss.
“Love you,” he says.
“Love you too.”
Then they move into the hallway. I can’t watch. Griff’s blank expression chills me from the inside out. It’s the same face I’ve seen on him when he’s in the ring. I close the door and put my back to it, silently sobbing.
In the hallway, I still hear the crew talking but I can’t make out their words. I run into the bedroom, kick the door closed, and fling myself onto the bed.
Everything was so perfect. Last night. This morning.
Now he’s gone.
What seems like hours later, I peel myself off the bed and send Remy a text to come get me. I run through the apartment, straighten up and empty the garbage cans—anything I can think of to stop the tears from falling.
Griff said I could stay here. But there’s no way I can be in his space without him.
Someone knocks on the door. Painfully aware that I’m alone, I creep to the door and peer into the hallway.
Remy.
Judging by the angry scowl on his face, walking home might’ve been a better option.
I open the door, and he storms inside.
“What the fuck is going on? You don’t come home last night.” He holds his phone up. “Griff sent me some cryptic message—”
“He did?”
“What’s going on?”
I explain everything from the time Diane and her camera-toting minions showed up to Griff’s departure.
“What do you mean they showed up and told him he had to leave?” Remy crosses his arms over his chest and glares at me.
I sob and hiccup at the same time.
“They said it was better for the show. I helped him pack and…” I work hard to wrangle my sobbing into submission. The harder I cry, the more Remy’s anger seems to build.
He steps closer and pushes my hair off my shoulder, staring at my neck. “Wait a second. He had you…he let you spend the night here, then fucking left you all alone the next day?” he grinds out in a lethally low voice.
Embarrassment blasts my skin. Remy doesn’t know we slept together. It’s none of his business anyway.
“He didn’t leave me!” I shout. “They took him. He didn’t know today was the day. He didn’t have a choice.”
“The fuck he didn’t. He signed up for this shit!” Remy clenches his fists. “I could fucking kill him right now.”
“Remy, stop.”
A tortured expression twists his features. “I don’t know how to fix this for you, Molly.”
“You can’t.” I take one breath, then another. The tears finally stop. “I don’t need you to fix it. Just be here with me.”
“Okay, okay.” He gathers me in his arms, holding me tight. “I’m here.” After a few seconds, he rocks us back and forth, the way he did when I was little, and we hid in the closet together during one of Dad’s tirades.
Even though I’m safe with my brother, without Griff here, it feels like half of my heart is missing and I don’t know how we’re going to survive this separation.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Griff
Being without Molly is already its own special hell. I crave her hot skin against mine. An overwhelming need. Finally making love to her the night before I had to leave is probably the shittiest thing I’ve ever done. I swear, the minute I’m home, I’m taking her to bed and we’re not leaving for at least a week.