Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Havenwood hadn’t been the easiest place to grow up in. Locals didn’t tend to like people who weren’t as good as them, and when your dad was the town drunk, you definitely weren’t good enough. Been there, done that, had the battle scars to show for it.
All that had changed when Griffin Caine became my best friend. When his family taught me what it meant to have people there for you, and I would owe Griff for that for the rest of my life. He’d become the brother I never had. His parents were the parents I never had.
And Kellan…fuck, I wasn’t ready to go there yet. The kid had been like a little brother to me. I’d taken him under my wing like Griff did…until that one night when I fucked up, made the biggest mistake of my life by giving in to this desire for him I hadn’t even known I’d felt until he’d kissed me. And in the process, I’d betrayed my best friend in the world.
Griff would never forgive me if he knew what I’d done. And I’d never forgive myself for hurting Kellan.
Again, what the hell had I been thinking, coming back here?
And to be a local patrol officer, no less. My dad was going to love that, wasn’t he?
But the longer I’d been gone, the more I realized I’d missed it…fuck, how I’d missed Havenwood…well, at least some of the people here. It was crazy how you could miss something that held so many bad memories, but the truth was, it held good ones too. I’d wanted comfort and familiarity, and there was only one place I’d ever felt that—with Griffin Caine and his family, which really meant Griff and Kellan.
I sighed as I looked up at the sign for Griff’s. A bar. Shit, I was proud of my friend. No matter what life threw at him, Griff always pushed through, he always came out on top, and he did it while being the best guy around. The world needed more Griffin Caines.
I got out of my truck and went for the door. It was late, almost closing time, which possibly made me a coward. I wasn’t sure why I was so damn nervous to see my best friend, the only real family I ever had, but when you considered I’d let his eighteen-year-old brother blow me, then bailed…left for ten years…I guess it made sense.
The moment I walked through the door, Griff’s eyes snapped to me, as if he’d sensed me. He looked a little older, a little more weathered, but otherwise the same, with his messy dark hair, tall, bulky frame, and kind smile.
“Holy motherfucking shit. Chase Hawthorne. It’s good to see you, man.”
He walked around the counter, and we were moving toward each other, meeting in the middle, wrapping each other in a strong hug. Fuck, it felt good to see him again. I’d known I missed him, but I wasn’t sure I’d realized how much until that moment. “It’s good to see you too, brother.”
“What do you want to drink?” Griff asked as we made our way to the bar. “You remember Lawson Grant, right? And this is Knox Wheeler.”
I did remember Lawson. He had a wealthy family in town. They owned Grant’s, a grocery store chain. The first one was in Havenwood, and now they had them throughout three states. His mom had been old money, on top of his dad’s stores, but I couldn’t remember her family history. Lawson and I had never been close, but this was Havenwood, so obviously I knew some things about him. I knew he’d left after his high school graduation, but never knew much about him from there. “Hey, man. Good to see you,” I told Lawson as we shook hands.
“You too,” he replied.
I shook with Knox next. “Nice to meet you,” he said, his voice deep and raspy.
“Can I get a Corona?” I asked Griff as I took a seat. He got me a drink, and the four of us chatted for a few minutes before Knox and Lawson paid and were on their way. I had a feeling they were giving me time with Griff.
He closed the bar after that, locking the door, and then it was just the two of us. Griff smiled and crossed his arms as he took me in. “Christ, man. It’s good to have you home. I missed my brother.”
Guilt and happiness created a tornado inside me, wreaking havoc. Being friends with Griff had always meant something. He cared about his family fiercely, in ways I wasn’t even sure were normal. There weren’t many people like Griffin Caine in the world, and when he’d taken me in as his family, my life had been better for it. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I would have had the balls to try and become anything more than my old man was if not for Griff’s friendship and his family. Which triggered the guilt again. Logically, I knew it had been ten years. That it had been one blowjob, not the end of the world, but it felt like I’d betrayed Griff.