Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Chase put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I’m happy for you, brother.”
Josh made me happy. He’d been making me happy for a while now, I just hadn’t admitted it to myself. Each time he showed up, or took me fishing, or…just thought about me. Christ, Josh had been thinking about me, had been considering me and my feelings for a long damn time, and it felt good to be important like that.
“Thanks. He said he wouldn’t hook up with anyone else while we were doing this.” It was on the tip of my tongue to ask Chase if that meant something, but I worried it would make him think I wanted it to mean something and would complicate things more.
“No shit? I didn’t expect that. You know what, I take that back. I don’t want to sell Josh short. He’s a good man, and I know he’ll do right by you.”
“He really is. He makes me feel… This sounds crazy, but he makes me feel both special and normal. Can those things go together?”
“Yeah, brother. They really can.” Chase nodded. When I didn’t respond, he added, “I’m still talking as Best Friend Chase here, but talk to Kell, okay? He’ll understand.”
“Yeah, I know. I will.” The last thing I would ever risk was something coming between me and my brother.
We hung out for a little while longer before I drove to Safe Haven—Kellan’s studio. It wasn’t open yet, so I knew he was in there alone, getting things done before his first class. I could see him inside, writing something at the counter. I tapped the glass, and he looked up. Our eyes held a moment before he came over and unlocked the door for me. “I figured we should talk.”
“All I need to know is if you want this. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I don’t think you’ve had enough of that in your life, Griff, which I’m partly to blame for. If you’re making up for it now, then I’ll be your biggest cheerleader.”
“I’m happy,” I admitted, and I was.
“Then I am too. I love you, big brother.”
Kellan hugged me, and I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the top of his head. “I love you too.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Josh
It was a little fucked up how I’d gone days, weeks without texting Griff before, and suddenly I had to argue with myself to keep from doing it all day. Arguing with yourself was strange and a little crazy, but I’d been doing it for hours. It wasn’t like Griff and I had been the text-each-other-every-day kind of friends. Hell, Kellan and I didn’t always talk to each other every day anymore either. Yet here I was, stressing myself out, wondering if he was still okay with everything we’d done, to make sure he still wanted to do it and to reaffirm to myself that we were still friends and this wouldn’t come between us. I hadn’t realized how much Griffin Caine meant to me until I started worrying I’d somehow lose him.
Griff meant a lot.
Maybe too much.
I also didn’t want to be clingy. It was weird-ass shit, having to fight with myself not to be. I didn’t get clingy with guys—at least not before my best friend’s frustrating brother.
I did well, though. I worked all day and kept myself from turning into a crazy stalker. I shot a message to Natalie to see if she was free and wanted to come over for dinner at my place.
She showed up just after my shower. I tugged the door open, and she came in, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, gorgeous. I’m lazy and didn’t feel like cooking, so I ordered pizza.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“Want a beer?”
“No, just water is fine.”
I grabbed her a glass, and we sat on the couch together. Griff used to call me, her, and Kellan the three musketeers because we hung out together so much. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d said it, to be honest, but we also didn’t spend as much time together as we used to. Not because we didn’t mean as much to each other—friendship wasn’t based on how often you got to hang out with someone—but because…well, because of the same reason things had changed between a lot of us—Chase and Kellan being serious, Remy and Law staying home sometimes, Knox having Callum and his son living with him.
“What’s new with you?” I asked Nat.
“Nothing really. I mean, there’s Miguel. I like him, Josh. He’s a good guy.”
“He seems like it.”
“You know what he said to me? That he respects me for what I’m going to do for Kell and Chase. That it’s not often people do something so selfless. I mean, how sweet is that?” She smiled.
“He’s right, Nat. It’s amazing. I hope you know how incredible you are.”