Griffin is a monster. A cold-blooded sociopath. And not like the romanticized villains in the movies where the heroine ultimately realizes he’s the one for her. He’s the gross, ugly one that everyone wishes would meet their timely demise and get the hell off the show. Griffin has gone through life doing everything selfishly—only for himself. He’s sick and twisted and there is no way he could ever earn his redemption.
Johnny, on the other hand, has done pretty much everything he has for the greater good, or what he assumed was the best choice. He’s perceived as the bad guy when in reality, he is the most self-sacrificing person I’ve ever met.
Griffin is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing, his layers being peeled back to reveal a disgusting excuse for a man.
“But you are alive, you’re here, and I was an idiot for leaving you alone tonight like that.” Johnny can’t seem to stop beating himself up for my decision.
“Hey.” I place my hand along his jawbone, my fingers grazing under his ear. “We’re in this together, okay? And that means we share the burden from now on. What happened tonight, it was a minor hiccup. No one’s fault. We knew going into it that there might be risks. We’re both fine, and things might have got a little rocky, but we managed to score a huge win with those sneakers. Let’s focus on maintaining that momentum.”
“We were quite the team, weren’t we?” Finally, he shows a bit of optimism.
“Hell yeah, we were.” I ignore the next set of rowdy college kids passing us and lean in, brushing my lips onto Johnny’s.
His kiss is slow at first, gentle and sweet.
I pick up the pace and deepen the intensity, not giving a shit who might be walking by at this very moment. The only thing on my mind is the taste of Johnny.
He matches my tone and weaves his hands through my hair, pulling me closer to him. He trails his fingers down my neck and along my back, landing on my exposed waist to drag me in. His touch is like fire, igniting my soul.
Johnny relaxes, breaking away and resting his forehead along mine to catch his breath. “You’re…incredible.”
Suddenly, I’m realizing Cora might have been right after all. And when I glance around at our whereabouts, I’m desperately wishing we were capable of teleporting. We’re at least a five-minute walk away from getting any kind of privacy to continue what we’re doing.
“Your place or mine?” I say, weaving my fingers through his and dragging him in the direction of our complex.