I clap my hand on his back. “Knew you loved me.”
He smirks. “Yeah, whatever. Stuck with you for life more like. Making the best of it.” He side-eyes me, lifting his glass to his lips. “Only you could make a joke right now.”
“Would you rather I cry? Wipe my nose on your tie?”
“Fuck off,” he snorts into his glass, unconsciously running a hand down over his bird print tie.
I exhale heavily, feeling calmer than I have in days. I’m doing the right thing. I know it.
Ifeelit.
“It is what it is, Griff. I thought I knew what was important to me. But then—”
“I get it. I do. You’re a brave, crazy fucker. But I do get it. And I hope it plays out okay for you. I wish I knew for certain what will happen.”
I tilt my head, watching the barman clean up, as we’re the last two here.
“That’s life though. No one knows anything. Not for sure.”
“Guess not.”
We drink in silence for a few minutes. The calm before the storm.
“Show me the text again,” I say, draining my glass.
Griffin pulls Harley’s cell phone from his jacket pocket and hands it to me as he calls to the barman.
“Hey bud, you mind staying open a little later tonight? We have a friend joining us for a nightcap.”
The barman wanders over but before he has a chance to decline, Griffin slides a wad of bills over the polished wood. “If you can leave the bottle, too.”
The young guy’s eyebrows lift, and he pockets the cash in one fluid motion and places not one but two scotch bottles down in front of us.
“Enjoy, gentlemen.”
We watch him retreat, pulling his phone and a set of earbuds from his back jean pocket. The sound of rock music blares from them before he stuffs them in his ears and heads off into a room out the back.
“Best fucking bar on this island,” Griffin mutters as he refills his glass from one of the bottles.
I open the messages on Harley’s old phone, the pink glittery case making me smile. I’m still finding those fluffy threads from her slippers all over the damn apartment. But I look forward to it. I pretend it’s because she’s still there. That I’ll walk in after work and her eyes will light up, and she’ll giggle as I take her in my arms and attack her neck with my mouth. Kissing over her pulse point. Feeling her life. Her energy. Drinking her in.
Making her mine again and again.
Focus, Reed.
“What did Harley say when you told her?” Griffin asks as I tap on the most recent message on the phone to open it.
“I didn’t get that far. Suze and the kids came home.”
“You were gone long enough to talk to her. What were you doing?” Griffin looks at me, then shakes his head. “Right, of course.”
“Don’t judge me, okay?” I snap. “It’s a big part of our relationship. With everything that’s happened, I needed her. I don’t expect you to understand.” Heat fires across the back of my neck. I know I was meant to be there to tell Harley what I’m planning, but I just couldn’t control the urge to have her to myself. The second I saw her blue eyes all wide and trusting, needing me as much as I needed her.
“Don’t give me that shit.” Griffin’s glass clatters on the bar as he places it down heavily and turns his face to me, his eyes piercing into mine with incredible clarity for the number of drinks he’s had. “I was there, remember? I get it. I know what Harley has done for you. You’re getting fired at from all directions. But I’m on your side. I’ve always been on your side.”
I purse my lips and lift my chin toward him.
He’s right. I’m being a jerk. Griffin has seen me at my absolute worst. But it only made him focus on our friendship even more. I honestly don’t believe I would be here today if it weren’t for him.