Page 87 of Unrivaled

After an exhausting week, I’m grateful for the familiar sight of the Spokane Airport when I finally get home. The last week was physically, psychologically, and emotionally grueling. Between the drills, the staging for the media and all the primetime talking heads that want to weigh in on your skills and abilities and chances of getting picked to the individual teams evaluating your every move … I’m just glad it’s over.

Plus, things with Tiffany have been weird ever since I left. I thought everything was fine when I boarded the plane. We’d spent the weekend together like we were a little family, and I honestly couldn’t get enough. And I spent half my travel time to the combines thinking about how I could convince her and Ben to move in with me. I know he hated the cot, but maybe if we got a little trundle bed or something? We could all sleep in the bedroom together. It would only be for a couple of months, and then I could get us a bigger place and he could have his own room once I know where I’m headed.

But she’s barely texted me the whole time I’ve been gone, and then only in response to me reaching out first. Not once did she text me first.

It hasn’t been sitting right with me all week, but given everything else going on, I haven’t had the time or energy to really think much about it until my flights home. I’ve had nothing but time to think the whole way home. Hindley, McAdam, Martinez, and I traveled together, and we were full of energy on the way over. But on the way home, we were all holed up in our seats, headphones on, each lost in our own worlds.

At this point, what happens next is out of our hands. The teams will decide what they decide, and we’ll have to wait until April to find out what that will be. In the meantime, it’s time to catch up on the classes we missed while we were gone and get our ducks in a row for graduation.

And for me to figure out what’s going on with Tiffany.

Have I made a mistake holding off on asking her to come with me? I was trying to give her time to get used to the idea of us as a possibility, but maybe she needs to know thatIsee a future for us together before she can allow herself to think beyond me graduating. I’ve done my best to show her that she already owns my heart. But maybe I made a mistake by not telling her.

She and Ben wait for me near the baggage claim. When they spot me, Ben’s face lights up, and she sets him down so he can run for me. I crouch down and open my arms, catching him easily and standing.

He wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes me tight. “Gray! Gray! You’re here! You’re here! I’m so happy to see you! I missed you so much!”

I can’t help laughing at his enthusiasm. “I missed you, and I’m happy to see you too, bud.”

“Mommy and Grampa watched you play on the TV!”

“Oh yeah?” I hold him away so I can see his face. “What about you? Did you watch me?”

He scrunches up his face. “Just a little. It was kinda boring.”

Laughing again, I carry him back to Tiffany. I know better than to expect a kiss or even a hug, not with Ben here, but I’d hoped for something more than the tight smile she gives me. “Hey. How was your flight?”

I shrug. “Fine. Boring.”

She nods, ducking her head and tucking hair behind her ear. “That’s good. Flights aren’t supposed to be exciting, right?”

“Right. Exciting travel is usually bad.”

She nods again. “Exactly. So boring is good.”

“Uh-huh.”

Wow. I think this might be the worst conversation we’ve ever had. Maybe the worst in recorded history.

What the fuck is going on?

I want so badly to ask that question, but I can’t. Not with Ben still in my arms. Not in the middle of a busy airport. I wouldn’t get any kind of answer. But when will I have the chance to ask that? And even if I get her alone, will she actually tell me anything?

We move toward the baggage claim with my flight number above it, and Tiffany walks next to me with her arms crossed over her body. She hasn’t been this closed off with me since … ever. Even when she hated me. Even when she was leaving parties to get away from me and blocking my number and trying to ditch me when I waited for her after class. She gave me fire and sass and anger, but never this blank wall of nothing.

“How’d the combines go?” she asks as we stand around waiting for the suitcases to start tumbling down the conveyor belt.

“Good. I think.” I shrug. Ben starts squirming in my arms, so I set him down.

“Stay right here,” she admonishes him.

He holds onto one of my hands and starts walking in circles around me, switching from hand to hand as he goes around. Tiffany watches this, a tiny smile curving her lips. It’s the first genuine smile I’ve seen from her since I got off the plane.

But when she catches me watching her, it fades immediately.

And I growl. I can’t help it. It just comes out.

Her eyes jump to mine, surprised.

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