Page 21 of A Perfect Match
And the man at his side, in black pants and a tight black tee?Maverick Daly.
A moment later, a woman with a dark, silky high ponytail joins Maverick, sliding her arm around his waist.It’s Scarlett.She nuzzles into him.
Holy shit.I just spent at least twelve hours watching them on TV, and now here I am, lurking in the honeysuckle while watching them inreal life.
Have I accidentally taken a hit of a bong and am just imagining this on Griff’s television?This is the height of parasocial weirdness, but I can’t look away.They’re having a house party of some sort, but I can’t piece together why Kru is at the house directly behind Griffin’s.Maybe Scarlett lives there?I don’t know much about her; she’s from Bayshore, but she was a few grades ahead of me in school, and we didn’t cross paths much.Other people stream in and out of the house as Kru cooks, continuing his story.I can’t hear what he’s saying, but I’m dying to know the punchline.
Grayson Daly joins Maverick after a bit.Hazel’s husband in the flesh.Good lord, the Daly brothers are good-looking.Maverick and Grayson share smiles, nodding and chatting about something.But then the star of the show closes the lid of the grill, turning to face the Daly brothers.My gaze solders onto those biceps.I can remember how his forearms flexed when he hoisted me, seemingly effortlessly.Like I weighed nothing.Memories slide through me, sticky sweet.I bite my bottom lip.
“Piper?”
Griffin’s voice breaks through my voyeuristic daydreaming.I jolt, turning to shush him.I don’t want his neighbors to realize what’s going on.
“Keep it down!”
“What are you doing?”He looks genuinely confused, standing there on the cement patio.
I carefully remove myself from the honeysuckle and hurry toward him.“I’m spying,” I whisper.“You won’t believe who’s back here.”
His brows arch, and I beckon him to the honeysuckle with me.He begrudgingly follows, though I can practically hear all the doubts and sanity checks he’s not saying out loud.
“Piper…” he begins as I part the greenery for him.
“Shh.Just look.”
Griffin bends his enormous athlete body to peer through the bushes.I’m looking through my own honeysuckle window, immediately seeking out Kru.He’s brushing something on the meat with a silicone brush.Maverick is clapping as he does it.Damn, I wish I were over there.
“Is that…” Griff finally starts.
“Kru, my landlord.”
“I still can’t believe Kru is his name.”Griff’s incredulity is a little too loud for the backyard peeping so I shush him.“What does it mean?”he asks in a slightly lower voice.
“It’s his nickname, I guess.I don’t know.I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me.”
“Most sociopaths don’t want you to know their real identities,” Griff mutters.
“He’s not a sociopath,” I shoot back.
He turns to look at me.“He kicked you out of your apartment and gave you less than a month to find a new place.”
“Right—”
“He axed through your back wall without any warning,” he adds.
“Yes,” I concede, “but—”
Griff huffs.“I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be looking at other than a bunch of guys having a party, one of whom I’d really like to punch right now.”
“Griff,”I hiss.“Don’t you find it interesting that all of these people are at the property behind you?”
“Yeah.One more notch on the sociopath column, if you ask me.Koopa wasn’t satisfied with taking your home, I guess, now he’s following you to mine.That’s some crime documentary behavior if you ask me.”
I shake my head, the familiar sense of defeat threading through me.My brothers can’t ever just be normal human beings.They always have to escalate everything to the nth degree of danger when it comes to me.Maybe it was a bad idea to move in with my brother, even temporarily.
“His name is Kru, not Koopa.”
Griffin grumbles as he extracts himself from the honeysuckle.“This is weird, Piper.I’m gonna go back inside now.”
