Page 135 of Stick It
“Anywhere but here.” Griffin doesn’t stop as he closes in on the door.
“Fine,” Ethan harrumphs. “We’ll have this discussion at home.”
That garners Dylan’s attention. She goes rigid, forcing Griffin to stop. Slowly, her head turns, so she’s glowering at Ethan over her shoulder. Despite her pale skin, her eyesburnwith a fire that looks nowhere close to being extinguished.
“I’m not goinghome.” There’s a terrifying calmness to her words. “I’ll be staying at Wren’s—indefinitely. And your bodyguard duties? Consider them no longer necessary.” Her gaze sweeps over all of us. “Outside of practice, I don’t want to seeanyof you.”
With that, she’s gone, whisked out the door and out of my life, leaving a cold, dark, gaping hole in my chest.
41
DYLAN
The streetoutside Wren’s apartment is alive. Students spill out of bars, laughing, stumbling, swaying. A couple leans against a lamppost, tangled in each other, oblivious to the world around them.
I watch it all through the windshield, feeling…absolutely nothing. I’m so far removed from being able to understand these students’ carefree lives that I may as well be on a different plane of existence.
I’m…numb. Disconnected.Gutted.
BSU had been starting to feel like home, like where I belonged. Where I should have been all along. And now…I’m beginning to think I don’t belong anywhere. Nowhere can replace the home I lost. Perhaps I’m destined to roam this world alone for the rest of my days.
Except, I’m not entirely alone.
Griffin sits beside me inside the car, silent except for the muted tapping of his fingers drumming absently on the steering wheel. His presence is the only thing tethering me to reality. The only thing keeping me from unraveling completely.
I swallow against the tightness in my throat. My voicecomes out hoarse, barely above a whisper. “Why?” He turns to face me, and I force myself to look at him. “Why did you believe me over everything you saw? Over Kyle’s accusations?”
His jaw clenches, dark violence flashing across his striking blue eyes, momentarily darkening them. It’s there and gone so quickly that I almost wonder if I imagined it as he reaches forward, eliminating the space between us. His thumb traces along my jaw and down the side of my neck before his fingers curl possessively around my throat. My breaths turn heavy as he pulls me toward him until only a slither of space exists between us. When he speaks, his voice is low, rough. “Because you. Are. Mine.”
A growl accompanies those words. One that sends a shiver racing through me. His eyes burn into mine, intense, unrelenting.
“I don’t give a fuck what you did or didn’t do. If you slept with your old team, if you fucked your coach—I. Don’t. Care.” His grip around my throat flexes. “You’re still mine. End of story.”
A shudder runs through me at the force he puts behind those words, the volatile flicker.
“For what it’s worth, I will always believe you, Dylan. Always choose you. No matter how hard it gets, no matter what kind of shitstorm we’re in the middle of.” He leans in, his breath warm against my lips. “You’re it for me.”
Then his mouth crashes into mine.
It’s not gentle. It’s desperate, consuming, a raw collision of lips and teeth and tongue. A sealing of his promise. The fingers of his free hand tangle in my hair, and he uses his hold on my neck to drag me impossibly closer. I melt into him, letting him steal my breath, letting him erase everything else.
When we finally break apart, I’m panting, my fingers fisted inhis hoodie. His forehead rests against mine, his hands still holding me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.
His steady, unmoving gaze is all I see as I force myself to speak. “Lucas compiled the video. I mean, I’m assuming Kyle got the footage of all of us, but the stuff from my old team came from Lucas. They must have been working together.”
Griffin’s body goes rigid, fine shakes vibrating through him like it’s taking considerable restraint to keep himself still. To not move to find both of them and tear them apart, just like he swore earlier.
I keep going, though, needing to get it all out. “He used footage from when we were together. Photoshopped things to make it look like I was—” My voice breaks, Griffin’s fingers massaging soothingly over my skin as I push through. “He used it to blackmail me into leaving. I was terrified of what it would do to my reputation, to my mom. She was barely holding on after my dad died, drowning in pills and alcohol. If she saw that…”
Whether it’s my words or the devastation I can feel shredding me, Griffin’s stance turns predatory. Rage consumes him, blazing out of his eyes with such intensity that I’d be absolutely fucking terrified if I were Kyle or Lucas right now.
“I’ll kill him.” The words are an animalistic snarl, barely coherent. “I swear to fucking God, I’ll end him. Both of them.” His voice is guttural, dark, and a twisted shiver of delight skitters through me. It’s been a long time since someone has been so vehemently on my side, and, hell, I’ve missed it. Missed having that unquestionable support. That irrefutable love.
Not that I’m saying Griffin and I are in love.
Although, staring at him now, the devil who would never forsake me, I can’t help but think I might be a little in love with him.
“While I’m at it,” he continues darkly, “I should strangle Ethan, Jax, and Finn for how they treated you tonight.”
