Page 36 of Stay With Me (Griffin’s Den #2)

THIRTY-SIX

Luna

I sit on the couch and bring my legs up, wrapping my arms around them as I rest my forehead on my knees.

I’ve been a mess all week leading up to today.

The day that Special Agent Hunt and his team will be here to talk to me about The Family. Sam is on his way to get Jess, while the rest of the gang will be over to support me. Noah asked if I wanted them here, and I admitted I wanted to only tell the story once.

Plus, I don’t know if Noah will get mad when he hears everything. I’m afraid he’s going to judge me after hearing everything.

“Luna, are you okay?” Jess asks me softly.

She knows what’s happening but hasn’t asked to stay to talk to them. I wish I could go back to the blissful feeling I had on girls’ night last weekend.

I turn my head to look at her and rest my cheek on my knee. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just nervous. The FBI is only here for a few days, and I would rather not do this more than once if I can avoid it.”

“Would you like me to stay?” she asks.

“No, if there’s something I don’t remember, Noah will write it down, and we’ll ask you later. Is there anything you want to tell me before they come? Over the last couple of years that you can remember, has anything changed drastically?”

She takes a minute to think before shaking her head. “No, I don’t think anything comes to mind.”

“Okay. Are you ready for Sam to get here? Do you have your homework for the day?” I ask her, and immediately, a smile takes over her face.

“Yup. I put my bag by the door.”

As I lift my head to check for her bag, Noah walks in, his eyes full of concern. He knows how hard the days leading up to this have been for me. Once he sees us at the couch, he plasters on a smile and walks toward us.

“Sam just told me he pulled onto the street with Am and Pam behind him.”

Jess nods and wraps her arms around me. “It’ll be okay.”

She lets go as Sam’s car pulls into the driveway, and she walks to the door to grab her bag.

“I’m going to walk her out, okay?” Noah says to me.

“Okay. Tell Sam I said hi.”

“Will do, baby.”

A few minutes later, I hear Noah talking to Am and Pam as they walk in.

I feel them sit on either side of me, and together, we just sit there in silence.

“If you don’t want to do this, it’s not too late. We can get in Am’s Jeep and leave,” Pam says matter-of-factly.

“She’s right. I’m sure Noah would call these people in a heartbeat to tell them we have to cancel,” Am adds.

That’s the thing. Even without him voicing it, I know he would.

I lift my head. “No. It’s time. I’ve been running for so long, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to run anymore.

It’s time to face this, and if I know something that can help them bring The Family down, then this needs to happen.

I want to see if we can get Aspen out of there.

It’s been months since I’ve heard from her. I don’t even know if she’s safe.”

Pam rests her head on my shoulder. “You’re really brave, you know that? If I were you, I would have taken that hot piece of man who looks at you like you’re the center of his world, packed Jess up, and gone somewhere else for a while.”

“I thought about it. To be honest, I almost left the night you guys threw me a surprise birthday party. But it was there where I realized I was tired of running, and for the first time, I had a reason to stay.”

“Damn right, you did. If you thought we wouldn’t have hunted this earth to find you, you don’t know us very well,” Am declares.

“I’m better at finding most people than the FBI. So it wouldn’t be worth leaving because we would have found you and dragged your ass back,” Pam adds.

For the first time all week, I laugh.

“Please tell me you’ll have snacks during this shindig.” Am brings her palms together in front of her, pleading. “I was nervous and haven’t eaten.”

“We have a ton of food that Luna stress cooked. Maybe you can get her to eat some before they get here,” Noah says as he walks back into the living room.

“I’m afraid I’ll throw up if I eat,” I tell him again for the hundredth time today.

He doesn’t fight me on it. “They just texted and will be here in the next thirty minutes.”

He walks back over to us and stops in front of me, sticking his hand out. Without thinking twice, I put my hand in his and let him pull me up. His strong arms pull me close, and I take a deep breath, letting the scent of his cedarwood body wash calm me down.

He kisses the top of my head and whispers, “Today is going to be a good day, my Lunabella.”

I shrug and just stand there.

“Well, I’m going to raid the fridge and shovel food in my face until they get here,” Pam says as she stands.

“I tried a crab rangoon dip that we can heat up and eat with crackers,” I tell them.

Pam wrinkles her nose. “Seafood is gross. I’ll pass.”

“You had me at rangoon. I could eat those all day, every day if I could.” Am follows Pam into the kitchen.

I tilt my head to look up at Noah. “I’m going to go into the kitchen and warm some food up.”

“Okay. Try and eat something. Even if it’s just crackers. Deal?”

“Yes, sir,” I say, and his eyes dilate, causing my heart to flutter for a reason other than dread.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish right now, baby. Go sit with your friends. I’ll wait on the porch for them.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

He drops a quick kiss on my temple and walks out the front door.

Twenty minutes later, my stomach hurts from laughing as Pam tells us how gross we are because we enjoy seafood.

“You’ve never tried it! How can you say you don’t like it?” Am rolls her eyes.

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I try it,” she says and shoves another chip with the seven-layer dip I made.

Well, six layers. I left the avocado off since I didn’t have any, which worked out since apparently Pam doesn’t like that either.

“Maybe you should try the no-thank-you rule?” I tell her and laugh at the face she makes.

“I’m a grown-ass woman. If I don’t want to try something, I won’t. No means no, assholes.” She scoops more dip onto her chip.

As she brings it to her mouth, the screen door opens and someone with a deep voice says, “Consent is key nowadays.”

We turn toward the newcomer, and Pam freezes mid-bite.

“Holy shit,” Am mutters.

In walks the tallest man I have ever seen with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off strong tattooed forearms.

“Um… yeah. Consent is key,” Pam stutters out and shoves the chip in her mouth.

The man smiles, and Noah comes up beside him, giving us a weird look.

“Ladies. This is Special Agent Hunt. Hunt, this is Amelia, Pam, and Luna.” He introduces us and comes over to me, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he says and takes off his sunglasses, revealing the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.

One is a light blue, and the other is a deep chocolate brown. Next to me, someone takes a deep breath as he walks over to shake our hands.

“I thought there were a couple of you coming?” I ask.

“I only brought one of my agents with me, but he took a call and should be done in a minute. Once he’s done, we can get started,” he tells me.

“Alright. Can we get you any water or anything? I have stuff to make sandwiches, or you can eat some of the dips we have out.” I gesture to the island.

“I think the taco dip looks good. I’ll have some of it’s okay with you,” he says, looking at Pam.

“Uhhh, yeah?” She furrows her brow. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Consent. I want to make sure you’re willing to share with me,” he says, and Am covers up a laugh with a cough.

My eyes bounce between them, trying to figure out what is going on, when I feel Noah squeeze my hip. I turn to look at him, and he smiles and subtly shakes his head.

I guess I’ll just ask the girls later.