Page 54

For the first time in weeks, Griffin gives me a wide, uninhibited smile, and my insides go squishy. “Good. That’s good. Well, I should go before your brother shows up and gives me a black eye. Start on that book, baby girl, and I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”

He’s out the door, the mechanism clicking shut before my brain catches up with my heart, and I whisper, “I love you too.”

“We need to talk,” I say to Maddox that evening when he walks through the door. Stalks through the door is more accurate. He’s been in a foul mood for weeks, responding to me mostly in grunts and nods, and I’m sick of it.

Enough is enough.

My brother scowls. “I need to pack my shit and get to the airport, Mi-Mi. Can it wait?”

“Nope.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I glower right back at him. Two can play this game, and I’m just as much a Graves as my grumpy brother. “Sit your big ass down before I have to kick it.”

The asshole has the audacity to almost grin. We’ll see if he’s still smiling when we’re done with this conversation. At least he does as I say, flopping down onto the couch with a groan. I stay standing. I’m determined to have the upper hand, which means I need all the height advantage I can get.

“You need to stop this shit.”

One dark eyebrow rises. “Stop what shit?”

“Stop punishing Griffin. You’re being a dick.”

Mirroring my pose, my brother crosses his arms. “I’m not punishing him. He fucked around, and now he’s finding out.”

“Stop it. Seriously, just stop. You’re such a hypocritical asshole, Maddox! Like a month ago you were trying to set me up with someone, and now you’re mad because I’m with someone good and kind and selfless because he’s not the guy you picked? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?”

Maddox pushes up from the couch. So much for the height advantage.

“Good and kind and selfless? Yeah, sure, Mir. He went behind my back, seduced my sister, tricked her into marrying him, then lied to me about it. Tell me how any of that is good or kind? And don’t even get me started on selfless.

Everything he’s done is selfish. He fucking deserves to be knocked off the first line.

Hell, if I had my way, he’d be benched.”

“He didn’t do anything behind your back, Maddox! I’m the one who asked him to keep this a secret. I’m the one who got him drunk. I’m the one who asked him to lie. All the shit you’re mad about is my fault, but you’re blaming him.”

I’m pissed now, and I shove Maddy’s chest.

“He hated keeping us a secret, especially from you. He wouldn’t even sleep with me until I was sure about our marriage, and believe me, I tried to seduce him multiple times so he’d go back on that decision, but he never did.”

My brother growls. “I don’t want to hear this.”

“Tough shit,” I shout. “You’re going to hear it.

Griffin is better than good, Maddy. He’s the best man I know.

He’s done nothing but protect me and take care of me and love me.

And you want to talk about selfless? Do you know what he did today?

” I pull the envelope with the deed to his apartment, as well as a bank statement that shows an account in my name with more money in it than I can comprehend.

I didn’t find that little gem until after Griffin left.

Probably because he knew I’d never accept it.

I shove the papers against my brother’s chest.

“What is this?”

“Read them.”

Maddy frowns as he takes the envelope from my hand, and it deepens as he reads before the muscles in his face go lax, then his mouth is hanging open like a fish. His brown eyes scan the words faster and faster until he’s at the end of the last page.

When he looks at me, I see the same shock I felt reflected back at me. “He gave you his apartment?”

I nod.

“He loves that place.”

My chest fills with tingling warmth and light.

“It would seem he loves me even more. He gave me a home and the means to take care of myself because he’s good and kind and selfless.

Do you know he didn’t ask anything of me in return?

Just that if I do come back to him, it’s because I can’t live without him, not because I can’t live without his house or the things he could do for me. ”

“I…” Maddox looks between me and the papers, his jaw working.

“You owe him an apology. A big one. Don’t throw your friendship away because of your stupid pride or a misplaced need to protect me from the only other man besides you who’s gone above and beyond to protect me.

” I sigh, suddenly completely drained. “And put him back on the first line. He doesn’t deserve to be on the second, and you know you need him with you and Logan going into the playoffs. Don’t be an idiot.”

“He gave you his house.”

We’re still stuck on that?

“He bought me a car, gave me his house and way too much money. He loves the shit out of me, Maddy. If anything, I’ve been the selfish one.

” I’m going to do everything I can to work on myself and deserve him.

“So pull your giant head out of your ass, make up with your best friend, and win some hockey games.”

“Shit.” Maddox hands me the envelope and rubs his temples. “Shit.”

“I know the feeling.”

“I need to get to the airfield.”

I nod. “Hurry up and pack. Then talk to your best friend.” A wicked grin curls my lips. “Go talk to your brother-in-law.”

That stops my brother dead in his tracks. “Shit.”

All I can do is laugh.