that shitty bar and beat the crap out of you. She tsked at me.”
I can actually picture the moment. “She does that a lot.”
“Yeah, but she’s usually right. She suggested that she should meet you at the little dive instead. I called Gus, the guy who owns the place, and paid him a hundred bucks to let her sing.” He drags in a breath. “She wanted us back together…but she wanted to meet you first, get the lay of your land, and see the best way to approach you. When you propositioned her about distracting me, she was worried that you extracting revenge would undo all the progress I’d managed and that if she didn’t play along, you’d just find someone else to help you. What she didn’t expect was to fall in love with you.” He taps his fork against his plate. “Her relationship with you was totally real. You broke her fucking heart, Maxon.”
I close my eyes. I’m still reeling from Griff’s confession that he and Keeley are friends when he stabs me with the sharpest of his words. I doubt he means to…but that’s how it feels. I can only blame myself. I know I’m a fucking wretch—but I’m still not giving up. “Hell, I broke my own heart with that stupid shit. But when Dad came by, then you called… It’s no excuse for putting the Stowe listing over her. I just…fell into old hatred.”
“That’s what I told her when she showed up at my place in tears. Normally, I would suggest that two people in conflict work it out. That’s what she’s taught me. But before I let you see her again, I needed to know that you really love her.”
I frown. “That’s what tonight’s meeting is about? Me proving that?”
“Yeah. I, um…used her Facebook status as a litmus test, to see if it would matter to you. You never lifted a finger to get Tiff back, so I had to gauge you somehow.”
I grip the table. “Tiff was never important. Keeley is everything.”
My brother murmurs his agreement. “After everything she’s done for me, I put aside my pride, my past, my inability to apologize…” He laughs at himself. “I had to know if you’d changed enough to be worthy of her.”
“I have,” I swear.
“I see.” He nods.
My head is still spinning with everything Griff has told me. But my goal is still completely clear and top of my list. “Good. I want to see her now.”
A look of regret passes over his face.
She won’t see me, period? It’s my first concern. I panic. She can’t do this, can’t leave me. Well, she can but…no. We can’t stay apart. I’ll die if I can’t see her again, at least one last time. If she can’t forgive me, that’s on me. But I have to at least tell her how damn sorry I am.
I’m already gathering arguments when Griff holds up his hands. “I’m not saying no. I’m just telling you that she’s gone to Phoenix.”
The bottom drops out of my stomach before logic sets in again. Okay, I need to get on the first flight out. I won’t bother with a suitcase. I can buy shit there. I refuse to have her wondering even an hour longer than necessary how I feel about her and if I value her above all else. “I’m going now. Where can I find her?”
He’s already shaking his head before I’ve finished speaking. “She’s gone home to think. Left this morning. She wanted to see her mother and clear her head. She couldn’t afford the ticket, and she’s never asked me for anything, so I surprised her. She’ll be back in a week…unless she decides to stay.”
“What? She might not come back.” After all, she’s been trying to return to the mainland for years. “I can’t leave her hurting and miserable. She can’t make a decision without knowing how I feel.”
“She needs this time,” he warns. “You can’t rush her, man. I’ve learned that about her. She sometimes gets upset or has her feelings hurt. You can’t talk to her about what’s happened or how that makes you feel until she’s sorted through her stuff.”
In some ways, I hate how much my brother seems to know about my woman that I don’t. The old me would have thought he was lying his ass off to spitefully keep us apart. Now…I get the feeling he’s straight-up right. Getting up in her face would be the worst mistake I could make. “Fuck.”
“You’ve put her through a lot. She already knows you’re sorry. I’ll tell her you gave up the deal. After that…she’s got to want to come back, Maxon.”
I really despise how much he’s right. “So I just have to sit here for a week with my dick in my hand? C’mon…”
“If you do, I don’t want the details,” Griff drawls, then turns serious again. “Do you know what you want to say if you do see her again?”
“I think so.” It’s been solidifying in the back of my head since I switched off the guided meditation and tuned back into my own train of thought. “Do you, um…”
Griff raises a brow at me. Getting these words out is going to be tough.
“Are you and I good?”
He swallows and looks away. “You tell me. I’m the one who fucked up big.”
I nod. Getting used to the idea of not hating my brother again will take time, but now that we’re here and I’m sitting in front of him and we’re talking without shouting? I don’t want to give up having him in my life again.
“Why didn’t you even listen to me when I tried to tell you I wasn’t stabbing you in the back?”
He closes his eyes. “I was just so angry back then. Dad was on me constantly about the fact that I was letting you beat me at everything. I probably could have handled that, but things at home weren’t right, either. Britta was hiding something. She’d closed herself off. So when I found out about the deal and Tiffanii told me her lies, I just exploded and…I was stupid. I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.”
For my brother, that’s a huge speech. He sounds like he’s changed in a lot of ways. He’s not perfect. Then again, neither am I. I’m still pissed at him for what he’s done to Britta. But one problem at a time.
I stand and wait until he does the same, then I round the table and drag him into a hug. He crashes against me. We slap backs. It’s all manly and shit. But it’s also monumental and moving. And yeah, I find myself having to fight back tears.
“We’re good,” I assure him.
He pulls back, looking like he’s trying not to lose his composure, too. “Let’s do the Stowe deal together.”
I’ve already promised him my notes, my preso, my appointment. I’m handing him the opportunity on a silver platter. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I let a stupid misunderstanding screw up our business. Once I didn’t have you as my partner anymore, working with you was one of the things I missed like hell. I vote we do this deal together. If it goes well…maybe we can think about making it permanent again.”
I pause. Think. In my head, I can hear our dad saying that I’m number one on the island and I’m demeaning my business to bother with Griff again. Then I remember how fulfilling it used to be. And I hear Keeley whispering that she’s happy for us.
But I need him to answer one other question because I don’t need history repeating itself. “Are you letting Dad stay with you?”
He recoils at the mere notion. “Fuck no.”
“Still talking to him?”
“I’m done. He came storming into my place, all full of himself and ragging on you. I realized a few years ago that he’s toxic, so I wasn’t going to let him stay anyway. But when he told me about some of his conversation with you, it gave me some hope that you’d realized it, too.”
“Totally,” I assure him. “Let’s do the Stowe deal…and think about resuming business together again.” It would feel good. “But I might need one more favor…”
When I outline my plan to convince Keeley how much I love her, he smiles. “It’s perfect. She’ll be the happiest woman in the world if you do that.”
As long as she comes back to Maui.
“I wish…” Griff lets out a rough breath as he sits again. “I wish things could have turned out better for me and Britta.”
I don’t know what to say. He turned his back on h
is pregnant girlfriend when she needed him most. Of course, that was then…and this is now.
I’m going to try like hell not to give my brother false hope. Britta says their ship has sailed. Maybe. I know she still has feelings for him…but I don’t know if that’s enough.