Page 72 of All Packed Up

“I’m not upset. I’m just treading carefully. I’m unsure of my footing in this terrain,” he admitted.

“Why? I’m not upset with you.” Nic’s heart squeezed, head snapping up just as sudden as the leaf crunched beneath Grif’s boots as he approached.

Nic’s breath froze in his chest, and his feet were rooted to the earth beneath him.

The alpha neared, and his sweetened cornmeal scent filled Nic’s senses.

He made fists inside the hoodie pocket and froze as Grif towered over him from the bench. “You reserve every right to be furious with me. Why aren’t you?” Nic asked. His heart pounded with each beat, and Nic only hoped the crackle of the fire concealed it.

“How could I be? I was the one that told you to run,” Griffith said.

Nic pulled his gaze away, the familiar taste of shame bittering his palette. “I wasn’t there for you,” he argued.

Did he want Griffith to be mad?

He wanted Griffith to be… something besides this emotionless person who spoke so politely. Where was the temperamental alpha who always had to have the last word?

“You were there when it mattered, and that’s all I could have asked of you. How could I fault you for moving on?” The alpha’s words were quiet as the silence stretched between them.

Nic had moved on. Opened his gym. Got away from the underground. And now Wendy had found him.

“But…” Griffith breathed. “I can’t say I’m disappointed that you’re here now.” Spun sugar threaded his words, curled a smirk on his face.

Nic hesitated. This was a different Griffith than the one he knew. Still sexy, still confident, but gone was the smug pride from ruling the rings. He seemed… stronger now, and not just physically, even though Nic knew the alpha could pick him up with ease. Griffith… seemed like an alpha who knew what he wanted.

Grif leaned down, placed a hand on either side of Nic. The makeshift bench wobbled dangerously, but neither alpha nor beta cared.

Nic was caught in his gaze, those dark orbs holding him in place just as much as the thick arms now caging him in.

“What are you doing?” Nic asked.

He had to remember he’d spent the better part of his life around fighters just like Griffith. There was no reason for his heart to leap in his throat.

But then again, Nic hadn’t ever been in love with any of those fighters.

“What I’ve wanted to do since I saw your name come across my screen two nights ago,” he whispered, voice as rough as the wood beneath Nic’s hands.

Griffith leaned in, until all of Nic’s senses were overwhelmed with this alpha. Nic leaned back only a fraction of an inch, but the bench creaked, and he stilled. Nic stared up at the alpha, their shared breath clouding the space between them. Grif stared back, and it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but Nic swore it felt like an eternity. And then—Grif kissed him.

Nic hadn’t felt those lips in so long—warm and aggressive in the way that meant Grif wanted. It felt the same way it had before everything had gotten so complicated.

Before they’d parted ways.

Grif nipped at his lip, and Nic fought him for control of the kiss, but in the end, he let Griffith cup the back of his head and tilt him up for the perfect angle.

Their tongues dueled as memories replayed in Nic’s brain and—why had he let this go in the first place? He’d forgotten how compatible he was with Grif, how it felt to be manhandled—which was a feat for someone of Nic’s size.

He reached out and looped a finger through the belt loop in Grif’s jeans, and the alpha chuckled darkly, deliciously.

Griffith adjusted his hold on the makeshift bench and it creaked in protest.

Neither of them cared as their lips melded, as Nic thought less and less of what they’d been through and more and more of what he wanted. And at the moment, it was—

The bench groaned out a warning that neither of them heeded until it tilted dangerously. Their lips parted, but before either of them could catch their balance, the wood slid off the back of the buckets and dumped Nic into the dirt.

Griffith was close to landing on him but rolled at the last second and barely avoided him.

A cloud of dust exploded at their impact, and Nic coughed, waving his hand around to clear it.