I felt my face heat up as his serious gaze fell on me then. “Problem, Callahan?”
I swallowed but my throat felt dry. “Nope.”
As I got back to work laying out the spread, I almost dropped the silverware.
“Oh my god,” I breathed out.
“What?” he asked with an alarmed face.
“Here, c’mere. Feel.”
He moved quickly towards me and placed his large hand on my stomach. A second later he looked back at me with awe in his eyes.
“It’s really real,” he said breathlessly.
“Yeah,” I giggled. “He is… and Griff, thank you.”
He shrugged. “For what?”
I reached up and patted his cheek. “For always seeing me and helping me.”
There was that look again… like helikedme…
“Always, Sav.”
53. Sav
After the game’s final buzzer, the boys could confidently say they had another amazing game under their belts. Griff came away with two assists, and Duke with two goals. They also got to see some power-play ice time, which was usually unheard of for rookies.
Family and friends of players normally went to the player’s family room after home games… but I felt too self-conscious to wait for them there. I ran up and hugged Nick way too many times in that room. Coming back into this stadium and watching the Crewmen play without Nick was already hard, and I was trying to just enjoy it and feel proud for Griff and Duke.
But as I sat outside in the cold waiting for them to emerge with a huge crowd by the player’s parking lot… I couldn’t help but feel more down than I had in a while.
The crowd cheered each time a player came over to sign autographs, and it went absolutely insane when Griff and Duke walked over.
As I scanned the crowd, I couldn’t help but notice just how many girls were present for the two of them… Their “bro mojo” had been featured all week on the Detroit social media accounts, and they were good looking guys, so I guess it shouldn’t have been that surprising…
As I watched Duke interact with fans, I beamed withpride.
But when I looked at Griff… I felt… I shook my head out. It must’ve been the added pregnancy hormones I was feeling. Because again, that wasGriff, I sternly told myself. He’d been just a friend to me for forever… and he was Nick’sbestfriend.He was off-limits. So there’s no way I should’ve been feeling so… attracted to him. But as he strolled out in his suit with his scruffy face and perfectly messy hair and began signing autographs, I felt an overwhelming urge to slap away all the females trying to hug him… Jesus, I’d never felt soterritorial…
The way he was so protective over me and the baby, and the way he defended me at the drop of a hatwasattractivethough…
Ineversaw him like that before… But lately, I’d started noticing things about him that I kind of wished I hadn’t… like how ruggedly handsome he was… He wasn’t boyish like Nick had been, and maybe my type had changed because I’d never want to compare anyone else to Nick ever again…
I felt like a bitch saying that.
Honestly, feeling attracted to anyone made me feel like I was betraying Nick… So, it had to just be the hormones talking, I told myself, and I needed to force myself to put a stop to it.
But… hormones or not, it was true that I’d feel jealous of whoever Griff ended up with. He was patient and he was kind. He’d be a great boyfriend or husband someday. I just selfishly didn’t want to losehim…
But I couldn’t fully have him either. Because what about Nick? Nick was the love of my life.
And he was gone.
I needed to accept it.
I should’ve been used to being alone by now… but I wasn’t… and maybe that wasbecauseof Griff.
