Page 219 of All Packed Up

“I mean, clearly you got fucking shanked, Griffith. How does that happen? I thought you said you got out early on good behavior.”

Griffith rolled his eyes. Nic noticed the tic in his jaw, wondered what he was thinking about.

“I did! And that’s because I didn’t usually stick my nose in anyone’s business.”

What made him change his mind? “Until?”

“Until…” Grif winced. “It was stupid, now that I think about it. He was probably baiting me.”

At Nic’s dry look, Grif snapped his teeth and rumbled, “This new prick was bragging about why he was in. You don’t want to know what he was bragging about.” Nic’s nostrils flared as he inhaled. “I listened to the graphic way he’d described the last victim of his assault. I snapped. Told them to take it somewhere else and shove it up his ass, or something to that effect. Told the ones sitting around listening with stars in their eyes they were no better.”

“Griffith,” Nic groaned, already knowing the ending to this story.

“Yeah, yeah. If it matters though, I still came out on top when they jumped me in the yard. It wasn’t until later that I got shanked. Turns out that guy’s brother runs some prison gang and they sent someone to my cell.”

Nic’s mouth dropped. “You pissed off an entire gang?”

The smirk that curled the alpha’s mouth did not match the tone of the story. “Sure did. Didn’t kill me though. And apparently surviving was enough to impress them. At least enough not to come after me again.”

“How long did it take you to heal?”

“Thankfully it didn’t hit anything vital, though I lost a lot of blood. Sometimes I still get a little twinge of pain in the area, but only if I’m really exerting myself. I’m totally fine though.”

Nic rolled over to his back, staring at the ceiling. He shook his head.

“Leave it to you to survive an assassination attempt by a prison gang.”

Grif’s teeth shone bright as he grinned. “Yep.”

“Ah, I see now,” Nic teased. “That’s why you were confident wielding Wendy’s knife. You had even me fooled for a second.”

Grif snickered, before it dissolved into full-blown guffaws of hilarity. “Did you see that prick’s face? He really thought I was going to cut his eye out like some psycho.”

Nic chuckled nervously. “Yeah… you and Wendy sure are a scary combination.”

“See? Told you we could get along.”

Nic groaned. “I didn’t mean by planning dismemberment together!”

A warm, soft touch brushed against his upper arm. The alpha’s lips were pressed against him, eyes wide and suddenly serious.

“I wasn’t kidding earlier. We wouldn’t be here without her,” Griffith said. “I mean, maybe one day I would have found the courage to find you, but not any time soon. If she never broke into your gym, if she never needed help hiding from those fucking alphas…”

Nic understood. Had the omega never crashed in with her dildos, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to rekindle their love for each other.

“So yeah. Maybe I have a soft spot for the omega.”

“And you fucking love it,” Nic accused.

Rolling his head to the side, he stared at Griffith, waiting for the answer from the alpha he’d been searching for even if he didn’t know it.

“Yeah, I do.”

His phone buzzed on the nightstand, and Nic frowned, reaching for the device.

When he saw the message from Tate’s number, his lips twitched, and he turned the phone toward Grif.

“We were a little loud, I guess.”