Page 91 of The Curveball
CHAPTER28
GRIFFIN
The notion of overturning tables,snapping chairs, and breaking windows has never appealed to me until this moment.
One word. One name, and I want to hulk-out and destroy the place trying to get to the scumbag who hurt Wren. What the—I can’t even shape thoughts through all the thick red rage building in my head.
Her dad brought him? After she asked him to keep him away. What is the point of having a list of do not serve names if security allows them in? Knowing Wren’s dad, he probably paid someone off.
I don’t want his money. I don’t want his donations. I want him gone.
“Griff,” Wren whispers, tugging on my arm. “Don’t look at him, don’t speak to him.Please.”
Her desperation is the only thing that draws my attention to the way my body is hard as stone, and my fists are balled tight enough the skin over my knuckles pulls white. The way Darren and Carter are scowling at their plates, if I had to guess, I’d say Wren’s brothers are about to turn into monsters any second too.
Wren’s short, jagged breaths hit me like bolts to the heart.
Cool it. I need to freaking cool down for her sake.
One hand on her knee, I lean close. “I’ve got you, baby.”
Her big, glassy eyes lock on mine. She scoots closer, squeezing my hand like I’m the last line to cling to before spilling over the edge. “Please don’t bring him into our lives tonight. I . . . I don’t want to think of it.”
There is genuine fear there. Bad, ugly memories she doesn’t want to relive. She wants tonight to be ours despite idiots trying to ruin it. I don’t think I’ve loved her more. Her dad didn’t respect her enough to follow her wishes. I respect the heck out of this woman, and I’m not going to let her down.
I want to put my hands on Clay Rice. But not tonight.
I glance at the plunging neckline of her dress. That’s my girl. She didn’t hide the scar; the only cover comes from a dainty gold chain around her neck. Wren swallows and scoots as close as she can to my side.
Parker gives me a look. I shoot one back. A silent nod that something is off. I tilt my head at Wren, and Parker nods, understanding.
Ryder smacks Dax in the shoulder and uses his head to gesture at us. They know something is up, something involving Wren. They’ll look after her; it’s what they do. It’s what we all do. We have each other’s backs. Families included.
Wren is mine as much as my blood family.
“I’m sorry,” Wren says. It sounds like she’s hyperventilating. “I didn’t want to distract from tonight, and I didn’t—”
“Wren.” I pinch her chin between my finger and thumb. She stops speaking and holds my stare. “You don’t apologize for him again. This banquet is better than the rest because you’re here with me. Don’t spare him another thought, that’s my job now.”
“You won’t . . . don’t say anything to him.”
I want to toss him out in front of everyone, but her eyes are wet with tears she’s fighting. I lean close, our mouths not even an inch apart. “If he stays on his side, then I’ll stay on mine.”
All I can do is hope I can keep my promise.
CHAPTER29
WREN
My stomach isnothing but a hard ball of lead. It hasn’t eased. Not through dinner, not through the laughter of friends and family surrounding me; it hasn’t eased even through the massive applause for Griffin and Parker as they stand to go to the mic.
Griffin holds my hand until he stands and buttons the center button on his suit.
I’m pathetic. Surrounded by more than one professional ball player and my moody brothers, but when he walks away, I’m more uneasy than before.
The way Griffin snarls at the room, I’d wager he’s about as comfortable with leaving my side as me. He says I didn’t upset his night, but it’s impossible not to feel a bit of guilt. This wouldn’t be an issue if I hadn’t told him the story. But keeping huge pieces of my life from the man seems wrong now.
He cracked me open and says he likes what he sees.