This was Griffin we were talking about. Rough, wild Griffin. The Griff. The Grief Master. He didn’t do favors—he did pranks. And mean stuff. (Except when he was doing nice stuff, like pulling wild, mean Jake off Aiden when I asked, or helping to carry my books. But that stuff didn’t happen very often.)
I smirked—but more for show than anything else, because really, I was still touched. “Does The Griff even go to classes?”
Kendra grinned, like she hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t know. Probably not. I guess you have a point.” She flipped open her cell. “So, I’m supposed to text him back and let him know if we have a deal—do we?”
I bit my lip, then nodded. “Sure.” I had to clear my throat ‘cause it was all pitchy. “Right. We have a deal.”
CHAPTER 12
My head was not on my classes as I went to each of them. I tried to listen to my teachers—I did—but all I really heard was a persistent question at the back of my brain. “Am I really going to kiss The Griff again?”
The thought got me all oozy and gooey inside. Got my heart pumping frantic and wild and made my palms sweat so bad I couldn’t hold my pencil properly.
But no.
Of course I wasn’t going to kiss him.
Of course I wasn’t.
Of course.
I was still convincing myself of that. But it seemed pretty definite I wasn’t. Griffin was just messing around. He was always messing around. He didn’t have a “thing” for me, wasn’t pining away to kiss me again. I was a joke to him. Me and Aiden both. We were a different species to The Griff. Seriously. To him we were alien, foreign creatures—weird and amusing, fun to toy with. I could tell he thought that by the way he was always grinning at me. He thought I was weird.
And me having to kiss him again? It was a joke to rile Aiden up again. That was it. It had to be. I mean, he was The Griff, the school’s Bad-Boy-slash-Hero. He tore it up on the hockey rink and seduced girls when he sang in his hot band. Then he just played around with the girls’ hearts never letting them anywhere near his. If he had one. He went from bad-girl to bad-girl, never getting serious. Just playing around.
So, I definitely knew—for sure—he wasn’t pining for my kiss. Didn’t care if he got one or not. He was just doing the usual—playing around.
And lets face it, I wasn’t his type anyway, at all. I was so far from it, it was funny. Maybe that’s why he always smirked when he saw me coming—my crush on him was a big, fat joke. Just like him wanting to kiss me—that was a big joke to him too. Part of his perverse humor—that I seriously didn’t get. At all.
Grrr!
I got a text from Kendra during fifth period. She texted: “You practicing your puckering?”
Then she wrote again right after that: “I hear The Griff is a great kisser!”
I slunk down in my seat. She heard that right—but not from me. I didn’t tell her I had kissed The Griff before. I didn’t tell her anything. In fact, until this weekend I don’t think I’d had an actual real conversation with Kendra since junior high. So, I was reluctant to “share” with her something huge like that—because, to me, kissing Griffin was huge. Gigantic.
I texted back: “He’s not going to make me kiss him. He was kidding.”
I was almost positive of that now. The further the day went along, the more sure I became. Still, I was sweating and shivering and my heart started up like a jackhammer whenever I let it think about Griffin’s sexy, soft lips, or warm, gentle hands, or … a closet.
Kendra texted back: “We’ll see, Cous.”
The plan was that I would pick up my car from the school’s auto shop after the final bell rang—when all of the classes were over and the building would be empty. That was “the plan.” Kendra and Griffin had made it in the morning before school started. Griffin had instructed Kendra to text him when I agreed to “the deal.”
Which I did. I agreed.
But I wasn’t actually planning on going through with it—with the kissing him. Seriously, the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced Griffin couldn’t care less about kissing me. He probably didn’t even want to kiss me. Even slightly. He just wanted to see me turn red and squirm and stuff. But he would let me off the hook when he heard Aiden and I broke up. My kiss would no longer hold any entertainment value for him. Pathetic as it was, my kiss would no longer be of any consequence to Griffin. At all. Which wasn’t exactly a cheerful thought, but it did put my mind at ease. After all, I was still on a mission to get over Griffin. Kissing him again sure wasn’t going to help with that. It would put me way, way, way behind. Way behind. Keep me aching for him until graduation. Even beyond. I’d spend the rest of my life pining over his kiss.
So no way. I wasn’t going to put myself through that. I made Kendra swear she wouldn’t let me be alone with Griffin.
When classes were finally over I trudged to the school’s auto shop building at the back of our school, dragging Kendra along. To me, the car accident was kind of her fault—I would have never taken the car if it wasn’t for her and I definitely wouldn’t have stopped at 7-Eleven. So, it was kind of her fault.
Then I found out the kiss was too. As we walked along, Kendra told me more about what happened this morning—when she went looking for Zack in auto mechanics and found out he wasn’t at school today. She said Griffin started looking at my car—knew it was mine, and wanted to know why she was driving it.
She laughed. “I explained to him you were too shy to be around a bunch of skeezy mechanics.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. That’s not what happened! I wasn’t too “shy.” She had said she wanted to ask Zack alone. And yeah, okay, I admit it, Zack is skeezy, and I had been incredibly relieved I didn’t have to be around when Kendra asked him for a favor. But whoa, I had never actually said aloud Zack was skeezy. I’d never even used the word “skeezy” before in my life.
I swallowed, trying to hold back my anger. “You told Griffin I think he is a skeezy auto-mechanic?” I couldn’t believe she said that.
She gave a little laugh. “Well, don’t you? But don’t worry, I said it in a playful way.”
I shook my head, still trying to fight back my anger. I never even mentioned Griffin to Kendra before, ever. Like I said, I hardly even ever talked to Kendra. How could she decide I thought he was skeezy?
Still, by the time we got to the auto building, I was less mad and more nervous. But Griffin smiled when he saw me come in, which got my heart fluttering and my brain vacating. He showed me Mom’s car and I squealed with happiness. It looked as good as new.
“Wow!” There was no way that could only cost forty dollars. Even I knew that. “How much do I owe you?”
He eyed me a moment, then gazed back at the car. “I got the parts for cheap,” he said. “I know this guy—he owed me a favor. It’s twenty bucks.”
I blinked.
“Whoa! Really? Just twenty dollars?”
He grinned. “And the matter I spoke to Kendra about.”
“… the kiss.”
He raised his eyebrows in acquiesce. “The kiss.”
“About that.” I cleared my throat. “I was wondering if I didn’t really have to. I mean, she said I thought you were a skeezy mechanic. I don’t think that. I mean, I can see how that would make you want to prove a point or something. But I don’t think that.”
A small, playful smile spread on his lips. “I’m glad.”
He gave a husky short laugh, the smile still growing. “But I didn’t require it to prove a point.”
“Oh.”
I bit my lip. Suddenly, butterflies were dancing around in my stomach, reeking havoc.
“Um,” I said hesitantly, not sure I wanted to mention it anymore, but feeling I should, because it was my plan—my way not to kiss him. I cleared my throat again, not sure I could talk because his eyes were on me so seductive and hypnotic I could barely breathe. Finally, I just spit it out, “Aiden and I broke up.”
Griffin’s smile grew even
bigger. “I know.”
“Oh.”
I was melting, seriously ready to swoon.
Kendra rolled her eyes. “Get a room, guys! You two look as though you’re going to jump on each other any second.”
That made me snap out of my hormonal daze and remember my plan—my plan to get over Griffin. The number one thing to do for that was—not kiss him.
I swallowed, turning red and gave Kendra a look that I hoped said, “Help me.”
I’d told her time and time again—all day—that I didn’t want to kiss The Griff. I didn’t tell her why, so I guess that could be the reason she went on and on all day, texting me about his sexy, “voluptuous” lips. Tempting me. Making me fantasize constantly, continually about closets and hands and whispers and mouths. She didn’t know my plan—that I needed to get over him so I could like a nice, “normal” guy. Not The Grief Master.
“I’ll kiss you,” Kendra piped in suddenly. She batted her eyes at Griffin, half-playfully, half-not. And I wasn’t sure if, in some bizarre way, she was trying to help me, or if she just wanted her Kiss-The-Griff fantasy to come true. Either way, she was like that—a big flirt. Some people called her a skank. But I didn’t (because she was my cousin).
Griffin tilted his head and Kendra went on with a smug, sly smile. “I mean, it would totally piss off, Zack—totally”
She said it like that explained everything, but obviously it didn’t. ‘Cause Griffin quirked an eyebrow at her, seeming to be trying to figure out what she was getting at.
“Why would I want to piss off Zack?” he asked, then his lips twitched, like he was restraining a grin. “Zack’s my friend.”
Kendra reddened. “Oh. I know but—” She gestured at me, like why would you want to kiss her? “Ally said you only wanted to kiss her to piss off Aiden, and since they already broke up, and she’s not going to tell Aiden anything about it …”
She trailed off since Griffin wasn’t looking at her anymore. Now he was looking at me and no longer seemed interested in anything she had to say. It was like to him she was no longer in the room.
He took a step towards me, making me take a step back, which made him take another step towards me. He grinned as I took yet another step back, his gaze hypnotic.
Griffin eyed the space I put between us, then took another step towards me until he had me backed into a corner.
“I didn’t do this to prove a point or piss anyone off,” he said, his voice soft and husky. He brushed back my hair so gentle and sweet it sent tingles through my body, made me need to moan—but I didn’t, not out loud. I held it in, yearning for more of his gentleness, aching for it, but knowing I should push him away.
He whispered near my ear. “I just wanted three more minutes in Heaven.”
His words—the way he said them, so soft and seductive, and his warm breath tickling my neck—it was too much for my heart. Seriously, it couldn’t take it—so much excitement. I was ready to keel over. Totally die. Or swoon. Or something. Something ultra dramatic and embarrassing.
Griffin’s eyes lingered on me, on my lips, then he looked back at Kendra. She was watching us from across the room like we were her favorite Soap Opera characters come to life, delightfully acting out her favorite scene.
“Can you give us a minute?” Griffin said. “Alone?”
Kendra’s eyes cut to mine. I’d given her strict instructions not to let us be alone together. She seemed to be weighing my instructions with the situation—negotiating it all in her head. Finally, she let out a sigh.
“You know, I really can’t,” she said. “Ally’s my cousin. She’s like, totally innocent. She doesn’t kiss guys like you.”
Griffin’s lips quirked into a grin. “She doesn’t kiss guys like me?”
He gave a soft laugh at that, ‘cause well, I had kissed a guy like him—him. And liked it. A lot. And he knew it—he so knew it.
Griffin seemed to think it was hilarious that Kendra—my cousin—had no idea we had kissed—not just once, but twice. His eyes danced with amusement but he didn’t rat me out. Instead, he gave me a playful, cock-eyed look, like: Aren’t you full of secrets, but all he said was: “I thought we had a deal.”
He said it really low and close to my ear and had me ready to pant, We did! We so did! Plant those sexy, pillow soft lips on me, baby!
But Kendra seemed to have heard Griffin. And she was the one that told him we had a deal—that I would kiss him if he fixed the car. And he held up his end of the deal—he fixed the car—so Kendra sighed. “Look, I know you’ve been working on the car all day and planning something sleazy. So, okay, you have three minutes—exactly three. I’m going to be waiting outside the door—right here, right out the door. I’ll hear my cousin if she yells—seriously.” She gave him a look like, So you better not try anything. But then she gave me a look like, Of course he’s going to try something—but hey he’s cute and you agreed to kiss him—and I’d have fun if I were in your shoes.
That’s what it seemed she was saying.
Kendra smiled—kind of wicked—then she went on aloud, “So, it’s like the game, ‘Three minutes in Heaven’—”
She was going to go on talking, give us her spiel, but Griffin interrupted her, cocking an eyebrow. His lips twitched a grin. “Three minutes in heaven?”
He said it like a question. Like he had never heard of the game. Only, he looked at me as he said it, his eyes sparkling of mischief. He seemed to just enjoy saying the name, as that’s what he’d been calling me the last couple of months—his “Three Minutes in Heaven.”
Kendra tilted her head, like she realized she was missing the joke, but then she went on anyway, “Yeah, Three Minutes in Heaven.”
She proceeded to tell us how to play the game—that we had exactly three minutes alone and then she was going to open the door. “But if I hear my cousin yelp, yell or scream,” she said, “the game’s over—right that minute—got it?”
Griffin gave a little laugh, his eyes still on me, watching my face turn red though I was sure it was already the color of a tomato.
“Got it,” he said.
My heart was about to pounce out of my chest. It was beating so loud I was positive Griffin could hear it. Kendra too, though she left the shop, saying: “I’m going to be right outside the door.”
Then she was gone and we were alone—just Griffin and me.
His eyes lost their teasing look as his big but gentle hands slid down the sides of my shivering arms. His lips brushed my ear. “You okay?”
I swallowed and nodded, though being this close to him, feeling his warm breath on my neck, made me shivery and tremble and practically pass out.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “I was just messing around.”
“I know,” I murmured, because I did. This whole time I knew—he was only teasing. It was all a big joke. Only, he had fixed my car and I had made a deal and really, it would be lame to back out of it—joke or not. Big stupid crush or not.
“But you earned it,” I said, trying to sound light, funny. Like my kiss really was a big ol’ prize guys strived to win.
Griffin looked surprised, then grinned. Without saying anything—not a word—he drew his soft kewpie-doll lips to mine, instantly tantalizing my mouth with his hot hungry kisses … giving me another three minutes in heaven.
CHAPTER 13
When Kendra yanked open the door three minutes later, declaring “Times up!” Griffin made a low groaning sound, reluctantly pulling away from me. He leaned his forehead against mine. For a moment there was just our flushed faces, our exploding hearts, our panting as we tried to catch our breath. Only us.
But Kendra laughed, yanking me out of my hormone-induced trance. “Wake up, Cous,” she said, pulling me away from Griffin. “You told me not to let you do this—you want a nice boy, remember? Not The Griff.”
Griffin tilted his head, seeming amused, yet slightly intrigued by this information. He looked from me to my cousin. “What else did she say
?”
Kendra laughed. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know. Look, stay away from my cousin.” She literally pulled me towards the door. “Ally’s not your type.”
I don’t know what Griffin said to that—if he said anything at all. Kendra was finally doing what I had asked, keeping me away from Griffin. Only it was too late. Too late for me to set my heart on Milo or any nice boy. It was totally set on The Griff.
CHAPTER 14
On the ride home Kendra wouldn’t shut up about “sparks.” She said she saw them flying between The Griff and me. It made me groan and slump down in my seat because I already knew there were sparks—major sparks. At least on my end. Probably not on Griffin’s though since he was just messing around and had skanky girls fighting over him. But that didn’t help me. It didn’t make my sparks any less sparky just because he didn’t feel them back. It just made them pathetic.
“I don’t want to like Griffin,” I whined for the hundredth time. “I want to like … Milo.”
“Milo?” Kendra smirked. “Geez, Ally, he’s practically Aiden. Try a new flavor.”
I blinked, having no idea what she was talking about. “What?”
She sighed like I lived in a vacuum and it distressed her deeply, then she went into this big analogy about guys being like ice cream and there’s all these different flavors.
“Branch out,” she said. “Try something besides vanilla.”
I sulked. I liked vanilla. I was comfortable with vanilla. Sure new, exciting flavors were tempting—alluring beyond belief—but I was pretty sure they’d give me nothing but a bellyache. And a toothache. And most definitely a heartache. ‘Cause that’s what The Griff was—a heartache waiting to happen. He didn’t have “girlfriends” he didn’t even have “dates.” He just stirred up a girl’s heart with his seductive eyes and sultry lips, and his hot, sexy singing voice. Then he did to her heart the same thing he did on the hockey rink—Tore. It. Up.
The Heartbreaker Next Door (The Hockey Team Book 1) Page 14