5. Blair

" S hut up. Shut the fuck up right now," Lumi whisper-shouts at me as we near our destination and turn into a never-ending private driveway lined with tall green hedges.

"Holy shit." The words fall from my parted lips of their own accord as I try to keep my jaw off of the ground.

A gigantic house starts coming into view—and I use the word house loosely. Let's call it what it is—a mansion. Well, technically, from how much land it's sitting on, it would properly be called a manor. Hawthorne Manor. It's three stories of beautiful light-brown bricks. Lumi pulls into the circular driveway with the most enormous fountain I've ever seen in the center of it. This place is bigger than some of our buildings on campus, and that's really saying something.

Arched windows cover the front of the house, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't dying to see every inch inside of this place. It's unreal.

"Am I dreaming right now?" Lumi breathily asks.

"If you are, I'm in it with you. But seriously, is this guy in the mob or something? Are his parents royalty?" Word vomit flows from my mouth, and I catch myself, taking a breath and calming down.

I've just never seen anything like this. Of course, I've seen photos of places similar, but to see it in real life is entirely different. It has a presence of its own. It's impressive and intimidating .

One of the front double doors opens, and Griffin steps out, wearing joggers, a Legends T-shirt, and a backward hat. He smiles as he raises his hand and waves. The hem of his shirt lifts off of his defined lower abs, and I have to physically stop myself from staring. It doesn't matter if I want to acknowledge it or not; he's hot. That's not even an opinion; it's just plain fact.

Still in shock, I lift my hand and wave back.

Lumi reaches over and gently grabs my arm, pulling my attention his way. "Real question: what are the chances that you think he could be gay?"

"What?" I chuckle, taken entirely by surprise at his question, although I should know better by now. "I don't know. Find out for yourself."

He sighs and looks past me, admiring Griffin. "If I knew it wouldn't jeopardize this job for you, I so would."

"Fair point," I say and grab my backpack. "Let's get this over with."

"Show some enthusiasm. The entire campus would kill to be you right now," Lumi mumbles as I throw the door open and step into the dark and cool evening air.

Lumi begged me to dress up for this tutoring session, but I absolutely did not take his advice. I dressed comfortably, donning a pair of yoga pants and an oversize HEAU T-shirt. I'm already completely out of my element, and I don't want to make it worse by wearing something revealing and tight.

"Hey, glad you found the place okay," Griffin calls out, jogging down the fifteen steps to the first landing and then down the final ten steps to us.

At least I'll get a little workout from climbing these stairs when I come here.

"Yeah, super easy. Your house is amazing, by the way," Lumi gushes, not holding back any sweetness in his voice.

"Thanks," he mumbles and rubs the back of his neck.

Is that humility showing?

I can't imagine that someone living in a house like this can even be humble. He has the world at his fingertips, and I guess, now, I have him wrapped around mine until this is all said and done. Maybe I should have asked for more than five hundred.

"I can take that for you." Griffin gestures toward my backpack.

I sling it over my shoulder. "I'm good. Thanks."

He smiles and lifts his hands in defeat before spinning on his heel and starting back up the stairs, Lumi hot on his tail.

Maybe Lumi wasn't the best person to bring with me. I laugh to myself. Any red flags Griffin has will seem bright green to Lumi .

Thank God for all the time I spend on my feet at work because these stairs are kind of a bitch. Griffin takes them two at a time, and Lumi, now out of breath, drifts back to walk alongside me.

"It, like, has to be big, right?" Lumi murmurs and nudges my shoulder with his.

"What does?" I ask as my eyebrows pinch together.

He stops dead in his tracks and glares at me, then smirks, and it clicks.

"Stop that!" I whisper-scold him, slapping his arm.

He smiles and catches back up to me as we reach the front door Griffin is holding open for us.

"Thank you," I say as I pass through the threshold and inhale sharply, examining the entryway.

Dark natural hardwood lines every inch of the floor I can see. To my left, a massive sitting room with furniture that looks like it's never been used fills the modern and classy room, a giant rug nearly covering the center of it. To my right, the most extensive and elaborate kitchen I've ever seen takes up the entire space, continuing around a corner, seemingly endless. Vault ceilings and a hundred windows must illuminate the house with natural light during the day.

But the most magnificent part is the white marble staircase that splits in two directions, and I can't see where they end. I want to explore this place and map it out because I am definitely going to get lost.

"So, Griffin, what the hell do your parents do for a living? Also, are they looking to adopt an adult?" Lumi asks, and reality slaps me in the face, pulling me out of my stupor .

Oh my God, he is so going to get me fired.

Griffin chuckles hauntingly, looking off to the side as he answers, "My mom invented a sports drink and founded the company behind it, and my dad invented a gadget that the military uses."

"What drink?" Lumi's nosy-ass asks.

"Elixir," he murmurs.

Lumi digs a bottle from his backpack. "You mean this?"

Griffin nods, glancing away.

Elixir is the most popular sports drink in the entire world. They are the sponsored beverage for, like, every professional sport. Griffin's not just rich. He's rich , rich.

"Well, that's amazing. Your parents sound like the ultimate power couple." Lumi chuckles before mumbling, "Although they could still very well be in the mob."

Griffin doesn't laugh, and Lumi's face falls flat instantly, like there might be any truth in his wild accusation.

"Please don't kill me," Lumi begs, and Griffin's stonelike demeanor cracks with a smile.

"My family is not in the mob, I can assure you," he says, grinning as he stalks across the wide-open corridor and turns, walking through an archway.

"Don't touch anything and behave!" I scold Lumi as we trail behind Griffin, following him into the next room.

Jesus Christ.

This dining room is larger than my entire house.

"Will this work?" Griffin asks, gesturing to the large oak table that seats fourteen people .

"Yeah," I answer and drop my bag on the table in front of the chair closest to me.

"Sweet. I'll be right back," Griffin says and walks back out of the room.

Lumi stops him. "Can I get a glass of water?"

He nods. "Be my guest."

Lumi blushes, and I roll my eyes as he kindly replies, "Sweet. Thank you! And where can I find a living room with a TV?"

"You passed it when we walked in. Follow me. I'll show you. I have to use the remote to bring it up," Griffin says casually, as if any of that made sense.

"I'm sorry?" Lumi voices the confusion for the both of us.

"It rises out of the entertainment center," he says quizzically, as if everyone's TV does that.

"Oh, right. Of course it does." Lumi smiles and follows a befuddled Griffin.

Leaving me to peaceful silence, I begin unloading my backpack and setting my stuff up. I can't imagine living her. I would never have stress or sadness.

An aching pain twists my chest. I wish my life were this easy. A bitter resentment toward Griffin and the life he was born into tugs my lips downward.

He is taking all of this for granted. I know he has hockey, but aside from that, he has all the time in the world to focus on his grades, yet he's still failing. If I didn't have to work almost full-time just to stay in school, I would have one hundred percent in every one of my classes, not just English.

"All right, do you need anything? Water?" Griffin's deep voice slices through my silent suffering, and I try not to let my sudden jealousy affect my reaction.

"I'm okay. Thank you." I smile politely as he sets his stack of papers, laptop, and pens down beside mine.

"Cool," he says, pulling out his chair and taking a seat.

I follow suit and drag the heavy wooden chair back before sinking down onto the cushioned pillow.

I'm prepared; of course I am. I might not have tutored someone before, but that doesn't mean I can't do it perfectly. If I set my mind to it, I can do anything, including turning this jock into the smartest guy on the team.

Having already drafted an entire plan for how tonight will go, I turn toward him and ask, "Do you have the assignments and papers that we've done so far? I want to review them and see what you need to improve."

He nods and starts his computer. "I'll email them to you."

As he compiles his documents into a digital folder, I can't help but realize how gigantic this man is. As I sit next to him, he is towering over me. Not only that, but everything about him is … big. His arms bulge in his shirt, so thick that I could probably wrap only half of my hand around one of them. It's like every inch of him was created with extra parts.

I'm not ogling him. I'm just stating the obvious.

"Email?" he asks.

"Blair Adams at H-E-A-U dot U-S," I respond, and he types it in.

"Sent."

My laptop dings a second later, and I pull up his email and see fourteen attachments. I want to go over these later when I can really dig into them. It would be weird if he sat silently while I pored over his work for an hour.

"Thank you," I mumble and add the email to a new folder titled Griffin Tutor .

"Now what?" he asks, incessantly tapping his pen.

Pulling a printed version of our study guide for Friday's test out of my backpack, I set it between us.

"Have you filled out your study guide yet?" I ask.

His eyes widen, and his face contorts into shock, similar to what deer look like when they are blinded by headlights.

"I'll take that as a no." I chuckle and pull the stapled study guide I prepared from my bag. "This is a copy, so you can keep it. We have a quiz on Friday. Read this until you have practically memorized it. Mark up and highlight the parts you feel we should review further."

"Yes, ma'am," he says with a smile and slides the packet fully in front of him, immediately circling a thousand things on the first page.

In the meantime, I pull up my current draft of our next paper due. We have to write a five-page paper about our goals for the near and far future and the plans we want to accomplish. I'm nearly finished with mine, but I feel like it's missing that perfect conclusion that ties the paper up in a bow. I just haven't quite figured out what that will be. It's not due until the end of the month, so I still have over two weeks before I have to submit it.

Once Griffin finishes decorating every page with question marks, he says, "Okay, I think I'm done."

Griffin genuinely seems to understand most of the guide when I finish word-vomiting and peppering him with follow-up questions. Glancing up at him, I find him staring intently at me, smiling proudly from ear to ear.

"What?" I murmur.

"Nothing. It's just the first time this semester that I don't feel like a complete idiot in this class." He hesitates and studies me briefly. "So, thank you," he says excitedly, kicking back in his chair.

"You' re welcome. We still have a ways to go, but you have promise," I say honestly.

Part of me expected him to ask me to help him cheat or do his homework for him. But he actually seems to want to put in the work, and I respect that.

Checking the time on my laptop, I gasp. "Shit, it's already almost ten."

"Yeah?" Griffin asks, confused.

"I have to get going. But I think we should meet up again before Friday to make sure you're good to go for the test. I also want to see your draft for the paper due at the end of the month," I request as I shove all of my stuff into my backpack.

He rubs the back of his neck again, and I fear I know the response that's coming, so I beat him to it.

"You haven't started?"

He points at me and shyly says, "That would be correct."

"Okay, there's still time. But you need to start drafting it," I say before taking off out of the room and walking toward the entrance. "Try to have your bullet points done by our next session so we can plan when you'll actually write it out."

"Umm, okay. Yeah, sounds good," he agrees, walking beside me calmly with long strides as I practically jog.

"Lumi!" I call out as we approach the living room.

The couch comes into view, and I spot Lumi passed the fuck out, drooling on one of the lavish throw pillows.

"Lumi, wake up. We've got to go, like, now," I ramble.

His eyes fly open, and he jumps up, immediately checking his phone. "Oh shit. Yeah, we do."

He wipes his mouth, and his face bursts into flames. "So sorry about that," he apologizes and wipes his drool off of the pillow.

Griffin chuckles. "Don't worry about it."

My chest tightens as I look at the elaborate wood clock above the ornate doorframe. I hate being late to anything, and I have ten minutes to make a thirteen-minute drive to the club before my shift starts.

"I'll text you to schedule the next one. Let me know what days or times work better," I inform him as I throw his door open and step outside.

"Wait!" Griffin calls out, and I spin around, watching him pull his wallet from his pocket. "I owe you." He whips out six one-hundred-dollar bills and extends his arm. "Worth every penny. Seriously, thank you."

"No problem." I smile, grab the cash, and take off down the steps toward Lumi's car with him right beside me.

Throwing the door open, I hop in and text my boss.

I'm so sorry. I'm running a few minutes late. I will be there as soon as I possibly can.

Boss Lady: It's okay. See you soon.

Lumi starts the car, and we take off around the fountain, following the circle driveway to go out the way we came. Stealing one last glance at the front doors, I look for Griffin, but he's already gone.