CHAPTER 29

RIVER

Icould see how they were together. And while I feared losing her, I couldn't help but be happy for her. Couldn't help but smile when she smiled, and laugh when she laughed. She seemed to have found her place in life—beside him. No matter how much I wished it different.

She hadn't told me yet. I didn't think she'd even admitted it to herself.

We were still trying. Still taking every opportunity to just be together and see if it could work again. And while I knew things were forgiven one hundred percent on both sides—not that there was much I felt I needed to forgive her for—I was beginning to see that things would never return to the way they were before. We had both changed. And her heart had made way for another.

That wouldn't just go away.

Not that I was giving up. Despite my epiphany after that first full moon we experienced together, I wasn't giving up on the hope that we could make it work. I'd wait by her side until she made that decision … and maybe even after.

If she did choose me, I'd run back to her with open arms, scoop her up and never let her go again. I'd love her like she deserved to be loved. And spend the rest of my life making up for the past.

But I wasn't an idiot. I could see which way the needle was leaning—the direction the scale was tipping—and it wasn't in my favour.

Even though Griffin put up a tough guy bravado, pretended he didn't have feelings and masked a lot of things with sarcasm, I knew that's just what it was: a maskandan act. At least when it came to her.When it came to her, he'd love her fiercely.

It was blatantly obvious in the way he even moved around her. Like she was the centre of gravity for him.

Yet it was subtle—their pull towards one another. They weren't actively flaunting it in my face. And I knew Vee was doing everything in her power to dim it around me.

But it was there. I could see it.

They had a smoothness to the way they worked together; like a cohesive unit. As if they'd known each other for years.

Even when I wasn't actively watching, I could sense it. Feel it.

As much as I hated it, the guy was charming, brave, tough and protective. But he was also sensitive and emotional and caring—a side that I was sure not many people saw.

He was like that for her.

I knew she questioned it, but it was clear to the rest of us.

Even so, it would still rip my heart out when she made that final decision.

I had a feeling I'd need to slowly start unravelling that heart of mine from hers.