When Our Worlds Stand Still (Our Worlds #3)(18)

Violet’s face displays too many emotions for me to zero in on one, but as she paces the length of the porch, I know I’m in for her classic ‘you’re a fucking idiot’ speech.

“Don’t forget I’m your best friend, okay? Because what I’m about to say isn’t going to make you happy, and I’m okay with the consequences of my words. You need to hear this.” Violet nods her head to encourage my forgiveness.

My hands cover my face, and I shake away the anxiety deep within my bones. “Twist the knife, babe.” When I peek through my fingers, Violet tucks her lips between her teeth. She knows me too well.

“You may not have given up on him, Kennedy, but you didn’t dig deep enough to keep him around either.” She shakes her head. “You can’t be mad at him for living his life, and clearly, he’s here because of you. He wouldn’t have given up his dream of sunny Georgia for this cold ass weather.” She runs her fingers along the soft icicles dangling from the railing.

“You trying to say I’m not worth freezing your ass off for?” I joke, hoping to break some of the natural tension that comes with the presence of Graham and me.

“You know what I mean, Ken. You can’t punish him for doing what you asked of him.” With her lips tight, Violet flashes a sad smile.

She’s right. Goddammit, she’s right. I walk to the door, but turn back to her, gripping the handle a little too tight. “Can I punish him a little bit?” I gesture with my thumb and pointer finger a quarter inch apart.

She smirks. “It wouldn’t be a typical Graham and Kennedy filled weekend without a little punishment.” She mockingly cheers me.

The sliding door opens. I pull my hand away before it knocks me over. “You girls going to stand in the cold all night, or come inside and play?”

“Do you have to word it like we’re some weird convoy of friends who switch partners and live in a cul-de-sac?” Violet whips around to face Rick.

He shakes his head back and forth with a laugh slipping from his mouth. “What?”

“I told her not to bother with the documentary about swingers, but she couldn’t help herself.” I tap Rick on the shoulder when he ducks back inside.

With my arm wrapped through my best friend’s, I lead her where warmth awaits us. As soon as our steps breach the threshold, a shot glass is thrust in our faces.

“Drink. Lighten up, and for fuck’s sake, pull my man here,” Rick jerks his chin at Graham, who’s sulking in the corner, “out of the funk he’s been in since I’ve known him.”

“That seems unlike our Graham,” Amanda says, walking into the room. “The Graham we know is the life of the party.” She swings her arm around his shoulder and pulls him in close, but he’s quick to brush her off.

My eyes never leave Graham as the old meets the new, sharing stories of our pasts, leaving out no detail of Graham’s infamous career in snagging enough tail to make a professional blush. A bored expression is plastered on his face, though, and he never stops picking at the tiles beneath his hands. I wonder what makes him most uncomfortable. Is it me being present for the reminder? Or maybe he’s afraid I’ll find out the truth of what he’s been up to in our time apart.

Graham’s fist strikes the counter, startling us. “Enough,” he shouts. “Enough with the stupid stories of who I was in high school. Enough with it all.”

Everyone’s laughter and chatter come to a halt.

Rick steps beside him and elbows him. “Chill out, man. It’s okay.”

Graham’s eyes soften as they find me again. A blonde leaning against the center island gives him an almost invisible nod in encouragement. Her smile widens as his eyes answer her silent plea.

Who is she? And why do I get the sense she knows something most of them don’t?

“I’m. Not. That. Guy. Anymore.” Graham’s eyes lock with mine. “I’m not that guy anymore,” he pleads for our understanding. Mine most of all.

Griffin eggs him on. “What’s got you all worked up?”

“The guy they’re talking about hasn’t existed for a long time. I don’t sleep around. I don’t drink to excess. I don’t do a lot of the things I’ve been known for in the past because I don’t want to be the guy who walks away when people need him, and I don’t want to be the guy who finds some sort of pleasure in someone else’s pain.”

“I don’t know how we could think that of you. You’ve been here for how long, and we’ve never seen you with a girl. Griffin thought you were gay for a while,” Rick chimes in.

Graham scoffs, pushes off the counter, and walks toward the door to escape the situation. “I’m not gay,” he mutters under his breath.

“Well, clearly, the way you’ve been eye fucking her.” Rick points to where I stand, staring at Graham’s stiff spine.

Graham whips around. I know that look. He’s about to put us in our place. “I don’t drink because I’ve learned a few hard lessons in their wake. And more importantly, I’m not eye fucking her, Rico. I’m in love with her. I always have been.” He steps out of the kitchen, but swings around to face us once more. His proud eyes scan over every one of his friends, new and old. “Oh, and when I disappear, I’m volunteering at an orphanage for kids who’ve lost their family to domestic violence, because I grew up with a piece of shit father whose favorite past time was whooping my ass.”