Justin just laughed. Matt was holding his stomach he was laughing so hard, and Griffin turned his face toward him. “Ah-ha! It’s you! I knew it! You slipped him numbers, didn’t you? Goddamn it, Matt! You’re ruining the sanctity of the game.”

Sanctity? Of a game designed to find easy women?

Matt didn’t answer him, just hunched over, hands on his knees, struggling to breathe. Griffin took that as an affirmative. “Thought so.” His eyes swung back to me. “That’s why you owe me a meal. Fucking cheaters, all of you.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “We didn’t cheat, but whatever…I could use some food.”

Griffin slapped me on the back. “Damn straight, you cheated. Now let’s go get you some penance.”

“But I didn’t…” I was laughing too hard to keep protesting, so I didn’t bother. He could think whatever the hell he wanted. At least laughing at him was a great distraction from the recent pains in my life.

It took a while to find a place to eat. Mainly because Griffin had the attention span of a two-year-old. On every street he found something new and distracting to entertain himself with. None of us were in a hurry to get anywhere, so we just followed wherever his sense of adventure took him. We finally stumbled across a hole-in-the-wall, twenty-four-hour diner. They had hash browns. I was sold.

“Here,” I said, jerking Griffin toward the door.

He lost his footing and nearly smashed into it, then laughed as he opened it. The space was small—and mostly empty—but there was a round table in the back where we’d all fit. As we all sat down, everyone pulled out their phones. I pulled mine out too. It was early morning here, so it had to be just about the time Kiera got home from work. Right? Did she work today? What fucking day was it again?

Oh well. If she was asleep, I’d just leave her a message. A sexy message. Hmmm. I almost hoped she was asleep.

Like always, I ignored the unread messages from Hailey, the unread messages from Gavin. Seeing them sitting there unopened made a painful ache split apart my chest, but I shoved the feeling deep inside. They don’t matter. Kiera was the only one who mattered. She was the only one I wanted to talk to right now.

Connecting the call, I brought the phone to my ear and waited for either her or her voicemail. The grin on my face when she answered betrayed my true desire. As much fun as a sexy message would be, a back-and-forth conversation with her was infinitely better.

“Hey, you,” she sighed. “I’ve missed you all day.”