Right. The restaurant…with her friend. Don’t ask. “Yeah, okay.” Not wanting the conversation to end on a sad note, I let a dry laugh escape me. “I’ll be here, on the road through nowhere, wishing Griffin didn’t need to let the Hulk breathe quite so often.”

The sound of her corresponding laugh was soothing. So were her words. “I love you, Kellan.”

“I love you too, Kiera.” More and more every second.

The call disconnected and I lowered my phone to stare at it. Was I making a mistake, withholding so much from her? Yes. I knew I was. But there wasn’t another option for me. Not anymore. This burden was mine to bear, it had been since birth.

I suddenly felt exceedingly, achingly tired, exhausted down to my very core, the depths of my soul. I don’t know how to keep doing this. And that was when my phone chimed with a message. I instinctually cringed, worried it was from Gavin. But it was Kiera’s name on the screen, and seeing it brightened me.

The words were simple, but they meant everything to me. ‘I love you.’

I closed my eyes, letting that sink in, letting it erase the emotional fatigue. Then I texted her back. ‘I love you too…more than anything. I can’t wait to see you again…soon, hopefully.’

‘I hope so too,’ was her response, and I inhaled a deep breath, letting peace fill me again as I put my phone away.

That was when Griffin sat down across from me. “I’m bored,” he said. “Entertain me.”

I looked over to see that the card game had broken up. Matt was miming playing a guitar while he animatedly talked to the group Griffin had left behind. The conversation must have switched to music, and that wasn’t a compelling enough conversation for Griffin. I was barely holding on though, and I really didn’t feel like entertaining him. “Do I have to?” I asked.

His grin had a familiar edge to it. “If you don’t…I’ll just entertain myself.” He wriggled his eyebrows, and I knew I didn’t want to know what he meant by that.

“Fine…” I sighed. “What did you have in mind?”

He set down an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Great. Breaking the seal and opening it, he said, “Never have I ever…had sex with Kiera.”

I shook my head at him. Fucking asshole. He said that obvious one just to make me drink. And he wanted to play Never Have I Ever? Were we teenagers? Oh well. I had nothing better to do than play a stupid drinking game with Griffin. And maybe it would get my mind off Kiera and her…friend.