His mouth curved in the barest hint of a smile. “Well, my uncle was that. But even after he went to prison, I was still hanging on. I met a girl. For the first time since my family died, I felt like I had a person, you know?”

I swallowed against the sudden dryness in my throat. I could see in my mind a younger Griffin, not even yet twenty-one, and all alone in the world. I knew how that felt. It was terrifying, and it made you desperate to grab hold of anything or anyone that made life feel a little more stable. “I know.”

“I thought we were happy. Maybe we were for a time. But that reporter got to her. I still don’t know how, exactly. Maybe it was money. Maybe he convinced her that she’d actually be helping me deal with what happened.” Griffin’s eyes met mine. “Jen always wanted me to talk about my family. But I wasn’t ready. I know it hurt her. I hurt her.”

He looked away, back to his untouched glass of water. “A month after my uncle was sentenced, I found that reporter in my apartment. Jen had given him the key. I found him going through a box of mementos. I still don’t know if Jen knew about the box or if the reporter had just found it by luck. But I lost it. I’d never lost it like that. He snapped a photo of me, and I decked him. He hit his head on the corner of my nightstand. Was unconscious for three days. People said I was a monster.”

“You’re anything but a monster,” I snapped.

Griffin’s gaze came back to me, and he shrugged. “Maybe I have a little monster in me. I punched that guy who was an ass to you at the store.”

I grinned at the memory. Kenna’s ex-boyfriend had shown up at The General Store a couple of months ago and had made a scene. He’d been cruel, and when he turned that vicious streak on me, Griffin had laid him out with a single punch. “Am I supposed to be offended by that?”

“It could’ve ended badly. I could’ve really injured him. But the look in your eyes… I couldn’t let him hurt you anymore.”

My breath caught in my lungs. It turned out Griffin paid attention far better than I’d thought. He could read every expression that crossed my face before I had the chance to hide it. “Maybe it makes me a little bit of a monster that I’m glad you hit him.”

Griffin took a step closer. “I guess we’ll just have to be a little monstrous together.”