Neanderthal by Avery Flynn
Chapter Forty-Three
Kinsey
Kinsey made it to her front door before everything clicked into place.
The bet.
The breakup.
The bullshit.
That. Fucker.
Whole body practically vibrating, she spun around and marched back into Griff’s, throwing open the door without even knocking first, and marched into his bedroom.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, still in just a towel, looking out the windows overlooking the city. He scrubbed at his cheek with the back of his hand, trying to be all smooth about it like no one would be able to guess he was upset. All the what-the-fuck annoyance left her body like a demon after an exorcism. Dammit. Why was she so frickin’ soft when it came to this man? She closed her eyes and let out a breath, nearly giving in to that gooey feeling before yanking herself back to reality.
By the time she opened her eyes again, Griff was standing in the middle of his room, his whole demeanor changed. Gone was any hint of softness, replaced with that gruff exterior he wore like a shield. Well, too bad, because she knew better. Still, her gaze dipped down to the towel barely hanging onto his hips.
Focus, Kinsey!
Damn, that was hard when Griff was basically naked. He was all muscles, tattoos, and a really fucking bad attempt at a snarl. Ha! Like that was going to work on her—especially when he had the one piece of information she needed to figure out what in the hell had just happened.
“No,” she said, looking him square in the face. “I don’t accept that breakup.”
“Too bad.” He shrugged his broad shoulders and dialed up the intensity to four billion. “That’s just the way it is.”
Oh yeah, she was not buying this casual performance at all—not when he was holding on to one of her bright pink hair ties like a talisman. Nope. She had not gotten through one of the hardest pharmaceutical science programs in the country and landed a job at Archambeau because she gave up easily.
“You’re more full of shit than my little brother when he said he had no idea how the weasel had ended up wearing our sister’s favorite doll’s clothes.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” he said, shaking his head and looking down, as if to hide the beginning of a grin that she most definitely spotted.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, determined to get to the bottom of this. “Tell me everything right now.”
When he didn’t, Kinsey stalked over to him, putting every bit of don’t-fuck-with-me she had in the tank in each step. By the time she got to him, she was nearly to Avengers-level badassery—an effect that was ruined by being this close to him. One inhale and she was surrounded by the smell of him while being close enough to see the water droplets clinging to his chest. Her skin tingled with awareness that made her stomach dip, as if she was out driving and crested a hill going at just the right speed to give it the roller-coaster effect.
Griff let out a sigh that sounded like it came from the depths of his soul. “Something’s going on at your work.”
“Gavin’s setting me up.” The urge to touch Griff was too much to ignore. She brushed her fingers along the molecular-formula tattoo across his left pec, relishing his harsh intake of breath as he closed the distance between them. “I knew that giant donkey’s behind was up to something.”
Griff cupped her face, tilting her chin upward. “You’re not surprised he’s leaking and setting you up to take the fall?”
She snorted. No, it wasn’t the sexiest sound she could make when she was this close to Griff, but it couldn’t be helped. Gavin was about as opaque as handwoven lace and, while she didn’t have proof yet, her gut didn’t lie.
“The man has been on me like bees on a wildflower patch since I started at Archambeau, then all of a sudden he gives me this great opportunity to work with him on a top secret project that had a leak?” She took in a deep inhale of Griff’s soap, the crisp scent unwinding the tension in her shoulders because it smelled like safety and home and love and acceptance. He didn’t look at her and see Elle Woods on her first day at Harvard. He saw her, and it was the courtroom scene when Elle broke the whole case because she knew a person who’d just gotten a perm couldn’t get their hair wet within twenty-four hours. He saw what she could do, not only what she looked like. He saw her. “But what does that have to do with dumping me?”
That’s when Griff wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close so her cheek was against his chest, his arms around her like a protective shield. She started to relax against him when the reality of the situation hit, slamming her hard enough to knock her brain sideways. There was only one reason why he wouldn’t tell her this before, why he’d make a decision for her without even giving her the opportunity to weigh in on something that impacted her life.
“You aren’t serious. This is a shitty joke, right?” She pressed her hands against the steel wall of his chest and shoved, backing away from him. “You broke up with me because you didn’t think I could handle the truth of the situation?” Heat sizzled across every nerve in her body, and her heart raced in her chest. “That you needed to protect little ol’ me? You didn’t think I deserved to know what was actually going on but instead went all caveman on me?” She ran through the scenarios at lightning speed, searching for that one option that would provide a different result, but every single one came back the same. “You big, tough man make all the decisions, save silly Southern blonde from the reality of the situation.”
“Kinsey.” He started toward her but stopped when she held up her hand. “That’s not what I did.”
“Fine. Then what’s the real reason you broke up with me?”
There was a chance, a small one, that she’d missed something, that there was a logical explanation.
He shoved his fingers through his damp hair, enough barely contained frustration in the movement that she wouldn’t be surprised if it tore out a good chunk of it. “Technically, we weren’t really going out.”
If she’d just gotten pecked in the eye by Meemaw’s rooster, it wouldn’t have hurt as much. She went from fire to ice in an instant, the shock of it numbing her, but she knew from experience that the sweet feeling of nothing wouldn’t last long.
“Are you trying to gaslight me?” she asked, pressing a hand to her chest to make sure her heart was still beating, because it felt like the whole world had stopped. “We weren’t going out? Are you still trying to pretend that all of this was about some bet? Do you really think I am that dumb?” The pain started, rushing over her like a wave of rusty spikes. “That I am three cups of flour short of a pan of drop biscuits away from understanding that we were falling in love?”
That she already had.
Best to keep that to yourself.
No shit, brain. I’ve had enough humiliation for one day, thank you very fucking much.
“It’s for the best,” he said, his words barely above a whisper. “Can’t you see I’m doing this because I care about you?”
She laughed, because it was better than breaking down and crying in front of the man who she’d thought she’d known, who she still loved because life was a shit show. “That’s bullshit. All of this is bullshit, patronizing bullshit. You don’t get to make my decisions for me. You don’t get to protect me by keeping me in the dark. You don’t get to act like you know what’s best for me and then wrap it in a cheap blanket called ‘caring.’ Really, Griff, if that’s your definition of love, no wonder you’re so certain you’re going to win that bet.”
“Kinsey,” he roared, his voice like a thunderclap. “You don’t understand.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Her voice broke on the last word as she fought to keep it together. “This dumb blonde understands it all too fucking well.”
She stormed out of Griff’s apartment and didn’t stop until she was back in her bedroom. That was when she figured she’d start crying, but none of the expected tears fell.
Letting out a deep breath, she took a look around and knew what needed to happen next. She went to the closet and got her suitcase. The clock was ticking on her job. There was no way she could stay with Morgan after what had just happened. Everything had gone to shit, and she was going to have to find a way—somehow—to explain to Meemaw that she’d ruined everything.
