Page 76 of How Not to Date a Griffin

And then he did. “So, even though you might have initially hung out with me for the article…”

“I hung out with you because I wanted to. The article was an excuse. Just a big, stupid excuse to see you again. I’m sorry.”

It didn’t matter that Reid hadn’t wanted this in the beginning. That he’d used the article as an excuse to spend time with Nolan. That his own guilt was the reason he couldn’t let himself have something nice for once. Someone nice. Because in the end, Nolan had become the collateral of his indecision.

“Okay,” Nolan breathed, pain still scattered across his expression.

The only thing that mattered was how the chips fell. But instead of chips, they were splinters, and Reid’s hands were all bloody from trying to catch them before they hit the ground.

Nolan hated his father, hated being used to further his image and make the business look good, hated being a pawn.

And that’s exactly what Reid had done: used him.

Reid was no better than Nolan’s father, in the end.

He could apologize a thousand times and it still wouldn’t change that fact.

“Okay,” Nolan repeated, and he nodded, determined.

“Now what?” Reid couldn’t help but ask. He’d do anything.

“Well, now we just need proof.”

Reid swallowed, gaze falling to the brick still sitting at the end of the bar. “And how do we get that?”

“Oh, I have proof.”

Reid paused, slowly turning to stare at Nolan. “You do?”

“I mean, I can get proof. Easy.”

Easy, huh? Something told Reid it would be anything but.

Nolan

“How?”

“This might surprise you, but I actually did a bit of research before running over here in a panic,” Nolan admitted, and tugged his laptop out of the messenger bag, ignoring Reid’s gaze.

The whole ordeal actually smarted quite a bit. In a way that made his chest tight and his stomach churn. His heart kind of hurt too, but he didn’t think it was appropriate to have a heart attack at the moment, so he chalked it up to heartbreak.

Which was.

Fine.

Everything was fine.

His father’s entire business was built on a plot of lies and manipulation, and the man he was maybe possibly almost certainly in love with was using him to uncover it all.

He couldn’t breathe.

But he spoke anyway.

“I heard my father’s assistant, Chance, on the phone,” he choked out. “Once I returned to the hotel. Something about not hitting your business because it’s a conflict of interest now. Chance was acting more weird than usual, so that’s what made me suspicious.”

“But speculation isn’t enough,” Reid countered.

“I said I did my research, didn’t I?” he asked, powering up his laptop. His tabs slowly loaded in, revealing spreadsheets and deals and agreements and all the fine print that went with it.