Page 71 of Holding Out

“We could hang out for a little, until you’re better,” CJ said.“Or call someone to come get us.”

“No,” Griff said.“I gotta get back ASAP.I’ve got tutoring in forty minutes.You’d better drive,” he said, tossing the keys to CJ.

CJ’s eyes were big as he caught them.“Uh, this is a really bad idea.”

Griff looked away so CJ wouldn’t see his expression.“I think it’s our best bet.”

Unwillingly, CJ hauled himself up into the driver’s seat.Griff took shotgun.Now he just had to hope that he wasn’t actually going to get them both killed.

CJ started the truck, backed out of the space, and started toward home.True to his word, he began to sweat and shake.His hands gripped the wheel so hard it must have hurt.Griff felt his own hands clenching into fists in sympathy.“You’re doing good, man,” he said quietly.

“Thissucks,” CJ said.

“Hang in.And thanks for saving my ass.”

CJ sat up a little straighter at that.And he turned onto Highway 101 without any visible further freak-out.

At the first traffic light he shook his head ruefully and said, “Well, it’s not pretty, but I’m doing it.”

“Doesn’t have to be pretty.”

“Tell that to the woman riding shotgun.”

“You ever thought about just owning it?”Holyshit, he was a hypocrite.He almost shut his hypocrite face before he could go any further, but then he thought about it for a minute.Maybe he wasn’t as much of a hypocrite as he used to be.He’d told Becca, after all.And the guy in Home Depot.And CJ.So he went on, plowing through, because even if hewasa hypocrite, he owed it to CJ to make sure the kid didn’t make the same mistake he had, didn’t spend years clammed up.“Just tell her.I was in Afghanistan, this crazy thing happened, and driving makes me a little jittery.”

CJ just grunted—but Griff knew he’d heard.And when they reached the light at Seaside, CJ said, “You were right, it gets a little easier.I guess I never tried more than a couple minutes.Never gave myself time to, you know, settle in.”

Griff smiled, an invisible, internal smile.

By the time they pulled into R&R, the sweat had dried on CJ’s face.He unlocked his hands from around the wheel.“They’re going to be permanently in this position,” he said, holding them up like claws for Griff to see.They were shaking, too—but only a little.

“But you did it.”

“I did it.”

Griff felt a surge of triumph.“And itwillget easier.”

“Yeah,” CJ said.“Yeah.”

“You could give me a ride in the Shelby soon, and start using that baby for the purpose for which God intended her.As lady bait.”

That made CJ smile—not a full-on smile, but a hopeful one.

Griff suddenly realized he had completely stopped shaking.He looked down at his hands, and they were rock steady.Huh.Apparently, helping someone else was the best cure.

CJ looked at Griff’s hands, too, and a funny expression crossed his face.Then he squinted up his eyes.“You’re full of it, aren’t you?”

“Who, me?”

“Dissociating?Dizzy?”

Griff gave CJ his best sheepish face.

CJ sighed.“You are an asshole, man, you know that?”

“Been told that,” Griff said, grinning.

“Did you do all this because you wanted a ride in the Shelby?”

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