Page 114 of Mess With Me

There are a lot of people getting on in my life. Chester. Dad. Lionel.

But there’s no use in dwelling on any of that right now. Like I always tell my sister Cass, a chronic overthinker, worrying never made anything better.

Instead, we take measurements, Sasha writing them down on her little notepad while I try not to look disrespectfully at her ass as she bends over with the measuring tape.

When we’re done, Chester’s still not home.

CHAPTER31

Griffin

The next town over from Quince Valley isn’t as pretty as home, but it’s only a half hour away and boasts a plethora of big box stores, including a lumber depot.

Sasha insists on driving. “I’m going to forget how to do stuff if you’re always the one doing it,” she says.

I don’t know what she’s talking about, given she’s driven into town plenty of times while I’ve been working at home, both for errands and to her shifts at Bijou.

But I hand the keys over to her, and she skips over to the driver’s side. I try to ignore how she’s the most adorable fucking thing I’ve ever seen. I try to ignore the bigger feeling that comes on the heels of that thought as she cranks up the radio when she discovers they’re playing a Reese Franco song. It feels like my heart’s stuck in a fist. The worst part is, it isn’t mine. I have no control over how hard it squeezes.

Ford calls me as we’re on the highway, and I let out a breath, glad for the distraction. I lean forward to turn the music down a little, and Sasha seamlessly takes her solo down to miming.

“What’s up?” I ask Ford.

“I got the tap in place.”

I shift in my seat. “Okay.” I haven’t told Sasha I’m going to be monitoring her brother. I will, I just haven’t yet. “That’s great, thanks.”

“You’re with Sasha, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

He sighs. “Well, try to pay attention. I was thinking about taking a little trip over your way.”

“Oh.” Not what I was expecting. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not dying or something, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I was.”

“Nah, I just miss you.”

“Fuck you.”

Ford chuckles. “I’m heading out to Houston after I wrap up here, and it’ll be a while before we’re in the same room for a bit. I just want to chat a bit about what we talked about back in Bern.”

I blink. Bern. That was a couple of years ago. Back when…

“Oh.”

We were out at a pub after successfully handing a client over to one of our safe houses. Our client had gone public with her information, and we were on our way to landing fat bonuses from Lionel for how well the whole mission had gone.

But we’d both struggled with that project. Our feelings about how things should have gone had diverged from Lionel’s. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the most significant. We’d helped a woman who’d uncovered a web of sexual harassment at her Fortune 500 company that went far, wide, and ugly. Lionel had wanted to focus on the company breaking its policies. We wanted to blow the lid off this kind of behavior in the whole industry, and in response, Lionel had told us to keep our dicks in our pants.

Ironic, given the news story we’d just helped break.

Ford and I had both been pissed. We were both most passionate about the cases like these, where asshole men were thinking with their dicks and not their brains, throwing their female employees under the bus while touting equality out the other side of their mouths.

“Yeah,” Ford says now, bringing me back. “I think it’s time we had this conversation again, especially considering how things have been going.”

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