Page 18 of Crash
“What’s wrong?”
Startled, she looked up from her phone, brows furrowed.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
She turned her phone screen off and tucked it into her back pocket.
“You boys enjoy the rest of your lunch.”
With her parting words, she headed to his office. Griffin wanted to march back there and demand she tell him what caused her distress. He didn’t like the way it made him feel to see her upset. This insane urge to set the world on fire for anyone or anything that upset her.
It was ridiculous. He was a stranger to her.
Griffin tried to ignore the impulse to go to her. He really did. He distracted himself by eating two more slices of pizza than he normally would have. He even cleaned up the office and brought the trash out back.Both Julio and Sean returned to work when he took out the trash.
Standing in the lobby, he debated what he should do. He couldn’t hear anything coming from the office. He lasted maybe another moment before his body directed him where his mind told him not to go.
Griffin slowly approached the open doorway of his office. He didn’t want to startle her again. Quynh’s nerves seemed frayed. The last thing he wanted to do was add stress to her day.
The sounds of muffled sniffling made his decision for him. He shoved the door the rest of the way open and barreled into the room like a freight train.
To his horror, she was crying at his desk. A pile of tissues in front of her as she stared up at him with those wide brown eyes of hers. Twice in the past twenty-four hours, he saw her tear-stained face, and both times, it drove a shard of pain deep in his gut. The sight of her crying made him sick.
She tried to wipe her tears away as if he wouldn’t have noticed.
“Oh, um, hi. Did you need help with something?”
Her voice was thick with emotion as tears still strangled her voice. She fought valiantly to keep the tears brimming her eyelids from streaming down her face.
Griffin slowly approached her like she was a wounded animal. Her apprehension at his approach made him evenmore cautious. He wasn’t very good at dealing with emotions, but he sure as hell did not know what to do with a crying woman in his office.
All he knew was he wanted it to stop. The only tears she should have were tears of pleasure instead of whatever was haunting her.
Griffin’s cautious footsteps brought him around the desk until she was looking up at him. Slowly, he crouched down so they were eye-to-eye.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
It wasn’t a question. Rather, it was an order. He was determined to know what troubled her. As irrational as it was, he knew he would move heaven and earth to protect her.
Her lips parted as she stared at him in disbelief. After a moment, she must have seen the determination set in his features. She sniffled once more.
“It’s my father.”
He waited for her to continue talking, allowing her the time and space she needed to unpack her issues.
“He’s dying.”
The silence between them pulsed as he waited to hear more.
Griffin grabbed the tissue box and handed her another tissue. She smiled gratefully as she blew her nose.
“I don’t even really know him, but apparently, he doesn’t have much time left.” She offered him a waterysmile as he placed the tissue box back on his desk. “That’s why I’m here. I was supposed to see him, but my car broke down. Obviously.” She gestured vaguely to the office.
“Where is he?”
“Ruth, my stepsister, texted me his address earlier this morning. She just texted me again not too long ago. His condition seems to be deteriorating at a rapid pace. I still haven’t been able to get over there to see him.”
He watched in horror as another fresh round of tears pooled in her eyes and fell over. He gripped the armrest of her chair so hard he heard a squeak of protest.
