Page 95 of A False Start
Quite the opposite, in fact.
My brother is here, leaned up against the front door looking really pissed off. There’s a red Audi parked beside his gray Jeep, and when Griffin pulls up and hops out of his truck, another person steps out of the crimson car.
Perfectly straight bottle blonde hair swishes around her waist as her toned, tanned limbs fold out of the vehicle. She turns a practiced smile on Griffin, and my heart stutters, slowly puttering out in my chest until it feels like it’s going to stop altogether.
Stefan is watching her like a hawk until his gaze snags on me. His head tilts in question, but I only spare him a glance before I stare back at Griffin as he approaches the real-life Barbie doll in skinny jeans and stilettos. She strides toward him like she owns the fucking place.
I don’t even need to get out of my car to know who she is. I don’t even have to meet her to hate her. It doesn’t matter that Griffin spent the last day worshipping my body and professing his love for me. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know her or want her.
All that washes away as I watch hiswifelay a hand on his forearm. The one crossed over top of the other as he scowls down at her. The arms that held me tight all night long.
That forearm ismineand seeing her drag a French manicured nail over it like she has a right has me shoving my door open and storming up the driveway. I can’t hear what she’s saying, and I don’t even care. She just needs to keep her fucking hands to herself, or I will seriously kick her in the box.
“Don’t fucking touch me.” Griffin’s voice cuts like a hot knife through butter. Quick and absolute.
She rolls her eyes and cocks a hip. “Who’s this?” She nods her head toward me, eyes sparkling with venom.
The feeling is mutual.
“That’s my sister.” Stefan shoves past her, eating up the ground to stand beside me.
“Adorable.” She turns back to Griffin with a pout on her frosty pink lips. She’s overdone, but you’d have to be an idiot to not notice how stupidly fucking hot she is. Which is honestly just worse. I take an inventory of my current appearance, feeling self-conscious in a way I never have before in my torn acid wash jeans, flip-flops, and concert tee.
I feel childish and messy standing next to this woman. And I despise myself for letting her make me feel this way without even trying. She doesn’t deserve it after what she’s done to Griffin.
She reaches out to touch him again, but he steps away, regarding her like he’d destroy her on the spot if he weren’t such a gentleman. “Let’s talk inside.”
“No.”
“Without an audience?” His gaze follows hers to where Stefan and I are standing, and I’m intensely grateful that my big brother is here. He’s like a shield against what’s happening in front of me. He’s always protected me in his own way, and right now is no different.
“You c—” Griffin reaches his hands up and squeezes the brim of his worn baseball cap down on either side. I know he was about to stumble over that word, which means he’s stressed. And I hate that for him.
I hateherfor him.
“Say what you need,” he simplifies.
“Yeah. I’d love to hear why you were skulking around his house and looking through windows.” Stefan’s voice is all bite, his stance foreboding. He is protective with a capital P. Something that has only become more pronounced since he became a father.
She sighs and lifts the manilla envelope in her hand. “I told my lawyer I’d sign, but this version doesn’t include any financial compensation. Your lawyer won’t budge, so I figured I’d track you down and talk some sense into you.”
A deep rumble sounds from Griffin’s chest. He’s a gentleman, but the threat is clear, and he doesn’t like it.
“We’re estranged. We never had a relationship. There’s no basis for it. I only paid you so you’d go away.”
The woman bristles and has enough sense to look a little embarrassed in front of us. “Well, if you want to keep your problem under wraps in the press, then you’ll be adding to this.” She slaps the envelope against his chest with a flourish. “It would be a shame for that video to see the light of day. Not that I’d mind showing that off. We look good together. Or we did before this beard happened.” She waves a hand over him, and I instantly want to break it. Ilovehis beard. “And we really had a spectacular time, didn’t we?”
Then the bitch has the gall to wink at him.
“This has gone on for t-t-t-too long. It ends now.” My heart twists, and I am so damn proud of him for not giving up on the exact words he wanted to use.
“T-t-t-too bad,” she mocks, with a practiced smile that makes my skin crawl.
And I see red. “Leave. Now. You’re trespassing.” I point at her car, stepping towards her, hand shaking with rage.
She just rolls her eyes, and I seriously consider getting my gun out of my car and doing target practice on her plastic nails. I’ve always promised myself that I’d never resort to violence after what I grew up with. But I am seriously considering it right now. It’s the glare my brother gives me that holds me back, like he knows I could probably kill a bitch.
“Not until I get what I came for.”
