Page 83

Story: Level With Me

Before I could speak, Griff said, “Gus sent me an email while I was away.” His voice was tight with anger.

“You were checking your email?” Griff was not known for responding to any form of communication, especially when he went off on his mysterious jaunts. Still, I’d sent him a couple, asking where he was, which he’d ignored.

He ignored me this time, too. “You know what was in the email?”

Gus was the facilities manager, but he was also in charge of security across the whole property. What could he…

No. Oh my God, no. I felt the blood drain from my face. “Griff—”

“It was a video clip. He caught a couple of people in business attire making out outside the shed on the south side of the golf course.”

I was going to be sick. I glanced over at Blake. He was watching us but listening to whatever Jude was telling him. I angled Griff so our backs were to them, worried Griff might actually murder him if Blake appeared in his line of sight.

“The footage wasn’t that clear,” Griff went on. “There was some kind of smudge on the lens. But I know my sister when I see her. And I know her married fucking consultant.”

“Griff, I can explain—”

“I tried to convince myself it was someone else, that there was just a striking fucking resemblance. But now I see you holding his fucking hand!?”

“Griffin,” I said, my voice as loud as I could make it while still whispering, placing a hand on his arm. “Calm down, okay?”

He looked down as if I’d lain a waiter’s cloth over his forearm.

“What about this is okay?”

I took my hand away, my heart hammering in my chest. I hadn’t thought this part through. What was I going to say? My brother could sniff out a lie a mile away.

“It’s not real.”

Both of us whirled around. Blake.

For a moment, panic ballooned in my chest as Griff took a step toward him.

“Griff, wait,” I said.

But Blake was calm, and held his ground with Griffin. While Griffin was thicker around the chest and shoulders, Blake was not insubstantially sized. He also had an inch or two of height on my brother.

For a moment, tension crackled in the air. I was going to have to step in between them.

“Guys, this is—” I began, but Griff spoke up.

“What do you mean, it’s not real?”

“My marriage. To Lila. It’s part of the business.”

Griffin eyed me, checking for my response. Even after this, he trusted me. My heart swelled. “It’s true,” I said.

“I knew it!” Jude exclaimed from behind. “Lila’s into women, isn’t she?” Jude said.

Blake’s jaw clenched.

“Jude!” I glared at my other brother. “Keep your trap shut!”

But Jude never kept his trap shut. “I saw her checking out the women’s group tennis lesson,” he said, all innocence. Then he waggled a brow. “It didn’t look like she was admiring their outfits.”

I nearly slapped my own forehead.

But Griffin had visibly relaxed—at least a little. He was still giving Blake a mild stink eye.