Page 5 of Griffin (Stone Brothers #5)

FIVE

GRIFFIN

J axon had grabbed his favorite booth by the bar. It was still early and Monday night, so Lazy Daze was mostly empty. Stella's long ponytail swung back and forth as she laughed at something her mom said.

Amy spotted me walking in. Her face lit up with a smile. "Well, look who is gracing us with his presence on a Monday." She walked around the end of the bar and came straight over for a hug. All the moms were big-time huggers. She reached up and wiped something off my chin.

"Gee thanks, Ma," I teased.

"Just be lucky she didn't lick that thumb first," Jaxon called from behind his mug of beer.

"One time," Amy said. "One time I made the mistake of licking my thumb to wipe a smudge of dirt off his face, and apparently, that one motherly act has scarred him for life."

"She always leaves out the truly psycho part," Jaxon said. "You know the part about doing it right in front of my friends on the third-grade field trip. They all called me 'Licky Boy' for a week."

Stella laughed. "No one ever teased you about anything in your whole life because you were six feet tall on your seventh birthday."

Jaxon raised a brow at her.

"Well, maybe not six feet tall, but for our seventh birthday, dad hung that big unicorn pinata, and you walked up and obliterated it with one swing. No one else even got a chance at bat."

"Hey, I got you the candy, didn't I?" Jaxon asked. "Fin, buddy, get over here, and LaLa, instead of standing around, why don't you bring our dear cousin a beer?"

I walked, cautiously now, over to his table. "Buddy? Dear cousin? You must want something from me. Where's Bridget?"

"She's getting a tattoo. She says she wants to catch up to my ink display, but I told her no fucking way."

"Chauvinist," Stella said as she set down the beer. She scowled at her twin brother. "Why the hell can't Gidge get a bunch of tattoos? You're more tattoo than skin."

"I know, and I'm regretting about half of them. That skull and crossbones on my abs is starting to look like a bulldog with a bone."

Stella laughed. "That's cuz now that you're not single you've let that six-pack shrink to a four pack of minis."

Jaxon patted his stomach. "Not true. The tattoo artist just did a crappy job."

"You should have them all removed," Stella suggested. "I could do it with my flat iron. That sucker gets hot enough to sear off skin. Just let me know when you want me to fire it up." She pressed two fingers to her forearm and made a sizzling sound.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Jaxon asked. It seemed I'd walked into a twin moment. They had them often, and Stella was the only person who could tease Jaxon mercilessly and get away with it.

"I'll bet I could make you cry," she quipped and walked away.

Jaxon scoffed loudly at her remark. "What's up?" He took a drink of beer.

"That's what I'm asking you. I feel like this invite just became a trap. What house project do you need me for this time?"

"What? No. Can't a guy just ask his cousin to join him for a beer without raising suspicion?"

I picked up my beer and stared at him, waiting for the other shoe. It dropped like a steel-toed boot.

"I'm going to put the new roof on myself." Bridget had bought a cool fixer-upper that overlooked the beach, but the place came with a ton of problems.

"A roof that size needs a full professional crew, Jax. And you'll still need permits."

"Yeah, but now that you have your contractor's license, we can get one. We got three bids, all of them fifty thousand plus. If I do it myself?—"

"Uh, with me, you mean."

"Right, and I'm sure Cru would be happy to make some money. Now that winter's coming, Slade won't be taking many people out on the boat, and Crusoe is going to be hard up for cash."

I placed down the beer and looked at him. "You're going to put your brother, Cru, the guy who practically has his own personal bed just waiting for him in the ER, up on that roof?" I shook my head. "You've lost your fucking mind."

"We'll put a rope around his waist and tie him to the chimney." He picked up his beer and finished it off.

"Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't your girlfriend extremely wealthy?"

"She's got a nice bank account, but I'm still Jaxon Stone from the household where my mom made us drink all the milk out of our cereal bowls and where we had to use bar soap to wash our hair because she thought shampoo was a waste of money."

"So, what you're saying is you're a penny-pincher?"

"Sure, now what do you say? Wanna help a cousin in need?"

I finished my beer. "We both work, so we're just going to do it on the weekends? How does that work?"

"Haven't thought about that. LaLa, where are the peanuts?" Jaxon called across the bar. He was taking advantage of the fact that there were almost no other customers. "Actually, bring us some nachos. Extra cheese."

Stella stared at him across the room.

"I think you'd better say please," I said.

"C'mon, twins don't say please. We can read each other's minds, and she knows I'm already saying it right up here in my brain." Jaxon closed his eyes. "What am I thinking right now, LaLa? Show him how we read each other's minds."

"Hmm, let me see, you're thinking 'I must be an even bigger asshole than I thought if I think I can just order my sister around.'"

I chuckled and got up to get a beer refill. I picked up Jaxon's glass too. I reached the counter. Amy was drying glasses. "Colt said he hired a new office manager. What's she like? Did you meet her?"

"I did. In fact, I helped her out of a bind this morning when a bunch of birds surrounded her as she ate a scone on the pier."

Stella came around the corner from the kitchen area. "Was that the new office manager?" Stella excelled at the dramatic frown. "Not another broken-hearted resignation. Katie still comes in here to drink wine and talk about you."

"Katie dreamt up something that never happened," I explained.

"I never came on to her. I was just polite because she was running the office and worked for my dad.

I don't know what happened there, but as I told Dad, I'm not taking the blame.

And Shay, the new manager, is married, so that's the end of it. "

Stella and Amy both laughed loud enough to get Jaxon's attention. "Shit, what am I missing over there?"

We ignored Jaxon. "I don't know why that's funny," I said. "Yes, she's hot, but she's married."

"Right, and that's stopped you before or did you forget Margot?" Amy asked.

"In my defense, she didn't tell me she was married … at first."

Stella crossed her arms. "And how long did it go on after she told you?"

"I just came up here for a beer. Not an interrogation."

Amy reached over and pinched my cheek. "You're so cute when you're flustered.

LaLa, fill the beers and then cut your brother off.

He'll be grumpy at work tomorrow if he keeps going, and if he's grumpy, then your dad will be grumpy and then I'll be grumpy and it'll be this whole grumpy domino thing.

" Amy walked away, and Stella refilled the beers.

She slid them across the counter to me. "What's he trying to talk you into? I sensed a whole buttering up thing happening when you sat down."

"Yep, buttered me up like a damn holiday turkey. He wants me to help him put on a new roof."

A laugh shot from Stella's mouth. "Gidge already told him no way on that. She's going to hire a roofing company."

"See, that's reasonable." I picked up the beers and carried them back to the table. Jaxon was just hanging up from a phone call.

"Gidge?" I asked.

"Yeah. Told her I'd be home in an hour."

I shook my head. "If anyone had ever told me that my cousin Jax would be settled down with one woman and promising to end his beer night early to get home to her, I'd have told them they were nuts."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, don't knock it until you try it."

Stella's mention of being buttered up reminded me of the morning and of Shay.

"Jax, I never asked you this. How did you know?

How did you know with Bridget? Other than the fact that she's incredible to look at.

You've been out with other stunning girls, but you never fell hard for them. You were hooked from day one."

"Sure as fuck was. She jumped from that boat, swam out to me on my jet ski and wrapped herself around me.

The whole thing just triggered this weird deep reaction.

I felt this connection with her that I'd never felt before.

She felt it too. Which I guess was lucky for me.

" Jaxon rested back against the seat and squinted at me.

"Why you askin'?" He sat forward so fast the table jiggled and beer sloshed over the mugs. "Did you meet someone?"

"What? No. No, I was just wondering. I mean I watched you date so many women and then this one woman stepped—or I should say swam —into your life, and you were like a stray puppy, wanting nothing more than to be curled up in her lap."

"Don't know if I was quite that pathetic, but yeah, I guess that's a close description." He reached over and patted me hard on the shoulder. "Can't wait until it happens to you."

"How do you know it will?"

"It will and then I can make fun of you, too."

"Oh good, who are we making fun of?" Stella asked as she set down a plate of nachos between us.

"Fin is looking for his love match," Jaxon said.

I shook my head as I grabbed a chip filled with toppings. The tough piece of pizza wasn't holding me any longer. "Never said anything about a love match. Hmm, good nachos. Hey, LaLa, can you get another bowl of salsa? Not nearly enough on these."

"Yes, milord, anything else before I'm off to do your bidding?" she asked.

I tapped my chin arrogantly. "Nope, that should do for now."

"I'd better get a good tip, and one of your pre-punched free sandwich cards doesn't count." Stella's long ponytail swung out as she spun around on her heels and walked away.

Jaxon and I plowed into the nachos, and the rest of the night, Jaxon's words "weird deep reaction" played on repeat in my head.