Page 38
“I’ve been talking with my agent, and we had an idea.”
Griffin stiffens beside me, his knee pressing against mine. I glance at him and notice how tight his jaw is, but I don’t have time to wonder about it further, because that’s when my brother drops a bomb at the dinner table.
“He has a nephew your age. The guy’s super smart, really driven, and when my agent showed him a photo of you, he said he’d be happy to go on a date with you.
His name is Rhett, and I gave him your number.
He’s going to text you this week to set something up.
” My brother smiles so wide, he clearly thinks this is something I’ll be excited about. “Isn’t that great?”
My head is a chaotic mess. I was just considering telling my brother that I married his best friend and have been happier than I’ve been in…
well, maybe ever, and now I have to switch gears to process the fact that he gave some guy my number without asking my permission and is trying to set me up on a date.
It’s like I’m in one of those carnival rides that spins so fast, it pins you to the wall before the floor drops out.
It’s impossible to get my bearings, and I’m not sure if I’m going to puke or pass out.
“You gave my number to a guy named Rhett?”
Completely unaware of the way my mind is spinning out of control, my brother grins. “He’s perfect for you, Mir. I told Mom about him, and even she agreed he sounds like he could be exactly what you need. Plus, he’s in marketing, so he can help you with your business.”
“She doesn’t need help with her business,” Griffin says, his voice low and dangerous. “She’s built it up from nothing all on her own.”
Maddox waves a hand dismissively. “I know, I’m not saying she hasn’t, just that dating someone else who’s business minded and experienced is perfect for her. They can bounce ideas off one another, and he can help her level up her branding.”
I get that he’s trying to be sweet, but my brother is way out of line with all of this.
Way out of line. To give a stranger my phone number and set this all up without talking to me is one thing, but to insinuate that I’m not capable and creative enough to succeed on my own is such bullshit .
I’ve worked so hard to prove myself. I’ve done everything I can to step out of his shadow, and now he wants me to step into some random guy’s because he’s good at marketing?
What the hell?
It makes my brain stall out.
“She doesn’t want you to set her up, do you, Mira?” Griffin presses his leg against mine, and I can practically feel him vibrating with barely restrained fury.
“I…” They’re all staring at me. Maddox with this expectant look on his face, Isla with concern, and Griffin—Griffin’s expression is a potent cocktail of rage, need, and worry. My throat going dry, all I can do is splutter like an idiot. “I…”
“Maybe this isn’t a good time to talk about this,” Isla says, her attention bouncing between me and Griffin. “In fact, maybe bringing this up at all was a mistake.”
Blissfully unaware of the minefield he just threw me into, Maddox scoffs. “It’s not a mistake. He’s perfect for Mira, and come on, let’s be real here. My sister doesn’t have the best track record with choosing men.”
Oh. His words are an arrow, and boy, do they find their target.
“Maddox!” Isla’s eyes flash with anger and a warning, but I barely notice. I’m stuck in an echo chamber where his words bounce around and around, leaving bruises and doubt in their wake.
“Oh, come on, Short-Stack, you know what I mean. Mira’s a hopeless romantic like our mom.
It’s not a bad thing, it just means she’s prone to giving men who don’t deserve it a chance.
I don’t want to see her make the same mistake our mom did and give some flaky asshole chances he doesn’t deserve.
You know she’s too good for every guy she’s ever dated.
” Maddox rolls his eyes like all of this is obvious.
Like he didn’t just inadvertently insult his best friend in the whole world by implying that, yes, my picker is, in fact, completely broken and that I must be incapable of choosing a good man for myself.
“Are you serious right now?” Griffin snarls. “Mira, you can’t possibly believe this shit, right?”
My brother likely doesn’t hear the worry in Griffin’s voice, but I do. I do, and I hate it. But my mind is reeling, my heart is hurting, and I’m so caught off guard by this entire situation that I can’t think straight.
“I…”
“Maddox,” Isla warns, her cheeks red with anger as she glances between me and Griffin. Does she see the rift growing between us right now? Does she have any idea what my brother just did?
“Mira?” Griffin’s voice grows ragged.
“That’s really what you think of me?” I ask my brother. The words waver as they leave my lips. “You think I need you to pick someone for me because I can’t?”
Finally, Maddox scowls, confusion skittering across his face.
“That’s not what I said, Mir. I just think this guy would be perfect for you, that’s all.
You deserve better than the man-children you usually go for.
I don’t want to see you waste any more time on guys who don’t take life as seriously as you do. ”
Griffin’s spine straightens at that, and I want to rage at my brother.
I want to tell him to shut the fuck up. I want to tell him I don’t need him to choose for me, because I’ve chosen for myself, and the man I’ve picked is perfect.
He doesn’t have to be serious all the time.
He doesn’t have to be someone who works in a similar field as me.
He just has to see me and choose me, which Griffin does. Every day.
But how can I say any of that to my brother now that he’s made it crystal clear he’ll never take anyone I choose seriously? Not only that, but he hit Griffin right in a soft spot, and he doesn’t even know.
All Griffin wants is to be taken seriously, but everyone treats him like he’s a joke or some guy stuck in a perpetual state of arrested development. A man-child. The same word my brother used to describe every man I’ve ever dated, apparently.
“You know what? I want to leave. Griffin, can you take me home?”
Isla’s face blanches. She reaches across the table to grab my hand, but I can’t even look her in the eye. “Mira, please don’t go. I’m sorry. Give me a chance to talk to your brother and educate him on what a colossal ass he is.”
“Hey!” Maddox rears back like his fiancée slapped him. “I did nothing wrong. I was just trying to set my sister up with a good guy for once.”
Reaching beneath the dining room table, I find Griffin’s hand and give it a pleading squeeze. “Please, can we go?”
My husband doesn’t meet my eyes when he nods. He doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes as he stands silently and grabs my coat and purse for me while Maddox splutters and stammers about how he doesn’t understand what just happened and how everyone is blowing things out of proportion.
When we’re at the door, I turn to Maddox, my blood somehow simultaneously molten with rage and icing over with fear that my slow reaction time to everything that happened will cost me Griffin.
“You know what, Maddy? I expected better from you. When did you turn into such a judgmental asshat? Yeah, maybe the guys I dated before sucked, but that doesn’t give you the right to judge me.
All it takes is getting it right once. And seeing as though some of your teammates are both free spirits and the most loyal, best men you could ask to watch your back, I’d think you’d realize that being serious doesn’t have to look like wearing a suit to the office and helping me with a career I didn’t ask for help with.
Tell Rhett to lose my number. And butt the fuck out of my love life. ”
My brother’s face slackens as I blast him with the full force of my growing anger and panic.
I’d stay and continue to rip him a new asshole, but my husband is stepping into the elevator, his hazel eyes pinned on the floor and shoulders slumped.
My heart races when Griffin doesn’t look up at me or hold the door.
The metal slides shut, hiding my husband from my view as it descends to the ground floor, taking my heart with it.
Maddox reaches for my wrist, trying to apologize and get me to talk to him, but I pull away, racing for the elevators.
He has no idea how much damage he’s just done.
And how much I did by not finally coming clean.
Table of Contents
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- Page 38 (Reading here)
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