AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Continuing to ignore the huge elephant in the room wasn’t going to help them move forward as a couple. And damn it, they were a couple. He wouldn’t accept anything less. But he swore to her he’d take this at her pace, and he wasn’t going to go back on his word.
“Let me close the window and change my shirt. I’ll be right over.”
He conceded knowing nothing he said would change her mind.
Four days later, he sat in his office staring into space, contemplating something he knew would send their relationship in the wrong direction.
“Knock, knock.”
He looked over to his doorway to see Juliet standing there. She stepped in, closed the door, then set a bag on his desk.
“You called in the order and then never picked it up. Eve was worried something bad happened to you. I assured her you simply forgot, which seems to be the truth.” Juliet slumped in the chair, staring quizzically at him. “The question is why you forgot.”
“I’m not sure how much longer I can be patient with Eve. I know she’s lied to me. To all of us. I know she’s running from someone. I know that someone hurt her. I’ve done everything to make her feel safe and relaxed and that she can trust me, and still nothing. She won’t talk about any of it.”
Juliet was quiet for the longest time. Griffin chose to remain silent as well. He needed someone else’s opinion on the matter and Juliet seemed like the best candidate for it. He only needed to be patient. Something he was seriously losing by the minute.
“It’s not easy to talk about some things, Grif. You might have locked Gerald up because he beat me badly that night, but there are things I’ll never tell you because they’re too hard to talk about.”
And Griffin hated knowing that.
To think that bastard hurt his sister so badly she couldn’t even tell her brothers what it was.
“Eve thinks someone was in her house.”
Juliet sat up straighter.
That got her attention as he knew it would. It also confirmed Eve didn’t tell Juliet everything, despite sharing most things with him. That warmed his heart to know she at least trusted him in some sense.
“Why does she think that?”
“There was a window open. She doesn’t remember opening it. Something little, I know.” Griffin shrugged. “But it frightened her. So I suggested dusting for prints. Easy enough to see if someone was inside that shouldn’t have been.”
Juliet nodded as if she agreed.
“The thought I’d take her prints to match hers on the window to rule those prints out scared her more than the thought someone had opened it.”
Juliet slumped back in her chair.
“Which makes me believe Eve Johnson isn’t her real name. I ran the name. It’s such a common name, way too many results popped up. It would take me days to run through them all.”
“You’re treading dangerous waters here, Grif. If she knew you did that…”
He slammed his hand on the desk. “I want to protect her! How can I do that without all the answers?” His eyes glided to the coffee cup sitting near the edge of his desk. Juliet’s eyes followed his.
“Are you asking if you should dig deeper without her permission?”
“I’m asking how do I take care of the woman I’m falling in love with.”
Juliet leaned forward, reaching out her hands as if to offer comfort and like he’d take it. He didn’t want that from her. He wanted to hear what he knew he shouldn’t do.
“Grif…” She shook her head. “If you don’t want your heart broken even more, you need to do what you need to do. Bottom line, your feelings matter too. But I’m worried about her like you are.” Her eyes slid to the coffee cup. “Why’d you look at that?”
“We strolled around the block this morning enjoying a cup of coffee. She forgot a hair tie at home, and I said I had a spare in my office. She left her cup here.”
Juliet snorted. “Why do you have a spare hair tie in your office?”
Griffin rolled his eyes. “Because I have a sister who leaves shit everywhere she goes.”
