Page 22 of Two Wrongs

“That’s more like it,” I mutter to myself.

“What? You expect me to say perverted shit to you?” he snaps, and I giggle.

“No, I expect you to lose your temper and yell at me,” I answer honestly. “What I mean is, thank you for telling me how you feel, but we both know what happened last night can’t happen again.”

Griffin threads his fingers together behind his head and paces the room. It’s something I’ve seen him do when he’s trying to work out a difficult problem. Also, makes it very hard not to ogle the bulging biceps and triceps the way they are flexed. Not that I try this time.

“Look, I know you’re right. I’m dealing with my own Liam shitstorm at the moment, so maybe it’s temporary insanity, but right now I don’t particularly give a shit how this would make him feel.”

“So, whatever this thing is between us, is that revenge?” I’m a little hurt by this, and surprised that I feel that way.

He smiles, but instead of the wholesome smile of a long friendship he gave Dolores, this smile is a little wicked, and a lot suggestive. “No. This is me rationalizing the fact I want to fuck you more than I care to take my next breath, and if I don’t get inside of you soon, I’m going to lose my mind.”

I swallow, hard. “You’re not going to feel that way whenever you get a chance to talk to Liam. I can’t be another man’s mistake.”

He forces me to turn around and tips up my chin. “Wren, you are not the mistake. Liam’s side piece is the mistake. Losing you will be his mistake. And I’m a big boy. If I mess up my relationship with my son, such as it is, that will be my fault.”

“What are you talking about? You and Liam are so close.” They talk every day, work together, and even socialize together. I’d say Griffin is Liam’s best friend at this point in his life. If that isn’t true, then I know less about Liam than I thought.

“I thought we were too,” Griffin says, but doesn’t elaborate.

Whatever drove a wedge between them, I have a feeling it is much worse than broken marriage vows.

9

Griffin

“I’ll tell you, but first I’m going to need you to put on a bra. I can’t think with your tits playing peekaboo in that white tank top.”

She looks down at herself and realizes I can see most of her nipples through her shirt. She throws her arm over her chest and runs back into her bedroom. A few minutes later she comes back out wearing an old hoodie.

“There she is,” I whisper and touch the side of her face.

She puts her hand over mine. “Stop. You can’t be sweet one minute and mean the next. It’s too big of a mindfuck, and I can’t take any more. Not now.”

Guilt is a bitch. This girl, woman, has been through so much in her twenty-three years. Losing her parents, then her marriage, and all the while I’ve made her feel unwelcome because of my own hang ups about marriage. That and my attraction to her.

I still want her to leave. Need her to, and not just for me. I know I can’t have an honest relationship with my son while I am chasing after her. Even if they get divorced, she’ll always have been his wife.

Besides, there’s so much more out there for her than she can find in this town. Now that they are getting divorced, there’s nothing here for her anymore except for two dead end jobs and Dolores. I still need to convince her to leave, but I have to find a different way to do it. I never enjoyed hurting her, I guess I didn’t realize how much of an effect I had.

Outside there’s a rustling of the plants too focused in one spot to be the wind. I peek out the window and see the fluffy silver head of Dolores pretending to poke around in one of her many flowerbeds. When she sees me looking, she quickly focuses on her task, trying to look like she’s not spying on us.

“You’re right, she’s a horrible spy.” I dig my keys out of my pocket. “Take a drive with me. Let’s go some place we can talk.”

“Not your place,” she blurts out, and then blushes.

“I said some place to talk, not some place I can fuck you. I don’t think either of us can behave if we’re left alone.”

“Okay, let’s go,” she agrees.

I drive us out of town, about an hour beyond places most of the townies frequent. There is a state park deep in the forest with a winding road that goes up into the hills. At the crest there is a wide vista that overlooks the tops of the trees and the rivers beyond. It’s peaceful here, which will hopefully help the conversation we need to have.

After I turn off the car, I take a deep breath. “Charlie came to me yesterday. Some of our customers have had problems with the parts we installed during repairs. I guess Julio dealt with the ones that came in before, so we didn’t catch it earlier. When Charlie got under the hood of a few of the ones brought in, he noticed we didn’t use parts from our usual manufacturer. These were cheaper, and lower quality. He had also spoken to some of our customers who had questions about their bills, and noticed the same parts were charged at the rate of the previous ones we used, except the bills were changed in our system for the lower amounts.”

Her hands start to shake, and her lip quivers. “What are you saying?”

My head drops down. I can’t look at her when I say this. “I think Liam has been stealing from the shop.”

---