Page 39 of Two Wrongs

He takes forever to get situated. The entire time he fidgets with the papers, I clutch the arms of the chair. Thankfully, Griffin hasn’t given up being an asshole completely. “For fuck’s sake, will you tell her what you found already?”

This only serves to fluster the bank manager even more. I try a more gentle approach. “Greg, Mr. Johnson, the sooner I know what I’m dealing with, the sooner I can do something about it. I know this is unpleasant.” I have to swallow the urge to yell at him as well. Being considerate of the feelings of others is second nature to me, and I’m getting fucking sick of it.

My words have the desired effect though, and he composes himself. He extends his hand with the report. “I can’t read it,” I say, panicking. “The paper won’t stop shaking.” The pain in my chest is sudden, and once again I find it hard to breathe.

Griffin takes the papers from me. “The paper isn’t shaking. You are.” He flips through the two page report, and I watch it start to crumple in his hand.

“There’s three lines of credit.” He turns his pissed off gaze toward Greg. “All opened at this bank. He took out a total of ten thousand dollars and has made only sporadic payments.”

Greg cringes. “Actually, several hundred of that amount is from late fees and interest.”

“How does she go about getting rid of the negative reports and this debt?” Griff asks the question I need to know, but am too afraid to ask.

Greg looks down at the table, afraid to meet Griffin’s eyes. “She’ll have to file a police report for fraud, and then we’ll go through the steps to clear her credit report of the charges.”

I stand up, not wanting to face this yet. Being cheated on was bad, but in a way I don’t think Liam was trying to hurt me. Sure, being ignored for six months while he ran around with another woman behind my back didn’t feel good, but he did try to keep me from finding out. This feels worse. Taking out money in my name, and not paying it back was always going to have a negative impact on my life.

My car is back at the insurance office, but that doesn’t matter right now. I rush through the bank, aware Griffin is yelling after me. Every eye in the bank turns my way, and I know this will get added to what they’re already whispering about me all over town. Right now I don’t care. I can’t listen to Griffin try and talk me out of doing what I have to do. Liam has taken away too much. I can’t let him take the dream of a future from me too.

“Wren,” he shouts outside of the bank.

My brain must have vacated my body, and I attempt to run in my pencil skirt and heels.

He could easily chase me down, but we’re on the main road through town, and there’s a few people out who would no doubt be alarmed at a grown man chasing down a woman and manhandling her into his vehicle.

I didn’t factor in the fact that Griffin Hale doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks of him. His footsteps thunder on the concrete behind me. I risk a look back, and one of my heels gets stuck in the seam of the sidewalk. It’s enough to throw off my balance. I have just enough time to tuck my arms around my head, and brace myself.

Before I hit the ground his arms catch my middle, and I’m tossed over his shoulder. I hear the crack of his hand hitting my bottom before I feel the sting. Even though he’s just punished me in broad daylight, our previous interactions of this nature have conditioned me for pleasure, and I start to squirm, but not to get put down.

He strides back to his truck and drops me into the passenger seat. Reaching across me, he buckles my seatbelt in. “We are going to deal with you running from me later, but first we’ve got some things to sort out.”

* * *

“This isn’tthe way to the office,” I say when he passes the turn.

Griffin squeezes the steering wheel and slowly exhales. “We’re not going back to your car. If we do, you’ll run off. I told you, we need to talk.”

After a couple of minutes, he pulls into his driveway. I start to open my door, and he growls. “Will you just fucking sit tight and wait for me to get a god damn door? I know my son forgot everything I taught him about how to treat a lady, but I sure as hell didn’t.”

I raise one eyebrow. Surely he hears himself. He must, right? “Where in the gentlemen’s guides does it say you’re supposed to yell at a lady?”

“Page eight, smart ass, just above where it says if your woman is acting like a brat you’re supposed to take her over your knee and redden her ass,” he says back without missing a beat.

I’ll give the man one thing, he gives good banter. Then all of his words play in my head. “Your woman?”

His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat, but he doesn’t answer. He just jumps out and storms around the front of his truck. The door groans as he opens it. It might be rust and metal, but I think even inanimate objects can feel when he’s annoyed.

Griffin paces in the path in front of the house. I can feel his frustration crackling in the air from where I stand by his truck. I don’t know if it’s what I said or the whole situation with Liam, but there’s a war raging inside of him. One that seems to come to a conclusion as he stops pacing and focuses on me with a sort of laser precision.

Griffin’s long legs eat up the space between us. One hand slips into my hair while the other presses into the window next to my head. He pulls my hair, forcing me to look up at him. “It’s not forever. We can never be forever, but for now you’re mine.”

“For now,” I agree.

16

Griffin

I push away from Wren before I take her on the front lawn of my house. I keep telling myself we can’t be together, then some other truth wiggles up to the surface about what my son has done, and I care less and less how Liam might feel about it. Maybe that makes me a shitty father, but he’s not being a great son either.

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