Page 10 of Counterfeit Connection

“What’s healthier for your brain than a rot day on the couch? I miss those. Babies change that.”

“I’ll rot extra hard for you then. Have I told you lately how much I love you? I miss you, Gilly. I really do.”

“Oh, honey. I miss you too. Will you have some time off soon to come home? Jason and I can even send you a ticket if money’s an issue.”

“You know I hate that.”

“I know it makes you feel like a child. Don’t think that way. Think of it as familial bribery.”

I roar with laughter. “That sounds like something your husband would say.”

“That’s because it was.”

Griffin

After wandering around Central Park for an hour or two, trying to blend in, I make my way back to the perceived comfort of my hotel suite. The view from up here should be comforting, it’s not. Nothing I seem to do today is right. I went into the meeting with an ace up my sleeve, now I’m still left only at a ninety-percent assurance the deal will close. I never leave the table at less than one-hundred-percent. Of course, I’m not in the habit of making public scenes either. There are too many cameras on me at any given moment for that.

I’ve always received unwanted attention. It’s a downside of coming from a well-known family in London. I played into it, of course, as a rebellious teenager. I acted out, drank too much, partied too hard, and garnered my fair share of media coverage, but that’s lessened as I’ve gotten older. I know how to keep it together.

So, what possessed me to bark at another man in the middle of dinner? My subconscious knows the answer. It wants to tell me and I want to listen, which is why I’m still lying here staring at the ceiling an hour after the hottest shower of my life. I wanted to present myself with what I can only articulate as the heat of shame. I’m ashamed of the way I made her feel.

I’m an arse, to say the least, so I pick up my phone and check the time.

It’s barely after midnight here, so my mother is likely already up with a cup of tea in hand, back home in England. She’s always been an early riser. We have that in common.

I dial her up and she answers after only a few rings.

“Hello?” she says sweetly before I hear her raise her voice. “Charlie! You silly cat. Get down from there!”

“Everything all right?” I ask.

She sighs. “Yes. Charlie is just climbing all over the tops of my cabinets again. It’s too early for these shenanigans, innit?” I hear her rustle around a bit before she seems to finally settle. “Oh, Griffy, it’s so late there for you. What are you still doing up?”

“Mum, I fucked up. Like really fucked up.”

“Darling, I wish you wouldn’t use such language.”

“I don’t know how else to convey the gravity of what happened.”

“What’s the matter? Is everything okay physically? I don’t need to bail you out of jail and this is your one phone call?”

“Good God, Mum. Do you think I’d be this panicked if it were only that?”

“What is it then?”

I pull one of the extra pillows into my arms, fisting the edge. “Along with being unable to close the deal Father wanted me to in one meeting, I nearly punched a random stranger in the face over his poor treatment of a woman.”

“You know I’m not an avid lover of violence, but when it comes to defending someone who needs it, I wish you had socked the bastard.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Mum! You’re supposed to scold me, not encourage this.”

“I’m only being honest. Any man who can mistreat a woman is no man and deserves to be put in his place.”

“I agree with you there, but the woman I helped, she didn’t exactly see eye to eye with me on that front.”

“I need more details than this, Griffy.”

I tell her everything about Kaitlyn’s reaction to my aid and how she had such embarrassment and anger in her eyes. “Shewas defensive, like I was questioning her ability to handle a situation herself.”

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