Page 18 of Greed
Griffin’s sister ruffled his hair again, and he scowled. “Stop touching me.”
Liza whacked him over the top of his head with her palm. “What do you mean?”
He ducked and avoided another tap. “You know what I mean.”
“Like this?” Liza slapped his stomach with the back of her hand. “Or like this?” She poked him on the chest. “Or like this?” She nabbed his glasses from his face and put them on her own.
The skin around Griffin’s lips went white. His nostrils flared. His eyebrows lowered. Lilo could almost see the red blanket of fury drop behind his eyes.
“Do it one more time,” he ground out. “I dare you.”
Liza laughed, caught Lilo’s eyes, and pointed back at her brother with the glasses she removed from her face. “His Royal Tight-Assiness needs reminders to loosen up, otherwise he’ll never get to use that butt plug I bought him for his birthday.”
Mortification plastered Griffin’s features. “I threw that out the moment I got home.”
“Ah, you’re no fun. He’s no fun. See? Needs reminders.” The tone in Liza’s voice hinted at more than simple sisterly smack talk. Her words almost felt like a message to Lilo.Look after my brother.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Lilo grinned and looked back at a chagrinned Griffin, now smoothing his hair into pristine order. She took a moment to appreciate his face without the spectacles. Some people looked strange without their glasses, but not Griffin. He looked fierce. Majestic beast, fierce. A wildness came over him that took Lilo completely unprepared, and she loved it.
He took the frames back from Liza and put them on.
“Fucking fabulous,” Liza said, clapping her hands. “Let’s go.”
She stepped back and led them through the red door, shutting it and locking it once they were inside.
They went through a stone cold corridor to an open-plan chaotic detective’s area. It wasn’t like Lilo’s office, where people sat quietly at their desks—except for Candy who usually listened to the radio streaming on her computer. The people here were shouting at phones, throwing paper balls at each other, and playing video games on their cells. Lilo couldn’t believe how many of them were sitting there wasting time when a crowd waited in the reception room. Maybe detectives didn’t deal with that sort of thing… or maybe the CCPD had given up.
Liza walked ahead of Lilo and Griffin. Someone wolf-whistled from the bullpen of detectives and Lilo wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or Liza, or both, but Liza kept walking, unflinching. Lilo emulated her. Griffin didn’t. He paused and turned to survey the office, trying to identify the offender. The bottled fury he’d contained at his sister’s friendly ribbing resurfaced. His fists opened and clenched.
A tall detective with a mustache stood up at his desk a few feet away and gave Griffin a derogatory once-over. “You got something to say, Poindexter?”
Laughter broke out among the detective’s overweight, unfit and saggy eyed friends.
Realizing she wasn’t being followed, Liza pivoted and collected Griffin.
“Not worth it, brother. They’re misogynistic ass-wipes with more blood in their pin-dicks than brains.”
“That’s not what you said last night,” the mustached detective said, to the ribald glee of his buddies.
Griffin bared his teeth, and they flinched.
Liza took a deep breath and put her palm on her brother’s chest. “I got this.”
She calmly walked over to the man seated at his desk. Lilo thought she was going to punch him in the eye, or something—that’s what Lilo wanted to do—but Liza slowly put her hands on the man’s armrest and leaned forward until her lips were next to his ear. She whispered words only they could hear.
The detective’s face went from cocky, to red, to pale and then finally finished the rainbow with a sickly green. When Liza pushed off his chair and sauntered back, the man returned to his computer, not another word said. His friends tried to speak with him, but he brushed them off.
Lilo hurried after Griffin and Liza as they continued along the corridor.
“What did you say?” Lilo asked, catching up.
Liza smirked and then shot a meaningful glance at her brother. “I threatened to reveal who he really lusted after.”
“Griffin?” Lilo gasped. “How did you know?”
“Um.” Liza took a moment to consider. “Maybe I’ve seen him looking at dude-on-dude-porn on his phone when he thought no one was looking, so took a wild guess. C’mon. This way.”
Maybe?
