Page 70 of Greed
Vooyek came in at that moment with three vodka shots on a tray. “Here we go. I think we all need the liquid courage tonight, yes?”
Along with Vooyek and Misha, Lilo took a shooter.
“Na Zdrowie.” Vooyek chinked his crystal glass shooter against theirs and then downed his drink.
Misha wiggled her eyebrows at Lilo and did the same. The burn of the liquid went straight to Lilo’s heart and spread outward. He was right. It was some liquid courage.
Lilo spent the next twenty minutes pouring her heart out to her friend. She told her about her father, Donnie and their break up, meeting Griffin, the Deadly Seven, the incident in the alley with Greed… all of it! Misha informed her about the never ending harassment their family business was suffering under the hands of a street gang. It had been hard for Misha. She had a yoga business and an apartment in the city, and she wasn’t the kind of girl to get bogged down, but having to cancel her classes to help in the family restaurant had taken a hit on her income. She was considering supplementing it by working in a Russian bar at night time.
A couple of shots, a few tears, and a few laughs later, Lilo found herself at the family kitchen table, dealing herself into the game of Canasta—because it felt good.
What didn’t feel good was the hangover the next morning, and when the eternally chirpy Misha woke her at dawn to drag her onto her balcony to do her yoga sun-salutations, Lilo almost threw her pillow in her face. But at least she was with family, and she’d come away from it all thinking that she wasn’t alone.
* * *
When Lilo arrivedat work the next morning, she was surprised to find Griffin leaning his hip against the partition that separated her desk from Bev’s. She halted at the hallway before entering the main office area so she could watch from a distance. He spoke with Candy and Bev, who in turn, batted their eyelashes at him.
Was Candy leaning into him?
Was she rubbing him on the shoulder?
Lilo smirked at Candy as Griffin flinched awkwardly from her touch and had some stupid satisfaction that she knew Griffin better than Candy. Ridiculous. What did she care? She’d woken up rejuvenated and refreshed—she wasn’t alone. But in her heart, she knew the company she received from a friend just wasn’t the same as a romantic partner.
Candy leaned in some more. Couldn’t that girl take a hint?
Lilo left her hiding spot and strode over.
“Morning,” she said and dumped her bag on her desk.
For a quick second, she had the impression of the box with her father’s ear on there and froze, eyes glued to the now vacant spot.
It was fine. Her father was in prison. Alive.
Her mother was… who the hell knew?
And, she’d been dying to go through the shots from her spy phone to see if anything of value had been captured. Fat chance of doing that with everyone standing around.
“Lilo.” Griffin’s smooth voice was almost next to her ear as he put his steaming hot coffee mug on her desk, right in her line of sight. Curls of white steam rose from the liquid. “This is for you.”
She turned to him, frowning. “You brought me a coffee. Why?”
“I-ah…” He glanced over at Candy and Bev who returned to their desks and shuffled around, collecting themselves before they started work. If he was looking for privacy, he wouldn’t get it. This was the Cardinal Copy. Everything was newsworthy here, especially the gossip.
“It was an excuse to see you,” he admitted.
Her co-workers’ paper shuffling stopped.
Oh, this was getting awkward. Lilo took her coat off and sat. “And why would you need an excuse to see me?”
She started her computer, failing dreadfully at keeping her eyes glued to the screen and not on him. She was still irked at the way he’d ordered her around, and after her situation with Greed, she’d come to realize that she needed time apart from men to sort herself out. The past week had turned her life upside down. It was a life that she’d carefully constructed the way she liked. She’d gotten herself away from her toxic parents, and she’d begun to build herself a career. Somehow, she’d gone from being In-Charge-Lilo to a Give-Me-Orders-Lilo. Donnie had messed with her brain. This past week, her parents had messed with her, and now Griffin was everywhere too. It was all too much. She needed fewer complications in her life, not more.
“I wanted to make sure you were safe,” he said.
It was an odd thing to say if he’d thought she’d gone home last night instead of the rendezvous with the kidnappers. She glanced up at him and wished she hadn’t.
The look in his eyes cut her down. It was hope. Maybe humility. Maybe something else. All she knew was that she got the impression he was truly concerned about her.
“I’m fine, thank you.”
