Page 3 of Secrets at Dawn
Griffin rolled his eyes. As much as he wanted to tell his family to stop with all the lovey-dovey crap, if Griffin hadn’t been in such a bad mood, he would have found it sweet.
Maybe he should start dating. At the very least, he should encourage his dad to hire another deputy so Griffin wouldn’t have to come to the meetings anymore.
Work was on hold every time his dad summoned him to one of these meetings. His to-do list didn’t get any shorter when he was here. He had a water heater to fix at the Carlsons’ place, a cabinet to repair at his mother’s inn, and the bakery was in the middle of renovations.
He would have preferred to be home anyway. It was quiet there. He’d fenced the backyard, and he had good neighbors who respected his privacy.
Griffin closed the distance when Iven and Marric were close enough. “You two are supposed to be paying attention to the pack.”
Iven raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think we’re not?”
“Your hand on his ass, for one.” Griffin glared at his dad and then at Marric. “Do I need to separate you two?”
Okay, when did he turn into a parent? A better question was why?
He half expected his dad to have something to say about Griffin’s tone, but he just smirked. “It’ll be over in an hour. You’ll be able to decompress at home. Maybe spend some time in your garden. You seem tense.”
Marric frowned. “Are you stressed?”
Iven answered for him. “He doesn’t like crowds.”
“I thought maybe you just needed to get laid.” Marric shrugged and then leaned into Iven.
He probably did, but casual sex wasn’t that fun anymore. Not in Fortune Falls, where he knew everyone and everyone knewhim. People gossiped. It sucked. “Casual sex in this town isno bueno.”
Everyone in his family was coupling up except for his mother, who had sworn off finding her fated mate a long time ago. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree with him liking his solitude. Griffin wondered if his mom would even accept her fated mate if she found them.
It seemed reasonable that he should at least start dating again. If he did, then he wouldn’t have to watch his brother and Cass fall all over each other, and his dad with his hand on Marric’s ass as they strolled through the crowd as though it were just another Sunday in the park. Kinnison, Marric’s father, was the most reasonable one out of all of them, which wasn’t saying much considering he stood on the platform with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes all canine. He aimed his growl at Danny. Griffin had no idea why.
“So find your mate.” Marric said it as if all Griffin had to do was think really hard.
Griffin rolled his eyes. “I’ll get right on that. Maybe if I googled the word mate, a picture of mine would pop up in the search engine.”
“Or you can break into the wrong house. That’s what I did.” Marric smirked. He had the quickest wit of anyone Griffin had ever met. It was fun to spar with him simply because they could keep up with each other.
“That would earn me a day in lockup and a long lecture from my dad. I’ve already experienced both things more than once and don’t want to do it again.”
Marric turned to Iven. “You put him in jail!”
“Twice. Once for underage drinking and once for—”
“And the other time we won’t talk about ever again. You promised, remember.” Griffin never wanted the story to get intothe wrong hands. The wrong hands being Riley's. His brother would never let him live it down.
Iven chuckled. “I’ll tell you about it later, honey.”
Marric nodded.
Griffin huffed and turned, walking away. He was so over the whole day.
“Wait.” Marric caught up with him. They walked through the crowd in companionable silence. “Would you let me set you up with someone?”
“Man, woman, or non-binary?”
“Which of those people do you like?”
“Anyone with masculine energy.”
“Well, I met someone at Regan’s school who’s cute. He’s the dad of a kid in Regan’s class. I don’t know if you’d like each other, but he’s attractive and single.”
