Building Our Love (Griffin Brothers #2)

by Crystal Perkins

  She was there for me when my internship was going downhill, too. The architect I was working for was one of my idols. But he turned out to be a total asshole. I found that out when he almost backed out of a project for us to go do a building for one of our competitors. It would have made my dad and the company look really bad. The publicity had already been done, and everyone knew this guy was supposed to be doing our job. But he was about to back out. I tried to talk him out of it, but he said that he thought their project would be more prestigious. At the last minute, Adam’s father decided not to use the guy for his project. Yeah, that Adam. The one Chloe left me for. Before she left me devastated, she listened every night and did her best to lift my spirits.

  I can’t wait to have that friendship back. The great sex we’ve been having is just an added bonus. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out how you plan them because when I get to work, I find Kevin sitting at Chloe’s desk.

  “Hi Ryan. Chloe called in sick today, so I’ll be covering for her.”

  “Oh. Um, thanks. I’ll just be in my office until my first meeting.”

  “Those are some beautiful flowers.”

  I forgot that I was holding them. “Yeah.”

  “Would you like me to put them in water for you until you go home later?”

  “That would be great. Thanks again.”

  I hand him the roses and go into my office, where I stay for the rest of the day. I need to work out Plan B, which will have to include visiting Chloe at home tonight. I consider taking her soup, but I know she’s not really sick. She’s just possibly sick of me.

  The day goes by uneventfully. Kevin does a great job, but he’s no Chloe. And not just because I’m not interested in bending him over my desk. She knows me and it makes work so much easier and fun. I grab the flowers and head to her place. When I get to my parents’ house, I wave at my mom, who looks at me curiously as she drives out while I’m driving in.

  I walk up to her door and ring the bell. Chloe answers in jean shorts and a tee shirt. “What are you doing here, Ryan?” Her eyes are red and she doesn’t look happy to see me.

  “I brought you flowers and I was hoping we could talk. I also wanted to make sure you were okay since you called in today.”

  “So, now you can get me flowers on your own but before you had me call and order some for another woman for you? And since when did you care about whether or not I’m okay?” Her eyes are flashing now.

  “Well, yeah. I couldn’t have you order your own flowers, could I?” My attempt at humor fails as I see her ball her hands into fists. “And I-I care. Besides, like I said, I want to talk to you.”

  “I don’t know if that’s code for sex, but I can’t Ryan. I just can’t be your whore anymore.” Tears are falling from her eyes now. Shit, I’m such a bastard. “I know I said that I would, and I meant it then, but yesterday…yesterday was just too hard. I know you’ve been dating other women while sleeping with me, but it’s not okay and I won’t pretend it is anymore. I can’t sit here and wait to see if you want me after you take another woman out. And then I have to wonder if you really want to be with her instead, but came to me because that’s what we agreed on.”

  Does she really think that? That I want to be with another woman when I’m with her? I’ve used other women as substitutes for Chloe, but I can’t even fathom wanting someone else whether I’m with her or not. It’s always been just her. And I haven’t been taking other women out, even though I could. I tried a couple times and they weren’t her, so I was beyond bored every time. “Chloe, sweetheart.” I start to move towards her to comfort and reassure her, but she puts up a hand to stop me.

  “Please just go, Ryan. I don’t want this to affect our work relationship, and I’ll remain professional and send your girlfriend her flowers for you. But that’s all I can handle. I promised your mom that I’ll be at the party on Saturday, and I’m begging you to limit the PDA. I know you don’t owe me that or really anything, but can you please do that for me?”

  “You don’t have to beg me. I won’t engage in any PDA with Cel at the party. I promise.” I promise because I’m not bringing Cel, but I’m not going to tell Chloe that right now. Does Chloe really think Cel is my girlfriend? Damn it, I’m such a fucked-up idiot.

  “Thanks for that. And for the flowers.” She reaches out to take them and then closes the door in my face.

  I went too far, and now I need to figure out how to fix this. And I need to talk to my brothers. I pull out my phone and dial Owen. “Hey, Owe. Are you still hosting poker night tomorrow at your place?”

  “Yeah, but I thought you couldn’t make it.”

  “My schedule just became open, and I need to talk to you guys.”

  “About Chloe?”

  “Yeah, man. About Chloe.”

  “We have your back, Ry. I’ll see you at 7.”

  “I know, thanks. See you tomorrow.”

  * * *

  Chloe

  It was a rough day today. Ryan and I did our best to interact as little as possible. I need to get used to the fact that this is the way it’s going to be. Ryan has a girlfriend—he didn’t correct me when I called her that—and so there’s no future for us other than work. I love this job, though. Even just the assistant part is challenging, but doing the interiors for the Seattle building has been amazing. I just need to focus on work and not on the man I love. Because that’s going to be easy to do.

  I pull up to Erika’s place. I’m excited to go inside, but scared, too. In three years, I’ve never told anyone about the agreement I made. I didn’t have anyone that I could trust enough with my secret. But, I feel like I can trust these women. I don’t know why, since I just met them yesterday, except for the fact that I felt completely at ease with them immediately. I’ve only ever felt that way before with the Griffin family. God knows that I can’t tell them what I did. Even though I really want to, and I know it would fix my broken relationship with them, I just can’t.

  I get out of my car and head up the walk to ring the doorbell. I’m surprised when a guy answers the door. I thought this was a girls’ night. “Hi, I’m Sean, Erika’s husband. You must be Chloe. I wanted to meet you before I headed out to my poker game. I talk to your dad sometimes when he calls for Scott. He’s a great guy.”

  “Yeah, he is. You work for Scott, right?” He nods. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

  “The girls are all in the family room, which is straight back. Have fun!” He heads out with a wave. I walk back to the family room to find the girls spread out over several couches with every kind of snack imaginable set out on the tables. The house is pretty big, but still really cozy.

  “Hi Chloe!” Erika calls out when she sees me. Everyone else says their hellos, too. Which to them means that they come over and hug me. I don’t think that I have ever been hugged by other girls my age before. It’s nice.

  “Your house is beautiful, Erika.”

  “Thanks. We were in an apartment, but since Sean started working for Scott, we can afford a lot more things, including this house.”

  “Scott has always been really generous, so I’m not surprised that he would pay Sean a good salary.”

  “Yeah. It’s more than good. He also paid for our wedding in Paris and is paying for Sam’s wedding at Disney World in a couple of months.”

  “Yep. That sounds like him.”

  “You knew him when he was in high school, didn’t you?” Yasmin asks with excitement in her eyes. I nod, and she continues. “Was he really as nerdy and unpopular as he claims that he was?”

  I have to laugh. “Oh, yeah, he was. I was his only friend outside of the Griffin family. My sister Addy was friendly to him, too, but she was already in college when we met him. I mean he was always cute, but he only wanted to talk computers and video games.”

  “Addy is the reason John stays in Chicago, right? Oh, and don’t think I missed you calling Scott cute as a teen. Did you want to date him?” She asks me, but doesn’t look m
ad.

  “Yes, Addy and her husband had a hard time with the recession and are just now getting back on their feet. My dad helps watch their kids, and also covers some of their bills when they need to. The Griffins offered to help them out, but Addy’s husband is too proud to take money from someone outside of his family. So my dad does what he can.” I turn to Yasmin and smile as I continue. “As for dating Scott, there’s only ever been one Griffin boy for me. Although I did go to Scott’s senior prom with him so that he’d have a date. Ryan asked me, and I was happy to do that for him.”

  “Thanks, Chloe. I mean it. I appreciate you helping my guy out. Now, let’s have some margaritas and watch a movie.

  Chapter 6

  Chloe

  I may have had one too many of those margaritas. I’m not totally drunk, but I’m feeling buzzed and now I have the urge to talk. I want to tell these women, who I don’t even know, about the agreement I made to protect my dad and the Griffins. The one that made me give up the man I love. Maybe I need to do it. For my own sanity and also because I need advice on how to deal with Ryan. The alcohol is what’s fueling it, but I also know it’s been killing me not to be able to tell someone. And I need help. Help figuring out what to do about Ryan and what’s gone on with us. Then and now.

  “I’m ready to talk,” I tell them and feel four pair of eyes look at me as I weave a little before settling on a couch. “I feel like I need to give you guys the background on me and Ryan so you’ll know how things were. Yasmin, you may know some of this from Scott, but I think it will be best if everyone else knows.” She nods and everyone else looks at me eagerly, waiting to hear my love story.

  “My dad started working for the Griffins when I was 11. Gary Griffin had just made some great real estate deals and his son-in-law, Dave, had invested a large amount of money in the company a few years before, but they had stayed in their old house. Then, they decided that they wanted to have more space for the boys. They could afford a mansion and staff. My family moved into a big apartment that was over their 6 car garage. They never treated us as just staff. I was allowed to play on the boys’ playground and swim in their pool. I was invited to the birthday parties, and they threw my parties for me. Ryan is three years older than me, Scott is one year older, Owen is my age, and Luke is a year and a half younger. We were all always close, with the younger boys acting as my protectors from the bullies at school, but Ryan and I were the closest. He’s the one I would come home and cry to after his brothers saved me. He would tell me about junior high and the girls he liked. At that time, I encouraged him to ask other girls out. At 11, I didn’t think about him as the hot boy he was.

  When I turned 13, that all changed. I realized that he was hotter than the boy band singers and movie stars my friends were swooning over. He was 16 and had started working construction jobs over the summer so he could learn that part of building. He wanted to be an architect, and it was important to him to know all about the building process. Those jobs gave him the muscles you all see now. I couldn’t help but notice him, but I still thought he only saw me as the little girl he comforted when she cried. He dated all different girls but never had a steady girlfriend.

  “The day of my 14th birthday, we were having a family dinner with the Griffins to celebrate. My party was the next day. I got home after school, excited to wear my new dress. I saw Ryan coming out of my apartment as I walked across the courtyard. He was smiling and said that he would see me tonight. He kissed me on the forehead and walked into his house. When I got inside of my apartment, my mom and dad were waiting for me. They told me that Ryan had a surprise for me that night,and they had given their permission. I didn’t know what it could be, but I was excited that Ry would do something that needed permission. I thought maybe he was going to take me to the all ages dance club that I had been hearing about. All of the cool girls at school went there.

  “We had dinner, and everything was great. I got a bunch of great presents from my parents and all of the Griffins. Except for Ryan. There was no present from him. Plus, he hadn’t said much to me throughout the dinner and cake. I felt stupid for thinking that he wanted to take me out somewhere. After dinner, as we were saying our goodbyes, Ryan came up to me and asked me to meet him in their treehouse in five minutes. Of course, I agreed. Those were the longest five minutes of my life.

  “When I climbed into the treehouse, it was covered in twinkling lights. A plush blanket was on the floor with a plate of my favorite macarons and a small present in the middle. Ryan was leaning against the far wall looking a little shy. Then, he stepped towards me and took my hand, leading me to sit on the blanket. He explained that he liked me. A lot. And he wanted to be my boyfriend. He didn’t know if I wanted that too, but he had asked for my parents’ permission, and they had given it to him. He promised that he would be respectful to me and never push me to do anything I wasn’t ready for. I told him that I did want to be his girlfriend, and he sighed in relief. Then he handed me my present to open. It was a small butterfly necklace from Van Cleef and Arpels. I love butterflies and I had been wanting one of the necklaces from there, but they were too expensive to ask my parents for. He told me that he bought it with his own money from his construction work and hours that he put in at his dad’s company. I was so happy when he clasped it around my neck and asked me if he could kiss me. I had my first kiss that night in that treehouse, and it was magical.” I smile as I remember that. Yasmin and Erika have tears in their eyes when I look over at them.

  “He was my date for the party the next day. He danced every slow dance with me and held my hand when we weren’t dancing. When I got back to school on Monday, all of the cool girls wanted to talk to me all of a sudden. I was an 8th grader dating the high school quarterback, so now I was cool. ButI didn’t want to hang out with them. They had tried to befriend me once before, to get close to Scott and Owen, but I wasn’t interested then either.

  “Ryan and I dated for five years. I was his date for all of his school dances, and he was mine. Even after he was in college, he went to them all with me. He kept his promise about being respectful and never pressuring me. We made out a lot and eventually did other things, but we had never done the actual act. Then one night while he was a senior in college, and I was a freshman, it just felt like the right time. I had never been happier in my life, and I couldn’t imagine ever wanting another man. So we made love. It was awkward since it was the first time for both of us, but it was also beautiful and I felt so loved. I didn’t think life could get any better, and I was right. The next day, my life fell apart.”

  I stop to take a big drink of my margarita before I tell them what I did. “You have to understand that some of the old money families weren’t really happy with the success that Gary Griffin was having. He worked really hard to build up his company and had a great reputation. The person who despised him the most was Andrew Richards. He had lost a bunch of contracts to Gary because he wasn’t willing to work hard like Gary did. His son, Adam, was in my year at school and had been trying to get me to date him all through high school and into college. He knew that I was with Ryan but didn’t care, and told me over and over again that I should break up with him. Adam said that he would be a better match for me. He really upped the pressure when his family started getting bad press. Everyone was saying that they couldn’t relate to the masses. They needed someone who wasn’t rich but was still respectable to be attached to their family. They decided that the person they were looking for was me.

  “I had just left my last class of the day and was heading to my car when Andrew and Adam approached me. They told me they needed to talk to me. I told them I wasn’t interested in anything that they had to say to me. They told me that if I wanted to protect the Griffin family and my father, I would talk to them. I didn’t know what they could possibly mean by that, but I could tell they were serious. I went with them into one of the empty offices at the university that Andrew had arranged to use. Their lawyer and Adam’s mother were waiting
for us in there.

  “They told me that they needed me to date Adam to help the family’s reputation. I told them that there was no way that I would do that and got up to leave. Then, they dropped the bombshells on me. There were three of them. If it had been just one, I may have said no. Or I may have still agreed to everything. I can’t say for sure.” I stop to compose myself and get ready to tell them the rest.

  “First, they showed me a picture of one of their almost finished buildings, which had a mural of a big bad wolf chasing a bunch of little red riding hoods painted on the side of it. I knew immediately that it was Owen’s work. They said they would have Owen arrested. He’d been arrested before but had been tried as a juvenile. He was now 18 and would be charged as an adult. He had already started doing his mainstream art for the Griffin buildings, so it would hurt the company reputation, as well as the consequences that Owen would face.”

  “Those bastards. I need to find them and cut off their balls.” I look at Candi and can fully believe that she would do it.

  “Yes, they are bastards,” I agree and continue. “Then, they took out some pictures of my dad and Maggie. They were from the private party at the Griffin house after my mom’s funeral. Maggie was comforting my dad and I know Gary was there as well. But he was cropped out of the pictures. Andrew and Adam said they would release these and make it look like Maggie and my dad were having an affair. Since it was a private party, they likely had the only set of photos. Gary would come out and say it wasn’t true, but people would believe that he was just trying to hold onto his wife and protect his image. I couldn’t take a chance on people believing it and vilifying my dad, who was still grieving, as well as the woman who I thought of as a second mother.”