I was a teenager when I lost my mother, and dating in a house filled with men and boys was uncomfortable. Those who were brave enough to try were hounded until they fled. It takes a strong man to put up with the Grimlock family. I thought I’d found him, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“Where is your mind?” Aidan asked.
When I glanced up, I found him studying me. “Nothing,” I said, turning back to the menu. “I was just thinking about how different you and Jerry were back in the day. It’s weird to think of the two of you being together.”
“I thought you were okay with it?”
“I am.”
“That’s not what you were thinking about,” Aidan said after a moment. “Well, it might have started out that way. That’s not where it ended, though.”
He knows me so well it’s frightening sometimes. “I was just thinking about … Graham. Do you think he’ll be happy in the Void?”
“You weren’t thinking about Graham,” Aidan said. “You were thinking about Griffin.”
I stilled. Griffin Taylor was a Detroit police detective I’d crossed paths with several weeks before. I’d been initially attracted to him, his dark hair and eyes calling to me. Of course, when you’re in a supernatural line of work like I am, it’s hard to forge a lasting relationship. Griffin eventually stumbled over the truth. We’d fallen into bed, and then he’d fallen into his own void as he took a step back to think. After almost dying together, he’d decided he didn’t care what I did for a living and that he wanted to be with me.
We’d spent one blissful week together, and then he’d been called away on an undercover assignment. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks, although we did share sporadic texts. He couldn’t give me the details of his case, and I didn’t feel comfortable texting the details of my day. We were at a crossroads.
“I was not thinking about Griffin,” I lied.
“Is he still undercover?”
I scowled. “Yes.”
“Has he called you?”
“He’s texted a few times.” I averted my gaze and scanned the restaurant. “Where do you think the waitress is?”
“He’s got a job to do, Aisling,” Aidan said. “I’m sure he doesn’t like being away anymore than you like him being away.”
“Since when are you on his side?” I asked. “You were still calling him Detective Dinglefritz three weeks ago.”
“I don’t like anyone who defiles my sister,” he replied.
“Defiles?”
“You know what I mean,” Aidan said. “The walls in that townhouse are thin. I’ve heard the … defiling.”
“You know that means I hear you and Jerry, too, right?”
Aidan smirked. “Yes, but that’s a lot more fun for me.”
I rubbed my cheek. “I’m a little worried,” I admitted.
“What are you worried about?”
“He hasn’t called in two weeks.”
“He might not be able to,” Aidan said. “Didn’t you say the case popped up out of nowhere and that it was serious?”
I nodded.
“Well, he might be in real danger if he does try to call you,” Aidan said. “Have you ever thought about that?”
Only every night while trying to fall asleep. “Why do you think I haven’t been pitching a fit?” I was known for being able to freak out with the best of them.
“So, instead of pitching a fit and getting it out of your system, you’ve decided to be pouty and morose?”
“I’m not pouty.”
“Oh, you’re so pouty it’s not even funny,” Aidan said. “I’ve put up with it because I know you’re depressed, but it’s time to snap out of it. You’ve only been dating the guy a few weeks – and you haven’t even seen him two of those weeks.”
“Wow, way to make me feel better,” I grumbled.
“No one needs the sarcasm,” Aidan chided. “I’m trying to help.”
“Well, you’re doing a really crappy job of it,” I said. “You don’t even like Griffin.”
“I don’t dislike him,” Aidan corrected. “I just want to make sure he’s good enough for my baby sister.”
“I’m not your baby sister,” I pointed out. “We’re the same age.”
“I’m older, and wiser.”
“You’re like three minutes older than me.”
“I’m a lot wiser, though.” Aidan’s grin was charming, and hard to argue with.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Griffin has gone out of his way to understand my job. I owe him the same, don’t I?”
“You do,” Aidan agreed. “That doesn’t mean you can’t feel sorry for yourself.”
“I don’t feel sorry for myself.”
“Then what do you feel?” Aidan asked. “Sometimes it’s like I know you better than I know myself. Other times, like now, I’m not sure what’s going through your head. You’re hard to read. I think it’s because you spent so much time hiding what you were doing from a bunch of prying eyes and ears when you were growing up.”
“I’m not really feeling anything.”
“Well, when you want to talk, I’m here,” he said. “I do wish that waitress would show up, though. I’m starving.”
Sensing that the conversational crisis was over, I fixed my gaze on the spot where Aidan’s was suddenly locked. I expected to see a waitress, one Aidan would flirt with shamelessly. Instead, the figure sitting across the restaurant was a familiar one.
His hair was a little longer, but his handsome face and strong jaw was the same. He was dressed down in simple jeans and a button-down shirt, but his smile was warm and amiable as he chatted up the woman sitting next to him at the table.
She was beautiful. Her hair was long and brown, her face angular and pleasing. She seemed enraptured by whatever story Griffin was telling, and when he placed his hand over hers she gripped it warmly.
My heart flopped, and my face started to burn as I took in the scene. I swallowed hard.
“Well, I guess his job isn’t all that was keeping him away,” Aidan said, his tone grim. “I’m going to kill him. Check the list. See if his name is on it.”
I couldn’t find words, and my heart was hammering so hard all I could hear was blood rushing through my ears. I stumbled to my feet, trying to find focus. I had to get out of here.
In my efforts to escape, I stumbled into a waitress as she attempted to deliver food at the table next to us. I mumbled an apology, and the waitress managed to hold onto the tray – but barely. “Excuse me!”
I felt Aidan’s hand on my arm, but I jerked away. “I have to get out of here.”
“I’ll go with you,” Aidan said. “Just hold on a second. I want to have a talk with Detective Dinglefritz.”
“I have to go.” I moved away from Aidan, glancing up momentarily to make sure I didn’t inadvertently run into anyone else. When I did, my eyes met Griffin’s across the restaurant expanse. His face drained of color when he saw me.
Griffin jumped to his feet and pointed his muscular body in my direction while I struggled to keep my head from flying off my shoulders. Aidan must have read the look on my face, because he stepped between us and cut off Griffin’s angle of approach.
“Go outside,” Aidan ordered.
“Aisling.” Griffin’s face was unreadable.
“Go,” Aidan prodded.
“I was going to call you,” Griffin said. “I just wrapped my case this morning.”
“Don’t bother, detective,” Aidan snapped. “Don’t bother ever calling her again.”
Griffin’s face registered confusion until he glanced over his shoulder. The woman he’d been dining with appeared concerned, but she wisely remained silent. I’d hate to have to rip her hair out in such a public setting.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
Aidan pushed me. “Go outside,” he repeated. “I’ll handle this.”
“Aisling, don’t go,” Griffin said.
Aidan grabbed his shirt roughly, stopping him in his tracks as he tried to follow
me. “Stay away from my sister,” he warned. “You just … stay away from her.”
Three
“Oh, come on, Bug. Don’t hide in there all night.”
Aidan had dropped me at home after our disastrous aborted lunch, promising to finish the final two names on the list himself. In my head, I knew I should suck it up and finish the list with him. It was my responsibility, too. In my heart, I just didn’t have the energy.
Because it was the middle of the afternoon, the townhouse was empty. I handled my disappointment the best way I knew how: I crawled into bed and slept the afternoon away. Several hours later, I heard the front door open. I knew Jerry was home, but I couldn’t face him, so I remained hidden.
I don’t know when, but sometime during the afternoon Jerry had been made aware of what happened. He’d been periodically stopping at my bedroom door ever since to check on me. It was starting to get annoying. “I don’t want to come out.”
“If you don’t come out, I’m going to come in,” Jerry warned.
“I locked the door.”
“I’ll kick it in.”
I snorted. Jerry was fit. He worked out every day, and now that he was dating Aidan he wasn’t doing it just to cruise guys on the weight benches. But he still couldn’t kick in a door. Even if he could, the mess would drive him crazy. “You will not.”
“I’ll have Aidan do it when he gets here,” Jerry said.
“Are you going to make him pick up the mess when he’s done?”
“Of course.”
I sighed. “I’m really not in the mood, Jerry.”
“Come on, Bug,” he prodded. “I need to see you. I keep picturing you doing horrible things in there.”
“I would never hurt myself,” I scoffed.
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Jerry said. “I can’t find the scissors, though. You’re not cutting your hair, are you? Your face isn’t the right shape for short hair.”
I groaned and buried my face in a pillow. “Go away.”
“No.”
“Jerry, I don’t want to talk,” I said. “I just want to go to sleep and pretend this day never happened.”
“You’ve been sleeping all day, Bug.” He’d given me the nickname when we were kids, a fierce fight I’d had with my brothers over the fate of ants on a sidewalk giving him the inspiration. It had stuck even though I couldn’t stand it. “Come on. I have a whole stack of The Golden Girls Blu-rays waiting for you.”
Jerry abhors clichés, for the most part. He still insists The Golden Girls is the best show ever made – and he’s not averse to paisley. Go figure. I couldn’t argue with him on this front, though. The Golden Girls was downright hilarious. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Aidan is bringing pizza.”
My stomach growled at the mention of food. I hadn’t eaten since Jerry had shoved a muffin in my hand on my way out the door this morning. He owns a bakery in downtown Royal Oak, and he’s always experimenting at home. This morning’s pomegranate-nut blend had been good – but it wasn’t enough to sustain me for the whole day. “Where did you order it from?”
“Your favorite,” Jerry cajoled. “Papa John’s.”
Dang. I did like that butter sauce they give you for crust dunking. I tossed the covers off and climbed out of bed, resignedly opening the door and finding Jerry’s concerned face waiting for me.
“Oh, you poor thing.” Jerry pulled me in for a tight hug, his tall body swallowing my more diminutive one as he tried to smother the sadness out of me. “I hope he gets a horrible disease and his thing falls off.”
I hoped that, too. “It’s fine, Jerry,” I said, patting his back. “It’s not like we were dating all that long.”
Jerry pulled away, brushing my flyaway hair out of my face so he could study me. “It’s not fine. He’s a very bad man.”
“It’s not like we’d ever promised to be monogamous,” I pointed out, pushing past him and padding into the living room. I’d changed into my favorite fuzzy pajama pants and oversized T-shirt when I got home. Since it was just going to be the three of us tonight, I saw no sense in cleaning myself up. “He has a right to see whoever he wants.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” Jerry clucked again. “You’re too sad to be mad.” He held his hand to my forehead. “You’re not sick, are you?”
I jerked my head away. “I’m not sick.”
“Hey, when Troy Dancy cheated on you in high school you didn’t shed one tear,” Jerry said. “Instead you vandalized his car and set his letterman’s jacket on fire.”
“He shouldn’t have left it in an unlocked car,” I said. “And I haven’t been crying.”
Jerry ran his finger over my cheek. “Your eyes are red and puffy.”
“Maybe I was smoking pot?”
“If you had pot we’d be doing that right now instead of this,” Jerry said. He gestured to the couch. “Come and sit with me, Bug. We’ll do some mud masks tonight. You’ll feel better in no time.”
I pursed my lips. Jerry had his own recipe for masks, and my face felt like satin when he was done. “I’d rather eat the pizza.”
“You can’t get fat now,” Jerry said. “You need to look hot so you can snag another man. I’ll put a nice deep conditioner on your hair, too.”
“You’re going to fix my problems with deep conditioner?”
Jerry smiled. “Yes. I’m going to wash that man right out of your hair.”
I couldn’t help but smile. There was a reason he was my best friend. We settled on the couch, Jerry pulling me tight as he started in on some second-season episodes. “I think you should start taking on Blanche’s approach to life,” he said after a few minutes.
“You want me to sleep with everyone who pays me a compliment?”
“Yes,” Jerry said. “I’ll buy some extra condoms tomorrow.”
I snorted. “I think I’m done with men.”
Jerry snuggled closer. “You can’t be done with men. You’re too sarcastic to be a lesbian. None of them would ever put up with you.”
Thankfully, the sound of the front door opening grabbed our attention before I could come back with what I’m sure would have been a biting retort. Aidan dropped his keys on the kitchen table as he spread out the pizza boxes. He looked concerned when he finally braved a look in my direction. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, quickly averting my gaze. “We’re watching The Golden Girls. What could possibly be wrong?”
“Ais … .”
“She’s fine,” Jerry said, cutting him off. “We’re going to eat, and then I’m going to make a special mask to pull the puffiness from her face. Then I’m going to deep condition her hair.”
“Yeah, that will makes things better,” Aidan grumbled. “Wait … are you saying you’re going to wash that man right out of her hair?”
Jerry’s face brightened. “That’s exactly what I said.”
“You two are freaky,” I muttered.
Aidan brought one of the pizza boxes to the couch and sat down on the other side of me. “Eat something,” he ordered. “You look dead on your feet.”
“Have you checked your list? I might be on it.”
Aidan’s face was grave. “That’s not funny.”
“Well, I’ll put on my clown wig and do a little dance later,” I said. “That will be funny.”
Aidan ran his hand down the back of my head. “I’m still willing to kill him. You know that, right? I’m sure we can find a way to hide his body.”
I waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Well, don’t dismiss the idea outright,” Aidan said. “If the mask and conditioner don’t make you feel better, I’m sure property destruction or murder will.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box.
Aidan was just about to grab his own slice when there was a knock on the door. “Are you expecting anyone?”
Jerry shook his head. Aida
n disappeared. I heard him vigorously swear once he opened the door. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Is she here?”
I froze when I heard the voice. Griffin.
“No, she’s not,” Aidan said. “I told you at the restaurant that I didn’t want to ever see you again. You need to stay away from my sister.”
“Is she in there?”
“No.”
“I think she is.”
“She’s not.”
“Just … let me see her.”
“Where’s your other girlfriend?” Aidan asked. “Why don’t you go and bother her? No one here wants to see you, Detective Dinglefritz.”
The sounds of scuffling assailed my ears, and Jerry straightened to try to peer around the wall that separated the living room from the entryway. “Do you think they’ll take their shirts off and wrestle?”
I rolled my eyes. After a few moments, Griffin pushed into the living room. His hair was disheveled, and he pulled up short when he saw me sitting on the couch. He scanned the room quickly, taking in my pajamas and bedhead, and then pasted an apologetic smile on his face. “Well, I’m glad to see you’re not doing anything destructive.”
Aidan appeared at Griffin’s back, his face murderous. “Don’t talk to her. You’ve done enough.”
“Mind your own business,” Griffin shot back. “Aisling, I want to talk to you.”
“We’re watching The Golden Girls,” I said, forcing my face to the television.
“And then we’re doing mud masks and deep conditioning,” Jerry added.
Griffin pursed his lips. I had the distinct impression he was trying to stop himself from laughing. I didn’t find the situation particularly funny.
“So, you didn’t stick around for lunch earlier,” he said. “I had someone I wanted you to meet.”
“Yeah, I’m not into threesomes,” I said.
“Well, that’s good,” Griffin said. “I don’t think my sister is either.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“Oh,” Jerry said, his face relaxing. “That was your sister. See, I knew he couldn’t really be a bad man.”
“Maya,” Griffin confirmed. “She’s a doctor at Presbyterian Hospital. That was a convenient place for us to meet for lunch. I haven’t had a chance to see her in a few weeks and when I texted her that I was done with my assignment, she wanted to have lunch.”
Grim Offerings (Aisling Grimlock Book 2) Page 2
