Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“My dad liked beating on me. He didn’t hit my mom but operated heavily on the ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ saying. I admit I was a handful and didn’t always listen, but I got tired of getting whipped or punched or burned, so when I was eighteen, I decided I’d had enough. Only I didn’t realize how strong I was and ended up breaking his jaw. When he got out of the hospital, he pressed charges, and I had the choice of military or prison. I opted for the military, and it ended up being good for me.”
My heart turns over hearing this. I never once gave a thought to Griff’s past, too worried about my present.
“What do you do now?”
“I’m into security. That’s how I met your sister.”
My breath catches. Is he going to tell Mick I tried robbing the Academy?
“I was running a security gig at a friend’s and your sister happened to run by. We got to talking, and now I’m here.” He ends the greatly edited story with a small shrug.
“How’d you get into security?”
“The military.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t want him to go to the military,” I pipe up so that Mick doesn’t feel alone. “I’d fight for him to not go, in fact.”
“I get not wanting to sign up. War sucks. Too many of my friends suffer from bad PTSD, and there’s not enough help out there for them. If you want to get into security, though, you need to have training on how to fight, how to handle weapons, how to look for threats. You can learn all of that through schools, but it requires a lot of dedication.”
“And money.” Mick drops back. His disappointment is palpable.
Griff pops the whole pan in the oven and then holds out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?” Mick eyes the other man with suspicion.
Griff allows his hand to drop. “Then don’t.”
“No, wait. I’ll get it.” My brother hurriedly digs into his jeans and hands over his phone, unlocked and ready.
Griff does something and then hands the device back. “That’s the number for a gym I own. You’ve got a month pass. If you use it every day for at least two hours, I’ll comp you another month. The day you can take me to the mat, I’ll send you to a surveillance school.”
“Old man, I could take you now,” Mick crows.
I wince because I know what’s coming. In two seconds, Griff has Mick against the wall with his forearm against Mick’s windpipe. Mick gasps, bug-eyed.
“Griff,” I say with warning.
Griff backs off. “Sorry, just reflex.”
Mick rubs his throat. Griff grabs the glass of water I’d poured earlier and thrusts it into Mick’s hand. “You want sour cream on your potatoes, Lauren?”
“Yes, please,” I reply meekly.
Chapter Thirteen
GRIFF
Dinner’s good. Mick has lost that angry, sullen look, and he doesn’t appear too put out with me giving him a little choking. Lauren is practically humming with happiness. It’s giving me a woody, and I gotta control myself around the lil bro. Minus my little head doing its own thinking, everything else seems to be going well. Mick no longer wants to punch my lights out. Lauren doesn’t think I’m sleeping around on her. The steak turned out perfect.
“I’m going next door to play League. Don’t be messy here.” Mick shakes his finger at us like we’re the juveniles and he’s the adult.
“Wait. You need to clean—” But the door is already banging shut before Lauren can finish her sentence.
“It’s fine, Lo.” I start to gather up the dishes, but Lo puts her hand on my arm.
“Don’t you dare. You cooked so I’m cleaning. Those are the rules of the kitchen.”
“That so?” I wrap my hand around her too-thin wrist and jerk until she falls into my lap. “New rule. Kissing and then cleaning. Your brother left for a reason. Don’t let it go to waste.”
I don’t give her time to say no. I seal her mouth with my own. I wasn’t lying to Lauren when I said I hadn’t been with that other woman, but I wasn’t entirely truthful with her either. The full truth would’ve been that I’ve never been with any woman, ever. That this is my first time to kiss, to touch, to love. It’s too hard to explain to anyone except for Evers since he and I shared the same backstory. Shitty dads, military escape, no women. I’m confident in everything, but I’ll admit that this is one area that I have no experience in, so I take it slow, trying to learn from her movements what the right thing to do is.
Her lips are so soft. Her tits, too. They press into my chest as she leans into my kiss. I open my mouth, and she does the same. Our tongues clash. My cock hardens and my vision blurs. I didn’t expect kissing to have this kind of effect on me. All of our clothes are still on. My hands are squeezing her waist. Hers are around my shoulders. My dick is swollen and stiff, but it’s not touching anything but a metal zip and some denim. I still want to come. I still am fighting off the urge to spill in my jeans like an untrained teen.