Page 12 of Don't Fall For Your Brother's Best Friend
My friendship and career would be put on the line and I can’t lose them. So, the fact that I’m enraged about her laughing at the possibility is ridiculous.
Yet, here I am, days later still feeling it. Snapping at everyone and pushing down a fire that I haven’t felt in a very long time. That fire, it isn’t a good thing. It’s something I felt growing up and I taught myself, with Callum’s help, how to keep it smothered. I’m having trouble keeping it smothered now and that isn’t helping my mood.
“Griff, everything good for tonight?” Shepherd asks, walking into the kitchen.
“All good. Jared and I are going to start prepping soon,” I say, putting another burger on its bun.
He nods his head as he leans against the counter. The kitchen is crazy busy with the lunchtime rush, so my annoyance is getting poked with him standing there.
“The room looks awesome. I just helped Anya move some tables around. We even got the speakers working in there so there’s light music playing now,” he says, picking at a plate of fries I have sitting there.
“Shep, those are for someone, Christ,” I say, shaking my head.
He laughs and grabs a couple more. “Tripp said you had a stick up your ass today. I guess he was right.”
I turn to face him and cross my arms. “Tripp needs to deliver the food while it’s still hot. If that’s a problem, I must be doing my job wrong.”
“What’s really going on? You’re never like this?” He raises a brow.
I shake my head and throw more fries in the fryer because he’s still eating what I have prepared. “I’m busy, Shep, that’s my problem. I’m trying to get through this lunch rush so I can focus on preparing for the party and then I need to cook that food and make sure the dinner rush is handled.” I grab a brown disposable carton and toss the fries in it fresh from the fryer. “I just need to make sure everything is perfect, all right. It’s the first night and I’m stressed out.”
I need to get this fire under control. I’m better than this.
“I get it, man. I was really just checking in to make sure it wasn’t anything else.”
He doesn’t know the extent of my life like Callum does, but he knows enough. It means the world to me that the Atwood brothers all care for me like I’m one of them.
I feel the fire fizzling out and I turn to him after dumping the new fries on the plate. “I’m sorry. I appreciate you checking in.”
He grabs my shoulder and smiles. “Always, Griff, you know that.”
I nod as the anger begins to smother. “I’ll apologize to Tripp and Jared and Trudi.”
We both laugh and I shake my head. I really have been out of control.
“You can apologize to Jared and Trudi, but not to Tripp. That little prick thinks he’s a part owner lately. He needs to remember until he’s older, he’s an employee.”
I remember being Tripp’s age. He wants to grab the world by the balls while partying like it doesn’t matter. Only he has a lot of expectations to live up to. It’s got to be hard.
“If you need help with anything, give a shout. I’m going to help Brock clean out the still.”
“Appreciate it,” I shout as he walks out of the kitchen.
I close my eyes briefly and take a cleansing breath. My friendship with the Atwood’s is everything. It’s absurd thinking I let Anya’s dismissal of a relationship get to me when, in fact, she’s right—it’ll never happen
I plate the food for Anya’s party. It’s been a long day, but this moment makes it all worth it.
“Griffin, how's it going?” Anya asks, stepping into the kitchen. Her mere presence does something to me. Makes me almost feral. I need to remember to not be affected by her soft voice, and bright green eyes.
“It’s going great in here. Everything will be ready in time, don’t worry.”
“Oh, I’m not worried. You’re the only one who’s been calm and collected through this entire thing,” she says, tucking her brown hair behind her ears.
I chuckle and stand straight as I wipe my hands on a towel. “Maybe on the outside, but today wasn’t my finest day.”
“What do you mean?”
I lift my shoulders, taking in just how stunning she looks tonight. Her hair is down and curled. Her makeup makes her green eyes pop and shows off her full lips. The white button-down shirt she has on fits her body perfectly and she left the top two buttons undone, showing just enough cleavage to appear classy. The gray pencil skirt she has on makes you take notice of her long sexy legs. She looks professional and sexy, a killer combo.