Chapter 29
GRIFFIN
While getting dressed, I kept thinking about what Mom meant. She’d probably ask us to dinner at her place. I wouldn’t mind—not at all.
Ten minutes later, we were on the way to Phoebe’s house.
During the drive, I shared our location with my brothers. To our astonishment, Chase arrived before us. He was leaning against his car, flashing me a shit-eating grin.
“Good morning, you two. Phoebe, nice to see you again.”
“Hey, Chase. Thanks so much for volunteering to come over,” she said.
“Always happy to help out.”
She smiled at me. “Generosity really does run in the family. Your brother didn’t even hesitate asking me to stay with him until I find something else.”
“It was indeed a surprise to everyone,” Chase said.
I decided to lay out all my cards. “Did you talk to Mom?” I asked him as we went to the front door.
“No. Why?”
“No reason.” Mom would let me know what she was up to soon enough.
Phoebe cleared her throat as soon as we stepped inside.
“So, I’ve actually packed a lot already, but I still need to gather some things together.
All these boxes are ready, obviously.” She pointed to the corner stacked with boxes and two huge suitcases.
“These are bursting at the seams, so I won’t open them again.
I’ll pack the rest of the things in a small carry-on. ”
“That’s okay,” Chase said. “Take your time. Meanwhile, the two of us will load as much as possible in our cars. When the rest join us, we’ll split the boxes among ourselves.”
“Thanks so much. I’ll hurry, I promise.”
Once Phoebe went into the bedroom, I expected Chase to start asking questions, but he just got to work. Finn and Knox arrived almost immediately after.
“The other two are on their way,” Finn said the second he stepped inside the house.
“Where’s Phoebe?” Knox asked.
“I’m here,” she announced, coming out of the bedroom at the same time that Duncan and Wyatt came into the house.
“Oh, you’re all here,” she exclaimed. “Do you want anything to drink? Jeez, I didn’t even think about offering before.”
Wyatt chuckled. “Relax. We’re your packmules today. Just put us to work, and we can celebrate afterward.”
“Celebrate?” Phoebe asked.
Wyatt flinched, and Chase grunted.
I stared at Chase. “Man, I thought you were hiding something, but I figured I was just being paranoid.”
“All I’m saying is, keep an open mind,” he said, looking at Phoebe apologetically.
“Don’t overwhelm her, Chase,” I warned.
Phoebe frowned. “You lost me.”
“Great job, dude,” Knox said.
“I told her I was suspicious that you all replied at the same time. It almost seemed like you’ve been talking to each other.”
No one said anything for a few seconds, and then Duncan sighed. “Oh, what the hell. Yeah, we might have spoken on the phone before agreeing to reply.”
Chase cleared his throat. “So, Mom and Hannah were talking. We want to throw a barbecue at the inn for dinner.”
“That’s so sweet,” Phoebe said.
“Aha,” Finn said with laughter. “I feel like we owe it to you to warn you. Mom will prod you and Griffin with questions about the decision to move in together.”
Phoebe’s eyes bulged, but then she shook her head. “I wanted to cook lunch for you, though.”
Finn shrugged. “We can eat a lot. We’ll be happy if you feed us for lunch and we get barbecue for dinner. It takes forever for us to barbecue anyway.”
“That’s true,” Chase said. “Whenever we all gather for that specific purpose, we somehow end up taking a million years to do it.”
“Yeah, that’s because everyone is too busy gossiping. Like now,” I said. “Come on, let’s load up our cars. Phoebe, you need help packing what’s left?”
She shook her head. “I’m already done with that, so I’ll help you. I’ll carry the boxes that aren’t too heavy.”
“Let’s all get to work,” I said.
I appreciated that they were all going above and beyond to put Phoebe at ease. And I had to give Finn more credit. He’d picked up immediately how important it was for her to cook a thank-you meal.
I’d always enjoyed doing things with my brothers. We were extremely good at pulling ourselves together when we had a goal. The result was that we finished loading up the boxes only two hours later.
It was a good thing that all of them came over. We could barely fit everything in six cars. I’d initially wanted to load up my Toyota, too, but the engine wasn’t starting. That was a problem for another day.
“Do you need to do one more check of the house before we leave?” Finn asked.
Phoebe shook her head. “I’m good. I already checked it a few times.”
“Let’s hurry,” I said. “We’ve got another two solid hours of work ahead of us.”
Phoebe winced, though it was almost imperceptible. I only caught it because I knew her so well.
I took her hand as we walked to the car, and she whispered in my ear, “I feel guilty.”
“Trust me, they’re enjoying it.”
“Hmmm… that can’t possibly be true. But I like spending time with your brothers.”
I kissed her hand. “I’m glad.”
She sighed, looking over her shoulder at the house before we got in the car.
“I can’t believe I’m finally leaving this place. I’m so excited for the next phase of my life,” she exclaimed as I gunned the engine.
“So am I. And if my brothers weren’t tailing us the whole way, I’d show you exactly how excited I am.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got lots of ideas. I can’t wait to finally be alone. I keep making mental notes right here.” Phoebe tapped her temple.
My cock twitched. Damn, I was very close to finding an excuse to pull over somewhere. But they were all following me, so that was out of the question.
We arrived at the house a short while later. As soon as we got out of the car, Phoebe said loudly, “Guys, we actually do have drinks and stuff here. What do you want?”
“No! Work first,” Knox said, making the rest of us pause.
Chase was staring at him with bulged eyes. “You actually said that?”
“Yeah, there’s merit to that theory. And then Phoebe can feed us. I’ve already worked up a huge appetite.”
Phoebe put her hands on her face, fingers splayed wide, eyes narrowed as she looked at the floor, clearly thinking hard.
I stepped closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Babe, don’t stress out.”
“I’m not. I’m just trying to remember everything you had in the fridge and figure out what I should cook.”
“Relax,” I told her. “We’ll eat anything.”
“Yeah, literally anything,” Wyatt said. “You can even order pizza.”
Phoebe lowered her hands, straightening up. “No way.”
“Babe, you’ve got plenty of time, okay?” I said. “It’s going to take us about two hours to unload these boxes and carry them to the bedroom.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, as if she’d completely forgotten that two hours was indeed a lot of time. “Unless you guys are hungry right now.”
Knox shook his head. “Don’t worry about us, Phoebe, okay? We’re not hungry. We all had breakfast, so take your time.”
“All right. Do you mind if I leave you alone to carry everything in so I can cook?”
“Not at all,” I assured her.
She rose on her tiptoes, giving me a quick kiss.
I fought my instincts with all I had so I wouldn’t kiss her back hard and make a spectacle out of us.
I still kept her close to me for longer than intended, only letting her go when I felt her smile against my lips. She hurried up the stairs to the house.
Only when we heard the front door close did Knox say, “Anyone else feel like we’re missing a piece of the story?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Let me see if I got this straight,” he said. “You two started by faking this so you could get in Jude’s good graces. Then you started having a fling, and now you’re moving in together.”
I grinned. “You’ve got it.”
“Come on. Throw us a bone,” Finn said. “How exactly did this happen?”
“I don’t even know,” I said. “It just did. And now I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t make Phoebe uncomfortable with your questions.”
Wyatt dropped his head back theatrically. “Dude, give us some credit. We’ve been on our best behavior.”
“Yeah. Why do you think we waited until she was gone to corner you?” Knox asked.
Chase shook his head.
Duncan pointed at them. “Be careful, because questioning your brother can quickly turn into you not being able to keep your mouth shut around Phoebe either.”
Knox and Finn exchanged a glance, and then they both looked at Wyatt.
“You’re right,” Wyatt said. “Our older brothers are judgmental assholes sometimes.”
“No, we’re not,” Chase said coolly. “We just know you three very well.”
“So, let’s just nip this in the bud,” I concluded.
They grudgingly agreed, and then we started unloading the boxes.
I’d have to warn the rest of the family, too, when we went over to Chase and Hannah’s later. I knew everyone had the best intentions, but Phoebe was gun-shy as it was. I didn’t blame her. She’d been through a lot. But if everyone started questioning my decisions, she might get the wrong idea.
I wanted her to have no doubt that I really wanted her here. She thought this was all temporary. But I wasn’t so sure about that.