Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Griffin sighed so much he couldn’t even eat his steak, and it was good steak. Too bad it was getting cold.
He had no idea what his date was talking about anymore.
The man hadn’t come up for air once since the host had sat them at a table.
Thank the gods, the host sat them near the center of the restaurant, so at least Griffin had other people who shared in his misery.
And they shared it with him. His date, Colin, talked to everyone who made eye contact with him.
“Excuse me.” Griffin put down his fork and knife and fished out two twenty-dollar bills, laying them on the table before standing.
“I’ve gotta use the bathroom.” What he didn’t say was that he would use the bathroom at his dad’s house, which wasn’t far from the restaurant.
His dad also had food. Griffin was starving, but he couldn’t take one more second of Colin’s constant yammering.
For the first time all night, Colin took a breath, giving Griffin precious seconds in which he didn’t have to hear the guy’s voice.
What a treat. Not that it lasted long. “Right, well, usually you’d wait for the server to bring the check before paying, and I said I’d pay since I asked you out on a date.
It’s only fair, but we can sort it all later.
” Colin turned to the woman at the table next to theirs.
“You know, this one time I went on a date with a guy who said he had to use the bathroom and then never came back.”
Griffin’s face heated, and he took off toward where he knew the bathrooms were.
Thank the gods he drove himself and had enough forethought to park in the back lot just in case he needed an exit strategy.
He should have had Riley call him forty-five minutes into the date, so he could fake an emergency, but he hadn’t thought of it until Colin told Griffin his name and then started talking about his job and why he always wore a suit even on casual Fridays.
Colin was still talking when Griffin took the hallway to the back door. He didn’t need to see him to know that.
It didn’t take very long for him to walk out of the restaurant and find his truck in the lot. The sun had gone down while he’d been listening to Colin drone on about only the gods knew what because Griffin hadn’t been able to pay attention after the first half an hour.
His dad’s house was only a few miles from the restaurant. It didn’t take him long to get to his dad’s house. Griffin saw his dad’s car in the driveway, which was a win. His dad would make him something to eat and listen to him whine about his date.
Griffin parked behind Marric’s car and then headed for the front door.
One time, Griffin had come over to find his dad and Marric all freshly fucked and in their underwear. Lesson learned. He’d been knocking and waiting for one of them to open the door since then.
Really, he was thrilled for them, but holy moly, they were like rabbits.
Marric was the one who opened the door. He wore sleep pants and a hoodie that advertised Fortune Falls as a treasure hunter’s paradise, complete with a map of the area, though it left out many details. But the shape of Fortune Falls and the surrounding mountains were recognizable.
As soon as Marric saw Griffin, he ushered him into the house. “You don’t have to knock, you know. You can come inside as you had before I mated with your father.”
Griffin patted Marric on the back and smiled. “I love having you as a part of the family, but I don’t want to see you and my dad doing it on the table or whatever other flat surface you two climb on.”
When Marric opened his mouth, Griffin cut off whatever he was about to say. “That wasn’t an invitation for you to give me details.”
Marric chuckled and followed Griffin into the kitchen. Griffin opened the door of the refrigerator and rummaged inside.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked as he found some sliced chicken and cheese. He would make himself a sandwich.
“On a call. Cass picked him up.” Marric frowned as he watched Griffin gather what he needed. “Weren’t you on a dinner date with Colin? Why are you still hungry?”
“Ask Colin. I’m sure he’s still there. Talking.” He assembled the sandwich. “Seriously. He never shut up. Not once. Even when he asked me a question, he didn’t stop long enough for me to answer.”
Marric winced. “He talks a lot at school.”
“He doubles down when he’s on a date.” Griffin kind of sort of felt bad about leaving him at the restaurant. “When you see him at the school next time, if you can get a word in, tell him I said I’m sorry about leaving him at the restaurant.”
Marric sucked in a breath. “You seriously did not do that, did you?”
Now it was Griffin’s turn to wince. He nodded. “In my defense, I doubt he even knew my name. That’s how bad it was.”
Marric sighed. “It’s gonna be awkward when I drop Regan off at school now.”
“Where is he anyway?” Griffin didn’t think it was that late, and it was the weekend.
“Sleepover. Do you know Allison Perkins?”
Griffin nodded. “Yep. Fixed her front door last month.”
He went to high school with her, although she was a couple of grades behind him.
But he remembered when she got pregnant in her senior year.
It was the talk of the town for longer than it should have been.
Her parents kicking her out had made the rumor mill even happier.
But Allison had landed a good job with Louis Harvey, the local attorney.
Louis took her under his wing and put her through legal secretary training.
And the rest was single-mom history. “She’s a good egg. ”
“Beckett and Regan became good friends.” Marric grabbed the pickle jar and fished out a pickle chip, popping it into his mouth.
Beckett was the name of Allison’s son. He’d asked a million questions about hanging the new front door. He’d even tried to help. “He’s a cute kid.”
“Allison isn’t dating anyone seriously.” Marric put that out there as if it were a natural part of the conversation.
“No way. Especially not in the wake of Mr. Chatty Cathy.” Griffin took a bite of his sandwich.
“Come on. You already know her. It’s not like Colin, where you didn’t. And besides, there’s someone out there who will love Colin’s chattiness. Just you wait and see.” Marric fished out another pickle.
Griffin grabbed a fork from the drawer and handed it to him. “No one wants your fingers all in the pickle juice.”
The front door opened and closed. There was some rustling around before Iven came into the room. He kissed Marric and then licked his lips. “Mmm, pickles.”
Marric giggled. “He doesn’t mind my fingers in the pickle jar.”
“That I don’t, honey.” Iven raised his eyebrows when he met Griffin’s gaze. “Bad date?”
“Talked too much.” Griffin took another bite of his sandwich.
“I figured it wouldn’t be a good match.” Iven went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He held it out to Griffin, who took it before grabbing one for himself. “Colin’s a nice guy, though.”
Marric made a high-pitched squeaking noise. “Why didn’t you say something before I set them up, if you thought it wouldn’t be a good match?”
Iven shrugged. “You never know. I’ve been wrong about stuff like that before. It was just a hunch that it wouldn’t. And like I said, Colin’s alright. A normal guy, other than his penchant for gabbing so much.”
“So should I let Marric set me up with Allison Perkins?” Griffin asked.
Iven frowned. “Beckett’s mom?”
“Yeah. I thought maybe they’d like each other,” Marric said.
Iven shook his head. “They’ve known each other for a long time. If they had wanted to date each other, they would have already done so. And besides that, Allison isn’t Griffin’s mate. Neither is Colin, for that matter.”
Griffin shrugged. “Maybe I don’t have a mate. Mom doesn’t.”
“Your mother just hasn’t found hers yet, and even if she did, I have serious doubts she’d want to bond with them. She seems pretty happy in life to me.” Iven took a sip of his beer before sliding it across the counter to share with Marric.
Marric took it, smiling shyly, in the way he always did whenever Iven did something Marric deemed to be sweet.
Griffin wanted what his dad had with Marric. And what his brother had with Cass. He wanted a mate. He just hoped he really had one. Whenever he thought about finding his mate and what that would be like, doubt crept in.
He couldn’t help but think maybe he really didn’t have a mate.
Perhaps he was special in that way, like Riley was special with making sound waves tangible.
Maybe both of Iven’s sons had a special quality to them.
Riley got the weird but deadly useful magic and the deputy cop for a mate.
And Griffin got the normal magic and being alone in life.