6. Griffin #3
“She’s dating fucking Owen? The Owen who bullied her all through elementary, middle, and high school? That fucking Owen?” The blinking ceases as my emotions take over, and apparently they are not subtle at the least because everyone is staring at us.
“Did you just say he bullied her?” Jacob’s whole presence loses that carefree, happy-go-lucky attitude as a menacing look overtakes his features, his voice grows eerily dangerous, and I’m hit with the realization that there’s a side to this guy he doesn’t show anyone.
Jacob is not at all what he seems but now is not the time to dive into his issues when mine are growing like a festering wound without antibiotics.
Soon enough, I’ll be losing some limbs.
There’s no way my Julie is dating that asshole. No fucking way.
Alec clears his throat. “Um, as far as I know there’s only one Owen in this town, believe it or not. So I’m pretty sure it’s exactly the guy you’re thinking of.”
I go back to blinking as the rest of the bar settles back into their seats and conversations.
“Owen was a fucking piece of shit to Julie. This must be a mistake.” I shake my head.
“Blonde, gym-head but with that preppy look?” Jacob directs the question at me, but it’s Alec who nods.
“Yeah, that’s Owen all right. Maybe he changed?” Alec sounds pathetically hopeful.
There’s rage inside me that I can’t contain.
Why? Why him? She deserves the world and she got him?
Does Cal know about it? Doubt it or he’d be on the next flight here.
But what right do I have to tell Julie who she can and cannot date. What right do I have to even get pissed about her date choice. Maybe he has changed. Maybe they are going to be like those couples from romance novels where the bully and his victim fall hopelessly in love.
Maybe I need to get the hell away from here? And stop thinking of ways to erase fucking Owen from existence.
She’s his. Not mine.
I can feel my inner balloon of hope deflating.
If she’s dating him— him of all people—it must be real. There must be love and feelings and all those things that were never meant for me.
“Please, don’t.” Jacob shoots a look my way.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t give up.”
I huff out a humorless laugh, slumping back in my seat.
“I’m not. There’s nothing to give up.” Because you can’t give up what you never had in the first place.
“So you don’t like her?” Alec asks.
“That’s not what I said.”
“So you’re a quitter then,” Jacob throws out, and I send a glare his way.
“It’s not—”
“Ham or eggs?” he cuts me off before I can finish my thought.
“What?”
“Are you ham or eggs?”
I lean in, taking a peek into his glass. “Are you sure it’s beer in there?” I ask but Jacob slaps my hand away.
“Answer my question. Are you ham or eggs?”
“I don’t have a fucking clue what that means!”
“Haven’t you seen Grey’s Anatomy ?”
I give him a blank stare. “Does it look like I have?”
“Oh dude, you’re missing out. Of course, they got half the things twisted and messed up and it’s more about sex than actual medicine but the show’s—”
“Jackie?” Alec cuts in. “You’re getting off-course buddy. Concentrate.”
“Right.” Jacob instantly straightens up and I throw a glare at Alec.
Did he have to remind him? “You see; you have to decide if you’re ham or eggs.
Committed or involved. Chickens are just involved in the process, because they simply lay the eggs and repeat the process the next day.
But pigs are committed! They die for their cause. They lay it all on the line.”
“Mate…”
“Ham or eggs, Griffin?” he asks sternly. “Are you ready to die or just lay an egg? Are you ready to watch her live happily with someone else or come in and sweep her off her feet?”
“Jacob, it’s not that—”
“Ham or eggs? It is that simple. Ham or eggs?”
“Jesus…” I rub the palm of my hand over my face.
“Be just a friend or her person? Ham or eggs? Watch her raise those cute, chubby babies with her green eyes or have them call you dad? Ham or eggs? Stay by her side or on the sidelines? Ham or eggs? Ham or eggs? Ham or eggs?”
The chanting grows louder, the images he planted in my head running like a wild slideshow. Blonde babies with her green eyes. Owen holding her hand as they watch them. Owen there for her. Owen by her side. Owen kissing her, holding her, planting lavender with her.
“HAM! Jesus Christ! Fucking ham! It’s always been ham!”
“There, did you have to make it that hard?” Jacob slumps against the booth with a satisfied smile on his stupid face.
“It is that hard!” I growl.
“Nope. Not at all. Now listen to me, Julie-bean is like a little sister to me and with that being said, don’t even think about hurting her.” Jacob points his beer bottle at me, along with a narrowed look. “I know at least a dozen ways to cut up a body.”
A sister…Jesus, how many huge, intimidating older brothers can one girl have?
And did he just really say that?
“Jacob is a doctor,” Alec clues me in.
“Of veterinary medicine?” I ask, incredulously.
“Nah, my boy here is a big-shot trauma surgeon.”
“Seriously?” I gape at the rubber-duck-loving-shark-slides-wearing Viking with his mane of blonde hair in a man bun and I cannot put two and two together.
“Yep.” He pops the p . “I’ve left that life behind, but don’t worry, picking up a scalpel is like riding a bike. You’ll never forget it.” Jacob gives me a threatening look again and I swear I didn’t see that coming.
I’m usually pretty good at reading people, but this guy seems far deeper than he allows people to see.
I clear my throat. “You got nothing to worry. Besides, her other—you know the real one—brother already had this talk with pretty much all the guys of LC about twenty years ago.”
“Well, he didn’t see the way you eye fucked our sister last week. I did, and I’m warning you to treat her right.”
I choke on my beer that I had the misfortune to drink at the precise moment he said, eye fucked. “Fucking hell, mate, I didn’t eye fuck her.”
Jacob suddenly straightens in his seat and starts sniffing the air around us.
“What is it this time?” Alec asks.
“You smell this bullshit in the air? Because I sure as fuck do.”
Alec chuckles in response.
“I haven’t seen them together in one room for almost two decades, but I’ll take your word. So, Griffin Owling, do you promise to be a gentleman and nothing more than a gentleman—bedroom excluded—to our Julie-bean?”
I sigh, rubbing my face. “You two are idiots, you know that?”
“They have been told that on more than one occasion,” Willa answers as she slides three new bottles onto the table and winks but then she bends lower and whispers in a way that is not a whisper at all.
“Oh, honey, I put something a little extra in your beer for you. You know, for your man down there.” She points to my lap as if she wasn’t painfully obvious already and when I just stare at her in a stupefied response she decides to clarify for me.
“You know, so he’s up to the test when you and Julie get to do the deed. ”
“Oh my god,” I groan. “Willa, did my mom put you up to this? There’s nothing wrong with my man down below . And I’m not doing no deeds with Julie! Where in the world did you get that information?”
“Oh, you poor child.” She pats me patronizingly before sauntering away.
“What the fuck is going on?” I murmur to myself but Alec answers anyway, looking at his phone.
“Um, maybe you should log into Love Hive.”
I groan once more, already knowing the crap I’ll find on there.
There were at least ten people in the line that day in Sip of Love and they undoubtedly reported our barely decent greeting with Julie.
“About your erectile dysfunction—” Jacob starts, but I cut him off, gritting the words out.
“I don’t have an erectile dysfunction.”
He raises his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m just saying, if anything, I am still a doctor. Patient confidentiality and all that. I can even poke it for you.”
“Don’t worry, brother. We’ll get you all fixed up.” Alec is barely able to hold his laugh in.
“I hate you both.” I tip my head back as they break out in a fit of giggles.
I must admit, hanging out with these two is not bad at all.
I feel lighter and more like myself than I have in a while now, despite their nagging about Julie and my pretend dick issues.
I don’t feel the world weighing on my shoulders and my mind isn’t chased with a thousand questions and issues I’ve had.
And who am I kidding, a huge part of it is knowing the Viking doesn’t have Julie’s heart. Although, what I was supposed to do with that information now, I had no idea.
It’s not like I can just walk in, press her lush body into the wall, and kiss those strawberry lips until all she can breathe is me. Until she’s mine.
In fact, it’s easier knowing Julie loves someone else. It’s safer.
It’s always safer for me to stay away from her.
Jacob is right, I’ve been an egg this whole time when I should be a ham! If only it was that easy.
I’m so lost in my Julie-fog that I don’t notice another body standing next to our table.
“Griffin Owling, well, I’ll be damned” comes from a hoarse, older voice. I look up to find Frank Lovehill, the chief of Loverly Cave Fire Department, looking down at me with a warm smile and one of the funky cocktails in his hand.
“Good evening, sir.” I get up, extending my hand out for a handshake which he doesn’t take, instead opting for a bear hug that he ropes me into.
“Look at you!” He pulls away after a few awkward seconds and grabs me by my shoulders while his drink is slowly making its way down my sleeve. “All grown up.” He smiles. “I remember the days when you and those two other rascals created havoc in this town like you got paid for it.”
Ain’t that the truth, I chuckle to myself. “Yeah, those were them wild days. Sorry?” I feel the need to apologize because it was mostly Frank and the sheriff dealing with our shenanigans.
One time we even managed to put a Love Car on top of a kid’s playground. Mind you, we were in our early teens at that time. Yet, Luke, Cal, and I always found a way to create trouble. To stir the pot in an already crazy town.
“Eh.” He waves me off. “No need for that. We had some good laughs over it all. But now look at you! Are you all done with your service?”
“Yeah, I retired a couple of months ago.” More like was forced to leave but…details.
“Huh.” He scratches his chin. “Looking for a new job, by any chance?”
“A job?” My eyebrows jump up.
“Yeah, we need another fireman at the station.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’d qualify. I don’t have any training like that,” I tell him. Plus, with the new discoveries, I’m not even sure if I’ll be staying in LC long enough to need a job, but Mr. Lovehill just waves me off.
“That’s not a problem. We can train you and you can take all the necessary tests. Besides, with a background like yours, you have more than most on the team already.”
I scratch the back of my neck as a wave of unease washes over me. “Thank you for your offer, but I don’t think I’ll be staying in Loverly. You know, just visiting.”
“Is that so?” He scratches his chin, and I feel two sets of eyes drilling into my profile along with Alec’s murmured, “What the fuck?”
I clear my throat. “Yeah, it’s all up in the air as of now.”
“How about you think about it, yeah? No rush. If you decide to stay, come on by.” He smiles and with one more clap to my shoulder saunters away.
“Dude!” Alec shouts, almost jumping out of his seat. “What the fuck? Moving away? Again? Nah, not happening.”
I lift an eyebrow. “And who’s gonna stop me?” As soon as I ask the question I regret it, because by the look of it, Alec’s imagination is wild and just now he came up with at least a thousand ways to prevent it.
“Try me,” he warns, and an actual chill washes over me.
“Jesus, mate.” I shiver. “Knock it off.”
“Wanna bet you won’t leave Loverly?” He extends his hand my way, and I shake my head at him.
“What am I, five?”
“I’d say more like ten,” Jacob muses from across the table. “You know, it’s that age when boys are too terrified to tell a girl they like her. Don’t worry, I was always good with the ladies. I’ll give you tips.”
“Shut up,” I throw his way, and he smiles triumphantly, mouthing, “ got ya .”
“So, wanna bet?” Alec’s hand is still extended my way and with a roll of my eyes, I shake on it.
“Whatever, mate. If I want to leave, I’ll leave.”
“Nope, you won’t.”
“You should know, Alec’s yet to lose a single bet he ever wagered.” Jacob grins. “The guy’s tenacious.”
I groan. “I knew I should’ve stayed home today.”
“You’d rock that, by the way.”
“Totally would,” Jacob seconds as I sigh, knowing what they’re talking about.
“I’m not sure.” I twist the beer bottle in my hands.
“Wait, didn’t you want to be a firefighter back when you still lived here?” Alec asks. “I remember both you and my good-for-nothing older brother going on and on about it.”
That earns a small chuckle out of me.
Yeah, we did. We used to think it would be the coolest gig ever and it would score us points with the girls. What? We were sixteen-seventeen-year-old hormonal boys at that time, it was literally all we thought about.
“Now, back to Julie,” they start, and I take it as my cue to leave.
“Okay, I’m out.” I get up, moving out of the booth.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Alec says, and I stop.
“Why would you see me tomorrow morning?”
“Because you’re coming to the town workout.”
“Strange, I don’t remember agreeing to do that.”
“Oh, you didn’t. But Jacob and I already decided that you can’t be trusted, so we’ll do all the thinking from now on.”
“Lord help us all,” I cry to the ceiling. “I will not see you tomorrow morning.”
Jacob chuckles. “Poor guy, he actually believes it.”