Page 4 of The Wrong Sister
mina
Stupid sexy Griffin Simms! Of all the people I have to work with, why did it have to be him? The sound of my heels on the sidewalk is as sharp as the anger beating along with my pulse. It’s loud enough for me to focus solely on it, feeding into it instead of acknowledging that uncomfortable, prickling feeling of being watched. It’s probably all in my head anyway, like the fantasy of me being over him. I told myself I was past this, that I was better than this, but all it took was one look from across the room and I was thirteen years old again. He’s even better looking now than he was when we were kids. Still tall, but he’s filled out with age. His broad shoulders and defined chest looked damn good in his dress shirt, not to mention those toned forearms with the dusting of dark hair. He said my name, those icy, silver-grey eyes on me, and I almost melted on the spot. He was looking at me like I was more than little Wilhelmina Brookner. He was legit staring! When he hugged me I felt like my entire body lit up—a live wire that suddenly connect to its circuit.
All through the meeting, I felt his eyes on me, like heat on my skin. Our lunch felt good—comfortable, like old times. I could feel the attraction and I swear it wasn’t one-sided. But then instead of acknowledging what was implied when he said I had changed (he blushed for fuck’s sake!), all I could focus on was the fact that he said he wouldn’t have known me on the street. It hurt in the most adolescent way possible. Whether I wanted to or not, I’d thought of himthatway for the majority of my life and, as always, I was invisible to him. It made me so angry I had to leave. I threw out that barb about Catherine, thinking he’d be annoyed about our old betrothal jokes, but he looked guilty. Fucking guilty! Whatever. I don’t get it and I don’t care. I am not wasting any more of my life thinking about someone that doesn’t see or appreciate me, regardless of how attracted to him I am. I deserve more.
Me: You’ll never guess who I have to work my new case with!
Raff: Considering you’re texting me about it, I’m going to go with my brother
Me: ding ding ding [trophy gif]
Raff: Did you talk to him at all?
Me: We had lunch
RaffAnd??
Me: And nothing. He said he wouldn’t know me on the street and looked guilty when I mentioned Catherine
Raff: Pretty sure they’re a thing now. Or he’s thinking about making it a thing…something like that. He’s too private to know for sure
Me: WHAT?!
Raff: You didn’t know?
Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Just like that my torso is filled with lava rocks, weighing down and scratching my insides. I want to believe this is some cruel joke, but I’m not that lucky, and Raff isn’t that cruel.
Me: NO
Me: No one tells me anything
Me: This information would have changed the course of my afternoon
Raff: How so?
Me: I wouldn’t have gone to lunch with him, for one. That kind of catch-up was entirely unnecessary if nothing has or will change. Professional distance would have been preferable.
Raff: I’m sorry Meens
Raff: You’re too good for him anyway
Raff: Or too much for him. One of those two
Me: Thanks, pal. I have a finger to share with you
Me: Wanna do dinner this weekend?
Raff: Sure
Raff: What sounds good?
Me: Moku Kitchen? You know I’m always down for their fries
Raff: And douchecanoe Troy has said multiple times that he hates it so we could feasibly enjoy dinner without having to enact The Plan
Me: My thoughts exactly! He popped up, uninvited, everywhere I went this weekend! I even caught him following me buying tampons! Whatever happened to no means no?
Raff: There’s no excuse. No one is that stupid.
