/> “She makes you miserable. She cheats on you. You put up a good fight, Griff, but there’s nothing left to fight for.”
Pointedly ignoring my husband, Griff eats his food in silence.
I’m not nearly as pushy as Sebastian, but I’m uncomfortable with the fact that it does seem like Griff isn’t planning to leave Ashley. If I thought it was because he loved her too much or they had more good times than bad, that would make sense. It breaks my heart right in half even imagining it, but if Sebastian cheated on me, I don’t know how I could leave him. I’d want to, I’d be completely miserable, but we’ve had all these happy years and I’m sure we have more ahead of us.
It doesn’t seem like the same can be said for Griff and Ashley. They had a good year, followed by a couple of tepid years, and then a couple of shitty years. What’s the point? Marriage means something to me, but my relationship is wonderful. Griff seems to have married the wrong woman, and I hate that he’s settling for unhappiness.
He forgot his phone in the bedroom, so while I won’t ask in front of Sebastian, who has already been quite vocal in his opinion of what Griff needs to do next, I follow my friend down the hall to retrieve his phone.
Checking behind me to make sure Sebastian isn’t in hearing range, I step inside. Griff pauses when he turns back and finds me standing in the doorway.
“Why are you staying with her?” I ask him.
He doesn’t get as annoyed when I press him about this as Sebastian, but he’s not quick to answer, either.
“Is it because you love her too much to let go? Because your life feels empty when you think of it without her? Is it because you know you’ll get past this and have many beautiful years together? Or is it because you don’t want to be alone? Because if it’s the last one, I think you’re making a huge mistake. I don’t think Ashley deserves you. I think you deserve a woman who looks at you and sees you. Who values you. Who knows your worth. You deserve much better than ‘not as lonely,’ Griff. You deserve to be loved, and I don’t think Ashley loves you.”
A sad smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. “No one does, Moira.”
“That is not true,” I tell him, firmly. “We do. We love you. And someone else will, too. Someone who deserves you—not someone who uses you and treats you like shit.”
“Stop with the ‘we’ shit, please,” he says, brushing past me on his way out of the bedroom.
I grab his shoulder. I shouldn’t—I should let him go, but I feel like I’d be letting him go to make the biggest mistake of his life. My stomach twists, because the alternative might be making the biggest mistake of mine.
I mean this, but not the way he might take it.
“I do,” I tell him, halting his descent. “I love you. And I want more for you than you can have with her.”
He stands there for a moment like I stole his ability to walk. He finally looks at me over his shoulder—no, glares. “That’s fucking mean.”
My heart sinks clear down to my stomach. “I’m not trying to be mean.”
He laughs a little before walking away, but there’s no humor in it. “Yeah, you never are.”
6
Sebastian
It’s been three weeks since Griff has come around on a social visit.
It’s impossible for him to avoid me altogether at work, but he has rearranged his schedule so we see less and less of each other.
Today he has asked for a meeting.
I can already sense the distance in him when he walks into my office. I can see it in the way he doesn’t look at me as he takes a seat. He’s not here for anything pleasant. He’s not here to tell me he’ll finally take Moira up on one of the ten invitation texts she has sent him in the past three weeks, all but begging him to come over for dinner.
“How are things?” I ask him, since I’m not up-to-date on his life.
“Fucking fantastic,” he answers, dryly.
This whole situation is fucking garbage. I can’t help thinking he blames me for the fallout—like if I’d just kept my mouth shut, or if I hadn’t reviewed that particular piece of footage, everything would be fine.
But how many other nights might there have been? How many nights had Ashley done the same damn thing, and she just lucked out that no one checked the tapes?
Whatever is going on between them, Ashley no longer works at the club. Griff handled all the termination paperwork himself—citing the incident in the hallway as the reason we let her go. Given they share a last name, it’s awkward, but having sex on our property definitely crossed lines; we have every right to fire her, whether or not they’re married.
Thankfully, he was smart enough to get a prenup, but I don’t even know whether or not he’s divorcing the lying little slut.