Griffin (Ruthless MC 3)

I might wear a blazer over concert tees to work these days, but I’m still the Reaper who bet five figures I could bang the untouchable server behind the bar.

“C’mon,” I tell Olivia.

And that’s how I end up taking her to school by myself in my lifted, electric-blue Limited-Edition F-450. I even find a family friendly pop station on the Apple CarPlay.

I’m pretty proud of myself until Olivia asks, “Is Mom going to marry Uncle Geoff now instead of you? Is that why he kissed her?”

CHAPTER 31

GRIFFIN

I can count on one hand the number of times Geoff has stopped by my office. And my numbers for stopping by his are even lower than that.

Once. And that one time is today.

His assistant, Dana, isn’t at her outer desk when I come through, so there’s nobody to tell me I can’t go in. Not that it would have mattered. I would have barged right past her, no matter what she said, after what Olivia told me in the car.

I find out why Dana’s not where she always is as soon as I charge through her boss’s corner-office door.

“Dana! Dana! No. Listen to me.”

Geoff’s doing his king-of-the-jungle, pace-back-and-forth thing in front of his desk and yelling at her on the phone. “You can’t quit! I’m not going to let you.”

My brother looks frantic. He doesn’t even double take when he sees me standing in his office for the first time ever. Just lowers the phone from his ear and says, “Not now, Griff.”

Before snarling into the phone at Dana. “You’ve seen what I do to business rivals. Do you really think I’m going to let you quit without even two weeks’ notice? Not that two weeks’ notice would matter. You’re not quitting on me!”

“Geoff,” I say.

“I said, not now, Griff!” He yells before I can finish. “Get out!”

Then he turns his back on me to threaten Dana some more. “If you do not want to experience my known wrath—not to mention getting sued for breach of that iron-clad contract I made you sign—I suggest you get your ass back at your desk where you belong. Otherwise, I promise you I will—”

Geoff gets cut off from finishing that promise when I spin him around.

And punch him straight in his smug face.

My dad’s semi-retired these days, but after security guards are called in to break up our fight, we’re escorted into his rarely used corner office to wait for him like…well, like two top-level executives who got in a schoolyard fight in front of everyone in the C-suite.

The Reapers have lawlessness without consequences on lock. But before joining my MC I got hauled into plenty of offices for fighting: principal offices, retail security offices, sheriff offices, dad’s office back when he was still in charge of Big Hill. So, I know how this goes.

But Geoff must have never gotten the “don’t say shit to your enemy while waiting to get chewed out by an authority figure" memo. After we take our seats in the guest chairs in front of Dad’s desk, he only stays quiet for a minute or two before he has to start in on me. “Is this how you plan to solve your problems when you’re CEO of AudioNation?”

His right eye’s already bruising up, with red marks above and below. I didn’t just slam my fist into his face, I got in a few gut and side punches too before security came through. So he winces when he turns in his seat to ask me, “You’re just going to punch everybody you have a problem with in the face without giving them a chance to explain?”

“There’s nothing to explain,” I grit out. “You kissed my wife in front of my daughter.”

“She’s not your wife yet, and how was I supposed to know your daughter could see the kitchen from the stairs? Besides…”

He mumbles something I don’t quite hear.

“What did you say?”

“I only tried to kiss her. Mom told me Bernice was considering using a car ride service to get O2 to school. That’s a terrible look for a Latham, but she was obviously unwilling to ask you. Adding that to how disappointed she looked at the party when I told her the full truth about your intentions, I sensed an opportunity.”

I fist my hands on the arms of the chair, wanting to punch him all over again.

Geoff continues, “I thought she might be open to some extramarital activity—which I, of course, would have immediately reported back to you. It was my last-ditch effort to keep you from getting the CEO position. I figured, if I could blow up your engagement before you made it official next month, I could remove you as an obstacle in my path to CEO. But when I went in for the kiss, she pushed me away. And when I asked why she would remain faithful to a conniving user like you, her answer surprised me…”