fades immediately. “But bring them by tomorrow if you want, I’ll send one of the prospects out to grab the groceries and you can do it as a trial run. Sound good?”
“I don’t know . . .”
“Natalie. What harm could it do? Worst case the girls don’t get along with some of the other kids, or we don’t like your cooking and the job isn’t yours.”
A chuckle slips through my lips. “I highly doubt that’ll be problematic.”
“Perfect. C’mon, I’ll walk you out.”
“How chivalrous of you.” I say, spotting my jacket on the back of his chair. I walk over and grab it, slide it on and slip on my panties and jeans before finding my boots and purse. Within a couple of minutes, we’re both dressed and heading downstairs into the club. He wraps his arm around my back and escorts me down the stairs. Though, as we reach the bottom step, I spot a woman with dark emerald green hair and glasses. She has freckles that cross over her nose to both cheeks and she’s in some sort of black lace bralette and pair of pajama shorts.
She looks at me for a few seconds before a word is even said. “Rosa, what’re you doin’ here?” Grim questions. Ah, this is the girl from the other night. The woman who has the hots for him.
The way he asks her is almost accusatory, like she shouldn’t be here in the first place. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t be, though.
“Rosa, you grab the vodka yet, or what?” I glance behind me and see Grim’s brother, Axel, who I was introduced to earlier last night.
Oh boy. I’m internally cringing because of how this looks. Grim’s best friend, who said she had feelings for him . . . and his brother . . . who appears to push his buttons any time he can.
Grim is caught looking between the two of them, rendered speechless. Axel goes down the side of the stairwell to her and wraps an arm around her, the same way Grim is doing to me. “I see I’m not the only man here who was able to keep my bed warm.”
From the corner of my eye I can see Grim clenching his jaw, trying not to react. Deciding I’ll be the one to break up this whole thing, I walk down a few steps and extend my hand to Rosa. “I’m Natalie, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”
She looks me up and down, seeming a bit uncomfortable. “Yeah, I know who you are.” She shakes my hand, though it’s obvious she isn’t happy to be chatting with me.
“C’mon, Java. Let me walk you to your car. I’m sure you wanna be home before the kids wake up.” Grim speaks up out of nowhere, clearing his throat at the end. He comes down the rest of the stairs and takes my hand, practically pulling me away from them. We walk through the club until we’re outside, sucking in the frigid November air.
“Whoa,” I mutter, unable to look anywhere but his face. I want to see his expression. I want to know if he feels anything else besides friendship for her, ‘cause that’ll nix this really quick and I’m not gonna waste my time.
“Whoa isn’t strong enough for that shit. Did she seriously fuck my brother?” He seems disgusted by it.
“Did he, though? We don’t know that he did. They could’ve just been hanging out.” I come to her defense, hoping it’ll calm Grim down in the process.
“Axel loves to fuck with me, c’mon. We both know better. He knows Rosa and I had a fight the other day when she said the shit she did and I didn’t reciprocate those feelings. He’s only screwing around with her to get at me.”
I don’t get it. Brothers are aggressive, sure, but do they actually do things like this? “Did something happen between you?” It feels like such an odd question to ask, because it’s really none of my business, but Grim has been so honest with me so far. Here’s to hoping he’ll continue.
“Axel and I used to get along really well, but some shit happened a couple years ago and we’ve never been the same.”
“A fight, or something?”
Grim leans against the double doors we just came through and shakes his head. “Nah, I wish it was as simple as that. We were sharin’ the same woman for a while, and I know it probably comes as a shock . . .