Page 69 of Havenfall Harbor
“Coffee, black.” Griffin steps forward so he’s at the counter with me, while Evan shakes his head in denial, staying put.
“To go cups or…?”
“To go is good.” I look at Griffin to make sure he’s okay with that, and he doesn’t object so I assume he’s fine.
Instead, he says, “I’ll wait.” And tips his head back, silently telling me to join Evan. I want to roll my eyes at him, but I feel like this is him trying to be helpful.
Before going, I reach into my purse and pull out a ten-dollar bill, laying it on the counter. “My treat.”
Griffin turns his head slowly and lasers those impossibly turquoise blue eyes on me. “No,” is all he says. No explanation, not a thanks anyway, just no.
Evan steps up close behind me while I’m in a stare off with Griffin. “Did you see this?” He draws my attention from grumpy Griffin. Ha, I think I’m going to start calling him GG.
I leave the bill on the counter and pivot to focus on Evan. His hand is lifted, pointing to a mural painted on one of the walls. I let him draw me away from Griffin and to the painting. We pass by a couple sitting on a loveseat. I can feel their eyes on us, but I ignore it.
“This is Havenfall.” He points to a small, grand building on the map surrounded by greenery. I lean in closer and examine the painting. The detail is exquisite, you can even see the black fence surrounding the estate. It really gives me an idea of the massive size of the property. As I let my eyes study the rest of the wall, I see rivers and creeks intersecting into larger bodies of water, and the beginnings of mesas near the Rocky Mountains. The town of Bakersville sits near the middle of the landscape, the buildings resembling multicolored rectangles, but you can still see the detail put into each storefront.
“Wow, this is amazing.” I glance at the bottom corners to see if the artwork has been signed. Sure enough, the right corner has some scribbling and the year 2001 noted.
Griffin walks over with a cup in each hand and offers me the smaller of the two. His eyes scan the wall quickly. I glance around and note a few other small painted murals. The couple on the loveseat pretends they aren’t still watching us, looking away quickly. I pat my hair down and push a piece behind my ear, wondering what they could find so interesting.
Griffin leads the way out of the shop soon after, holding the door for Evan and me as we exit. “Where to next, tour guides?” I blow into the small hole on top of the cup before taking a sip. I let out an appreciative hum. It’s good, hot but not scalding, with just the right amount of honey and not too strong.
Evan looks in both directions and motions to the left. “This way?” Without any real destination, we stroll past the stores as they all start to open for the day. Eyes follow us as we go. I’m stationed between the two men, and both are good-looking enough to turn some heads, but it’s not just women watching us. Eventually, we reach the end of the row of stores. There’s a large, green area with a few tables out in the open, and a metal gazebo structure with a bright red roof in the middle. We make our way over to one of the farthest tables, half in the shadow of the gazebo. Griffin pours himself onto the bench without an ounce of effort, making it look elegant while I lift my leg and get my shoe caught on the concrete bench before I can hop on one foot to get my leg under the table. Evan places his hand on my back to steady me as I clumsily sit down.
“Why do I feel like we just walked through a fishbowl?” I have my cup up to my mouth, half obscuring my face. “Everyone is watching us.”
“Not everyone, they haven’t looked at us once.” Griffin motions to a teenaged couple, their faces are close together as they study a phone screen. The boy chuckles and the girl gives him a slight jab in the ribs with her elbow. The boy looks over then and steals a sweet little peck from the girl before they both resume watching the phone.
“Probably watchingthe YouTube,”I mock playfully, but I forget that Evan and Griffin are probably too old to get the reference.
“Nah, probably Pornhub.” I nearly spit out my tea at Evan’s words. The huge smile on his face says he knew exactly what he was doing. I end up using the sleeve of my shirt to blot my lips—my mother would have a stroke if she saw me.
“So it’s true what they say?” I cock my head to the side and give him a Bambi stare.
“What’s that?” Griffin places his elbows on the cement tabletop.
“Men never really do get past adolescence,” I tease.
The corners of Griffin’s mouth droops into a heavy frown. I think I’ve offended him. I open my mouth to tell him I was just joking and apologize—I keep forgetting he’s my freaking boss—but he leans over the table so he’s closer to me, and says, “Anytime you want to test that theory, I’m available.” My stomach tightens. It’s not so much what he said, but how he said it. His voice is pitched low, slightly growly. I cover my hot cheek with my hand and avert my gaze before forcing out a chuckle. It ends out sounding way throatier than I intended.
Griffin
Shit,Quinn is embarrassed and turned on. I can actually sense the blood rushing to her nipples and between her thighs. I may not be able to scent her the way a shifter could, but being a vampire allows me to hear even the slightest change in her heart and blood flow. Venom hits my tongue with the need to taste her.
Evan clasps his hand on my shoulder and gives me a rough shake. I hadn’t even realized I was moving to stand up. Hell, this woman has me acting like I’m newly blooded.
“Are you done with your tea? Want to walk up the other side?” Evan suggests, releasing my shoulder once he knows I’m back under control.
Quinn stands, and my eyes are drawn to her ass as she leans over the table to pull her legs over the bench. “Sure, let me toss this, are you done?” Her clear blue eyes land on me for a second. I hand her my cup—making sure our fingers touch—even though I’ve barely drank any. It’s not like I need to, it’s just something I do for normalcy, and I do quite like coffee.
The blush on her cheeks reignites as she takes my cup and walks rather quickly over to a large, green metal trash can. “Didn’t you just warn me that I was scaring her?” Evan keeps his eyes locked on Quinn, even though she’s only a few feet away from us.
“That was not fear, my friend.”
Evan tips his head back and lets out a chuff of a laugh at my words. I smile along with him and my face freezes. How long has it been since I’ve felt this way? How long has it been since he’s felt this way? Have we ever? It’s a sobering thought, considering we’ve been friends for ages. I hadn’t realized until this moment we were both more like two miserable old bastards who needed each other. I don’t think we’ve done anything but spar and eat together, which would make us real friends, yet he is my best friend.
Quinn returns to us, the redness on her cheeks gone, but her eyes are bright as she volleys her gaze between us. “What did I miss this time?”
