That reminded me of Phoebe. Fucking hell, everything reminded me of Phoebe today. I needed to talk to her. I’d postponed calling her all day because I didn’t want to disturb her at work, but I should have called her when I left the office. Now I’d just obsess all evening.
She’s not ready, Griffin.
Still, her idea of being friends was starting to take root. It was better than nothing.
The rest of the group arrived one after another. Jeremy didn’t even look at the bowls, just went straight for his pizza.
Chase whistled appreciatively as he ate up. “This is actually good.”
“You thought I’d buy shit for dinner?” I countered.
“No, but I was suspicious. It sounded…healthy.”
Chase took out his phone and frowned. “Hannah says the new guests are a handful. She can’t leave them. She asked if I could take her dinner with me.”
“Anytime you need help convincing that woman of yours not to overwork herself, we’re happy to help,” Knox said.
“Yeah, clearly you can’t do it by yourself,” Finn added.
Chase looked at them. “Is there a reason you’re particularly annoying this evening?”
“Can everyone just behave?” Duncan asked even though Jeremy was sitting in front of the TV, eating his pizza. There was no way he could hear us. Riley hadn’t come with them, so I assumed she was stuck at the office.
Wyatt flashed a shit-eating grin. “Not tonight. Stop stirring shit up, you two. Chase knows how to convince people. He’s just biding his time.” He looked at Chase. “Aren’t you?”
“Exactly.”
Wyatt fist-bumped the air. “See, I knew it.”
“Yeah, stop butting in,” Duncan added, looking pointedly at Finn and Knox.
Finn narrowed his eyes at Duncan. “Rumor has it, you asked Riley to be a lawyer at Sterling Investments, and she turned you down.”
“You did? Good for you, man,” I said.
“Where’s the good part?” Knox asked. “She turned him down.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“News flash, Knox. People have their own free will,” Wyatt countered.
“It’s just a matter of using the right arguments,” Finn said. He had a point.
Duncan shook his head. “Riley wants a career in a law firm. She doesn’t want to be a corporate lawyer for one company.”
I cleared my throat. “Speaking of using the right arguments, I’m happy to inform all of you that Jude changed his mind. I’m now in the running as an investor.”
“Congrats,” Chase said.
“Well done,” Duncan added.
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “So, wait, your winning argument was having a girlfriend?”
I laughed, stopping in the act of eating another forkful of my bowl. “I’m sure that helped tremendously. He wouldn’t have given me a second shot if I didn’t go to the dinner with Phoebe.”
“I’ll have to remember that as a business tactic,” Knox said.
“It wasn’t just a dinner,” I said quickly, then immediately stopped, but it was too late. My brothers were eerily silent.
