As I started to leave the booth, Skylar popped his head back in with a grin. “So? How did it go?”
“Fine,” I said. I forced another fake smile and hoped that he couldn't tell the difference. If there was one thing I was good at, it was faking my emotions - even if Skylardidknow me well. I returned his grin and he didn't seem to notice anything was wrong.
“Great!” Skylar turned to Griffin. “Did you like it? Was it fun? I’ve never used one of these things myself...”
From the corner of my eye I saw a smile on Griffin's face. I didn't know him well enough to tell if it was a fake or not, like mine was.
“I definitely felt unprepared,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe next time I'll understand it enough to do it properly.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick leather wallet. As he reached for a bill, Skylar quickly said, “No, no! That's fine. You don't need to pay. Since this was just a test run, this is on the house.” He looked back at Kaden and asked, “Right?”
Kaden nodded. “Yep. Besides, if we were going to charge you, we would have told you beforehand. Otherwise that wouldn't be very nice of us would it?”
But Griffin was shaking his head. He thrust the bill into Skylar's hands. I didn't see the number on it but Skylar's eyes widened in awe.
“I insist,” Griffin said. “Take it. The money goes to omega charity anyway, doesn't it?”
Kaden joined Skylar in looking surprised when he saw the number on the bill. He nodded vigorously and confirmed, “Yes, it does. But I... Are you sure, sir?”
Griffin smiled. “Yes, of course. people less fortunate than me need this more than I do. And besides, Jake and I received a service and we deserve to give some sort of compensation. Isn't that right, Jake?”
I didn't know why he was trying to rope me into his game. But when I saw the number on the bill - a big fat fifty - my eyes nearly fell out of my skull. I was too shocked to even answer. I was expecting a five or maybe a ten at most. What kind of cash did he have on him to give away a fifty so freely?
When I caught Griffin arch an eyebrow at me, I realized he was waiting for my response.
What does he want from me?I wondered.What is he trying to prove with the stunts? There's no way he’s actually that altruistic, is he? Or is he just trying to show off to get me to feel bad about snapping at him earlier?
“Yes,” I finally said. “It's for a good cause.” To make my act more convincing, I put my hand on Skylar's shoulder and nodded. “Take it.”
Skylar and Kaden seemed to buy it. Maybe they were too excited at the prospect of such a big chunk of change for the charity that they didn't question its intent. But I wasn't so naive. I knew Griffin had to be up to something. If I could only understand what his motives were.
But there was one thing for sure. There was no way he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart.
“I better get going,” Griffin said. He caught my eye but didn't speak directly to me. “My friend has been waiting for me for quite some time now.” Adding to Skylar, he said, “Thanks for your help with the booth. It was quite an interesting experience.”
He walked away before anyone else could speak.
“Oh,” Kaden said. He came back out of the booth, holding a glossy strip of paper in his hands. “He forgot the photos.”
I'd completely forgotten about them as well. Did Griffin leave them there on purpose? Without thinking, I reached out for them. After all, they were as muchmyphotos as they were his.
As I took them from Kaden's hands, I wondered why the hell I did that. I didn'twantthem. What was I supposed to do with them? After all that effort, I couldn't just throw them out, especially not right in front of Skylar and Kaden. Maybe on the way home I could ditch them so Skylar didn't see them in our garbage our place.
But as I looked down at the photos, my chest tightened in an unfamiliar way.
In all three photos, Griffin was wearing a big, genuine smile.
On the way home, I passed multiple trash cans. But every time I reached for the photos in my pocket, I hesitated. For whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out. I finally gave up and pinned them up on my corkboard with a scowl.
There,I thought.A cherished memory of the most annoying alpha I’ve ever met.
