“Ladies,” he greeted us, his arm firmly around his woman’s waist. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Sophia.”
Madison practically jumped out of her chair in excitement. “It’s so good to meet you!” she exclaimed. “I’m Madison and this is Harlow.”
I expected Sophia to shrink from Madison and her overly excited greeting, but instead, a smile graced her face, and she easily stepped out of Griff’s hold. “It’s so lovely to meet you both.”
Griff whispered something in her ear and she nodded. He then brushed a quick kiss across her lips and left us.
As we all watched him go, Madison murmured, “Griff always did know how to keep a secret.”
Sophia took the seat next to Madison’s and when she eyed the wine bottle in the middle of the table, asked, “Can I please have some of your wine? It’s been a long day and to say I’m a little nervous about meeting everyone tonight is an understatement. Griff’s been holding back on introducing me, wanting time just for us, and while I’m the kind of woman who is willing to wait for my man to get stuff sorted in his mind, I’ve been dying to meet you all. And then he just announced last night that tonight was the night, and I kinda went into panic mode. You know, the whole, ‘what will I wear’, and ‘I’ve gotta get my hair done’, and ‘holy shit, I need new shoes’… So I’m thinking a glass or two of wine right about now would be good.” She stopped rambling and took a deep breath while eyeing us with the kind of look a woman gives another woman when they desperately need to be understood.
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Pushing the wine bottle her way, I said, “Knock yourself out. And can I just say, you are not at all the kind of woman I ever expected Griff to date. And I mean that in the best possible way.”
She poured herself a glass of wine, took a sip, and then said, “We’re a little bit different, yes.”
Madison had sat back down, and was staring at Sophia in what could only be described as wonder. Leaning her elbows on the table, she demanded, “Tell us everything – how you met Griff, how long you’ve been dating, all about you…we need to know everything .”
Sophia drank some more wine before placing her glass on the table and telling us everything Madison wanted to know. We were still deep in conversation twenty minutes later when Velvet arrived, and I’d already decided I loved Sophia. She was the kind of woman I loved to hang out with – funny, kind and honest – and I could see exactly why Griff had chosen her.
As Velvet took a seat and Madison made introductions, I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
The atmosphere in the restaurant was electric. Storm had worked long hours to get Trilogy back up and running, and the guys were celebrating hard. I made my way to the bathroom fairly easily, but got held up on my way back, so decided to backtrack and find another way through to my table.
Lost in my thoughts, I ran into Griff. “Whoa, Harlow, you okay?” he asked after we collided.
“Sorry, I was miles away.” I smiled up at him. “I love Sophia, and I’m really glad you finally introduced us.”
Griff was a man of few words and even less facial expressions, and he didn’t let me down. He simply nodded and said, “Figured it was time to bring her into the club.”
The way he said it made me think he could be making their relationship permanent, but I didn’t push him for more. The little he’d given me was probably all he planned on sharing.
“You do realise you’ve lost her to Madison now, right? At least for some hours every week. She’s planning weekly get togethers for the Storm women now.”
His lips twitched and he nodded again. “Figured that would happen. Sophia will love that.”
As I stood watching him and thinking about how much his life was changing, two hands slid around my waist and warm breath tickled my ear. “By my calculations there are about three more hours of tonight left before I can take you home and practice my proposal to you again. Don’t drink too much tonight, sweetheart, because I’m planning the longest fuckin’ proposal known to man.”
It should have been lust that whooshed through me at his words, but instead, guilt hit me fair in the chest.
I need to tell him there will be no more drinking for me for nine months.
I’ll tell him tonight.
Later.
Before I could respond, Griff’s phone rang and he gave Scott a perplexed look. Scott’s body tensed against mine as we listened to Griff’s call.
“Why are you calling me?” He spoke into the phone with irritation. “We settled the cash the other day which cleared up everything between you and the club.”
Silence while he listened, and then – “That shit’s between you, your brother and whoever the fuck he’s buying drugs from.”
He listened some more before moving his phone away from his mouth and saying to Scott, “It’s that chick we gave that money back to the other day…Says she’s got some drug dealers threatening her.”
“What the fuck does she want us to do about it?” Scott asked as he ran one of his hands over my ass. His body against mine and his hands all over me turned me on, but guilt still filled my mind, as did concern for Scarlett.
“She wants us to go to her house and help her.”
“Jesus, she kicks me in the balls and then wants my help?” Scott muttered.
Griff nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but I cut in. “I think we should help her. Scarlett doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who asks for help unless she really needs it.”