ARIEL
Me and Alana have been talking for about 15 minutes now. She's really fun.
"And I was in Paris for my honeymoon just a few months ago-"
"Alana." A calm, lethal voice vibrates making me stand up straighter. I look at the tall guy behind her, his frame twice her size.
"Hi." she turns with a smile. How is she not terrified of this man. His sharp, cool green eyes look at me, swirling with suspicion. He then looks back at Alana. His eyes look almost exactly like-
"You said you were getting a drink." he says, his eyes softer as he talks to her.
"Yes, and I did." She shakes her glass of Iced tea. The man grunts in annoyance. "Calm down babe. I was just talking to- Oh this is Ariel." Alana introduces with a smile.
The man just nods.
"Ariel, this is Ares, my husband." she says, giving me an apologetic look.
"It's nice to meet you, I um, Im going to-"
"You found her." A disinterested drawl interrupts me, and I can feel the persons presence just behind me. The worst part is, I know exactly who it is. "Lana you should really stay with him. He acts like a nervous penguin when you're not around." he continues.
I slowly turn around, the wind gets knocked out of me at the proximity. I didn't realize he was standing that close. Griffin's eyes trail down lazily, and when they meet mine, I see a glint of what I assume is surprise before his mask of indifference is back like a cloud.
"Ms. Russo." He greets. I give a tight lipped smile, stepping towards the side so Im not facing my back to Alana and her husband.
"Mr. Moretti."
"You two know each other?" Alana asks, ger eyes sparkling.
"No."
"No" We both say at the same time. I scowl at Griffin.
Rude.
"No?" She questions. I sigh.
"Well we know eachother from work. And we both went to Princeton." I inform.
"Oh." She says, smiling at Griffin.
"Well Griffin is my brother in law." She tells me. My eyes widen.
"You're related to him?" I ask, shock coating my tone. "But youre so- And he is so.." I don't even know what I am saying.
"So?" Griffin challenges making me glare.
"Well we're going to go, um, talk." Alana says, grabbing her husbands arm and leaving.
I look back at Griffin, my stomach turning when I find him already looking at me.
"I suppose you have a reason for being here aswell." He says. I scoff.
"I am here with my family. We were invited. As I am sure you were too." I say to him.
"Do not think I have forgotten your remark from earlier this week. No one speaks to me like that Ms. Russo." He says, his voice bone chilling.
"Well, I'm sorry that no one does. Maybe if more people told you, you wouldn't be so mean. And you are rude. You just said you didn't know me." I accuse.
"You said the same thing." he says, finally some emotion swirling in his voice. So what if it was irritation.
"It's different when I say it." I throw my hands up.
"How is it different?"
"Because I am mad at you, for calling me incompetent. What is your excuse?" I step closer to him, craning my neck up so I can look at him. He is huge. With his hard, muscular body, wide chest and what must atleast be a 6ft tall form, I should be scared of him. But I am not.
"You're mad?" he mocks. I feel my face heat.
"No, I am not anything at you." I say. How does he have the ability to make me so mad so quickly.
"Ariel." I hear behind me so I quickly turn.
"Hardin." I address him. He eyes Griffin behind me.
"What are you doing?" he questions. I just shrug. "Mr. Moretti." He nods which makes my eye twitch.
How does everyone know him?
"Ariel, let's go." He puts a hand on the small of my back, pushing me to move. I turn to glare at the green eyed monster but falter when I see his eyes burning with something akin to anger, but not quite, staring at my back.
I guess I really pissed him off. Good.
GRIFFIN
"Ariel, let's go." The man says, putting his hand on her back, pushing her to walk. My eyes narrow in on the touch and I look back at her to see if she wants me to break his hand for touching her.
But she's still looking at me, her anger directed at me. Son of a bitch she's unbelievable.
"So, who was she." I hear a teasing voice behind me and I turn to see Alana and Ares, standing there. My brother looks uninterested as his hand is tightly wrapped around his wife.
"No one." I say, gesturing the bartender to get me a whiskey.
"Come onn. Im bored. Tell me how you know her. Did you date in college?" Alana asks excitedly. I sip my whiskey.
"We did not. We've spoken a total of 3 times before today." I rasped, the burn of the whiskey familiar.
"Oh." She deflates. "Well I was talking to her for so long, she is so wonderful. And funny. Great company. I am sure she would make for a lovely guest-"
"What are you doing?" I ask her, suspicion rising within me.
"What do you mean?" Alana innocently presses herself into my brother at my stare.
"Baby you're hinting at something. Just tell him." Ares chimes in.
"Well I was thinking, since she's helping with the cake for my gender reveal, I would invite her to-"
"Absolutely not." I rebuke. Alana pouts. "Lana I am serious, if I see her in the house I will-"
"Careful how you finish that sentence." Ares growls. I shoot him a wry look.
"Really? I wasn't fucking going to threaten your precious wife, prick."
"Hey!" Alana shrieks, her face reddened with embarrassment. "That was mean." She scolds.
"Sorry." I say. I feel my back teeth clench.
I never say that word to anyone but her and Mama but it's foreign on my tongue.
"It's okay." she smiles sweetly. A little too sweet. "You have made it up to me by letting me invite Ariel." she says, floating away on cloud nine.
Ares shoots me a smug smirk over his shoulder as he leads her away. I swear she is the only one who gets away with this.
