Take Me for Granted (Take Me #1)(48)

“Syd, you know you can have these…muscles anytime you want,” Vin said, thrusting her hips against him to emphasize exactly what he’d meant.

Her hand slipped between them, and his eyes widened further.

“I’ve been dreaming about your dick. Actually, I’ve been dreaming about you drilling it into me.”

“Let me take you upstairs right now and give it to you, baby,” he groaned. “I got all the dick you’ll ever need.”

“All four inches?” she asked with a devilish smirk. “Or is it five now?”

The watching crowd started laughing at her insult. I covered my mouth and shot Grant a look. He nodded his head back to them as if to say, It gets better.

“You know I’m a solid eight inches. Don’t even mess around.”

“Eight inches? What are you measuring with?” Her hands made quick work with his belt and then went for the zipper next. “Let me get a good look just to make sure.”

“You’ve f**king seen it before. The next time you see it, we’ll measure it inside your pu**y where it belongs.”

“Oh, Vinny,” she cooed, “we all know you’re an ass man.” She winked.

“I’d f**k your ass, too.”

Sydney turned and shimmied her body down his and then back up, gripping his hips. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck, tilted her head back, and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “Maybe next time, lover,” she said before walking away from him.

“Is it just a game?” I asked, trying to comprehend what I’d just witnessed.

“One they’ve been playing since she got tits,” Grant told me. “Vin always made fun of her when she was a kid, and then she turned out…well, like Sydney. He’s wanted all over that ever since. I think she gets more amusement out of torturing him.”

“So, she’s not even interested in him?”

“Last I checked, no.”

“Still no,” Sydney said, coming up behind me. “No Vin for me, but I think your friend digs him.”

I turned back to Vin and saw that he had Cheyenne pressed against the side of the brick fireplace. Their lips were locked, and hands were roaming all over the place.

“So, are you going to come home for the holidays?” Sydney asked Grant. She seemed completely unperturbed by what had happened. “Randy was pissed that you missed Thanksgiving.”

Randy—that name sounds familiar. “Wait, Randy from the pizza place?”

“Uh…yeah,” Sydney said, eyeing me suspiciously. “Duffie’s.”

“Syd…” Grant said softly.

“Why would he be pissed that you missed Thanksgiving?” I asked hesitantly.

Grant just looked down.

Sydney answered for him, “Because Randy’s my dad. Sydney Duffie. Nice to meet you.”

My mouth dropped open as it all came together. Randy was Sydney’s dad. That made Randy…Grant’s uncle. No wonder they had been so accommodating when we were there. We’d had the best seat in the place. Randy had been so happy to see Grant and to see that he had brought a girl to the restaurant. I didn’t know why he hadn’t told me that it was his uncle’s place before this moment.

“You took me to Duffie’s and didn’t tell me that it was your uncle’s place?”

“Whoa! You took the chick home?” Sydney asked.

“Sydney,” Grant snapped, shaking his head.

“Um…what am I missing?” I asked.

“I know you said she didn’t know, Grant, but—”

“Sydney!” he practically shouted. He pointed away from him. “Go.”

Sydney rolled her big brown eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to go find Miller.”

I waited until he had calmed down a bit before speaking. “What don’t I know?”

“Ari, I can’t…” He took a deep breath. “There are some things that you don’t know about me.”

I nodded. There was a lot that he didn’t know about me. “I want to know though.”

“You might have a different impression about me.” He looked completely torn.

I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to tell me or because he really wanted to tell me.

“How could I have a different impression about you?”

He shook his head and glanced away from me. “I don’t really talk about it. The guys don’t even know. Well, they know some of it but not all of it.”

“The guys don’t know?” I was shocked.

They were his best friends. He’d known them since middle school. What could he tell me that he hadn’t even told them?

“Yeah.”

“Does this have something to do with your family?”

The last time he’d brought up his dad, he had completely clammed up, and now, Sydney had just been talking about his uncle. I didn’t know what it was, but I could piece together some context clues.

His eyes stared down at me in utter shock. “How…”

“Good guess.” I gently laced our fingers together.

His brow furrowed, and he looked like he was warring with himself. I’d never seen him look so…vulnerable.

“You can trust me,” I whispered.