GRIND: A Stepbrother Romance Read online

  9

  Gabi

  The empty office area was already halfway filled with boxes and bags of canned goods and nonperishable items, plus a fat stack of checks next to an even fatter stack of cash donations sitting on top of the table nearest to me. I stood back, watching as Martha and a couple of other ladies in the office rifled through everything, checking it all out.

  “I have to say, Ms. De Leon, this is probably one of the best food drives we’ve had in recent years. Nothing at all like that dismal turnout from last year,” Martha remarked, closing one of the bags with a smile. “I know the food banks will be absolutely delighted to see what we have for them.”

  I beamed back at her. I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself for having put together everything, and even though it didn’t feel like it was nearly enough to help out those in need, I felt like I was contributing somehow. “Well, it’s all thanks to everyone who chipped in. Especially you ladies, helping me with all this. It’s a lot of stuff for one person to handle. I’m going to go ahead and take the money down to the treasurer’s office, and get started on the transfer over to the head at the food bank. Do any of you ladies need anything from downstairs?”

  “I think we’re all good here, dear. Thank you. Oh, actually Ms. De Leon? Would you mind letting your father know that Mr. Graham has that citywide ordinance drafted, and would like to get his eyes on it when he gets the chance? I would go tell him myself, but,” she gestured to all the bags and boxes still left to go through, “I might need a little more time in here.”

  “Of course, Martha. I’ll let him know as soon as I’m done. Thank you all so much for your help!” I said, giving them all a quick wave before heading out the door.

  I passed by a few people I knew, trying not to stop and chat with them as I had a bad habit of doing. I wanted to stay on top of everything instead of letting distractions get to me.

  “Ms. De Leon, I just wanted to tell you that I saw the turnout of the food drive so far. Very impressive,” Councilmember Ramirez said, giving me a thumbs-up. He and my dad had worked together for a long time, even before either one of them were on the City Council.

  “Thank you so much, Mr. Ramirez. I tried to do my best.”

  “Say, you’re really into this project, aren’t you? I don’t suppose maybe you’d like to help out in future projects over in the Infrastructure department, would you? Of course, this would be a paid position, not voluntary as your food drive project was. I know your dad probably put you on it, with the reelection and whatnot going on, but I really think you’d be a good addition to my team. What do you think?”

  What did I think!? I was absolutely flabbergasted, struggling to put together words. But I smoothed it over, thanking him. “I think that I would definitely be interested. Let me put together a resume just for formality purposes, and I can get it over to you within the week. Would that be okay with you?”

  It had been something that I’d been thinking about a lot, especially after everything that Jacob had said. I wanted to do more than sit and look pretty for my dad, and what better way than to work toward another project with a different department? It would keep me busy, at least.

  “Perfect. I’ll keep an eye out on my inbox for it. Good luck with the rest of the food drive, Gabrielle,” he said, shaking my hand like an equal.

  I had to admit, it felt good not to be seen as just my dad’s daughter for once in this building.

  With the file and money in hand, I took the stairs for extra exercise down to the twenty-fourth floor, where the treasurer’s office was.

  “Well good afternoon, Ms. De Leon. I don’t suppose that’s for me, is it?” Nancy, the treasurer’s office clerk, asked as I strolled up to her desk.

  I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. This is for the food bank for this week. We have everything written down and broken down by donation, and I would appreciate a receipt for every transaction, if that’s okay. The checks total $3,212.64, and there is $1,252.81 in cash. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to double that next week,” I said, handing the file to her.

  Nancy’s eyes went wide. “Oh my, that sounds better than last year. Gabrielle, you did one heck of a job. Everything that you did to get everyone involved really made a difference.”

  “Thank you so much, Nancy. That really means a lot to me, especially coming from you.”

  Nancy had run the food bank drive two years in a row previously, and I knew that she knew just how much went into it. It was almost like herding cats trying to get everyone to contribute.

  After chitchatting with her for a few more minutes, I headed back upstairs to see if I could find my dad and talk to him on behalf of Martha. The plan was to finish up in the office with the other ladies, before going out and grabbing some lunch with Britney and Sasha. Sasha finally had a chance to take a couple of days off from work, without her boyfriend Dex being up her ass no less, so we wanted to do something nice with her.

  I knocked on Dad’s office door, waiting.

  And waiting. And waiting some more… Where the hell was he? Wasn’t he supposed to be in his office, taking phone calls at this hour?

  I frowned, turning around to see if I could find him anywhere. I walked down a few doors, to Mr. Powers’ office, hoping to find him there, but when I peeked around the open door, Mr. Powers was typing away on his computer, facing the opposite direction. I didn’t want to interfere with whatever he was doing, so I kept going.

  A few men were standing around at the end of the hallway, and I assumed my dad was in the middle. I got closer until I heard his voice. I hung back for a minute, not wanting to interrupt them, but I couldn’t help but overhear their loud conversation about my dad’s reelection coming up.

  “Leonard here thinks he’s got this one in the bag, fellas. What do you think, Gerald?” one of them asked, nudging a short, stockier man that I didn’t recognize.

  “In the bag, huh? I don’t know, Leonard. Sujit Patil was doing pretty good last time I checked. She might just give you a real run for your money this year.”

  I could hear my dad scoffing. “The woman has no political experience, whatsoever. She’s a great leader, don’t get me wrong, but I think she should stay where she belongs. In the court room.”

  A couple of them chuckled, and I felt myself wondering if maybe I shouldn’t just leave altogether. This may not have been a conversation I wanted to be privy to.

  “Sure, but a lot of people said the same about you, if I recall,” John Andrews, another colleague of my dad’s, replied.

  “The campaign’s running strongly, John, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As long as nothing gets in the way, of course.”

  Even more laughing. “I’d hate to be the person who stood in your way, Leonard. You’re one scary son of a bitch when you want to be,” someone else chimed in.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up, making me feel rather uncomfortable. This was the side of my dad I never saw, and I had to admit, it wasn’t something I was all too thrilled about.

  “You know that other guy… What’s his name? Demetrio, right? He’s all about trying to dig up some dirt on you. You don’t have any skeletons in the closet, do you?” John joked, leaning back.

  I turned away from the group of men, until I was halfway hidden behind a door to an empty office.

  “Me? Hardly. I don’t think you’re really going to have to worry that much about that. Even Jennifer and I talked about it. I asked her if she was okay considering the fact that someone probably would find out about her and I being together, because you’re right, John, that Demetrio bastard really does want to try and find something out to hinder my campaign. But she seemed all right with it. Told me she could hardly care less what other people thought of us. So since she isn’t bothered by it, I’m not either.”

  “Good man, good man,” one of them said.

  “And your daughter? I saw she’s been handling the annual food bank drive this year. Good on her, stepping up like that,” one of the other m
en added, his voice familiar.

  My dad was all business now. “Gabrielle is very responsible. She’s got a good grip on the food drive project, and I know she knows where we stand. She knows better than to do anything that might, well, look bad. We’ve has the talk before. It was pretty hard when Denise died, Gabi had a difficult time dealing with it. Hell, so did I. It didn’t look so great in the news, but I think everyone just chalked it up to her grief, which was understandable. This time however, no, I don’t think I have anything to worry about. She’s a smart girl.”

  They continued talking, discussing whatever city ordinance Martha had been talking about earlier, and I slipped away, hoping that no one saw me standing there listening.

  I couldn’t believe he was just talking to them about me like that… so openly… as if my feelings weren’t necessary. He made it sound so ominous about things getting in his way… It wasn’t the Leonard De Leon I knew.

  And then I thought about Jacob…

  What if my dad found out about him? If we became official I would want him to meet Jacob eventually, wouldn’t I? Shouldn’t I? I was sure he would be impressed with Jacob’s shot at becoming a doctor, but there was the whole business of him also being a stripper on the side. That… might complicate things in my dad’s eyes.

  What if I just didn’t mention Jacob at all to my dad?

  But then I thought about how Jacob might react to that, circling back around to whether I should tell my dad or not. If Jacob and I were really dating, which at that point I figured we were, wouldn’t he be hurt if I didn’t want him to meet my dad? I knew that if that were the other way around, I most certainly would be.

  I slumped into my car when I made it to the parking garage, banging my fist on the wheel and scaring the hell out of a couple of people as the horn went off.

  What the hell was I going to do if my dad had an issue with me dating Jacob?

  10

  Jacob

  I waved at a couple of my classmates before finding my truck in the parking lot. It’d been a grueling meeting, going over that week’s latest heart condition case. The meeting had lasted an extra two hours longer than normal.

  All I wanted to do was to go home, take a shower, and call up Gabi to see if she wanted to maybe hang out. Ever since a few nights ago when she had basically explained that we were dating, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even more so than before. It felt kind of surreal to think that I had a girlfriend, much more that I was dating Gabrielle De Leon.

  I started the ignition, checking my mirrors before turning the radio up, finding the right station. Sometimes my shitty stereo had the worst reception. But my favorite station was coming in okay, so I left it on, reversing out of the parking space as the DJ started going on about the daily headlines.

  The guy was laughing about something, talking to someone else who was calling in for the audience part of the show.

  “What an idiot,” I mumbled to myself, listening to the person on the line complaining about their girlfriend dressing too sexy. Who complained about something like that? If it were up to me, Gabi would walk around completely naked at her leisure. It was a damn shame she had to hide her rocking body. The guy was just another insecure prick, probably.

  “Hey man, I’m thinking you might need to take a few pictures of your girl for us, just so we can, you know, evaluate,” the DJ said, laughing as the guy tried to lay into him over the radio. He cut him off before the guy had the chance to hang up. “Well, that was exciting, folks. All right, before we take another call here, why don’t we go through the last headline for the day? Oh wow, Rick, did you see this one today?”

  Rick, the other DJ, chuckled into the mic. “Oh yeah, Steve. It seems to be the latest gossip around town. Check this out, man, and I’m reading this straight from the newspaper’s website, mind you. Mayor De Leon’s daughter, not such a goody two shoes?”

  “I mean I never really thought she was anyways, but you will you look at this? Apparently, Gabrielle De Leon has been seeing some stripper at one of those sleazy clubs down at the other end of the Boulevard, and there’s even a picture of the two of them holding hands. Damn, man, she grew up fast!”

  I nearly stomped my foot on the brake pedal, my blood beginning to boil. What the fuck?

  “But I’m telling you, this is hilarious! You know the mayor’s trying to keep his reputation all squeaky clean, living in that swanky mission up in the hills. And then she starts to go out sleeping with strippers? You don’t think she’s stripping on the side somewhere, too, do you? Wouldn’t that be ironic as hell?” The two of them started laughing, discussing the picture of Gabi and I in great length, leaving me seething in my truck as I pulled over to the side of the road.

  “Is it just me or is one of those buttons on her dress a little… off?” Steve chuckled. “I mean I’m not trying to start rumors or anything but I’m pretty sure they must have just had a nice romantic stroll to themselves in this picture, if you get what I mean.”

  “You two are so ridiculous,” the female DJ finally piped up, her voice condescending. “Just because a girl likes a little fun, doesn’t mean anything. I’m sure Daddy isn’t too happy with her, though, because like you said that reelection campaign is all he’s got going for him. But she looks happy! I’m sure she’s just doing what, sowing her wild oats or something?”

  “Yeah, it’s what the rich princesses do in the hills. Try and find some poor sleazebag to kick it with, making them feel like they’re living in the real world or whatever.”

  I had to turn the radio off, nearly breaking the knob in my hand.

  What the hell was I going to do? What if they were right?

  No… I was being stupid. Of course they were just talking shit about us because they didn’t know any better. But the truth remained that it was all over the papers, apparently, and there was no doubt in my mind that Mayor De Leon was going to have a thing or two to say about that.

  I groaned, rubbing my temples before putting the truck back into drive. It was probably going to come out sooner or later, but this was not the way I wanted things to go down.

  11

  Gabi

  The moment I got the phone call from my dad’s cell phone, dread filled me up from the bottom to the top. My dad almost never called me, much less on his cell phone. It was always from his work phone in his office. It reminded me too much of the morning he called me from the doctor’s office, when Mom was diagnosed years ago.

  I took in a steady breath. “Hey, Dad. Is everything okay?”

  It was hard not to feel the tension through the phone.

  “Gabrielle. I don’t suppose you’ve checked the paper today, have you?”

  It was a really odd thing for him to say. I wasn’t exactly known for reading the ‘papers.’

  “…No?”

  He made a noise of discontent, and I could hear him shuffling something around in his hand. What the hell was going on?

  “I would appreciate it very much if you could swing by the house. There are a few things I’d like to talk to you about. If you’re available.” He sounded so formal, as if I was one of the people he worked with and could only barely stand.

  “Okay, yeah. I’ll be over there in about fifteen minutes, I guess. Are you sure everything’s okay?”

  Dad cleared his throat. “I will see you then.”

  The call ended right after, cutting me off before I could say anything. Okay… Something was definitely going on. And the sooner I looked at the papers, or more likely the news on my phone, the better I would be prepared for whatever kind of shitstorm was brewing over at my dad’s house.

  “I better grab a cup of coffee,” I muttered to myself, pouring the dark liquid into my favorite mug, sipping it carefully. He was lucky I was already dressed. I wasn’t usually up this early in the morning.

  Reaching for my phone, I flicked through the old headlines until I found exactly what I was looking for: Girl Gone Wild: Mayor’s Daughter Dating a Stripper.
/>   The blood drained from my face. I guessed I wasn’t going to have a chance to consider whether or not to tell my dad about Jacob and me.

  Because he already knew.

  I groaned, not even bothering to read the damn article. It wasn’t like it was a lie, or anything. Plus, it probably was only just going to piss me off even more. I could only imagine what my dad was thinking… And I was sure he would let me know as soon as I got there.

  I sighed as I finished my coffee, slipping my shoes on and grabbing the keys before heading out the door.

  By the time I made it up the steps to the front door of the house I grew up in, I was practically sweating. I hated the idea of my dad being upset with me, but there was just no denying it. I was going to have to grin and bear it, and try to calmly explain the situation to him, that was all.

  Too bad it was a hell of a lot easier said than done…

  “Miss Gabi,” Sierra, my dad’s housekeeper, greeted me as she let me inside. She was the newest in the line of many, since my dad didn’t have the greatest patience when it came to his staff at home. I couldn’t help but feel bad for everyone who had to work for him.

  “Good morning, Sierra. Do you know where he is?”

  She nodded, and I could tell by the slight frown on her face that he most definitely was not in the chatting mood. “In his office, Miss Gabi.”

  I thanked her and made the long walk upstairs, feeling almost like someone on trial for a crime they didn’t commit.

  I knocked softly on his door, and cringed as I heard the stark reply, “Come in and close the door behind you.”

  I did as he asked, remembering not to stare at the floor too much. That was always a big pet peeve of his when I was growing up.

  My dad was standing in front of the window, having pushed aside the curtains, looking out onto the grounds. “I’ve been mayor of this city for seven years now, Gabrielle. Seven. Years. Two terms. And I’ve been hoping… and determined, in fact, to make that three terms. It seems that you might have other things in mind, however.”