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I frowned. “When would I ever say that?”
He shrugged, biting off half of his slice. “You never know.”
“Is everyone else asleep?” Mason asked.
“Matteo broke it off with that chick, and he came back a while ago. We all had a few beers together before he passed out in his room downstairs. Taylor went to bed a little before that, and Nate knocked off the same time as Matteo. Me, I’ve been up and waiting for you two lovebirds to stop doing the mating dance in the garage.” He winked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Didn’t think I’d figured it out, did you?”
“It’s the only place we could’ve been if we’d already arrived. You checked the pool house, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” Logan picked up his second piece. “I saw you pull up, and I went searching when you didn’t come in. I knew you guys wanted privacy, but my inner Harriet the Spy was nagging me. I got curious.” He frowned to himself. “Just now remembered we have a garage. Why don’t we ever use the garage?”
“Because it’s only three slots wide. We could park six cars in there, but someone would always have to be moving their car out of the way. It’d be too much of a hassle.”
“Thank God Mom’s got a huge-ass driveway.” Logan looked at the pizza on my plate and nudged it closer to me. “The only way it gets to your stomach is if you eat it, Sam.”
“I know, dumbass.”
He smirked. “You’re calling me the dumbass when you’re the one who needs to be reminded how to eat. Put it in and chew—unless it’s Mason’s dick. Don’t chew then. Please, don’t chew. I don’t want to take my brother to the emergency room for that.”
“Logan.” Mason glared. “Stop talking about my dick.”
“What else is there to talk about? You haven’t brought up what you wanted to talk about, and I keep thinking about what I could be doing with my dick while I’m sitting here waiting.”
Logan spoke as if that made perfect sense. I shook my head and picked up my pizza. He was right. I needed something in my stomach. I’d done too much physical activity over the last twenty-four hours.
As if both had been waiting for me to start eating, as soon as I took my first bite, Mason said, “We need to figure out what to do about Caldron.”
“What do you mean?” Logan was all business now.
“I wanted something on Quinn first before asking Dad to help deal with Caldron.” Mason grimaced. “That didn’t happen.”
“Yet,” Logan corrected. “It didn’t happen yet. We can still trade it in when we find something. What were you going to ask Dad to do?”
“Promote him.”
“Say what?” Logan pretended to clean his ear out. “I heard that wrong, right?”
“We have to deal with things differently. Your girlfriend’s right. We can’t keep doing the shit we’re doing. My football career is another reason besides Sam’s safety—well, our safety, too. I get caught doing anything, I could not have a football career. One video, and I’m fucked.”
“Yeah.” Logan sighed. “Those were the good old days, when we didn’t give a shit. Growing up sucks. Okay. So you want to promote him?”
“He’ll have more incentive not to do anything then. If he goes after any of us, but Sam most of all, he loses the extra money he will have been making.”
“It’s a good idea, but do you really want Caldron to have more responsibility? What factory does he work at?”
“I think he’s at one of dad’s landscaping companies. Manual labor.”
“Got you.” Logan nodded, his forehead wrinkling. “He could go up a notch and still not have access to anything real that could hurt Dad. So the question is, how are you going to proposition Dad to do this for us?” His eyes slid to mine. “Last time he countered by making us be his groomsmen.”
“I know.” Mason sighed.
“What?” I looked between the two.
Mason frowned, and it only deepened as he pushed his empty plate away. “You might have to agree to do something for him again.”
Logan jumped in, “But that’ll go away once we use whatever we find on Quinn. We’ll leverage that against what James will want you to do. The favors will all be wiped clean.”
Yeah. That sounded great. It sounded logical even, but James Kade was a millionaire businessman, if not a billionaire. If he wanted something, I had a hard time imagining him taking it off the table once Mason and Logan found whatever they could on Steven Quinn.
But I nodded. I ate the rest of my pizza. I said and did what they wanted me to, but I had my doubts.
“When’s this going down?” Logan asked as we all stood, done for the night.
Mason looked to me. “You’re working a shift tomorrow night—well, later today?”
I nodded. “I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. I’m working next weekend, though.”
“Dad asked me to give him an update on Wednesday, so if you two show up with me, he won’t be prepared. That’ll be the best time.”
Logan clapped his hands together. “Wednesday it is. Mission ‘to deal with Caldron and bamboozle James Kade’ is in progress.” He pretended to rub his hands in an evil manner, snickering.
Mason shook his head. “Don’t do that, and don’t say bamboozle again.”
“Why not?” Logan followed us down the hallway. “I like it. It reminds me of boobies. Who doesn’t like boobies?”
“Don’t.” Mason shot him a look as we reached our room.
Logan had stopped at his door and shrugged, grinning. “You’re the boss. But wait. Do you know what you’re the boss of?”
“Don’t—” Mason started.
“Of boobies!” Logan laughed, heading inside his room.
We laughed, too. For once, I was thankful for the long run I’d taken, for seeing my mom, and for knowing the plan against James Kade. Because once I hit that pillow, I fell asleep immediately, my worries about marriage forgotten—at least for now.
A few days later, James Kade sat behind his desk, squared off against Mason, Logan, and myself. Logan and I sat in the chairs, and Mason stood to the side. At the moment, however, James Kade only had eyes for his eldest son.
He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tented. “Let’s hear it. What’s the reason you brought an audience to this meeting, Mason?”
Mason dropped a file on the desk.
“And what’s this?” James leaned forward, bringing it in front of him.
“That’s a file on one of your employees.”
“Jared Caldron?” James skimmed through the papers. “He’s a laborer for my landscaping company.” His eyes lifted back to Mason. “Why am I reading about him?”
“Because he was best friends with Budd Broudou in high school, and what you don’t know is that we had a hand in getting Broudou sent to prison.”
James didn’t seem to react. His face remained passive for a full fifteen seconds before he shot to his feet, sending his chair flying into the bookshelves behind him. “What did you do?”
I stood up. “They didn’t do anything. I mean, not really.”
Mason said over me, “She’s lying for me. I did do something.”
Logan stood up, too. Everyone paused and looked at him, and he held up his hands. “I wanted to fit in. Everyone’s standing.”
Mason cursed, rolling his eyes.
James’ attention went right back to Mason. “You’re going to explain everything to me.”
“Budd Broudou and his brother were our rivals in high school. They did shitty things to us. We retaliated—“
“Of course you did. Why would my sons ever not get revenge?”
Mason kept going, ignoring his father’s sarcasm. “Brett turned to our side—or kind of on our side.”
I felt Mason’s eyes linger on me.
“And Budd got pissed. He said he’d been waiting for me to get a girlfriend so he could destroy something I cared about.”
He shrugged, biting off half of his slice. “You never know.”
“Is everyone else asleep?” Mason asked.
“Matteo broke it off with that chick, and he came back a while ago. We all had a few beers together before he passed out in his room downstairs. Taylor went to bed a little before that, and Nate knocked off the same time as Matteo. Me, I’ve been up and waiting for you two lovebirds to stop doing the mating dance in the garage.” He winked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Didn’t think I’d figured it out, did you?”
“It’s the only place we could’ve been if we’d already arrived. You checked the pool house, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” Logan picked up his second piece. “I saw you pull up, and I went searching when you didn’t come in. I knew you guys wanted privacy, but my inner Harriet the Spy was nagging me. I got curious.” He frowned to himself. “Just now remembered we have a garage. Why don’t we ever use the garage?”
“Because it’s only three slots wide. We could park six cars in there, but someone would always have to be moving their car out of the way. It’d be too much of a hassle.”
“Thank God Mom’s got a huge-ass driveway.” Logan looked at the pizza on my plate and nudged it closer to me. “The only way it gets to your stomach is if you eat it, Sam.”
“I know, dumbass.”
He smirked. “You’re calling me the dumbass when you’re the one who needs to be reminded how to eat. Put it in and chew—unless it’s Mason’s dick. Don’t chew then. Please, don’t chew. I don’t want to take my brother to the emergency room for that.”
“Logan.” Mason glared. “Stop talking about my dick.”
“What else is there to talk about? You haven’t brought up what you wanted to talk about, and I keep thinking about what I could be doing with my dick while I’m sitting here waiting.”
Logan spoke as if that made perfect sense. I shook my head and picked up my pizza. He was right. I needed something in my stomach. I’d done too much physical activity over the last twenty-four hours.
As if both had been waiting for me to start eating, as soon as I took my first bite, Mason said, “We need to figure out what to do about Caldron.”
“What do you mean?” Logan was all business now.
“I wanted something on Quinn first before asking Dad to help deal with Caldron.” Mason grimaced. “That didn’t happen.”
“Yet,” Logan corrected. “It didn’t happen yet. We can still trade it in when we find something. What were you going to ask Dad to do?”
“Promote him.”
“Say what?” Logan pretended to clean his ear out. “I heard that wrong, right?”
“We have to deal with things differently. Your girlfriend’s right. We can’t keep doing the shit we’re doing. My football career is another reason besides Sam’s safety—well, our safety, too. I get caught doing anything, I could not have a football career. One video, and I’m fucked.”
“Yeah.” Logan sighed. “Those were the good old days, when we didn’t give a shit. Growing up sucks. Okay. So you want to promote him?”
“He’ll have more incentive not to do anything then. If he goes after any of us, but Sam most of all, he loses the extra money he will have been making.”
“It’s a good idea, but do you really want Caldron to have more responsibility? What factory does he work at?”
“I think he’s at one of dad’s landscaping companies. Manual labor.”
“Got you.” Logan nodded, his forehead wrinkling. “He could go up a notch and still not have access to anything real that could hurt Dad. So the question is, how are you going to proposition Dad to do this for us?” His eyes slid to mine. “Last time he countered by making us be his groomsmen.”
“I know.” Mason sighed.
“What?” I looked between the two.
Mason frowned, and it only deepened as he pushed his empty plate away. “You might have to agree to do something for him again.”
Logan jumped in, “But that’ll go away once we use whatever we find on Quinn. We’ll leverage that against what James will want you to do. The favors will all be wiped clean.”
Yeah. That sounded great. It sounded logical even, but James Kade was a millionaire businessman, if not a billionaire. If he wanted something, I had a hard time imagining him taking it off the table once Mason and Logan found whatever they could on Steven Quinn.
But I nodded. I ate the rest of my pizza. I said and did what they wanted me to, but I had my doubts.
“When’s this going down?” Logan asked as we all stood, done for the night.
Mason looked to me. “You’re working a shift tomorrow night—well, later today?”
I nodded. “I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. I’m working next weekend, though.”
“Dad asked me to give him an update on Wednesday, so if you two show up with me, he won’t be prepared. That’ll be the best time.”
Logan clapped his hands together. “Wednesday it is. Mission ‘to deal with Caldron and bamboozle James Kade’ is in progress.” He pretended to rub his hands in an evil manner, snickering.
Mason shook his head. “Don’t do that, and don’t say bamboozle again.”
“Why not?” Logan followed us down the hallway. “I like it. It reminds me of boobies. Who doesn’t like boobies?”
“Don’t.” Mason shot him a look as we reached our room.
Logan had stopped at his door and shrugged, grinning. “You’re the boss. But wait. Do you know what you’re the boss of?”
“Don’t—” Mason started.
“Of boobies!” Logan laughed, heading inside his room.
We laughed, too. For once, I was thankful for the long run I’d taken, for seeing my mom, and for knowing the plan against James Kade. Because once I hit that pillow, I fell asleep immediately, my worries about marriage forgotten—at least for now.
A few days later, James Kade sat behind his desk, squared off against Mason, Logan, and myself. Logan and I sat in the chairs, and Mason stood to the side. At the moment, however, James Kade only had eyes for his eldest son.
He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tented. “Let’s hear it. What’s the reason you brought an audience to this meeting, Mason?”
Mason dropped a file on the desk.
“And what’s this?” James leaned forward, bringing it in front of him.
“That’s a file on one of your employees.”
“Jared Caldron?” James skimmed through the papers. “He’s a laborer for my landscaping company.” His eyes lifted back to Mason. “Why am I reading about him?”
“Because he was best friends with Budd Broudou in high school, and what you don’t know is that we had a hand in getting Broudou sent to prison.”
James didn’t seem to react. His face remained passive for a full fifteen seconds before he shot to his feet, sending his chair flying into the bookshelves behind him. “What did you do?”
I stood up. “They didn’t do anything. I mean, not really.”
Mason said over me, “She’s lying for me. I did do something.”
Logan stood up, too. Everyone paused and looked at him, and he held up his hands. “I wanted to fit in. Everyone’s standing.”
Mason cursed, rolling his eyes.
James’ attention went right back to Mason. “You’re going to explain everything to me.”
“Budd Broudou and his brother were our rivals in high school. They did shitty things to us. We retaliated—“
“Of course you did. Why would my sons ever not get revenge?”
Mason kept going, ignoring his father’s sarcasm. “Brett turned to our side—or kind of on our side.”
I felt Mason’s eyes linger on me.
“And Budd got pissed. He said he’d been waiting for me to get a girlfriend so he could destroy something I cared about.”
