Then, I place an order for flowers to be sent to my parents with an apology for being such a terror as a teenager.
***
All my brothers’ trucks are parked at my house, which means any hope I had of alone time is dead.
Four of my six brothers are living with me in my three-bedroom house and have been since they moved from Aspen Cove to Catalpa Creek in July. They’re also working out of it, since we don’t have a headquarters for our construction business in Catalpa Creek yet.
I consider turning around and leaving, but I don’t really have anywhere to go.
Is this how Gentry feels? Like siblings have invaded her life?
With the extra bonus of her being entirely responsible for those siblings? She’s a few years younger than me, but I can’t imagine how my life would have to change if I suddenly became responsible for the lives and well-being of two teenagers.
No wonder Gentry looks stressed all the time.
She’s doing an amazing job with a difficult situation, but she’ll never believe that coming from me.
I grab my coffee, my cinnamon bun, and the book I picked up from Lazy’s bookstore and head inside, braced for absolute chaos.
I hear the yelling before I walk through the front door. “The deal was, if I have to put up with your snoring every night,” Sebastian roars, “you have to buy the coffee, Ryland. Where’s my damn coffee?”
“I’ve been too busy to shop because I’ve been working overtime on the Hershman project because you couldn’t get your shit together and get the pipes run on time,” Ryland calmly replies. Ryland never raises his voice, but there is a definite hard edge to his words, which is as close as he ever gets.
I head straight for the stairs and my bedroom, which is currently doubling as my home office, because I don’t want to deal with Sebastian and Ryland’s brawl.
Unfortunately, my room isn’t empty or quiet. Deacon’s sitting at my desk, and Cash is on my bed with floor plans and papers spread out around him.
“You know the dining room is supposed to be our office, right?” I ask.
Cash looks up at me, his dark hair, in need of a cut, falling into his face. As usual, he’s dressed in a button-down and slacks, always dressed for success, as he puts it. “You think I’m going to get any work done with World War Three going on down there?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “And you couldn’t find anywhere to work other than my bed?”
His expression softens. “Sebastian says he’s going to look for office space today. You’ll get your house back soon, baby brother.”
Deacon’s typing away on my laptop, ignoring both of us. Which means he’s probably up to no good.
“I need my computer, Deac.” I’m handling all the accounting for our family business until we can find an accountant locally, but more importantly, I have a side job they don’t know about and I have work to finish before I take off for Brodie’s wedding tomorrow.
Deacon keeps typing, not even looking up, his long, lean body bent over my laptop almost protectively. “When you abandoned us, I learned how to do all this business crap, Levi. I’m working.”
Two years ago, I left the business and moved back to our hometown of Catalpa Creek to go into business for myself. I just needed to get away from the family and prove I could make it on my own. Even being gone for so long, I still know Deacon has never been the one who handled the ‘business crap.’
I look over at Cash, who gives me a wicked grin. “Leave him be. It’ll be worth it.”
If I didn’t have work to do, I might go along. Instead, I walk over and look at the screen. “You’re setting up a profile on a dating site? I thought you declared a moratorium on romance.” That’s what he said last month, but he hasn’t offered any reason for the sudden change in his typically busy dating schedule.
Deacon scrolls back up and leans back in his chair, proud of himself. I move in closer and see Sebastian’s name at the top of the profile.
Laughter bubbles up at the same time dread fills my gut. “He is going to murder you.”
“He’s going to thank me,” Deacon says, running his hands through his auburn hair, which is also in need of a cut. We’ve all been working too hard to have time for self-care. “Dude needs to get laid. He’s been an enormous dick since Skyler dumped his ass, and I’m sick of it.”
“What are you going to do if someone decides to date him? Are you going to tell the poor woman this is a setup?”
“Hell no,” Deacon says. “You know me better than that. This is a well thought out, finely tuned operation.”
“Uh-huh.” I look over at Cash. “You part of this?”
