I couldn’t get that maid out of my mind, which was fucking weird because I wasn't the type of guy to be pining over a woman. Even if her tits would fit perfectly in my hands and I could make her scream all night long, that didn’t mean I’d go home and keep thinking about her. Sexually frustrated and annoyed about Emily’s take on Dad´s behavior was not the best way to be feeling right now, but I told Emily that I was on my way and I was a man of my word. The way the maid eyed me up and down was priceless, as if she hadn't had any in a while or maybe ever.

Thinking back to all the times I’d been to the hotel branch in Charlotte, I’d definitely seen her. She was almost always there every time I called in the maids to clean up after my infamous parties. None of them were happy with me, but she’d always give me this complicated look. I never paid her much attention, but I was pretty good with faces. It was a big help in the family business.

My phone rang, and I glanced at the screen before ignoring it. I jumped into my car and headed out of the garage before I could make a mistake and change my mind yet again about going to the family house. The call was from one of the many women I’d had fun with for a night, and there was no point in talking to her. I never bothered to hook up with any woman more than a few times, and the level of interest was never as much as what I was feeling toward that maid right now. Not that it would go anywhere, because as much as I would have loved to, I couldn’t pursue it. This was just the first time I was thinking of her as a person and it was getting to me.

“I’ll get over it,” I said to myself, convinced it was true. If the interest didn’t die down on its own, I’d just look for someone else. After all, she wasn’t really my type. The kind of women I slept with were the kind of women who knew not to expect much from me. She looked like the kind who’d expect you to stick around for a while.

I may not have the same wanderlust as my little brother, Kevin, but I rarely stuck around one place for too long at a time. Partly for my job, and partly for my not-so-well-thought-out rebellion against my dad.

I took a deep breath as I paused at the gates and thought about chickening out once again. Fuck! When did I turn into a pussy? I typed in the code and as the gates opened, I took a deep breath and parked outside.

I walked out slowly and headed up the three steps into the mansion, taking my time, prolonging the time until the confrontation. I knew I couldn’t stall forever, so I went to the door and opened it. I looked around, feeling some nostalgia from the good old days when I was still a kid and rugby was everything to me. Back when Dad wasn’t trying to get in my way. It was just my family, and Trent wasn’t even there. He’d disappeared sometime after high school, and though I’d felt bad about it at the time, a part of me had been glad because having him around was so stifling. Up until Dad started making comparisons between Trent and me, that is.

I’d wanted to tell my old man that if he missed his other son so badly, he could go look for him instead of making me fill shoes that were way too big. I hated it.

I dialed Emily’s number to track her down. I didn´t feel like bumping into someone unless I had to and especially not Dad, so I called her to find out what room she was in. I wanted to talk to Emily first, anyway. She was the main reason I’d come.

I wanted out of there as fast as possible. I had a sweet maid in my room and if I was out of here fast enough, I might just be able to catch her and finish what I was so tempted to start. Emily picked up on the second ring.

“I’m here already. Where are you?”

“Oh, great, you’re here! Wait in the foyer for me, I’ll come and get you.”

She hung up on me abruptly, and I glared at my phone. Well, at least her greeting had sounded happy, even if she’d hung up on me. I sighed and made my way into the foyer and pushed the large double doors closed. I’d always hated the heavy things. They were ostentatious, ugly, and weighed far too much.

I saw Emily coming down the stairs carefully in very high heels. I came to a stop in the foyer, and when she cleared the steps, I opened my arms wide for her to rush into them. She wrapped her arms around me, leaning against me with a sigh, and I closed my own arms around her, rocking her gently. Her face was buried in my chest, and I rested my chin on the top of her head. Even grown up and with heels on, my little sister was still tiny. Her tiny size came packaged with a lot of love though.

“Is everything okay?” I asked as I rocked her gently in my arms.

She let out a sigh and squeezed me tight for a moment. “Everything is not okay, but I’m glad you’re here.”

Emily pulled away from the embrace, then took my hand and tugged me behind her as she led me to one of the lounge rooms in the mansion. Most homes had a single living room and were done with it, but that wasn’t nearly enough for the Thompson family mansion.

We sat on one of the couches, Emily leaning against my arm. I arched an eyebrow as I tried to read her expression. She looked kind of… sick? Or under a terrible load of stress. My sister was always a sensitive girl, but I began to worry when she started wringing her hands and sighing a lot.

“Emily, come on now, girl. Talk to me. You’re starting to worry me. What’s the deal? Is it Dad? Is he worse?”

“No, no,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I’m worried about him but that’s not it. I’m worried about you guys more. Well, you and Kevin more than Trent, really.”

“Is he around?” I asked and couldn’t help but frown.

“He came down the day after I called him. Dad came back home the same day, but he didn’t want to see Trent. I’m sure Trent was angry. He’s always in such a bad mood…”

I frowned at the mention of our eldest half-brother. Trent and I didn’t have much of a relationship now or when we were kids. We had nothing in common besides Dad and our last name, and it was the only reason I associated with him at all, most of the time. I could attest to his surly mood because the guy was always so serious about everything. He’d been moody growing up, too. For a moment, I wondered if Dad had constantly compared him with someone like he’d done with me.

“He didn’t say anything to you, did he?”

I was about to ask the real question: what did he say to upset her this time? I was being polite which wasn’t like me, but Emily was in a state and I didn’t want to upset her more.

“Don’t worry about that,” Emily said dismissively. “Most of the time I don’t even register on his radar, so it’s not like he has anything to say to me anyway. For which I am so fucking glad.”

I frowned at her, then flicked her forehead.

“Ow!” She pulled away from me, putting a hand to her forehead and pouting at me with a betrayed look in her gaze.

“Watch your language, you’re still too young for that!”

I was the one who loved to swear—maybe a little too much—but never around her. I didn’t want her to have a dirty mouth like mine.

“You’re too funny. You act as if I’m a child,” she said. “I can drink and drive if I want to.”

I caught her cheeks in a pinch, ignoring her when she made noises about it.

“You better stick to drinking wine and champagne, and only one glass, maybe two. And no drinking and driving together, missy!”

She smacked my arm until I let her go, then put more space between us on the couch, her hands on her cheeks as she pouted at me in annoyance.

“I’m not a baby anymore,” she said, petulant.

But you’ll always be my baby sister,” I countered. “Now, move over here and tell me exactly what is going on with Dad.”

She didn’t get any closer, but she adopted a serious expression as she leaned against the couch, crossing her arms and legs. Her head rested on the back of the couch, and she rolled it to the side so she was facing me.

“There isn’t really much I can say.”

“Spill! You were the one calling me up telling me how Dad was in such a bad way that I needed to hurry up and get back here. Hell, even Trent came back! That right there is practically a miracle. I thought we’d all be piled up around Dad’s bedside, but here we are, talking about why Dad refuses to see us. You have to tell me something. Especially if Trent came back for this.”

If she hadn't already mentioned that Dad hadn't seen Trent either, I would have been even more pissed off than I already was.

Exactly what game was Dad playing? It might be true that he was sick because Emily had no reason to lie to me, but… could Dad be pulling something on us, and we just didn’t know? Why else would he call all of us back like that and not agree to see anyone? It didn’t fucking make sense.

“I know, it’s a shock that he even came back, isn’t it?” Emily finally said. “I called Trent personally and he almost didn’t take my call. I was surprised when I told him about Dad and he rushed down here. He got here late, but you could tell he’d basically left the office and come straight home. I almost expected you to get here first with how competitive you are. I’m pretty sure he put off work to make the trip.”

“I was busy too, you know,” I said defensively. “And unlike some people, we aren’t all our own bosses, so it’s not like I could have put anything off to rush here, I had to get my own business wrapped up.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I know the work you do is for the family business, and that some of it is shady, but come on, Mason. You really couldn’t put it off, whatever it was that held you back? You only really hurried your way back here because I told you about Trent, right?”

I pursed my lips because I couldn’t deny it. Things were a little strained between Dad and me. I resented him for a lot of things, but he was still my dad. My relationship with Trent was just as strained, but I did sometimes make an effort to reach out to my older half-brother. It wasn’t that I hated him. His attitude could get annoying, sure, but I was lucky I didn’t have to spend much time around him, so it didn’t always bother me. He could be as bossy as Dad was, and I avoided that like the plague.

What I really hated was Dad comparing me to Trent. Other than our looks, Trent and I weren’t really alike at all. We didn’t have the same interests, hobbies, or goals in life, from what I could see. Dad wanted me to be more responsible like Trent, so he made me quit rugby and take a job with the family. I didn’t know just how much work Trent did for Dad besides working on his own company, but he made Dad proud in a way my own efforts never seemed to achieve.

The wild partying had begun as a sort of rebellion on my part. Recently, it had grown into something of a routine for me. One that left me drained at times, but one I wasn’t willing to just do away with either.

“Is there any reason Dad is refusing to see me?” I asked, looking over to Emily.

She shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “He hasn’t really given a definite reason. I haven’t seen him myself, not since he came back in an ambulance. Don’t worry, though. The moment he agrees to see me, I’ll talk him into seeing you guys, too. Kevin is a bit late, but he should be arriving either today or tomorrow. He’ll probably get the same treatment…”

She continued to talk, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore. Instead, I thought about how odd Dad’s actions were. There was no reason for him not to see us unless he was hiding something.

No fucking way, I thought to myself. Is the old man actually pulling a fast one on us?

Was he really ill? Or was it just a ploy to bring us all home? It was enough to get the prodigal eldest son home, after all.

Not that there was anything I could do about it even if he was. The old man might be a bit of hardass, and this might be a ploy, but he must have done it for reason and I suspected he’d got just what he was after. Now, rather than face the music, he was hiding so we wouldn’t know he hadn’t been ill at all. I laughed to myself, seeing the plan now. Dad was a wily old man, I’d give him that.

The moment I confirmed Dad was just playing with us, I’d be on the earliest flight out. I cared about my dad, but I’d always hated how he’d tried to control my life as if he had the right to. Anger, amusement, and resentment roiled in my head until it started to pound.

“Let me know how it goes with Dad,” I told Emily, rising from the couch. “I’m going to head up to my room now.”

I had some hours to spare before my room back at the hotel was fully cleaned. There was a room upstairs that would let me sleep off the night of partying and thoughts about that maid.