Gray
“Okay, whose turn is it to hire the next receptionist?” Beck looked around the conference table during our weekly tactical meeting at SBC. As our company’s CEO and CFO, and the oldest Thorne brother, he had a lot of responsibility. Too much for his own good, which was why the rest of us were happy he’d finally been willing to delegate some of it out. Even the crap jobs we all hated. Except for this crap job.
“Are we really in between receptionists again? I’ve lost track of both the receptionist and who’s up to bat on hiring.” I wasn’t going to volunteer to hire the next one, but I didn’t see anybody’s hand go up. After burning through six or seven receptionists, no one wanted to deal with hiring a new one.
“Yeah, Gray, I think it’s your turn.” Wyatt shrugged in apology.
“Crap, I’m seriously looking into getting us a robot for a receptionist.” A robot receptionist would help us avoid a lot of problems around here. Nobody would sleep with it and the phones would actually get answered.
“Do they make them?” Eli asked, definite interest sparking in his eyes. “And can it make coffee too?”
“Receptionists don’t make coffee anymore,” Wyatt said.
“I feel quite sure a robot receptionist would make coffee.” Eli stroked his beard while he considered the situation. “I’m pretty sure a robot receptionist would even do our laundry, do our taxes, and play poker with us.”
“You sold me.” I swiveled my head to Beck. “Do we have money in the budget for a robot?”
“No.”
“Damn. Eli, what if I traded you? You deal with hiring the new receptionist, and I’ll do your laundry and your taxes?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Done.”
“Don’t forget we’re taking the kids on a field trip on our next volunteer day,” Ash said. “We’re hitting up the Museum of Natural History. So make sure it’s in your calendar.”
“Nice,” I said, feeling a big smile slide across my face. Our volunteer work with some kids in the foster system was important to us. We’d spent too many years caught up in the foster system ourselves. We knew how much kids from abusive situations craved normal.
Mostly we tried to give the kids our undivided attention by spending time doing normal things with them, things that kids in the system don’t get to do too often, like go to the movies, play ball, or go out for ice cream. But in our heart of hearts, we loved the field trips the most. Growing up, our old man had never let us go on field trips. You can bet we had as much fun as the kids on our outings.
“Moving on,” Beck said, pulling us back to the meeting’s agenda. “We need all hands on deck as we get closer to wrapping up the King job. Gray, I sent you my schedule of sales appointments to cover. You still good with handling them?”
“Yep. On it, so take it off your plate.” Sales weren’t my area, but I was more than happy to step up. As Head of Design and Project Manager, I didn’t usually see our clients until the contracts were signed. But I’d seen Beck give his sales presentation plenty of times and felt confident I could handle it long enough to lighten Beck’s load.
The thing was it wasn’t just stepping up for our business—that we were used to. This time around we were stepping up because of Beck. Well, not just Beck, but Beck and Sam.
Here’s what I knew: Thorne brothers didn’t do relationships. We just didn’t. In the lottery of life we did not win when it came to our parents. Needless to say, our childhood was… Tough. Challenging. Some days were downright ugly and painful. But through it all we had each other. Six brothers who relied on each other to get where we were today.
When it came to work and business we had our shit together. We did not shy away from putting in long hours and hard, grueling work. Our personal lives were more of a mixed bag. You could count on a Thorne as a steadfast friend and a solid teammate. We were also dedicated to putting time in to helping kids growing up in the foster system the same way we did. But truth be told, like many people who grew up seeing the ugliest, most dysfunctional side of love, we’d long ago locked up our hearts rather than expose ourselves—or worse, someone else—to that kind of pain and suffering.
But, change was in the air. Over the last few months my brothers and I had been watching the romance develop between Beck and Samantha. Well maybe romance wasn’t quite the right word, but we’d never seen Beck act this way with a woman before.
We liked Sam, liked her a lot. We liked how Beck looked when he was around her— happy. Damn happy. So anything we could do to keep that rolling along, my brothers and I were doing it. And if it meant taking on twice the work load so Beck had time to explore whatever was going on with Sam—even if he had no clue that’s what he was doing—then bring on the work.
“Hey, what’s with you?”
I glanced over to watch my brother Ash throw himself into the chair next to me. Looking around, I saw both Beck and Wyatt had already left and Eli was busy at the far wall brewing a new pot of coffee. Huh. I guess I’d zoned out and missed the rest of the meeting.
“Nothing.” Why would something be up with me? I showed up to work on time, did an excellent job with our clients, and hadn’t given any of my brothers shit for…at least a week. Sounded like a gold star day to me.
“You look like hell,” Ash said, his eyes roaming over my face.
“Have you looked in the mirror yourself lately?” Ash had the same dark circles I had. Along with a definite lack of his normal tense energy and enthusiasm.
“I have an excuse. Got a concussion in the game two nights ago.” He frowned at me. “Which you’d know if you’d watched it, so thanks, bro.”
“Crap, Ash. I guess I fell asleep.” I’d missed one of his games? More proof that something was wrong with me. I’d been feeling off for a few months now. Maybe longer. I’d even gone to my doctor to get checked out. I had her run every test available. She warned me that insurance wouldn’t cover it since she couldn’t find anything clinically wrong with me to merit the tests. “I think I have the man flu.”
“That’s not an actual thing,” Eli said, sliding us each a cup of coffee before sitting down.
“Man flu’s real,” Ash said. “I think I’ve got it too.”
“Then why haven’t you two gone to see your doctors if it’s real?” Eli’s gaze ping-ponged between me and Ash.
“I don’t want to be benched.” Ash played defense for the Raleigh Roughnecks pro hockey team. They had a shot to make the playoffs this year, so sitting out was the last thing he’d want. Especially if he’d just lost a few days to a concussion.
“I went last week, and my man flu is real no matter what my doc says.” I might be a bit defensive, but no one likes getting that look from their doctor—that polite but slightly skeptical it’s-all-in-your-head look.
“Ha.” Eli grunted as if one doctor’s opinion proved his point. “You might want to get tested for mono or STDs instead. Those are more real than man flu.”
“I don’t have mono or an STD.” I’d had her test me for everything anyway. And every test came back negative. I hadn’t thought that was the problem since I was excruciatingly careful when it came to sex. Plus, there was the fact that I hadn’t actually slept with anyone in, hell, I couldn’t even remember when. Another sure sign that something wasn’t right. But I was willing to turn over every stone to get to the bottom of this. My doctor said I was healthy as a horse, but the feeling in my chest said different.
“I don’t know, Gray.” Ash shrugged. “You’ll sleep with anyone.”
“Not true. I no longer sleep with psychologists. Not after I had one try to psychoanalyze me afterward.”
Ash raised a brow. “Too close to your dark soul, huh?”
“Maybe. Made the whole post-coital cuddle session a no-go.”
“Didn’t know you had those,” Eli said.
I didn’t. What was the point of escaping into meaningless sex if someone was going to try to get to know you after? Let alone examine your soul? As if I had one to examine.
The psychologist had theorized that I used sex to experience a quick shot of closeness without exposing myself to the risk of pain and emotional vulnerability. I’m not saying she was wrong; I’m saying I politely hustled her out the door in record time.
Ever since then, I’d been off my game. The last few months I’d stopped going out as much, stopped looking for women wanting meaningless no-strings sex, and stopped having it. And I wasn’t sure I missed it much. But when you’re sick with the man flu what else would you expect?
“You two need to go on a sex fast. It has both healing and cleansing properties.”
“Eli, where do you come up with this weird shit?” I asked.
“Probably the same place that told you the man flu was real.”
Ash snorted. “You’re just saying that because you don’t have it. If you’d ever had man flu, you wouldn’t be so flippant.”
I looked at Ash and nodded. Sounded like we were in the same place, wherever the hell that was.
“Fine. I don’t want to do it, but you’re forcing my hand,” Eli said, grabbing out his wallet. “It’s for your own good.”
“Don’t you dare do it, Eli.” I gave him my toughest look, hoping to intimidate him enough to stop him in his tracks. I knew where this was heading.
“I have to. When a Thorne brother is suffering, we step up and help.” He pulled money from his wallet and tossed in into the middle of the table between the three of us. “I bet you both one thousand dollars you can’t abstain from sex.”
“That’s bullshit.” Ash rolled his eyes. “First, I absolutely can abstain. Second, you didn’t say for how long, so it’s a bullshit bet. Third, why the hell are you walking around with a thousand dollars in your wallet?”
All excellent points to my mind.
“For this exact moment,” Eli said. “Now, are you two in or out? Are you taking the bet or not?”
Well, fuck. Here was the thing… We couldn’t turn down a bet. It started back when we were kids. Small bets—I’m talking bets where you won polished rocks or a pet frog—kept us going on the extra crappy days growing up in our dysfunctional, abusive family.
“How long?” I mean, one week, one month, or one year were very different beasts.
“Time is a constraint of a frail mind.”
“Been hitting up those hot yoga classes again?” Ash asked.
“Maybe. We don’t need a time limit. Let’s say, last man standing wins.” He looked at us both, his arms crossed over his chest in challenge.
“Fine,” I said, thinking I’d play my ace in the hole to shut this down. “As long as you’re in too.”
“Oh, I’m in.” He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
Check and mate. Once again, I’d underestimated Eli.
“Is kissing allowed?” Ash asked.
“Kissing isn’t sex, so yes.” Eli shrugged. “If you think you’re strong enough to not be tempted, kiss at your own risk.”
“Whatever, Eli.” Ash crossed his arms over his chest and our gazes met for a long second before he said, “Fine. I’m in. Gray?”
“Fuck,” I said.
“Not unless you want to lose the bet,” Eli said.
“This is an idiotic bet, but fine, I’m in too.” It wasn’t like I was going to be having much sex anyway since I’d probably succumb to my case of man flu.