Lucas giving him shit about The Bramble was the last thing that Liam wanted to deal with tonight. Agreeing to work with Mark to run this place and start up a new place in NYC had seemed like a great idea at the time. Not discussing it with Lucas had been a mistake, but he’d seen a chance to make a change in his life and leapt at it. Between the pressure of running the technical side of the company and the evil shit Yvonne, his ex, had tried to pull on him, he needed a change of pace. He had to figure out exactly what he wanted in life or turn into a hermit.

“I don’t know why you couldn’t have just given Mark the money and stayed at Doppel. Why do you have to run this place? Hire someone to do it for you!” His brother seethed, jaw clenched.

“Luc, I couldn’t do that to Mark. You know how much he loves this place. He’s entrusting me with the bar and I’m going to make sure everything goes well while he’s in New York.”

“Listen, I love Mark too. The guy knew us when we were nothing, but I don’t get it, Liam. We are so close to this acquisition. You stepping down as Chief Tech Officer and leaving Doppel doesn’t look good for the acquisition talks going on right now.”

“I don’t really care, Luc. We have enough money and it stopped being fun a long time ago,” he said, sighing and glancing around for an escape route.

“Everything in life can’t be fun and games. We have responsibilities. We have a company full of people depending on us and investors that need to see results.”

“Like I said, no longer fun. I get it, but this was supposed to be something we did together where we could chart our own course, make new friends, build cool stuff. Now, I feel like we’re in the backseat being driven around from place to place without a real say in any of it.”

Lucas let out a deep breath, like he always did when he lost patience with his twin. “I get it - you’re burnt out. It makes sense, you’ve been living at the office these past few weeks, but you can’t pick up and leave like this. Why don’t we call it a sabbatical? A one month sabbatical?” he said, nodding like he could convince Liam that all he needed was a month off.

“You can call it whatever you want, I’m not going to be coming back to Doppel anytime soon and definitely not in a month.”

“Sometimes I want to strangle you, you know that?” Lucas held his hands up like he was going to choke him.

“The feeling is entirely mutual,” Liam said, his eyes narrowing.

“I’m out of here, I’ll call you soon.” Lucas checked his phone and glared up at Liam. “Don’t ignore my calls or I’ll have my friends hack your phone, trace it, and I’ll hunt you down.” He stormed off in a huff as he always did whenever things didn’t go his way.

Liam headed back toward the kitchen to get some air. Lucas had always been the more driven of the two. He couldn’t understand why Liam didn’t want to be a tech magnate like he did. And the cracks in Liam’s facade were beginning to show. He’d thought fake it ‘til you make it would work, but right now, he couldn’t breathe. The weight of what they’d built sat on his chest and refused to let up. Getting up in front of crowds and talking about the ways their tech would change people’s lives and presenting to investors was all Luc. Liam only did it when necessary and he hated every minute of it with his heart thundering a mile a minute and sweat dripping down his back, soaking his shirts. The whole running a company thing had become stifling. Lines of code were comforting, but even that got old when it became your life. Running a bar seemed much more fun, manageable and nowhere near as much responsibility as running a company with over two hundred employees and counting.

Founding Doppel with Lucas had been exciting. The two of them worked on it late at night in their college dorm and then in any space they could find after graduation. They crashed on couches, squatted in warehouses, and took over coffee houses, all for a little more time working on their baby. It had been interesting back then, relaxed, less formal. Now, going to work was nothing like he’d hoped it would be. And as they got bigger, the responsibility of it all took its toll. Not to mention the attention that working at a company like theirs brought to them. Luc lapped it up, but it made Liam want to revert to his hermit ways.

Crazy parties, meetings with titans of industry, and the women. Holy crap had the women come out of the woodwork. Lucas had always done well when it came to the ladies. But being his overweight twin growing up, he hadn’t exactly won much attention beyond pats on the head and maybe a kiss on the cheek. Having a twin that you could be compared to in every way hadn’t made things easier.

Taking up boxing and losing the weight with a personal trainer after all those late-night pizza binges in college had finally put Liam on equal footing with Lucas in the looks department. Fitter and with a tech buzz floating around the dynamic duo, they garnered attention—a lot of attention. At first it was fun, but then Lucas met Anna, his now wife, and it all became a lot less fun. They had been the dynamic duo. VIP tables at clubs, bottle service, trips on yachts to St. Tropez, you name it, they’d done it. All that was a lot less fun and a bit creepier when you were flying solo. Then there was the fiasco with Yvonne, which had officially put him off chasing the fairer sex for a while.

If only high school and college-age Liam could see him now.

Inside the kitchen, everyone glanced up at him as he passed by. Obviously, not where he belonged, but everyone knew he would be taking over for Mark, so they didn’t hassle him. The back door glinted under the light of the kitchen, propped open with a box. Escaping the stifling expectations of a company full of people and your twin brother? Right this way. He stepped out into the alley taking a deep breath of the warm summer air.

What awaited him was a scene that had him shaking his head to figure out if it was real. He wondered if the summer heat and lighting in the alley were playing tricks on him, but it wasn’t a hallucination. Rox was out there, bleeding from the head and some guy had his hands around her neck. What the ever-loving fuck?!

Feet slapping on the concrete, he sprinted toward the two of them, his heart pounding and his fists tight in anticipation of caving this guy’s skull in. Running over to the pair, he yanked the guy off her. He took a seconds-long glance at Rox to make sure she was okay while he gripped the guy by the front of the shirt. She bent over coughing, but seemed to be okay.

His heart pounded and he balled up his fists. His breath came out in pants as he whipped around to the fucker who attacked Rox. The guy pushed himself off the ground and Liam launched his body at him. Hitting the guy in the stomach with his shoulder, satisfaction flowed through him as the wheezing sound of the wind being knocked out of Rox’s attacker rushed past his ears. He’d see how this guy liked not being able to breathe. The guy doubled over trying to pull in a breath and Liam pulled his fist back and landed a solid uppercut. Blood splattered against his shirt and the guy staggered back against the alley wall.

His boxing training came in handy as he grabbed the guy up by the collar. The guy’s eyes were wild and his mouth bloody, Liam glared down at him before delivering a combination of punches that reverberated through his hands. He pulled back to deliver another blow and caught sight of his bloody fists, not as bloody as the guy’s face, but blood covered them. Liam’s vision tunneled as he thought about what might have happened if he hadn’t needed some air. Rox could have died! A renewed rush of wanting this guy’s blood to spill flowed through him.

This prick could have killed her. Pulling back for another punch, he wanted to grind this guy’s face into dog meat. Momentarily distracted as Rox sprinted past the two of them, Liam missed the guy ducking underneath his punch. Unable to stop it as he turned to watch Rox’s escape, Liam’s fist landed solidly into the brick wall behind the attacker’s head. The solid hit against the wall reverberated through his hand and up his arm as he roared in pain. Liam cradled his injured hand and the guy pushed himself off the wall and scurried past Liam before he could catch him. The guy took off down the alley before darting onto the main road. Liam gave chase as the guy ran across the street. Tires screeched as cars slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting him. Liam stood on the other side of the street holding his fist as the guy disappeared into the evening crowds. Fuck, his hand hurt! He hoped it wasn’t broken.

Storming back into the bar, he needed to check on Rox and make sure she was okay. And he wanted to get some ice on his hand. Pushing through the kitchen into the bar, Jen and Mark hovered over Rox, cleaning up her head wound. Eyes moved from Rox to him and someone grabbed him a chair. People darted around them both. His heart rate started to slow and as the adrenaline wore off, the throbbing in his hand pounding even harder. He unclenched his fist and stabbing pain shot through his hand and up his arm. Someone thrust some ice covered in a towel at him. He glanced up and gave Keira a grateful smile before putting it on his hand.

He peered over at Rox, who stared out the front of the bar with a thousand-yard stare. Jen fluttered to her and crouched down, putting her hands on Rox’s leg. Rox looked over at her moving her head like she was under water. Did she have a concussion? Had someone called the cops or an ambulance? Was Rox going to be okay?