Chapter 18

Brayden

I was emerging from a deep sleep, the kind that takes time to sort the dream from the reality. I kept my eyes closed, letting one sense at a time take its turn. I felt peaceful and fulfilled. She was next to me; there was no mystery behind that feeling. I needed that warmth, that support. I needed someone in my corner. That was when I had the realization that I’d never really had anyone in my corner; no one other than Harper. Somehow, I knew that no matter how far apart we became, I could always go back and she’d be there for me. I guess she probably felt the same for me and that’s why this was all so comfortable—so normal.

Then I became aware of the hunger. I remembered that we’d never finished our dinner; at least I hadn’t. I had my hands full trying to corral Collin from embarrassing me. I felt sorry for Stephanie. She had hitched her caboose to the wrong train. I could tell she was jealous of Harper. Who wouldn’t be? She was beautiful, intelligent, had a great sense of humor and a spirit for fun. Stephanie would do better to hang close to Harper, not compete with her. It was certainly what was appealing to me; that spirit of fun.

I had some tough decisions to make. I could tell that Collin wasn’t going to go away—not ever, and no matter what kind of deals I made. He knew it. We both did. My bribing him with a year on me had only delayed the next battle. When that time came, he’d show up, make an ass of himself and I’d be back to shielding him. I wished I hated him. But Campbells couldn’t do that. Kin stuck together and the black sheep always came out on top.

I texted my chef and asked him to send up a special breakfast for Harper and myself. She was beginning to stir next to me.

“Hey, sleepyhead. Did you sleep well?”

“I think so, from what I remember, that is.”

“Me, too. I guess it was that late-night recreation.” I grinned, patting her bottom. “I’d like to put in a standing order, if you don’t mind.”

She rolled over. “Hmmm… we’ll have to talk about that.” She was in her playful mood; the one I liked the best. This was the girl from high school, the one who was up for anything.

“Well, pull yourself together because Chef is sending us up a breakfast cart.”

“Oops!” She rolled out of the bed, and I heard the bathroom door close as there came a knock.

I answered the door and found a tall young man in a monogrammed jacket with a cart laden with covered dishes. “Hello. Jeremy, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Campbell. Good morning to you.”

“Thank you, Jeremy. Has Chef sent up something palatable?”

“Oh, yes, sir. I watched him prepare it and if you don’t want it, I’ll be glad to help you out,” he joked.

“Well, Jeremy, when you go back, tell Chef I said he is to fix you a special lunch; anything you like, on me.”

“Oh, sir, couldn’t do that, sir.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, sir, it would make the others jealous. Preferential treatment, you understand. Make them feel bad and they’d get back at me, in little ways.”

I nodded. “Jeremy, thank you for breakfast and thank you for the wisdom. You may have just given me an answer to a problem.”

Harper emerged as I shut the door behind Jeremy. “What problem is that?” she asked, toweling her hair. She’d taken a shower and was standing naked, her skin glowing from the sun and her magnificent hair like a halo about her. I closed the distance between us and took each breast into my mouth.

“None, now,” I murmured, running my hands over her soft skin.

“Bray, stop now. We’re both hungry and a perfectly beautiful meal is sitting right there and you must have work to do. Someone to supervise or some detail to see to.”

“You make me sound like a workaholic.”

“Well? If the shoe fits.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Oh, Bray, come on. You have more money than you could ever spend and yet you still come here every day and work longer hours and harder than anyone on your payroll. Why is that? You must be getting something out of it.”

She had a point and it added to the realization I’d had upon waking.

“Okay, assuming there’s a shred of truth in that, what would you do if you were me?”

“I don’t know. That’s for everyone to decide for themselves. Knit stockings or serve food at the homeless shelter or study the mating habits of a snail; I don’t care. I don’t have your money, but I’m choosing to do something that makes me happy.”

“And that is?”

She looked at me like I’d missed the entire premise of a movie. “Haven’t you been listening?”

“You’ve never been really impassioned, it was easy to miss.”

She lowered her voice into an even tone one might use with a young child. “I’m going to build a dating website. I’ve explained it to you before,” she enunciated with exaggeration.

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, oh, that. Did you think I was going to spend the rest of my life living in your guest cottage?”

“Hadn’t really thought about it.”

She suddenly went quiet and then it occurred to me that I probably shouldn’t have said that. “Well, you know, Harper, I want you to figure out what you want.”

“No problem. I want to build my website but if that interferes with what you need me to do, let me know and I’ll move along. I need something with a future.”

The words hung between us like icicles on a polar day. Our minds were screaming the words but would not let us speak them. So, it stopped and turned a corner.

“Are you coming back or just staying here today?” she asked me.

“I’ve got a change of clothes here, unless you’d like me to go with you home.”

“Nope. I’m fine. I need to get some things done anyway.”

We finished our meal with the news on the television. It was a barrier to verbal mistakes and we both appreciated that. I had no idea what to say or where we stood. The larger problem was my brother and until that was resolved, I really couldn’t make future plans. I just hoped she could live with that. God, but I hoped she could live with that.

I walked Harper down to the dock and put her safely into Captain Bob’s capable hands before returning to my office. I texted Collin and asked if he had a minute to stop in. I knew he’d probably been up all night so there was a good chance I wouldn’t hear from him until the afternoon, which actually gave me more time to think about how I was going to word my proposition.

The bus boy, Jeremy, had innocently presented a point of view I’d not yet considered. Was it possible that Collin was acting out because he felt like a failure? As my elder brother, it would have made more sense that he’d be helping me out, instead of the other way around. I couldn’t spend my life running interference between him and my own reputation and there had to be something out there that would be a greater incentive to him than screwing with my life. Was Collin feeling left out? Worthless? Were people giving him a hard time because he’d never amounted to much?

Did I trust Collin? That was the kernel of the bigger question. How far would he go to ruin me before he could grasp the idea that using me as a base, he could exceed anything I’d accomplished to date?

Collin, alerted that there might be something in it for him, rose from his bed, dressed roughly and was in my office a short time later. He was curious; that much I could see. I thought I could also spot a bit of desperation. It served to cement my intent and I invited him to have a seat.

“This will help,” I told him, handing him a Scotch on the rocks. Collin was a functioning alcoholic. No matter how drunk he got, he still managed to be up to no good. I hoped I had the ability to change all that.

“Thanks, bro, you read my mind,” he said, his voice gravelly and low. He wore a thick, gold ring on the pinkie of his right hand. It was a star sapphire he’d won in a poker game from a man who had gone all in with the only possession of value he had; the ring he wore was one of five, each belonging to his brothers. The brothers were all dead and he, alone, still wore the ring. Collin took it, along with the honor that went with it. He considered it a souvenir of stupidity. Damn, but I wished I could hate my brother.

“So, Collin,” I began, sitting down in my chair and leaning back, crossing one leg over the other. “I don’t think it comes as any surprise that you made a nuisance of yourself last night.”

“Did I?” It was a rhetorical question.

“You’re no fool. You know what you’re doing, and I’m so busy playing guard against you that I’m losing opportunities that could help the both of us.”

“In what way would that be, bro?”

I let the question hang there a moment, letting his imagination fuel what I was about to propose.

“So, here’s the deal, Collin. There’s nothing I’ve done to get to where I am that you can’t do equally as well.” I gave the devil a short noose and he nodded, sliding his head neatly through it.

“I’ve had some investors approach me to expand Utopia and build some closely identical facilities in various places around the world.”

“You don’t say,” he commented, sipping his Scotch.

“I knew it was too big an undertaking for me alone. That’s when I thought of you.”

He scoffed at me, shifting in his chair and setting his glass on my paperwork, intentionally creating a wet ring. “Don’t bullshit me, bro.”

“I’m not. It’s a legit deal.”

“Not what I’m talking about, and you know it,” he scoffed at me. “How stupid do you think I am?”

I sat up and looked him straight in the eyes. “Quite the opposite, bro,” I emphasized his vernacular. “You’re one of the most intelligent men I know and that’s why I’m talking to you. You want the truth? The no-bullshit truth? Okay, here it is. You’re an asshole. And what’s more, you know and you work hard at it. Does that make you stupid? You tell me. You can use what God gave you in that head and your looks and your ability to charm the pants off anyone in your path, or you can continue to be an asshole and see where that gets you. So, you tell me, Collin. Are you up to the challenge of using your talents for something that lets people know what you’re capable of?”

I knew my voice was loud and Collin might take exception to that, but the time had come to deal with him man to man. The question was only whether he’d rise to the challenge.

“Calm down, Brayden,” he growled. He hadn’t called me by my first name in years. He sighed; a sign that a change was in the offing. “So, what the fuck is it that you want me to do?”

“Let’s get this straight. There is an offer on the table to me, and I’m inclined to pass on it. I think you can pull it off, and I’m handing the ace to you. You can keep it, or you can pass on it. It doesn’t matter to me because I have no skin in this game. It’s all about the investors.”

“What kind of investors are we talking?”

“What the hell? You want a list?” I was growing frustrated and not entirely sure this was worth it. “Look, they’re people with money who have stayed here and who travel. They’d like to see a place similar to this in other countries.”

“Like where?”

“They’re talking Paris.”

“France?”

“There’s another?”

“Don’t get smart. When?”

“They’re ready to go as soon as I give them a thumbs up.”

“Who would I report to, them or you?”

“Initially me, because it’s supposed to be like Utopia so it only makes sense for me to lay the groundwork. As soon as you’re comfortable with the process, you’re on your own and only report to them.”

“What’s in this for me?”

What was up with him? He had nothing, someone was offering him a helluva job and he was getting all sanctimonious. “That’s between you and the investors. If I had to guess, I’d say salary and bonuses based on profits, maybe an ownership percentage, I don’t know.”

Collin stood up and went to the window, his back to me. “Is part of the deal that I leave you alone?”

I knew that question was coming. “You won’t want to be here. You’ll have a life of your own.” It was the best response I could come up with that would preserve his ego and still make the point.

“Can I ask you something?” His voice was serious and yet sort of sensitive.

“Ask.”

He turned from the window to look at me directly. “Why have you never told me you live on an island?”

I wasn’t ready for that one. I couldn’t tell him the truth.

“I like my privacy, and you can see me here anytime.”

“You just didn’t want to contaminate your precious little house.”

“Not true. It’s not a big place, there’s only the one house and it just happens to be where I live part-time. I also live here, you know.”

“Bullshit!”

“Collin…” My tone was warning him.

“Never mind. Save it. I get the picture. Tell your investors that I’ll take their damned job, and I’ll make you look like a boy scout.” Collin strode to the door and left, slamming it behind him.

I considered the meeting successful. He knew there were no investors, that it was all me. He wanted to salvage enough pride and pretend, and I let him. The end was that Collin was leaving the country, and I knew him well enough to know he’d try to kick my ass and beat me at my own game. That was exactly what I wanted.

All thanks to Jeremy, the bus boy.