Twenty-One

Morgan

No.

No, God, this couldn’t be happening to me right now.

After putting this off for so long, we’d been caught red-handed. And by the last person I’d wanted to see. Jensen might have laughed it off and given me grief about it later. Landon would have maybe even pretended like he never saw it. But Austin…

“Seriously…are either of you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Austin asked.

Patrick and I backed away from each other at the same time. Not that it made us look any less guilty. We were so guilty.

“Austin, I…we,” I said, suddenly tongue-tied.

His eyes locked on mine before switching to his best friend. “Are you with my little sister?”

“She’s not so little anymore, Austin,” Patrick said coolly.

How is he so confident? I was actually shaking. I’d wanted to tell everyone what was happening. Yet I was the one who was terrified with how this would fall out between Patrick and Austin. It wasn’t like my brothers could disown me.

“Yeah, I noticed you’d figured that out when you had your tongue down her throat.”

“Austin,” I groaned.

“Don’t you have a speech to give upstairs, Morgan?” he bit out.

“We should talk about this.”

“Yes, we should. Patrick and I are going to talk about this.”

“I think we should all talk. It’s not like we meant to hide this from you.”

“Yes, we did,” Patrick said.

I glared at him. Of course, he was right. We had held this back from everyone on purpose. Especially Austin. He’d been there that first night. We could have told him then, and we hadn’t.

“It’s been Morgan this whole time. When you asked me who was at my house, it was Morgan. It’s still Morgan. And, yeah, we purposely didn’t tell you or anyone else because we knew this would be your reaction.”

“No one else knows?” Austin asked.

I cringed. “Uh…not exactly.”

“Go give your speech, Mor.”

Patrick turned to look at me and smiled his cute lopsided grin. “Go on. I’ll handle this.”

“Patrick,” I whispered, “I don’t want you to do this alone.”

“I know. But we’ll deal with it together after the party.”

I frowned between Patrick and my brother before nodding. I couldn’t believe I was actually walking away from this right now. I could stay and ignore my speech. But, with all the drama going on at work, I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to second-guess me. Even for something as little as a speech.

I walked toward Austin, who was still standing in the doorway. He moved aside, so I could pass.

“This isn’t his fault, you know.”

“I think I can handle this.”

“Go easy on him,” I whispered before leaving.

My heels carried me down the hall like a scared little mouse. I’d just left Patrick there with Austin. It didn’t matter that Austin had told me to leave and that Patrick had agreed that it was okay. I felt like a traitor.

I jammed my finger on the button in frustration and then circled back to face my office. I had to go back. Yes, I needed to worry about work, but it was just a speech, right? This was Patrick.

The only man who seemed to understand my crazy and still liked my work ethic. He took care of me and cooked for me and made sure I was still sane at the end of each day. He didn’t try to change me. He didn’t try to put me in a box. He didn’t try to make me conform to a standard. I was just me, and he was fine with that.

I took a deep breath and was about to walk down the hall when the elevator dinged open. I glanced back at the giant metal box and was surprised to find Emery standing there.

“Shit, am I too late?” she asked.

“Just a bit.”

“Austin was coming down here, and I just realized why you and Patrick were missing together.”

“Yeah. He found us in a compromising position.”

“Fuck,” Emery spat. “Should I go in there?”

“They kind of both forced me to leave.”

“Do we need to get Julia?” Emery asked with concerned, wide eyes.

“I don’t know. I feel half like I should go back in there and try to fix everything and half like…maybe they should duke it out.”

“Yeah. Men!”

“I mean…right!”

“Why is it even a big deal anyway?”

“For so many reasons. But I told Patrick up-front that, if it came to this, I’d handle my brothers, and now, I’m running away at the first sign of trouble.”

Emery put her arm around my shoulders and guided me onto the elevator. “You’re not running from trouble. You’re running the company. This will blow over. Austin is going to be shocked, and then it’ll be fine. I’ll talk to Jensen for you if you want?”

“I appreciate it but no. I should probably do that myself.”

“I respect that.”

The elevator dinged open on the top floor, revealing the hundreds of employees who worked at Wright Construction. All of my employees. Every single one of them. Despite the issues in my personal life, my heart swelled with pride at all the happy faces. I loved this company. Frankly, I adored this company. Like Jensen, I made sure that I knew everyone’s names and faces. I didn’t want to just completely lock myself away in my glass tower and never know the people who were doing the hard work.

I smiled, hugged, and shook hands with people as Emery and I meandered through the crowd to the front of the room. I could tell that people were taking full advantage of the open bar. A sea of happy faces without a care in the world. And here I was, their leader, terrified to face her brothers and about to go onstage to address them as shaky as fuck.

“Where have you been?” Jensen asked as soon as I reached the rest of my family.

“I—”

“It doesn’t matter. I wanted to introduce you to some people before you had to be up there, but it’s time to get up onstage.”

I looked between Jensen and Landon and then on to Sutton. She gave me a half-smile and nodded her head, as if she could read my mind.

“I’m dating Patrick,” I told my brothers. “You might want to save him from Austin downstairs.”

Jensen’s and Landon’s jaws dropped open at my declaration. Then, before I could second-guess myself, I walked away and onto the stage. My stomach was churning, and my hands were trembling. Out of my periphery, I could see both Jensen and Landon disappear and head for the elevator. I tried to block it out and concentrate on my speech. But, yeah, there was no chance of that.

Still, I stepped up onto the stage. I cleared my throat into the microphone and got everyone’s attention. I smiled like I was cool and confident. Even though I was kind of dying on the inside.

“Thank you all so much for coming tonight,” I began. “It’s been another unbelievable year for Wright Construction. I’m so grateful to have stepped into the CEO position and to see the growth and trajectory of this company. I have high hopes and, let’s be honest, intense, strategic plans to continue to move onward and upward.”

I couldn’t believe that I was talking about this right now. My mind was a hundred percent on the conversation that was going on downstairs. I hated that this speech was tainted by all of this. We should have just told the guys after we got home from San Francisco. I knew that Patrick didn’t want to tell because of his relationship with Austin. But I was clearly at fault too. I’d made up an imaginary boyfriend instead of telling them!

I continued through my planned speech. I told them about the work we’d been doing with the environmental upgrades. How our company was moving toward better digital equipment in the field. Plus the success we’d had with our prized Disney World project.

“Not to mention, the amazing contract we’re negotiating with Texas Tech right across the street,” I added. “We’ve always been top of the line, helping to build the university so many of us graduated from. And, once we close that out at the end of the year, it will be thirty straight years of Wright Construction on the Tech campus!”

The crowd cheered. And, over the tops of the heads, I saw Jensen and Landon schlep back into the room without Austin or Patrick behind them. Nerves bit at me as the applause died down.

I needed to end this thing. I just needed to get off this stage and figure out what was going on. Fuck.

“Here’s to you! Wright Construction would never be as successful without all of you. I hope the annual bonuses going out next week help to show just how much we appreciate you.”

The screams were even louder than before. I laughed and raised my hands to quiet everyone down. Even though, on the inside, I was squirming.

“Enjoy the party and the open bar! Happy holidays!”

I stepped off the stage in relief. The weight of the world fell off my shoulders. One huge struggle down. Another even bigger one to deal with.

Jensen was waiting for me. He looked like a walking thundercloud.

“We need to talk.”

“I know.”

“But I need you to keep that smile on your face for a little bit longer.”

“Okay,” I muttered.

“Be on your best behavior.”

“Why?”

Jensen didn’t answer. He just tugged me across the room over to where our uncle stood with two men I’d never seen and definitely never met before. But my uncle was one of the last people I wanted to see right now.

Douchecanoe.

“Owen, we’re so pleased that you’ve been able to stay through the holidays,” Jensen said easily.

The look I gave him said that I completely disagreed. He narrowed his eyes at me, and I plastered that smile back on my face.

Why the fuck am I talking to these people when I have other shit to deal with? I was already at my wit’s end with work. Add everyone finding out about Patrick, my dick uncle, and these two random men, and I was about to break.

I didn’t have another fake pageant girl smile. I only had resting bitch face and zero fucks to give.

“I’m happy to be here, too, Jensen,” Owen said when I didn’t respond. “I’m also happy that my two boys were able to make the trip to stay with me for the rest of the holiday season.”

I did a double take.

“Morgan, these are our cousins from Vancouver,” Jensen supplied. “The rest of the family met them while you were…otherwise occupied.”

I didn’t miss the edge to his voice.

“Wow,” was all I could muster.

The taller of the two just laughed and held his hand out. We shook.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Jordan, and this is my younger brother, Julian.”

Now that I knew who they were, it was impossible to miss. They could be my brothers, and no one would disagree with me. It was eerie. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes, and handsome. I wondered if they had the Wright charm, too. Or if they were as big of dicks as their father.

“Nice to meet you.” I shook Julian’s hand, too.

“We’d love to get to know you better while we’re in town,” Julian said.

Great. Just what I needed. Eager cousins I’d never met before wanting to get in on my life.

“I’m sure we can set something up,” Jensen said before I could snark back.

“But, right now, we have some important business to handle.”

“Business?” Owen asked. “It’s the Christmas party. Can’t it wait?”

“No, it can’t.”

“Take the night off, Morgan. You’ve earned it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “It’s bad when I take time off. It’s bad when I don’t take time off. Make up your mind.”

Jensen sighed heavily and looked to the ceiling.

“I don’t think I know what you mean,” Owen said.

“I think you do.”

“No, I really don’t,” he said, holding his ground.

“It’s called a double standard. Look it up in the dictionary if you’re confused,” I snapped back at him. I turned my attention back to my cousins. “Great meeting you.”

Then, I more or less fled that conversation.

What the hell is with this night? Is it a full moon? Is Mercury in retrograde? Something had to be happening in the cosmos to bring me this much negative energy. Because…damn.

“You’re going to have to make that up to Owen,” Jensen said when he jogged up behind me.

“Whatever.” I angled for the exit. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Morgan,” Jensen said, stopping me, “you can’t storm out of here, looking pissed off. Stay and mingle for a while. We’ll deal with this after the party.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I can’t. I’m not built that way. It stresses me out to wait to deal with anything. I’ll get worse than I was with Owen and his uninvited children who we’d never freaking met.”

“They’re his kids. They don’t have to be invited.”

“Whatever. I don’t like to be in the same room with him. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have cared to ever meet his kids.”

“I’m not going to touch that,” Jensen said, trying to conceal his laugh. “Just stay for an hour. Calm down. Breathe. We’ll talk it out.”

My eyes slid to his, and my anger began to dissolve. The fear that had threatened to strangle me slowly eased. “How are Austin and Patrick?”

“Austin was in shock. You know how he is. Plus, there’s alcohol nearby. We’re trying to manage him. Julia is trying to talk some sense into him.”

“I don’t want to ruin their relationship,” I whispered. Tears got stuck in my throat, and I tried to swallow them back. I absolutely could not start crying. I hated crying to begin with. I doubly hated crying over stupid shit. Nothing was worth my expensive mascara.

“They’ve been friends a long, long time. It’ll work out,” Jensen said soothingly. “Make your rounds. Let everyone cool off for a minute.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Fine.”

Cooling off was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to take my fiery anger and wreak havoc on the world. Burn everything that stood in my way. I wanted this nightmare to be over.