Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,39
the cleanup while I visited with my friend.
The whole arrangement was entirely surreal, and I was still trying to get used to it.
During my first few weeks, I'd kept trying to clean up the dinner messes like I would at my own place, only to give up the habit entirely when the housekeeper worried out loud that she'd be out of work if I kept doing her job on top of my own.
I saw what she meant, but it still made me feel like a slug. After all, my only job was to watch out for Willow, and it hardly felt like a job at all.
All in all, I had nothing to complain about.
And I tried not to. But the truth was, Mason really was making me crazy.
As my thoughts churned, I looked to Arden and said, "Hey, can I ask you something? Do you think Mason's ever been happy?"
"With his childhood?" she said. "I doubt it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the way I hear it, Mason really got the short end of the stick."
"How so?"
She winced. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because the story's so grim. And I know you like happy endings."
Now, I really wanted to know, and not only for curiosity. For weeks now, I'd been wondering what made Mason tick. With this in mind, I practically begged Arden to tell me, anyway.
"Alright," she said. "But remember, you asked for it."
Chapter 24
Mason
Chase strolled into my office seven minutes late for the meeting.
I gave him a look. "The schedule said noon."
He glanced at his watch. "It's not even ten after."
"Yeah. And you're still late."
The three of us – me, Brody, and Chase – held this meeting once a month to discuss the company's direction and make sure we stayed on track.
The meeting was private, with no assistants, no transcripts, and nobody whose last name wasn't Blastoviak.
Chase ambled to my conference table and pulled out a chair. I was still sitting at my desk, preferring to get some work done while I waited.
Hey, somebody had to.
As Chase sat down at the table, he made a point to look around. "And why are you bitching at me? Brody's not even here yet."
"Yeah, well, I'll be 'bitching' at him when he shows up."
Chase grinned. "If he shows up."
"Meaning?"
"I’m just saying, he's got other things on his mind, you know."
My youngest brother – the guy who used our tools more than anyone – had gone soft maybe six months ago when a blast from his past had returned with a vengeance.
That blast had a name, Arden Weathers, who happened to be Cami's best friend. If I were in the mood to give Arden credit, I might admit that she was making my brother obnoxiously happy.
I meant that literally.
His happiness was obnoxious as hell. Just last week, I'd heard him whistling when he walked by.
Whistling.
Who the hell does that?
Not my little brother – or at least, not until Arden came along.
Arden and our family had a history. The history wasn't good.
But now, I was supposed to welcome her into the family like I'd welcome any sane person, maybe someone like Cami, who wasn't a truck-torching psycho.
For my brother's sake, I'd given Arden the official thumbs-up, but that didn't mean I was happy about it.
Good thing for Brody, he was happy enough for all of us, which might've made me happier, too, if only he weren't showing up late for meetings.
On the upside, his tardiness gave me and Chase a moment alone. I looked to him and said, "You're a real piece of work. You know that?"
He grinned. "Hell yeah."
It was the day after the patio conversation with Cami, and I was still pissed at Chase for yanking my chain with that story of meeting Cami for coffee.
I was even more pissed at myself for falling for it.
I said, "So you get what I’m talking about."
"No. What'd I do this time?"
My jaw clenched at the memory. "That coffee story."
With mock innocence, he asked, "What coffee story?"
He knew damn well what I meant. But hey, I'd spell it out if I had to. "You told me you had coffee with the nanny."
"Which one?"
"You know which one."
He lifted a single eyebrow, which annoyed the piss out of me, because it was one of the few things Chase could do that I couldn’t. Knowing Chase, he knew it annoyed me, which explained why he was doing it now.
In a voice filled with all kinds of innuendo, he said, "Cami the nanny?"