myself strategically away from the office when the time came.
“Good, now we can get to work,” Paige said, putting her hands together in front of her. “We have a lot on the docket today, and I have a feeling it’s already going to be a thing.”
“Pretty much.”
“Red alert,” Archer said as he ran back to where we were standing.
“What?” I asked, alarmed, looking around for a fire.
“I accidentally moved my sleeve up a bit more than usual, and he caught the tattoo.”
I scowled at him, my heart racing. “Archer. I know you wanted a half-sleeve, and it looks wonderful on your forearm, but you had to know that Dad would eventually notice the Montgomery Iris on your skin,” I whispered, frantic now.
My dad did not like the Montgomery Iris. He didn’t want his children to be branded with the other Montgomerys.
Archer rubbed his forearm and tugged his sleeve down.
“It’s just getting ridiculous. He saw the ink, narrowed his eyes, was about to say something, and I kind of ran.” The tips of Archer’s ears reddened. “I know our dad is amazing and nice and a good person. It’s just…he’s not acting like it right now.”
Benjamin walked into the building at that moment, saw the four of us huddled together in the corner by Paige’s desk, and shook his head.
“What did you do?” Benjamin asked, running a hand over his hair.
“Well, Dad is double-checking all of our work again, saw Archer’s tattoo, and is in a bad mood,” I answered.
“And we left him alone with Clay,” Paige added.
My eyes widened. “Crap. Clay’s amazing, we can’t have him quitting.”
“Damn it. I’ve got this,” Beckett said and stormed off, leaving us behind, shaking our heads.
“And you’re late, bro,” Archer said, glancing at Benjamin.
My brother shook his head. “It is too fucking hot for me to spend the coolness of the morning inside, dealing with Dad’s plans, when I could be working on what I need to out at my sites. I get that Dad wants us to work on this as a family because he feels like this is his project, but I’m exhausted. My team needs me to be out there helping them, not in here in a nice air-conditioned unit, when they’re out there sweating to death.”
“I’m sorry, Ben,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry, too. Now let’s get through this meeting so we can get back to our real jobs.”
“You know it’s Saturday, right?” Paige said. “I mean, we all know it’s Saturday. We’re not even supposed to be working today. That was our deal as a family. That we’d take weekends off to protect one another and our staff.”
“We know,” the three of us said, and I sighed again. We made our way to the conference room where Beckett was glowering at Dad, putting his body between Clay and my father.
Clay didn’t seem to mind. He had his chest out as if he were ready to stand up and protect us, as well. This infighting was ridiculous. It hadn’t always been this bad. We used to go to family reunions, and Dad had gotten along decently well with his brothers-in-law.
But then the Denver Montgomerys got a little more press, made a lot more money, and while we were doing just fine, we weren’t exactly in the same league as the rest of them—at least according to my father. I might disagree with that sentiment, but it wasn’t as if I had a voice. Not really. My dad was just as grumpy about me wanting to do my own thing as he was about being compared to the people he always compared himself to.
“Okay, come on. Let’s get this meeting going,” Paige said and looked around the room. “Is Mom coming?” she asked, and Dad shook his head. “No, she went down south.”
I held back a groan. Well, that explained the mood. Mom was visiting the new babies down in Denver or maybe in Colorado Springs. That meant Dad was alone at the house and grumbling about it.
And we were dealing with the consequences. I loved my father, I truly did, but sometimes he was such an asshole.
“Okay, let’s get this shit on the road.”
“Dad, language,” Paige said.
“We’re family here, and I thought you were all adults.”
“We’re in the workplace, and some of us aren’t related to the Montgomerys.”
My dad narrowed his eyes at Clay. “Fine, then. Sorry for the sentimentality.”
I held back a groan. “That’s enough of that,” I said.
“Where are we on the up-keeps?” Dad asked, and Beckett rolled his shoulders