Chapter Three
Maddox
On Saturday evening, I went for dinner at my grandparents’ house. The whole family was attending. They lived in the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston.
I remembered the first time I saw it, a few years after the scandal broke. At first, I was resistant to getting to know Dad’s other family, as we called it even though we were the ”other ones.” But my grandparents had always been welcoming. I was proud to be Abe and Jeannie”s grandson.
There was a flurry of activity when I stepped inside the house. It smelled fantastic.
”Oh, great. You”re here!” Cade appeared in the doorway.
”Am I the last one?” I asked.
”Nah. Nick”s not here yet. Gran is already throwing a fit that we ordered too much food.”
I grinned. This was an ongoing series of battles, but we were winning more and more often.
Our grandparents were ninety-two and weren’t as fit as they thought. They”d both had health scares over the years. Until recently, Gran had insisted on cooking a feast every time she had us over for dinner. After she ended up in the ER because of dehydration, we put our collective “foot” down. Sometimes we ordered in and sometimes we asked a restaurant to cater it. But when they asked us over on short notice, there wasn”t time to plan more than takeout.
I entered the living room and couldn’t believe my eyes. Okay, she has a point. We did order too much food. Still, we were a huge group. All of my half brothers had a significant other. Jake was married to Natalie, who was working with me. Colton was engaged to Zoey. Cade and Meredith had known each other as kids and reconnected as adults. Spencer, who was holding his son, Ben, had been a very lucky bastard to meet Penny. She’d lived in the house next to him at the time. Life just worked out that way sometimes, although Gran would tell you it was her doing. Either way, I couldn”t imagine a better woman for him.
I”d never in a million years expected that Gabe would get engaged, but here we were. I liked Diane very much, but some days, I still wondered how the only bachelors in my family were Nick, Leo, and me.
”I guess we won’t starve,” I exclaimed.
”No, we won”t,” Spencer said, kissing Ben’s head. ”I”m not even sure how we managed to buy so much food. We got double of everything.”
”Who cares? At least that means they”ll have leftovers for the rest of the week,” Colton said, ever so practical.
”Yeah, they won”t even have to eat the same thing twice,” Leo said.
Gabe was looking at me curiously. I didn”t give him all the details about my meeting with Cami, just informed him that I hadn’t made any progress. Though that was a fucking understatement.
As we all sat down at the table, Gran seemed to mellow out.
”Is that fried chicken? I haven”t had that in a while,” she commented.
Cade was especially smug, and he had the right to be. It wasn”t every day that one managed to surprise Jeannie Whitley.
I had an inkling that my brothers were expecting me to say something. They kept throwing glances my way, then looking at one another.
Finally, Granddad seemed to pick up on that vibe and asked, ”What”s going on with you boys? Everyone seems on edge.” Abe Whitley hadn”t run an empire for nothing. The man definitely knew how to read a room and choose his battles.
”We”re all waiting for Maddox to give us an update,” Gabe said with a shit-eating grin. ”He went to meet the owners of the adventure park next to our property.”
”Oh, the one you want to buy?” Gran said.
”Exactly, Grandmother,” Gabe replied.
Even all these years later, it surprised me every time one of my half brothers said ”Grandmother” or ”Grandfather.” It seemed very formal, but it was the way they were raised. Leo, Nick, and I just called them Gran and Granddad.
”But I didn”t make any progress,” I said.
”You already told me that, but I need more details of your failure.”
”Why are you enjoying this so much?”
”Maybe because you bragged about being able to win anyone over with your... what was it?”
”Legendary Whitley charm,” Spencer put in for him.
I deserved that. I did brag about a month ago, when Gabe first told us Cami was the one holding up the sale.
”I”m glad you all find this amusing.”
”You did look very full of yourself when you said that,” Leo said.
I shrugged. ”Well, it’s never failed me.”
”Until now, obviously,” Gabe said.
”Could it possibly be because your charm is usually used on hot young women and not old men?” Leo asked.
This was going to be even more humiliating than I”d anticipated, but there was no way to skirt past it.
I cleared my throat. ”Actually, I didn”t meet him at all. Cami came alone.”
Gabe stared at me. ”Wait, so your charm actually failed on, as Leo put it, a hot young woman?”
”Spectacularly,” I said, deciding to own up to it and be completely honest. ”I have no idea what happened.”
The entire table burst out laughing. I did, too, even though deep down, I was frustrated.
”Walk us through it, and maybe we”ll be able to help you sort it out,” Gabe said.
The fucker. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash it with everybody.
”I”m going to be this evening”s entertainment, huh?”
”Oh yes, you are,” Nick said. I hadn”t heard him come in over all the noise. ”I just got the end of that conversation, but it sounds good. Hi, everyone. Damn, that”s a lot of food!”
Cade groaned. ”Please don”t bring it up.”
”Okay,” he said, sitting down between Gran and Natalie. ”Now, please walk us through your failure so we might be able to pinpoint where you went wrong.”
I cocked a brow. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.
”All right,” I said as everyone put food on their plates. I went heavy on the chicken because Gran was right, it did look really good. ”The first problem was that Samuel himself couldn”t come to dinner. So it was just me and his daughter.”
”How old is the daughter?” Gran asked.
That”s a weird question.
”Honestly, I don”t know. I think my age, maybe a bit younger. I didn”t ask.”
”Thank God you didn”t,” she said.
I stared at her. Does she really think I’d do that?
”Anyway, she’s dead set on not selling.”
”I already told you that!” Gabe sounded exasperated.
”I know, man, but I hadn”t expected her to be so vehemently against it. I pointed out that we’re paying far more than the market price and told her everything she could do with that money.”
”I”m starting to see why this was a disaster,” Nick said.
”You do know people don”t like to be told what to do, right?” Leo asked.
Jake and Colton winced at that.
Cade nodded. ”Leo’s got a point.”
”It wasn”t like that,” I said. ”I was just laying out her options.” I thought on it for a moment. ”Damn, you”re right. It was exactly like that.”
”See? We”re making progress. This is very productive,” Natalie said.
”And then it got worse,” I said because why not go there? I mean, it was a business deal, after all. I”d failed, and now Gabe had to pick up the slack. He needed to know everything.
”I can’t imagine how that”s possible,” Jake said, his voice tight.
”I started flirting with her.”
There was an audible gasp from Penny. Then everyone else burst out laughing.
”Yeah. That is worse,” Jake said.
”Why didn”t I see that coming?” Gabe muttered. ”I should have come with you.”
Spencer stared at me. So did Penny.
”So wait, you were already on her bad side,” Spencer began.
Penny played right off him. ”And you felt that was a good moment to start flirting?”
When she put it like that, I sounded like a damn moron. But at the time, it seemed different.
I”d been attracted to her from the second I saw her. She was a damn knockout. And then there was a spark—a moment. And I”d acted on that spark. She’d reacted deliciously to that accidental brush of our legs, and my mind went blank. I couldn’t explain it. But that wasn”t relevant to this conversation, so I left the detail out.
”I”m going to take a shot in the dark,” Spencer said, ”and say she flipped you the bird.”
”Spencer,” Gran chastised.
”Not exactly, but she might as well have,” I said.
Gabe wasn”t amused.
I zeroed in on him. ”Look, I messed up. I”m going to fix it.”
”You”d better,” he said, his expression hard.
He was usually just as easygoing as I was, but this was important.
”Because if she changes her dad’s mind—” he continued, but I shook my head.
”I won”t let that happen.”
”What are you going to do? Flirt the pants off her some more?” That came from Cade.
”Boys, what”s with you tonight?” Gran asked.
I shook my head. ”I deserve it, honestly.”
She looked at me sympathetically. ”I”m sorry the deal isn”t going as smoothly as you thought it would.”
”I don”t mind,” I said. ”I like challenges.”
”But I think you know better than to flirt during a business deal, Maddox. Your granddad and I taught you better than that,” she countered.
”Yes, you did, and I honestly don’t know what came over me.” I felt properly shamed right now and decided to concentrate on my meal.
Gran narrowed her eyes. ”Would you like to show me around the adventure park one of these days?”
Gabe turned to her, raising a brow. ”Why?”
”I”d like to see it. I personally think the property you already have is big enough for what you boys want to do, but I’d love to see what’s so special about the adventure park’s lot. I think it”s great that you boys want to expand the Whitley legacy. We”re so proud of you.”
Fuck, I”d never get tired of hearing them say that.
From the moment they came to Maine and suggested we join Whitley Industries because it was ours as much as our half brothers, I’d vowed to never let them down.
And I hadn”t. Until now.
I had no idea what happened to me back at that inn. I’d lost my composure. Most importantly, I”d lost track of my goal, and that never happened to me. I was going to fix it one way or another. I just had to think of a better strategy.
”I”m going to talk to her dad,” I said.
”I think that”s a sound decision,” Jake replied.
”Start with an apology,” Leo offered.
”In case the guy wants to knock out your teeth or something,” Nick added.
”He’s not the type. He”s more like Santa Claus,” Gabe said. ”But you never know.”
”Maddox did hit on his daughter,” Cade chimed in helpfully.
”I didn”t hit on her, exactly,” I said even though I really didn”t want to go into specifics.
”Huh, she shut you down that quickly?” Meredith asked. She was, in my opinion, the feistiest out of my brothers” women. ”You didn”t even get to that?”
”All right. I think I”ve had enough advice from you all. Some was helpful, but there”s no sense beating a dead horse. I fucked up. I’m going to fix it.”
”Don”t be so hard on yourself,” Gran said. ”It”ll all work out in the end.”
Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wondered why she didn”t chastise me for swearing again. But I wasn”t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I”d always felt like a teenager when I was at the receiving end of her scolding.
”I can’t wait to see the adventure park,” she continued. ”I can come with you when you go talk to Samuel. I want to get a feel for that place, maybe figure out why Cami doesn’t want to sell.”
I frowned. ”Okay. That could help.” Empathy wasn”t a strength of mine. I had a hard time putting myself in other people”s shoes. Frankly, I had so many negotiations on a daily basis that it would be a nightmare to even try. Besides, most people didn’t have a deep emotional reason. They just wanted money, and they figured the Whitleys had it in spades and wanted to get us for all we were worth.
But this was completely different. It had to be about more than the money. Samuel had been open with us about the financial status of the company. That place wasn”t a big moneymaker. It generated enough to pay decent salaries to the employees, but after that, there was little profit left over.
Fuck!I should have paced myself and tried to find out more about Cami. Instead, I went about it like a bull in a china shop. Of course she shot me down.
Still, I wasn’t sure Gran should travel back and forth even though it was only a forty-minute drive.
”There’s no need for you to come, Gran,” I said. “Thank you for offering, but I already have some ideas.”
She smiled at me. ”Oh, but I have tricks you don’t.”
”All right, then. Why not?” If she wanted to come along and it made her happy, who was I to stop her?
I glanced at the rest of the table. Natalie and Jake were exchanging a glance I couldn”t decipher. Meredith was clearly fighting laughter. Cade was elbowing her under the table, but everyone could see. Penny was just looking at Gran with appreciation. Spencer and Gabe were both laughing openly. I had no idea what had gotten into them.
One thing was certain: Jeannie Whitley had mad skills. She”d been a theater actress her whole life. She”d confided in me once that in order to play her characters, she spent a lot of time trying to put herself in their shoes, imagining what their life was like. If anyone could give lessons in empathy, it was Gran. I couldn”t wait to show her the adventure park.
Jeannie Whitley might be exactly the secret weapon I need.