128. And plan beer it was
128
AND PLAN BEER IT WAS
Nate
We spent days trying to think of a good plan to catch Brax in whatever scheme he was involved in. Daire even had his parents over to lunch to see if he could get information from them about what had gone down years ago regarding the man we supposed was Brax’s father. It was messy with a long drawn out court case but it involved extortion. And while they were furious the son had returned to wreak vengeance, they didn’t have anything to offer in terms of how to expose his lies.
When Friday night arrived and it was time for everyone to gather on the roof, we didn’t have much of a plan. This week was a grown-ups only week. We had hired a couple of babysitters to watch all of the kids together for a night of cartoons and fun. It had been in the works for a while, a sort of test run for when we might all want to go out together. But the timing worked out perfectly.
We didn’t need the kids to be there as we tried to figure out what Brax was up to. He was a pretty loose cannon and we didn’t want him shouting with little ones close by.
“Are we ordering in or grilling?” I asked Neil as we were getting ready to head up. If we were grilling I would have to grab some chips or something to go with it. We always had an “emergency” stash of things we could bring that required no cooking or prep. The first time we used them I felt bad, but they were completely devoured in minutes unlike the veggie tray I spent an hour on. Chips and jarred salsa for the win.
“Micah said something about subs and beer. ”
I went to the cupboard to get the chips anyway. “Because subs.” I explained when he gave me the What is that for? look.
“We really should have a plan other than saying we are having an impromptu meeting about a new series idea as bait.” He wasn’t wrong, but it was the best that he, Daire, and I could come up with so it would have to do.
“If it fails, it fails. It will be fun.” We had all kinds of messed up ideas we planned to “discuss” over some beers. That was our trap!
We were skeptical it would work and that we would have to knock on the door and kind of peer pressure him into coming up, making this twice as difficult. But Brax was all in, going so far as to double check if he should bring anything. Either he knew we were up to something or it was going to be easy to get information out of him.
Only time would tell.
Most everyone was already on the roof when we got up there. Someone had music playing, things were set out for when the food got here, and there were three coolers full of beer.
“That’s a lot of alcohol,” I teased as I set the chips down.
“I wasn’t sure what people would like so I bought some of everything.” Ivor held up his soda. “And some drinks for those still feeding their little ones and not wanting to pump and dump.”
I didn’t understand what that meant, but had a feeling I didn’t want to either and just gave a nod of agreement.
Daire had already hit up the coolers and handed me a beer. “Let’s find a seat.”
The chairs were all set in a circle with a fire pit in the middle. The nights weren’t particularly cool yet, but the bugs were starting to come out and fire pits had a way of keeping them out of our hair. And besides, it looked pretty.
“When’s the meeting starting?” Brax grumbled, leaning back in his seat. “I got places to be.”
“Oh, another job interview?” Archer asked, an innocent look on his face. “On a Friday night? That must be some amazing job.” Brax squirmed and a spot of pink appeared on each cheek. “What we’re going to discuss is pretty dry business-related ideas. Probably very different from your line of work.”
He gave Brax an opening to say what his job was, but the guy didn’t spill.
“It’s fine,” Micah said, sitting across from him. “You don’t have to stick around for the meeting.”
Micah and Archer were much better at this than I was. Their comments had Brax sitting up straight and saying he was interested in reality shows. “Might even get into the business myself one day.” He continued by telling us how much he’d learned since visiting the motel and watching the filming.
I’ll bet you have you sneaky so and so.
We chatted about the weather and bugs and nothing of significance as we waited for the sandwiches to arrive. Brax kept checking the time and Micah offered him a beer and another. And another. Unlike Daire who could down far more alcohol than that before becoming tipsy, Brax was slurring his words and was not impressed at having to wait for food.
“I remember sitting on this roof with my dads when I was younger,” Daire mused. “They were having a tough time because they were being sued and I was trying to tell funny stories and make them laugh.”
“Meh,” Brax said into his drink. “They and you had all this.” He waved his hand around indicating the manor. “And a beach house and an estate at the lake.”
“It wasn’t handed to them,” Daire harrumphed. “They worked for it.”
Brax downed another beer until the delivery person messaged.
Daire went with Micah to grab the food.
“Must be nice.” Brax watched them leave.
“What’s that?” Neil asked as he eyed the drink in Brax’s hand.
I understood why Neil hadn’t wanted the guy to be drunk and spill the deets of his little scheme. When confronted with what he’d admitted—if he said anything—he could claim it was the drink talking.
“Having people do things for you.”
“Perhaps it’s time you found a mate,” Neil said. He and Martin had had tough times but were finally working things out.
“What I need is new freaking parents.” Brax reached for another beer but Neil put a hand out to stop him. Brax ignored him and got another one anyway.
He was quickly moving into getting drunk as a skunk. I hated the guy but I didn’t want him passed out or dead. If he kept going at this rate, we were going to have to shut him off and that might lead to a shouting match.
Daire squeezed my shoulder. I hadn’t even heard him come back. “Dinner’s here.”
The subs were delicious and with us all sitting around the fire eating, we decided to start the meeting early. There was no way Brax was gonna make it all night the way he was going .
“Grabbing a beer. Anyone want?” Brax said after Daire asked if everyone was ready to discuss the new ideas.
“How about you eat first?” I indicated his sandwich.
He let out a humph. “You sound like the asshole. Always telling me what to do.”
Daire and I shared a glance as I wondered if the asshole was Brax’s dad.
Though the company was Daire and Micah’s, as their mates, Archer and I were involved in the discussion. And I worked with them and Archer had as well. Neil had taken pics too and Martin had helped too. Ivor and Ryder weren’t involved, but everyone welcomed their opinion.
But this was a setup, though Brax didn’t know that. We were going to suggest ideas for a reality show to do with fathers and see if Brax would take the bait.
“Speaking of what to do.” Archer said. “I had an idea but I don’t know the legal bits of it. What if we followed the life of stay at home parents, work at home parents, and work outside of the home parents?”
“I think it lends people to be judgy.” Ryder said, leaning back in his seat, not touching his sandwich. His hair was falling out and he’d lost his appetite due to chemo.
“Fair point.” Archer agreed. “I was thinking of it as it’s all hard and maybe people need to do what’s right for them, but I could see how that could turn.”
“I know—speaking of dads, what about connecting people with fathers they haven’t seen since they were tiny?” Daire said. “Like a deadbeat dad redemption kind of thing?”
“Too many things can go wrong. and if the father is a real asshat, we don’t want to feature them on the show,” Micah added.
“You can be a shitty dad and still be in someone’s life.” Brax picked up his sandwich and took a bite and not letting his full mouth get in the way, said, “Mine thinks I’m his puppet. He stays in my life to control me.”
“Do you work for him?” Martin asked.
“In theory no, but if I don’t do as he says, I lose my trust fund. Ask Daire how shitty it is to be rich and have no money. He’s been there. Done that.”
He must have done a lot of research into my mate to discover that information.
“It’s not the same,” Daire snapped back at him. “Or maybe it is. I don’t even know. Did your father almost ruin a lot of people’s lives? Because I’m here to tell you that sucked. Knowing my friends were going to suffer because I pissed off my dad—yeah zero out of ten do not recommend.”
I pulled my mate onto my lap. That had hit a little too close. I knew things had been bad but I never really pieced it together.
“Worse.” Brax got up and crossed over to the coolers. Of course he did. Only this time he came back with a soda. Thank goodness for little things. All eyes were still glued to him.
“What? You wanna hear all about how my father makes me run his little retribution schemes when he’s bored or how he threatened to kick my dad out and strip him of everything if I didn’t?”
“Am I a retribution scheme?” Daire asked with no emotion.
“You sure as shit ain’t my damn cousin.” And before anyone could say a word he bent over and lost what he’d eaten all over freaking everything.