Chapter 4
“Sometimes I wish I was an only child.” ~ Eli
Eli
I smile as I enter Buccaneer’s Whiskey & Distillery. This is my dream. Maybe not the distillery itself but owning a business with my five brothers? It’s everything I wished for after Dad left us.
I bite back the temptation to growl. Dad is such an asshole for abandoning Mom to bring up six kids on her own. I will never forgive him for what he did. And I definitely won’t forgive him for showing up at my door in California begging for money. Acting as if he deserved it.
“Uh oh,” my assistant, Dakota, mutters as I enter the offices of the distillery. “Someone’s grumpy today.”
“I’m not grumpy.”
“And you’re not a big fat liar either.”
“I wouldn’t say fat.”
She giggles. “Nope. Not an ounce of fat on you, is there? ”
If Miranda said those words, I’d worry she was coming onto me. But with Dakota, I have no such worries. I’m not the brother she’s interested in.
“Are any of my brothers in yet?”
Her gaze darts to Rhett’s office. “Mr. High and Mighty is in his office and Jaxon is in the lab. Miles, Zane, and Kai aren’t in yet.”
I’m not surprised. Miles prefers to spend his days on a surfboard. Kai is never on time. And Zane does whatever Zane wants.
I check my watch. We have a meeting scheduled in thirty minutes. “Can you call them? Get them here on time for the meeting?”
“You should listen to me and schedule the meeting an hour before the time you actually want to meet.”
“Or my brothers could learn some discipline.”
She laughs. “Sure. That’ll happen.”
I hate how right she is. I stepped in when Dad left to help Mom raise my brothers but with six of us kids, Mom working two jobs, and working three jobs myself, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to deal with my shit stirring brothers.
“I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
She salutes me before returning her attention to her computer. She’s a damn good assistant. I sincerely hope my brother doesn’t screw things up with her and cause her to quit. Maybe I should remind him to keep his hands off of her.
I spend the next half hour preparing for our meeting and dodging phone calls. My brothers and I don’t meet often. When we do, it’s important. I fear today’s meeting is going to be a clash. And when my brothers clash? Watch out.
Dakota knocks on my door. “Everyone’s here.”
“You don’t need to notify him. He can tell time,” Rhett grumbles from behind her.
I stand and button my suit jacket. “Thanks, Dakota. You’re an angel.”
Rhett growls and Dakota rolls her eyes. “Mr. High and Mighty isn’t in the meeting room yet.”
I cough to hide my amusement at my brother’s irritation with my assistant. I really do need to remember to tell him to keep his hands to himself. I won’t lose a good assistant because my brother is horny.
I join Rhett in the hallway and together we walk to the meeting room. When we enter, I frown when I notice Kai is missing. I don’t know why I expected my youngest brother to be on time. He never is.
I settle in a chair next to Miles. I sniff. “Why do I smell seawater?”
He shakes his head and water droplets fly onto the table and my suit jacket.
My nostrils flare in irritation as I wipe the water off of me, but I inhale a deep breath before I lash out at him. “Did you go surfing this morning?”
“Bro, I surf every morning.”
“I told you today’s meeting is important. You couldn’t have at least changed into dry clothes? ”
“Dakota gave me a towel to sit on. I won’t ruin your precious chairs.”
“I don’t care about the chairs. I care about this business.”
“Bro, you’re a billionaire. What does it matter?”
I grit my teeth. He makes it sound like being a billionaire is no big deal. Like I didn’t exist on cheap Ramen noodles and three hours of sleep for a decade.
Worse yet? He’s trashing Buccaneer’s Whiskey & Distillery.
“Because this is our business. The Raider brothers’ business. It’s our legacy.”
His nose wrinkles. “It’s not the legacy I want.”
All my rancor evaporates at his words. Miles’ dream was to be a professional surfer. And he was good enough to make it as a pro, but after he tore his rotator cuff at a competition in Hawaii, his dreams disappeared in a puff of smoke. He can still surf, but his range of motion is too limited for a professional.
“Sorry, bro.”
He scowls at me. “I don’t need your pity.”
“Good because you’re not getting any pity from me. Next time you show up at a meeting in wet surf clothes, I’ll make you stand in the corner.”
“With a dunce cap,” Zane adds. “Can we get him a little stool, too? And make him face the corner?”
“I’ll show you a dunce cap,” Miles mutters before flying over the table at Zane.
Rhett maneuvers his way in between the two and pulls them apart. “Enough,” he grumbles.
“You’re no fun,” Zane claims as he returns to his seat .
“Fuddy duddy,” Miles adds.
“Can we begin this meeting now?” Jaxon asks.
“What’s your rush?” Zane asks.
Jaxon purses his lips. “Do you not understand what this meeting is about? Regardless of the outcome, my workload is going to quadruple.”
Miles rolls his eyes. “Nerd.”
“Hey!” I holler. “No name calling.”
“It’s not name calling when it’s the truth. Jaxon is a nerd.” Miles motions to his brother. “Check him out. Glasses, shirt buttoned to his neck. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a pocket protector.”
“Pocket protectors are for geeks. Not nerds,” Zane says.
“Bro,” Miles mutters, and they high-five each other.
The door to the meeting room opens and Kai appears. Finally. We can get this meeting started before a brawl breaks out. Jaxon may be a nerd but he’s a dirty fighter. All of my brothers are. Doc Allens, at the hospital, can attest to how dirty.
“Watch out, Eli. Viking is coming to get you.” Kai throws a stuffed animal into the room before bursting into laughter.
I drop my head into my hands. I should have known everyone would find out about what happened at the bakery. The smugglers’ grapevine is incredibly effective. And Paisley probably couldn’t wait to share my fear of Viking the otter with the rest of the island’s inhabitants.
“What’s this about?” Jaxon asks as he picks up the stuffed otter.
“Eli’s afraid of otters,” Kai says.
“I heard he screamed like a little girl when he saw Viking,” Miles adds.
“Nope.” Zane shakes his head. “He peed his pants.”
I growl. “I did not pee my pants and I didn’t scream like a little girl.”
“But he did jump onto a table and make a woman save him,” Kai says.
“Not any woman. Paisley.” Miles waggles his eyebrows.
“Isn’t Paisley the girl you had a crush on in high school?” Rhett asks.
I glare at him. “I didn’t have a crush on her.”
“Then, why did you moan her name when you jacked off?” Jaxon asks.
“If you don’t want a stuffed otter shoved down your throat, you’ll shut the fuck up.”
Miles, Zane, and Kai dissolve into laughter. Miles bends over and grabs his stomach. Zane pounds a palm on the table. And Kai dances around the room with the stuffed toy.
“Are we going to discuss business today?” I ask the room.
“I hope we are,” Jaxon says. “I need to make preparations either way.”
Miles’ laughter cuts off. “Either way? What are you referring to?”
Jaxon’s brow wrinkles. “Didn’t you read Eli’s memo?” Miles snorts and Jaxon sighs. “Of course not. Why did I bother asking?”
“What did it say?” Miles asks .
“We need to decide between expanding our whiskey and gin distilling facilities or adding rum to our list of products,” I explain.
“Bro, I said from the beginning. We need rum. Bootleggers loved rum,” Zane says.
“Adding rum to our list of products would require us to buy additional equipment as well as Jaxon learning a new method of distilling.”
Kai rolls his eyes. “Jaxon is smarter than the rest of us combined. He can probably sleep on a book about rum production and know more than the experts the next morning.”
“There’s also the need for increased cleaning protocols as the molasses can cause sticky residue in the equipment,” Rhett adds. “And this will cut into the profit margin.”
“It’s all about the money with him,” Zane whisper-shouts to Kai.
“What does moneybags want to do?” Miles asks and everyone’s attention returns to me.
“It’s not as if the rest of you are destitute,” I mutter.
“Because of you,” Rhett says.
“Come on.” Miles elbows me. “What do you want to do? You know we’ll agree with your decision.”
Kai raises his hand. “I won’t. I want rum.”
“Really?” I lift an eyebrow. “Can you even stand the smell of rum?”
His hand falls. “If it’s not too close. ”
“Oh, man.” Zane feigns a shiver. “I forgot about the time he drank a bottle of Malibu rum. His pores reeked of coconut for weeks.”
“Too bad his puke didn’t smell of coconut since he threw up every-freaking-where.” Miles feigns gagging.
This conversation could continue for months if I don’t stop it. I slash a hand in the air.
“I want to increase our whiskey producing facilities.”
Jaxon slams his notebook shut and stands. “I’ll get on it.”
“Hold on,” Rhett grumbles. “What are the costs involved?”
I grin. “There are costs but they’ll be recovered in no time since I just closed a deal with the largest restaurant chain in the US to exclusively carry our whiskey.”
“Whoo hoo!” Miles jumps to his feet. “Awesome news!”
“I bet Paisley will be impressed,” Zane says.
“She might even forget about how you’re a wimp who wears three-piece suits to a meeting on the island,” Kai adds.
I frown. Paisley also made a comment about my suit. She’s not impressed with anything to do with me. Not my clothes. Not my money.
To her, I’m the boy from high school she hates.
The question is – why does she hate me? What did I ever do to her?
We were friends once.