7AshThe Paralegal
Ash
The Paralegal
Valkyrie Security was renting space on the top floor of the Hoskins Building while Rowan renovated a warehouse on the waterfront to be their headquarters.
Ash parked in the garage and surveyed the surroundings to assess if his car was cooler than everyone else’s.
Rowan’s custom-painted blue Ferrari stood out in the sea of black Beamers, and there was a cute little mint-green Mini-Cooper parked next to it, but mostly it was a garage full of boring.
Ash felt he could successfully argue that his car was at least as cool as Rowan’s and headed for the elevator.
“Hey,” said Ash, dropping into the guest chair and propping his feet on Rowan’s desk.
Rowan eyed the feet, and Ash grinned impudently, waiting for a comment.
Annoying his brothers was one of his all-time favorite sports.
Ash noticed for the first time that Rowan’s dark hair had a sprinkling of gray in it.
Or maybe it was the first time since the military that Rowan’s hair was at civilian length.
“Hey,” said Rowan, obviously deciding not to rise to the bait. “What brings you all the way here?”
“Forest hired a nanny.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“Yeah, maybe,” said Ash. “He called me last night and told me he had to pick up his temp nanny and wanted me to stay with Olly at the house while he went to get her.”
“OK,” said Rowan, standing up to move some papers from his desk to another location. Ash was never sure what people did with all their dead tree stuffs. It was so old-fashioned. “I’m feeling like there’s something you’re worried about in there.”
“Remember when Forest was living overseas, and every pic on his socials was some girl with extra piercings and tattoos?”
“Yes? Wild child was his type. I’ve been relieved he grew out of that.”
“Yeah, the temporary nanny has purple hair and a nose ring. And even though that is not my type, I still thought she was fire on the smoking hot yoga instructor scale. And definitely not wearing a bra.”
“That is exactly who Forest would not want as a nanny,” said Rowan, frowning. “I looked at his ad for the position, and his requirements were... extensive.”
“I saw it too. He wants a PhD in child-rearing or something. It was ridiculous. I’m not saying get some rando off the street, but some of his stuff was absurd.” That was Forest all over. He always wanted top-of-the-line.
“Well, there’s no rule that you can’t have a PhD and purple hair, and Forest has always been uptight as fuck about Olly’s care, so maybe there’s something we don’t know?”
Ash was dissatisfied with that answer. Rowan didn’t seem appropriately concerned.
“Maybe,” said Ash, “but I’m just officially telling you that I thought it was weird.”
“And what am I supposed to do about it?” asked Rowan with a laugh.
“Uh... pump him for information next time you talk.” Asher scooped up a pyramid of bulldog clips off Rowan’s desk and began to daisy-chain them together to give himself something to fidget with.
“You talk to him as much as I do,” said Rowan.
“Isn’t he handling your house and warehouse remodel?”
“His people are,” said Rowan with a shrug. “They’re doing a solid job, and I know he’s checking in on them, but he’s the CEO. I think the days of him personally overseeing anything are long gone.”
“Oh,” said Ash. Harper had said Valkyrie Development was impressive, but Ash wasn’t used to the idea that Forest was big league. “I guess I just pictured him out there building things.”
On the other hand, that only reinforced the idea Forest shouldn’t have a hippy weirdo for a nanny. Important businessmen needed normal nannies.
“He has over two hundred employees and triple that in subcontractors,” said Rowan.
“Oh,” said Ash. “I only have three people working for me.” He looked around Rowan’s office. It was bigger than his office, and Rowan rented the entire floor instead of just a suite. Why did his brothers always have to outdo him?
“And yet your net worth is about double both of ours,” said Rowan, with a twinkle in his eye.
“It pays to invest. Speaking of which, want to toss in on one of my projects?”
“What’s the stake?” asked Rowan.
“Mmm, like a quarter mil if you can make it. You can do less, but for that amount, you’d be a primary stakeholder and tripling your money in a year.” A quarter-million seemed manageable, and filling one of his empty slots would be a relief.
“I’m trying to renovate a warehouse,” said Rowan. “I can’t just move a quarter million around!” Rowan was always so financially conservative. Ash didn’t think it was that much money.
“Well, think about it. I swear it’s going to go big, though. You should definitely put in something.”
“Research is not predictable,” said Rowan, quoting Ash back at himself. Ash stuck out his tongue. “You can’t really know how long it will take to get money back, can you?”
“I’ve been doing this for nearly a decade,” said Ash. “I’m getting better at predicting who is on the fast track. I’ll send you the prospectus for what’s coming up.”
“And I will look at it because the last time I invested in you, I got to retire from the Marines and start my own company.”
“You’re not investing in me,” snapped Ash. “You’re investing in technology start-ups.”
“That you, with your nearly a decade of experience, are vetting.”
Ash sighed grumpily. This was where not talking to his brothers about what really happened with Emma was biting him in the ass.
“What’s up, bud?” asked Rowan. Asher hesitated, clacking one of the bulldog clips to bite the air, but didn’t look up.
He couldn’t tell Rowan. The idea of telling his hyper-competent older brothers about what had happened made him writhe in a fiery agony of embarrassment.
He’d rather take a kick to the face, but he had to say something.
“Like I said, I’ve been doing this for a while.
I have piles of research on why I pick the projects I do, but a lot of people act like I’m some Magic Eight Ball.
Which is fine if I pick winners, but I don’t always.
Not because of a failure in the metrics but because sometimes.
.. shit happens. However, if I act goofy or say.
..” he stole a glance up at Rowan, “break up with my girlfriend, there are rumors that I’ve lost my touch. ”
“It’s a lot of pressure being a Magic Eight Ball.”
“Yeah, and it’s the kind of thing that can snowball.
One wrong pick, act too funny, and suddenly, I can’t get investors.
No investors on this project means no investors on the next one.
Everyone says Asher’s lost his touch. Boom.
Whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
” Particularly if anyone found out that research shared with him had been sold to foreign interests.
“If you retired right now, are your finances secure?” asked Rowan.
“Yes, but that’s not the point!”
“The point is that you love what you do, but half of what you’re doing is sales, and that depends on a public persona that took a hit when you broke up with your perfect heiress girlfriend.”
“She wasn’t perfect,” growled Ash. Harper had Emma beat every day of the week.
“Far from perfect,” agreed Rowan. “She was a snob. She never liked Forest or me.”
Ash felt a surge of anger. He’d dated Emma for two years, and somehow, he’d missed the fact that she hadn’t wanted to spend time with Rowan and Forest. Or maybe he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the truth. Ash tossed the clips angrily back on the desk.
“Sorry. I wish you’d said something.”
Rowan grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and took it to the wardrobe on the far wall.
“We hadn’t been seeing much of each other, and it didn’t seem like you wanted to hear it.
But these days we’re all in the same city.
And with Olly around... I don’t know. Breakup aside, I liked hanging out with you guys the other night.
The whole point of locating Valkyrie here was that I would be closer to the two of you.
What do you think about doing the holidays together this year? ”
Ash hesitated. He knew Rowan loved him—as kids, they had been Team Valkyrie, and he missed that closeness—but now, as an adult, he wasn’t sure how he fit into his brother’s lives.
Their recent late-night drinking and donut binge to help Ash get over his breakup had been one of the few times recently that had felt like the old days.
But this felt like Rowan was genuinely reaching out.
“Can we invite Mom?”
“Sure,” said Rowan, turning back to Ash with a shrug. “She won’t come, but we can invite her.”
She wouldn’t come because she knew she wasn’t welcome.
Ash didn’t understand why Christmas couldn’t be like it had been when they were kids—all wrapping paper and cinnamon rolls.
He sighed in frustration. Ash wanted his family back the way it had been, including their mom.
Forest would probably be the only one to have a decent Christmas because he had Olly.
“It would be kind of awesome to watch Olly open his presents. Let’s make Forest host Christmas.”
“OK, I’ll do Thanksgiving,” said Rowan.
Holidays with Emma had always been boring.
She’d always wanted to fly someplace. That wasn’t what made holidays good.
His brothers would make them fun, and maybe he could bully them into letting Mom come.
He wondered if Harper would want to come too.
He would bet money that she wasn’t too snobby to hang out with his brothers.
“That leaves me New Year’s. This is going to be great!”
“We’ll see what Forest thinks,” said Rowan, chuckling as he returned to his desk.
There was a sharp knock on the office door, and Mark leaned in, peering at Rowan over the top of his clear-framed glasses. Mark was Rowan’s second in command, and Ash was sometimes jealous that he was practically Rowan’s third brother.
“So?” demanded Mark. “Hey, Ash.” He was about Rowan’s age but had more gray to his hair.