Chapter 14
EXCUSE ME, HAVE YOU SEEN MY MOOSE?
Margot
Rhys doesn’t come back to the house from the garage until after I’ve cleaned up the popcorn and gone to bed, and he’s quiet—not grumpy, but quiet—as we both get ready for work Friday morning.
It’s not my business to find out more about his relationship with his ex, but I want to know.
And honestly?
I do want to destroy her.
He’s gruff and grumpy and suspicious, but I’m starting to suspect it’s all a protective measure.
You can’t tell me that a guy who ships two of the clearly most emotionally wounded characters on a goofball sitcom isn’t some level of emotionally wounded himself.
That he hasn’t been hurt.
That he didn’t deserve to be hurt.
I meant what I told him—unless we’re talking about my father, I’d rather build people up than tear them down, and that’s the reason I have the lowest staff turnover rate in my department back home, and it’s the reason my department has the highest productivity rate and job satisfaction ratings on surveys.
For the past three years, anyway.
Since I decided to take charge of who I want to be instead of blindly following who I was raised to be.
As soon as I’m in charge of the whole corporation, I intend to replicate that success company-wide.
But I low-key wouldn’t mind five minutes alone with Rhys’s ex and stepbrother.
To distract myself, I call Daphne as I’m driving to work on the curving mountain roads, my phone plugged into the van’s speaker system.
“How are our surprise half brothers?” is her first question. She and I have texted over the week, but our schedules haven’t aligned for a phone call until now.
“Clearly related to us,” I reply. “I’m so pissed. They got the same fun genes you have, and I’m just over here being the boring businesswoman.”
Daphne laughs. “You are not boring.”
“The other night, they invited me to a speakeasy—”
“A speakeasy?” Daph shrieks. “No!”
“Don’t act like you’ve never been to one.”
“I’ve never been to one,” Oliver says in the background.
“How have you never—no, never mind. Add it to the list of things we need to do,” she says distantly, obviously talking to Oliver, before her voice comes back more clearly on the phone. “I thought you were in a dinky little mountain town. Did you go into Denver or something?”
“No, they have one here,” I tell her.
“With a secret door and a password?”
“Yes.”
“Are there animal antlers all over the place?”
“No. It’s like…castle-chic. Old brick walls, old paintings, Turkish rugs, lots of red velvet in the furniture.”
“Ooh, I officially will need the password once you’ve completed your secret mission so that I can go meet them too. Tell me who’s who. What are they like? If we weren’t related, would you hit on any of them?”
“No.”
“This is where I remind you that you called her,” Oliver says.
“Fair enough,” I reply as she laughs.
“Are they seriously as fun as I am, or are they actually just a little more fun than you, so you think they’re as fun as I am?”
“Feeling the love this morning, Daph.” I’m smiling as I say it, because she has a point. “But I think they might be more fun than you. They play off of each other, so it’s like watching a perpetual game of one-upmanship, except it’s hilarious instead of annoying.”
“Tell me more.”
“Apparently, Jack always loses at rock paper scissors, so when we were at the speakeasy, Decker and Lucky demanded they play to determine who had to leave and go get Chex Mix from the grocery store.”
“Lame,” Daph says at the same time Oliver says, more distantly, “What’s rock paper scissors? I’ve never heard of that before.”
She cracks up. “Stop, you have too,” she says to him.
“Not if it’s a game. I’m boring. I don’t do games.”
“Oh my god, you’re in a mood.” Daph’s still laughing.
“A good mood,” he replies.
I miss my sister.
And oddly, I think I miss Oliver too.
He’s annoying as hell right now—he’s being intentionally obnoxious—but that’s Daphne’s problem, and she clearly likes this new, outspoken, annoying version of him, so I’m happy for them both.
Provided Oliver never hurts her.
Then I’ll break my own rules about not tearing people down.
“Lucky—he’s the nurse—grew his hair out to pose as Decker—he’s the novelist—for Decker’s official author photos,” I tell Daphne and Oliver. “And then they argued about who’s more handsome.”
“Aren’t they identical?”
“It’s a seriously good thing they have different styles. I couldn’t tell them apart based on face alone. Body either, honestly.”
Daphne snickers. “I’d totally do that if I were a triplet.”
“I know. There are some inside jokes I still don’t get, but they told me that Jack was fucking Switzerland, like Switzerland is the name of his current hookup, and even though I know they were talking about how Lucky likes me, Decker’s highly suspicious of me, and Jack’s playing it neutral, it was really, really funny.
Oh! And get this—they don’t actually date, because supposedly Decker’s neighbor cursed them when they were in high school and if any of them falls in love, then it’ll splinter their triplet brotherhood. ”
“No.”
“Yes. At first I thought they were messing with me, but honestly? I think they’re completely serious. I got a vibe like they truly believe they’re cursed.”
“If I didn’t have a job, and if I had any money, I’d be on a plane right now to meet these guys,” Daph says.
Oliver makes a noise he never would’ve made when we were dating—a growly, irritated, overprotective grunt that we all know means quit your job because I can take care of you and you know I’ll pay for you to fly to Colorado to see your brothers anytime.
As if I wouldn’t beat him to it.
Or try to.
The Oliver I dated was a complete pushover, but this one throws punches and gave my father a black eye a few weeks ago when dear old Dad insulted the fuck out of Daphne.
It’s possible Oliver’s even more protective of her than I am now.
And while he’s on a mission to give away his own fortune now that he’s stepped away from his family’s corporation, he’s still the kind of guy who’ll make sure he has fallback money so that he can do things like guarantee neither of them ever has to work again if they don’t want to and put Daphne on a plane to Colorado to meet our half brothers anytime she so much as thinks about them.
“I need another couple weeks,” I tell her.
“If my cover doesn’t get blown. Or if I don’t get eaten by a moose.
” I tell them about running into Jonas Rutherford and about the moose, and then finally get to the other reason I’m calling.
“And I mentioned Decker’s suspicious? He asked an old military buddy to come check me out.
And the military buddy figured out who I am. ”
“Oh, shit. Do you need help burying the body?” Daph asks.
Oliver snort-laughs. “You think she hasn’t already taken care of it?”
“He’s fine,” I tell them, which is a complete lie. Rhys is way better than fine. In all of the ways a man can be better than fine, which also makes him the complete opposite of fine. “If I disappeared him, Decker would notice, and my cover would absolutely be blown. Instead, we’re…compromising.”
“Is this a naked kind of compromising?” she asks.
My god, I wish. That kiss—and then Lucky interrupting it— “No.”
Silence lingers on the other end of the phone like she doesn’t believe me.
“No,” I repeat.
“I don’t understand what there is to negotiate. He’s a problem, so you have to eliminate him.”
“I’m not that kind of ruthless.”
“Aren’t you though? Don’t you want to be?”
“No.”
I wasn’t lying when I told Rhys I wanted to get to know my family. After watching Daphne settle into her life without money, I swear she’s happier than I am some days.
Probably most days, in fact.
Somewhere in the past few years, I’ve realized too many of my friends are the type who are friends with you because it’s better than being enemies.
Or they’re the type who only wanted to talk about work and strategy and success, like your whole worth is determined by how hard you work instead of the sum of all of who you are.
Not all, but enough of them.
And honestly? I’ve been just as bad.
But Daph—when she was disinherited, she moved in with a friend she’d met there at her last college, and I watched their friendship blossom into something that hit my envy buttons in ways that even Daph dating Oliver hasn’t.
She’s so tight with Bea, I sometimes worry Bea’s going to replace me as Daphne’s favorite sister.
Or only sister.
I’m not here getting to know the triplets because I’m afraid she’ll replace me though.
And I’m not here only to ask if they’ll help me.
I’m here partially because they’re completely untouched by my world, but still family, and after watching Daphne form a small family of friends, I’ve realized there’s never too much of a good thing.
When family’s good.
And so far, I think they are.
“So if there’s no naked negotiations going on, and you’re not hiding his body…what’s the deal?” Daph asks.
“He’s blackmailing me,” I reply, even though I’m almost positive Rhys will keep my secret because of the nuance of the situation and all the ways being related to me could fuck up Decker’s life.
Daphne gasps.
Oliver mutters something that could be a whoa, or possibly he choked on his coffee.
“It’s fine,” I say.
“Margot. It is not fine. What aren’t you telling me?”
“I actually respect his nerve.”
“And?” she prompts.
I start to smile. “And I’m the reason he’s been walking around all week with lavender streaks on his face and in his eyes. So I feel like I owe him a little leeway.”
“What did you do?” Daphne whispers reverently.
“Homemade personal security system involving hair dye. I told you I was going to set it up. It worked.”
“Margot,” she squeals. “I’m so proud of you!”
“His eyes?” Oliver asks.
“Apparently hair dye can stain the whites of your eyes if you don’t rinse it out fast enough,” I say.
“I nailed him in the gut with a cast-iron frying pan too, which I regret more than the dye. That was overkill. I was running on adrenaline. Probably I need to spend a little more time without security and tackle a paranoia issue. But my roommate and I have come to a kind of compromise, and now he’s teaching me how to split firewood and saving me from mooses—mooses?
Meese? Wait, it’s just moose, isn’t it?”
My sister’s still cackling on the other end.
“It’s just moose,” Oliver says.
“Aw, you haven’t changed in some ways,” I say.
Daph cackles harder.
“But about this compromise,” I say, “Oliver, I need a favor.”
“Does it involve working?” he asks.
“Tangentially.”
“Then no. I already have a job, and I’m only working one job at a time, so there’s no room left for me to do anyone work-tangential favors.”
I shake my head while I keep my eyes peeled for moose and deer and elk.
He’s managing a drive-in movie theater and making popcorn, doing a fun job instead of the high-stress chief executive role he left behind a few weeks ago.
“Maybe between making batches of popcorn, you could make one or two phone calls for me?” I say. “I don’t want my hands directly on this.”
Especially since Rhys hasn’t asked me to do this, and I’m operating on a gut feeling that it’s what he wanted to ask. I could be wrong about it.
“I can do it,” Daphne says. “I love phone calls.”
“No,” Oliver and I say at the same time.
He sighs heavily. “Fine. What do you want?”
“Anything you can find out about the security firm Technique Group. Rhys—my accidental roommate—worked for them, and my instincts are screaming that everything’s not okay there.
I have copies of court filings they made against each other when he left the company, but there’s always more to it than what they spill in legal paperwork. ”
“You can’t have your security detail do this?” he grumbles.
“I don’t want it linked back to me.”
“And yet you’re asking me to do the phone calls…”
“The entire world believes I hate you right now. You’re actually the best person for the job.”
“Why do you have to be so logical?”
“Does he whine this much all the time, Daph?”
“Instead of answering that the way I want to, I’m just gonna say no,” she replies. “And you’re welcome. Because my real answer is full of innuendos and details that you don’t want to hear.”
Oliver snickers.
“Gotta go,” I tell them as I pull into the parking lot. “I’m at work.”
“Figure out if you can trust the triplets or not soon,” Daph says. “I want to meet them too.”
“I’m not sure the town’s ready for a fourth of them.”
She giggles.
I smile.
Daph and I aren’t very much alike. We have our own goals and dreams and brands of fun.
But I still adore the shit out of her.
I pause in my van to put on my name tag and unplug my phone, and when I look up, there’s a freaking bull moose standing right in front of me.
I shriek.
He snorts.
With Daphne’s voice still in my head, I lift my phone and pull up the camera app and snap a few photos, my heart beating a little too fast and the hairs on my neck standing up too.
Why are moose so big?
And why is this guy so close?
Rhys pulls into the parking spot next to mine in his truck, and I look over at him, then point to the moose, like what the fuck?
He shrugs.
Then he honks his horn.
The moose startles, then snorts at the truck, and finally meanders away.
I turn another what the fuck? look at Rhys.
Mostly because honking was a little rude.
He could give me any number of responses in his expression.
He could be like what, you needed help?
Or he could be like don’t give me shit for doing what you could’ve done.
But what does the man do?
The man who haunted my thoughts all night with wanting to make his life easier, with wanting to make him hurt a little less, with making him want to trust a little more?
He smiles.
He smiles at me again, a broad, uninhibited, tooth-baring grin of yeah, that was fun.
And my stupid heart melts just a little more for a man who’s clearly unavailable.
Not that that’s what I’m here for.
But apparently the cost of choosing the path where I take Daphne’s side over my parents also means choosing the side where my own heart works harder, and my own heart working harder means I feel more for the people around me, especially the people who wear their damage on their sleeves.
I burst out laughing, shake my head at him, wait a few more minutes to be sure the moose has fully left the area, and then I climb out of my car and get to work.
He’s still in his truck.
Watching me.
Waiting to make sure I get to work safely, but at a safe distance for his own heart.
Freaking man.
He’s entirely too likable.