Chapter 8 #2
The brothers were not at all surprised to find their three sisters already at the table with glasses of wine and sharing the burrata-and-watermelon appetizer.
The girls stood to greet them with hugs and kisses.
“Good to see you,” Julian said to Jordan as he hugged her and then Kaidan.
“Have you lost weight, Jules?” Gillian asked as they embraced. “You’re looking gaunt in the face.”
“I am not.”
“Are too.”
“His face is always weird,” Carson said when he joined them in time to overhear the comment.
“Shut up. All of you.”
Kaidan laughed. “I miss this nonsense when I haven’t seen you boys. Said no one ever.”
“Right,” Griffin said. “You miss us all the time.”
“Where’s Jackson?” Jordan asked Julian.
“I have no idea.”
“Aren’t you his boss?”
“Yeah, but I’m not his keeper.” Julian sent a text to his brother asking where he was.
On the way. Was waiting for the RO to come through for Isla Santana. Just got it and sent her a copy.
Ah, okay. Thanks.
“He’s coming,” Julian said as he set up a text to Isla, relieved to know the protective order was now in place.
My associate (and brother) Jackson said he sent a copy of the restraining order to your email. If Gabriel comes home, call 911. Don’t hesitate.
Yes, thank you. I appreciate the fast work. I’ve relocated to a short-term rental off Laurel Canyon Boulevard. He wouldn’t be able to find me here.
Julian’s heart did a funny stutter at the mention of Laurel Canyon. That put her in his neighborhood. Not that it mattered.
Glad to hear you’ve relocated. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be back to you with next steps in a day or two.
Thanks again for everything.
He sent her two thumbs-up.
“Earth to Jules,” Jordan said.
“Oh, sorry. That was a new client escaping a DV situation. Jackson was waiting for her RO to come through, and I wanted to touch base with her about it. He’s on the way now.”
“Phones away, y’all,” Kaidan said.
The others grumbled, but they put their phones in pockets or purses, as they did whenever they managed to carve out some time to spend together. Otherwise, they’d be tending to work rather than catching up.
“Remingtons!” Their waiter friend Leonardo smiled as he stood at the head of their table. He had dark hair streaked with silver and a warm, welcoming demeanor. “How’s life in the divorce trenches?”
“Busy as always,” Julian said.
“Who’s missing?” Leo asked.
“Jackson,” they all said.
“Let’s get some drinks going while you wait for him.”
Leo took their orders for drinks and more appetizers and promised to be right back.
Jackson arrived a few minutes later, apologizing for being late as he took a seat next to Roman after hugging each of his sisters. “What’s up, bitches?”
“Sit down and shut up, Jack,” Jordan said, attempting a stern expression that made them all laugh.
“Romy, it’s nice to have you with us,” Kaidan said. “We miss you when you’re up at Stanford.”
“I miss you guys, too,” Roman said glumly. “I can’t wait to get back to LA full time.”
“One more semester, and then we’re all done with school,” Griffin said. “That’s hard to believe.”
“How many years has at least one of us been in law school?” Ethan asked.
“Too many,” Gillian said. “Jules, you’re what, thirty-eight? So you would’ve gone… sixteen years ago? So that’s how long one or more of us has been in law school.”
“Except for the smartest one who chose not to waste three years of his life in boring old law school,” Carson reminded them.
“When are you taking the bar?” Jordan asked him.
“July.”
Carson had made a bet with his siblings that he could pass the exam without going to law school. They were holding him to it.
“Roman can help you study,” Jackson said with a smile for their youngest sibling.
“We can do flash cards, Carson,” Roman said.
“Eh, who needs that shit?” Carson said. “I’m going in cold. I’ve been studying by osmosis for years.”
Julian shook his head as the others laughed. “Good luck with that.”
“What’s everyone getting?” Kaidan asked.
“Whose turn is it to pay?”
“Jackson,” the others said as one.
“Fuck my life,” he muttered.
“Your days of freeloading off us are over, baby brother,” Ethan said.
Carson coughed. “Says the ultimate freeloader.”
Ethan flipped him off.
Just another night out with the Remingtons, Julian thought as he relaxed a bit for the first time since “the encounter” with Aimee.
“I’m getting the seventy-six-dollar Chilean sea bass,” Griffin said with a grin for Jackson.
“There’s a fifty-dollar limit per sibling,” Jackson said. “I’m only an associate!”
“Please,” Kaidan said. “We know how much you make.”
“My rent is four grand!”
“We told you not to sign that lease,” Jordan said.
“You had to have that fancy apartment in Brentwood,” Gillian added.
“My place is fly,” Jackson said with a smug grin.
“For four grand a month, I want a view of the Pacific,” Griffin said. “Oh wait, I have that.”
“When you’re not crashing at my place because you don’t feel like driving home to Malibu,” Ethan said.
“That’s what brothers are for,” Griff said.
“I’m going to start charging you rent,” Ethan said.
“You can try.”
“Speaking of rent, how’s it going with Mom, Kay?” Julian asked.
“I’m living the dream with her as my weekday roommate,” Kaidan said sarcastically, “and my boss.”
The others laughed even as they winced with empathy for Kaidan, who’d offered their mom her spare bedroom after Kate’s home was lost to the terrible Palisades Fire last year. Thankfully, Kate decamped to her weekend place in Santa Barbara every Friday afternoon, giving Kaidan a break.
“Since I’m taking a big one for the team by putting up with Mom, I’m not paying for dinner until she moves out,” Kaidan said.
“All in favor, say aye,” Jordan said.
“Aye.”
That was one thing they could easily agree on. While they loved their parents, the siblings carried complicated feelings from their childhood that they were still contending with as adults, especially working as they did for the family firms.
“Hey, Jules, I got a call from Gabriel Santana this afternoon, looking for representation,” Gillian said. “I pulled the police report and saw that you’d filed for an RO.”
“Actually, I did that,” Jackson said. “All real work in his practice is done by me.”
“Pipe down,” Julian said to his brother—and associate.
If Gabriel was calling around to lawyers, he must’ve made bail.
“I need to text my client to let her know her husband is out on bail.” While he did that, he said to Gillian, “Not that he can afford you, but you might want to look into what he did to their home before you decide to represent him. If she hadn’t hidden herself and her kids from him, he might’ve killed them with the same baseball bat he took to their home. ”
“Yeah, I took a pass based on the police report,” Gillian said. “He asked if one of the other lawyers in our firm might be interested, and I said no.”
“I hope he’s getting that answer from everyone he calls,” Julian said.
“Some scumbag will take him on,” Gillian said. “And then you’ll make them both sorry they were born.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Heard about what you guys pulled off with the McDavid case,” Jordan said, “how you tied him to the vitriol online. That was well done.”
“That was all Carson.”
“Not all of it,” Carson said, “but the most important part was me.”
They laughed at his predictably cocky reply as their appetizers were served.
“Don’t act like savages,” Julian said as they swooped in like a gaggle of hungry seagulls.
“You’re not the boss of us,” Jackson said.
“Um, I hate to point out the obvious…”
“Eff off. We’re not at work.”
“I’m having some issues with my associate,” Julian said as the others laughed. “He’s a bit insubordinate.”
“Please, I cover your ass like nobody’s business.”
“Don’t talk about Julian’s ass when we’re trying to eat,” Roman said to more laughter.
“Hurry up and finish school, Rome,” Jordan said. “We need you back in town to stay.”
“Can’t happen soon enough for me,” Roman said.
“How’s your friend Gwendolyn?” Jackson asked, earning him a fierce glare from Roman.
“Shut your face.”
“What? I’m just asking.”
“Who’s Gwendolyn?” Carson asked.
“No one,” Roman said. If looks could kill, Jackson would be dead as a doornail.
“You’re just asking for Carson to launch an investigation by being evasive,” Griffin said. “Fess up.”
“She’s a friend from high school. We reconnected over the holidays. Nothing to see here.”
“Uh-huh,” Jackson said.
“Fuck all the way off.” Roman was hotter than Julian had seen him get over anything in a long time. He’d been a hot head as a kid and had done years of therapy to deal with his anger issues. “I’m never staying with you again.”
“Knock it off, Jack,” Ethan said. “Leave him alone. I’d much rather talk about whether Jules is seeing Cresley Dane, and if he isn’t, how can I get her number?”
“I’m not seeing her, you idiot. I’m representing her, and no, you can’t have her number.”
“Our entire office was talking about you dating a supermodel today,” Jordan said, grinning at Julian.
“Freaking TMZ,” he said. “If only they’d bothered to confirm it before they put us on blast.”
“What fun would that be?” Ethan asked with a smirk. “For them…”
“Right? Poor Cresley is fending off everyone she knows because she had lunch with a guy.”
“Not just any guy,” Jordan said. “Only LA’s most eligible attorney.”
Julian groaned and rolled his eyes while the other fools cheered for Jordan finding a way to work that nightmare into the conversation. He’d never forgive the local magazine that’d given him that ridiculous “honor” two years ago.
“We’re in the biggest fight ever,” he told Jordan, giving her the stone face he used in court when he wanted to intimidate someone.
She laughed. “I can’t help what other people say about my big brother. I’m just reporting the facts, Counselor.”
“Fuck off with the facts.”
“Um, that could get you disbarred, bro,” Carson said.
“What do you know about getting disbarred?” Julian fired back.
Everyone else laughed.
“This family is a shit show,” Gillian said.
“And we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ethan said.
“So how long are you stuck with Mom?” Roman asked Kaidan. “Or should I say, how long do you have the pleasure of her company?”
“The contractor said it could be two years until her place is rebuilt.”
“Stop it,” Julian said. “Two years?”
Kaidan moaned. “I can’t live with her for that long. I just cannot do it. I love her, but… Two years of her asking me where I’m going, who I’m going with and what time I’ll be home…”
Julian winced. “Damn. Old habits die hard, huh?”
“So hard.” After a pause, Kaidan said haltingly, “You guys… I need to tell you something.”
The siblings fell silent at her unusually serious tone.
“What’s up?” Ethan asked.
“I’m not sure how to say this.”
“You’re scaring us, Kay,” Jordan said. “Whatever it is, just say it. We’ll figure it out together like we always do.”
Kaidan bit her lip, which put Julian on edge. His feisty, defiant, ass-kicking sister was never hesitant or nervous like she was now. “I think Mom and Dad might be back together.”