Chapter One #2
"That’s all we have to say, Jake.” Grandfather looked beat. I hated to think he was spending time at that damn company. I had to figure something out. Maybe my brothers could help me consider all the options.
“Are you meeting your brothers while you're here?" Grandmother asked, as if guessing my thoughts.
"Yes, of course. I'm catching up with them later." I looked at my watch—later being in forty minutes.
My grandfather shook his head. "Grandson, I know you're a busy man, but don't go around living your life in one-hour increments, counting down every minute. Before you know it, you'll be an old man wondering how life passed you by."
My grandmother gave him a stern look. "Stop lecturing him. He won't want to come see us anymore."
I chuckled. "Don't worry, Grandmother. He can't scare me away."
“That’s good. Before I forget… as you know, I'm turning ninety this year."
"I know." My brothers were already up in arms about buying her presents.
"And I want to throw a big bash. You know, I never thought I'd actually get to this age.
And now that I have, I want to celebrate it with my friends.
Those who are still with us," she added after a dramatic pause.
My grandmother had been a local theater actress her whole life.
She said she missed putting on performances, so she employed what she called the dramatic flair whenever she could with the family.
"It's going to be grand," she finished.
"On a weekday?"
Grandmother rolled her eyes. "It's going to be on a weekend."
"That's good. I can take weekends off. Where?"
"I haven't decided yet, but I'm going to hire a very nice event planner to help me with it."
No kidding. She meant business, then. I couldn't remember a time when she'd hired someone else to plan a party for her. My grandmother lived for throwing big get-togethers. She jokingly called it her second job.
"I'll be there," I said. Even though I lived in another city, I never missed either of their celebrations.
"I'll keep you to that, young man. Do you promise?"
"I wouldn't miss it." Something told me she didn't totally believe me. Was I such a coldhearted bastard that my own grandmother thought I’d miss her birthday? Sure, I was tough in business, but hadn’t I made it clear to them how much I cared for them?
"It's going to be fabulous," she continued, putting on her actress smile.
It was easy to tell it apart from her regular one.
It was practiced. "I've already started on the guest list. I'm not sure if I'm going to invite Angela.
She always brags about having great-grandkids.
Keeps asking me when I'm going to have some of my own.
" She looked at me speculatively. This was guilt trip number two.
When was I going to settle down? When was I going to have children?
The answer was simple. I wouldn't. It wasn't in my plans. Not now, not in the future.
"Any news to share with us, darling?"
"The answer to that is always no. You know that." I knew they thought I was being hardheaded about this, but I didn’t believe in the illusion of family. I’d witnessed firsthand how easily one could be ruined. I wanted no part of it.
"I keep hoping that will change. Such a pity. All those good genes to pass on."
That was what bothered me. I didn't exactly want to pass down the Whitley genes.
"Okay, time to let the boy go. You wouldn't want to be late for your brothers. How much time do you have allotted for them?"
I couldn't help but laugh because they knew me so well. “Two hours, and then I'm flying back to New York.”
"Goodness, Jake, you can't work eighteen-hour days your whole life."
"I've reduced that considerably from eighteen to twelve," I said with a straight face. "These days, I make time for other activities, like working out in the morning."
Grandmother sighed. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd say you sound like a lost cause."
"But I’m not."
Kissing their cheeks, I bid them both goodbye before stepping out of the house.
I was meeting my brothers at a bar in Beacon Hill.
Colton had been the one to suggest it. I'd been surprised, to say the least, when he informed me that he was joining our get-together as well.
He was in the midst of a new discovery, as he called it, and the whole family complained they barely saw him these days.
I arrived in Beacon Hill twenty minutes later.
The end of June was pleasantly warm in Boston and not yet humid.
Even though I grew up here, I'd been gone for a long while. I’d left two years after our life imploded.
I finished my BA and went to NYU Stern School of Business to get my master’s.
New York felt more like home than Boston, but I wouldn't deny that seeing my four brothers gathered at a bar table made me feel like the odd man out.
I was missing a lot by not being here with them.
"The man of the hour," Spencer said when I approached, patting my shoulder. "You even got Colton to leave the lab. Good for you."
"Great to see you, man!" Cade said, and Spencer nodded.
"How much time do you have?" Colton asked. No bullshit. Straight to the point as usual.
"Two hours, and then the plane goes back." I slid him the keys to his car before I forgot. “Thanks, man.”
“She drive good?” Colton had a Mercedes AMG GT, and it was a damn good car.
“Great. I need to get me one of those.”
Spencer and Gabe nodded in agreement.
We were all relatively close in age. Colton was thirty-four, and I was younger by a year. Cade and Spencer were both thirty-one. They were twins, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them; they shared neither the same appearance nor the same personality. Gabe was the youngest at twenty-nine.
"What did Grandmother ask you here for? Was it about her birthday, or was it to remind you that it's a pity you're not passing on those blue eyes and that thick hair to future generations?" Gabe asked. "Don't worry. We get the same speech from time to time."
"They asked me here to be the CEO of Whitley Advertising. Why didn't any of you tell me Grandfather went back to work?" I asked.
Colton and Spencer exchanged glances. Gabe frowned.
Cade cocked a brow. "We tried to solve the issue by ourselves. Would it have made a difference if we told you?"
"Yes. Obviously. I offered to help them find a CEO."
Cade snorted. "You think we all didn't try that? Grandfather too? It's not like you can pick up one off the street.”
“I know how recruiting works. I've assisted companies in searching for new CEOs."
"And how long did that usually take? The job market is tough right now," Cade countered.
"Months, sometimes up to a year," I admitted. "There’s always somebody who’s looking for a job, or a different one. Regardless, someone has to lead the company in the meantime."
"None of us have time, so Grandfather did it," Colton explained. “He seemed to be enjoying getting back into the fray again.”
Although that may have been the case, he should have been enjoying his retirement years with Grandmother, not worrying about some failing advertising company that had been the bane of Whitley Industries for years.
"Someone should’ve told me," I said through gritted teeth. It truly pissed me off that they didn’t share this with me.
"Why? So you can give us attitude?" Gabe countered. "Cheer up, man. Grandfather is in great shape. And between us, I think going to work is good for him. He told me he feels better than ever.”
Colton and I were in the room with Grandmother when the doctor told Grandfather that he should avoid stress under any circumstances after his heart attack.
"So, there’s no possibility of you actually taking up the role for a while?" Spencer asked.
"None.” I didn't even hesitate. “I don't have time for a second job.”
“No," Spencer said. "We all considered taking the position ourselves."
“You did?” I was stunned.
“Yes. But we don’t have your expertise when it comes to turning around businesses.
It’s what you do day in, day out. Besides, you could probably replace yourself in your own company, better than any of us.
Your work is project based, and you can divide them among your team.
That’d be easier than it is for Grandfather to find a new CEO. ”
I hated that he was right. My vice president of operations, Ben, was a genius, and I was grooming him to be Co-CEO in a couple years. But he wasn't ready yet.
"Did she tell you about a party too?" Gabe asked.
"Just that she wants it to be huge. Have you decided what we're buying her yet?"
"No," Gabe said. "But Maddox, Nick, and Leo have something in the works. They just won't tell me."
I stiffened at the mention of our half brothers.
"And yes, they’ll be at the party too. You're going to have to have an actual conversation with them. If you’d actually bother to get to know our brothers, you’d like them. We do," Gabe said.
"I’ll be civil," I assured him.
"You better be," Cade said. His voice was sharp. "It's not their fault."
"Jesus, do we have to have this conversation every time, Cade?"
“I think we should.”