Chapter Nine
SPENCER
"If you can't get him to sleep, Agatha taught me that it helps to massage his temples." I showed Gran the precise movements.
She was glancing at me intently, nodding. "That is so smart." She insisted she wanted to watch him today so I could play tennis with my half brothers. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I felt guilty leaving him. Damn it, Spencer. Get your shit together.
It made Grandmother happy to stay with him, and I wanted Ben to bond with her. As if on cue, Ben yawned and then immediately fell asleep.
Grandmother pouted. “Do you think he's going to wake up again?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, Grandmother, I promise you that he will."
"All right. I want to cuddle him, but I don't want to wake him up."
"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities," I said. "I've left a list on the fridge with everything you need."
"Spencer, darling, relax. It's only for a few hours, okay? I promise you that I will do things exactly as they are on the list, and if anything happens, I'll call you."
"Thank you, Grandmother," I said. I kissed her cheek and grabbed my bag, leaving the house before I could change my mind.
I headed to Nick’s fitness club for the weekly tennis match. Until recently, it was just Cade meeting with them, but I’d joined the group when he was too distracted to play well. We’d all been wondering what was going on—turned out he was thinking about Meredith instead of the game.
"And the prodigal brother returns, " Maddox exclaimed when I joined them on the court. Maddox, Leo, and Nick looked less like our father than my brothers and I did. We had the trademark Whitley blue eyes and dark brown hair. Our half brothers’ eye colors were all different, and their hair was black. I’d once seen a picture of their mother. They took after her a lot.
"Good to have you back, man," Nick said.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure you're able to play? Because you look like shit."
I burst out laughing. "I've had a rough night, but this is my new normal, so take it or leave it. You won't see me in a better shape for the foreseeable future."
"You're not on my team, then," Leo teased.
"You’re fast," Maddox said, exchanging a glance with Cade.
"I invoke twin privilege," I told Cade. He shook his head, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, I can't deny that one."
"You’d really just leave me out of your team?" I double-checked.
"No, I take twin privilege very seriously."
Since there were five of us, one always waited until the next game.
We alternated teams. I was staying out for the first round.
Maddox and Nick were playing against Leo and Cade.
I had to give it to my twin—a tennis match was a smart way to hang out with our half brothers.
It gave us a chance to catch up but didn't leave too much time for conversation—less chance of delving into unpleasant topics.
As a general rule, we didn't speak much about family.
And when we did, the conversation centered around our grandparents.
"Who’s watching Ben?”
“Grandmother."
All heads turned to me.
"She's ninety," Nick said.
"Really? I had no idea," I answered sarcastically.
"You know how Grandmother is. When she wants something, she gets it.
And she does seem to have the hang of it.
" I was 100 percent sure that once Ben started to move around, this would no longer be the case, but I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
"By the way, Gabe mentioned that you're having personnel issues," Leo said.
"I'm on top of it," I said curtly. He frowned but didn't ask anything else. I avoided talking about the publishing house with them. I didn’t want to bring up the biography section because it had been so important to Mom. I cared about my half brothers, but some topics were better left untouched.
"We heard another rumor," Nick said.
"Hey, so is anyone playing, or what?" I asked.
"You're the one watching. So, we can talk, and you can listen," Maddox added.
"Yeah, we heard things about your neighbor." That came from Leo.
I bit back a laugh. "From whom? Oh right, Grandmother."
Of course she’d spilled the beans. But I wasn’t mad at her. If this brought her joy, why the hell not leave her to it?
"We’re pretty sure she’s got her matchmaking eye on you," Maddox went on.
They had no idea. “I can handle Grandmother," I said. What I couldn't handle was my insane attraction to Penny.
"Famous last words," Maddox said. "I believe Cade and Jake claimed something similar."
"I like how much fun they’re having at our expenses," I told Cade, crossing my arms over my chest. "Like their time won't come soon."
Maddox's smile fell. "She's still got plenty of you all to go through."
"Yeah, but she never mentioned that she planned to first finish with us before turning to you," Cade pointed out. Yeah! That was my twin right there—give it to ‘em.
"Don't worry," Leo said right after swinging his racket. "We are on it. Every time we see her, we subtly try to steer her in your direction."
"And you think that works? Hate to break it to you, Leo, but Grandmother does what she wants. The rest of us just live in her world."
I was ruthless at work when I had to be. In general, I accommodated no one. But my grandparents got special treatment. They meant the world to me, and I indulged them at every turn—even to my own cost.
"That's true for you guys. The three of us have our own set of skills," Nick added. He was right. There was a subtle difference between us and them.
"Keep telling yourselves that," I said. "We have eighteen years—give or take—more experience with Grandmother."
Damn! Things like that slipped out from time to time, no matter how much we tried to ignore it.
Leo nodded, swung the racket—and missed. “You’re right.”
“Sometimes we forget that,” Nick said. His voice was tight.
Cade shook his head. “All right, let’s stop the chitchat! No one’s focusing."
After that, no one spoke. I watched the game intently.
Cade was the best of the lot, and I said that in the most objective way possible. The guy could have been a pro player if he wanted to be. But he chose to spearhead the coffee branch of Whitley Industries even though our father had left it in terrible shape.
Whitley Publishing was the one branch where father had been the least involved, mostly because Mom was spearheading it.
I was keeping my fingers crossed for my twin to come out on top. I knew that once he won, he'd be on a victory streak, and I was playing on his team. I needed him to be strong because I was pretty sure my stamina wasn’t good for shit.
"Yes!" Cade exclaimed. He and Leo bumped fists, and I changed with the latter, who joined Maddox as Nick left. Since he owned the club, sometimes he went to check on business in between sets.
"Good luck getting your ass beat," Nick said.
"You wish."
Cade and I won spectacularly. Cade was going to boast about it until the end. Then again, he deserved to bask in his glory. He was a damn good tennis player.
"Drinks are on me," Cade exclaimed. "I’m taking all of you out."
"I’m not joining you," I informed them.
Cade looked at me intently. So did Maddox. "Dude, I'm sure that Grandmother wouldn't mind staying a bit longer. You haven't done much lately."
"I'm readjusting to life," I said in a clipped tone. "I'll go out for drinks another time."
"Jesus, you remind me of Colton," Cade said, running a hand through his hair.
"No, there's a difference between us. I have a living, breathing miniature person depending on me. Colton is…" I wasn't even sure how to describe him. Workaholic? Lost in his own world? He had an obsession with work, and he was a perfectionist. But it went beyond that.
"All right, we will take you up on your invitation," Maddox said, and Leo added, "I think Nick will join us too. Let’s circle back to our previous conversation. Who wants to bet that Gran is planning something for Spencer and the sexy neighbor?"
I turned around, focusing on Leo. "How do you know she's sexy?"
“Educated guess,” Leo replied easily.
Cade looked up from the shoelace he was tying. Maddox cocked a brow. "Is it just me, or did that sound weirdly territorial?"
Fuck me. It had! 100 percent.
"Did Gran get in your head?" Leo asked.
Cade was still silent. "Okay, what was the bet about?" he asked, rising to his feet. "Because I think I'd put all my money on the fact that twin bro doesn't even need Grandmother’s involvement."
Cade knew me best. It was as if we were sharing a brain.
I gave him a thumbs-up. I was neither confirming nor denying it.
"We're on," I exclaimed. "See you next week, bozos," I added right before leaving the tennis court.
I was sure my brothers were going to have a lot of fun at my expense and take turns guessing how things would evolve. I would’ve paid good money to be a fly on the wall.
The past Thursday evening, I’d barely held back. I'd been desperate to kiss her again, but if I did, I would have wanted more. I needed Penny on a visceral level. Despite everything going on in my life, that wasn't going to change.