Chapter Twelve
SPENCER
Two things were true in the Whitley family at any given time. One, we had each other's backs even if one of us had monumentally screwed up. And second, we celebrated each other's successes no matter how busy we were.
So, when Colton messaged, "The breakthrough happened. Let's go celebrate," I knew he needed that to happen right now.
I looked up from my phone. I was going to call off this meeting even though we’d only gone through half the agenda.
"I have a family emergency," I said in a serious tone. "We’ll have to resume later."
"I hope nothing bad happened," Moira, my VP of marketing, said. She’d been on my team the longest.
"No, it's good news," I clarified. "But I still have to go."
Chelsea and Harold exchanged a glance but didn’t say anything.
“Good job, all three of you. I’ll look over the slides today and give you feedback.”
They were already working on the marketing plan for the next quarter, and it was going in the right direction.
Stepping out of the meeting room, I glanced at the phone.
Colton hadn't texted any details, but I knew he would soon.
I headed straight to the garage. Agatha was booked for another three hours.
I could spend that time with my brothers and catch up on work after Ben went to sleep tonight.
Colton still hadn't replied even after I drove out of the garage. I called him.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"Are you already out of the office?"
"Yes.”
“I heard from the others too. We could go for drinks in about an hour.'"
"Want to meet up earlier?”
“I was thinking about going for a boxing round. Care to join me?"
"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "I thought you did that to blow off steam. This is a good thing we’re celebrating."
"Yeah, but I've been running on adrenaline for what feels like years, and I need to let out some of it."
"Fair enough. I'll meet you at the ring."
"Great."
I wasn't as proficient at boxing as Colton was. He went regularly. Cade, Gabe, and I only went from time to time, mostly because it had been the only way we got to see Colton over the past few years. He was as much the CEO of Whitley Biotech as its lead scientist. He dedicated a large portion of his time to research. Over the past few years, he’d been working on a particular medicine, but he hadn’t found the winning formula. Until now.
I found a parking spot right in front of the ring. I would’ve preferred it if Nick had boxing in his franchise as well. Although, knowing Colton, he would avoid it just because Nick owned it. This place always felt like a dump to me, but the clientele was very loyal, and it served its purpose.
Since my brother hadn’t arrived yet, I took out my phone, checking my emails.
Then I started reading my daily curated list of press articles.
I liked keeping on top of the game. A small column that looked like an ad caught my attention.
It piqued my curiosity, so I clicked on it and ended up reading an entire article on travel.
The writing was good. Great, actually.
I emailed the article to myself. I was going to track down the writers. I wanted them on my team. There were no names noted—it was signed “The Digital Owl.”
Colton arrived a few seconds later, parking three cars away.
"I can't believe you're still coming here," I told him.
He rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a snob."
I shrugged. "I'm enjoying the good life, sue me. Anyway, congrats on the breakthrough, brother," I said. “Breakthrough” was code for him coming up with the winning formula.
He nodded solemnly.
"Dude! Express some joy. You can't just perpetually be in a bad mood."
"This is my face when I'm in a good mood," he pointed out.
I started to laugh. "Fine. Let's go blow off some steam."
We went straight inside. Since I didn’t have my stuff, I bought my fourth pair of boxing shorts and sneakers.
I didn't need to buy gloves. I just rented those out.
We were out in the ring a few minutes later.
Both Colton and I had plenty of ink all over us.
It had been a shock to my system when I saw my oldest brother also had tatts on him.
I thought I was the only rebel in the family, and the first time I came boxing with him here, I found out that was not the case.
He told me he'd gotten them late, after college. We both only had ink on our torso, so you couldn’t see it unless our upper bodies were bare.
"Don't assault my face. It's too pretty to bruise," I said.
"Dude, I know. It’s one of the ground rules in boxing."
"Relax. I was just making fun of you. So, I’d ask what the breakthrough is about, but my brain shuts off every time you go into detail about it. I can't wrap my mind around all of that."
"We finally got a working formula for the immune booster we’d been working on. I can’t wait until it’s on the market."
"It'll reflect well on the family name too,” I said.
Colton nodded. "I agree."
Whitley Industries was a force to be reckoned with.
People paid attention to us. Competitors feared us.
But fear wasn’t the same thing as respect.
It had been held in high regard back when Grandfather was in charge.
When Dad nearly ran several divisions into the ground, people were just waiting for it to collapse like a house of cards.
But my brothers and I had worked hard to restore the financial success and reputation.
I knew my grandparents would be pleased with Colton's news—especially Grandfather.
I sometimes thought Grandmother wasn't aware of the Whitley reputation…
at least not to the extent Grandfather was.
Colton made the first move. I wasn't prepared and took a hit right to my ribs. "Fuck, dude!"
"Come on!" Colton said.
I nodded. "That's it. Now I'm ready."
We punched back and forth, circling each other.
My brother always hit with determination.
Every time I was with him in the ring, I completely understood why he used this to release tension.
There was something deeply gratifying about the sport.
We blocked each other expertly. I was completely exhausted twenty minutes later.
"How is this taking more out of me than running for five miles and then swimming?" That was my routine at the gym. Not that I’d been doing it too often lately.
"It needs a lot of focus," Colton replied. "Okay, let's call it a day. Turns out I didn't need as much blowing off steam as I thought. We can go to the bar and grab drinks before the rest of the guys join us."
"Finally, you're talking sense," I exclaimed, removing the gloves and returning them to the reception desk. "Where are we going?"
"Gabe said we can go to the distillery. The bar is ready. It’s not open yet, but it can be a test run of sorts.”
“I’m on board with that.”
We showered, changed, and drove separately to the bar. Traffic was light, so we made good time.
Gabe's distillery was on Cedric Street, not too far from the ring. I was surprised, however, that our other brothers were already there when we arrived.
"This is a great place," Colton said, looking at the surroundings.
I hadn't realized Gabe was putting the bar in front of the distillery, but that was smart. It immediately drew attention to itself. It was mostly glass, so you could see from a mile away what was happening inside. The name, Whitley Distillery & Bar, was simple but fitting.
"When did he add another wing to the distillery?" Colton asked.
I shook my head. "Dude, you haven't pulled your head out of your ass for years. It's like you’re the one who had a baby."
Cade and Jake were already sitting at the bar, and Gabe was behind the counter.
"Congratulations, Colton," Gabe exclaimed. "I propose a toast to hopefully seeing more of you from now on."
Colton tilted his head as if considering this. "We have other products on the line to be developed, so it's a perpetual—"
"You know what, don't finish the sentence," I said. "Just let us have this moment."
"Exactly," Jake agreed.
"You want to talk about it?" Gabe asked.
"Explain to us what it is, but you know, use small words. None of us are scientists," Cade added.
Colton laughed, climbing on one of the bar chairs. I took the one next to him.
"No! All I've done these past years is talk about the immune booster to my team and anyone who would listen. Now I want to talk about anything else but that." He focused on Gabe. "What are you preparing?" Colton asked.
"Old-fashioned."
"Why don't you ask us what we want?" I asked.
"Dude, the whole point of the bar is that you get a surprise drink."
"Is it?" I said, looking around. "You're a fucking genius."
"It's going to be a big draw," Jake said. "You’ll crush the competition."
"Let's shut off our business brains for now," Cade suggested.
"No, don't," Gabe said. "I welcome feedback."
As the youngest, he'd always been very receptive to whatever we had to say. Most of us gave each other shit whenever one tried to meddle but not Gabe.
"So, what did I miss?" Colton said, tapping his chin. "You had a baby, and you two got hitched up." He pointed at Jake and Cade. "I know Grandmother is even more determined than usual to meddle in our lives."
"And she does it surprisingly successfully," Cade said. He sounded like he could barely believe his own words.
“So why isn’t she continuing the… project?” Colton asked.
Cade and I exchanged a glance. Colton probably already forgot that Grandmother mentioned Penny on everyone’s first visit at the house. Or maybe he thought she’d dropped it.
I decided to throw everything out in the open. "She is. She has her eyes on me. And… she is onto something."
My brothers turned to me. Gabe stopped mixing the drinks.
"What? I thought she was too busy babysitting. When would she even have time to set you up with someone?" Jake asked.
"Grandmother has no problems multitasking," I said nonchalantly.
"You're serious?" This came from Cade.
"Yeah."
"With who?" Colton seemed genuinely interested, which was something I wasn't used to. He'd only lent us half an ear the past few years.
"My neighbor."
Gabe shook his head and went back to prepping the drinks.
"She's not actually my neighbor," I clarified. "She's just house-sitting for a while."
"Look, you can tell Grandmother to mind her own business. You don’t need anyone finding women for you,” Colton said.
My facial expression must have alerted him that he was way off. I could barely hold back laughter.
"Fuck me, she's done it again, hasn’t she?" Gabe asked.
"I like Penny," I said. There was no hesitation in my voice.
Colton and Gabe exchanged a glance.
"We're toast," Gabe exclaimed. "I can feel it in my bones. The rest of us can say goodbye to our bachelorhood."
Colton looked from Gabe back to me. "All right, that's your business." A few seconds later, he added, "Wait, no, bloody hell. You shouldn’t—”
"What are you doing, channeling your inner Brit?" Gabe interrupted.
“What were you saying?” I asked.
Colton shook his head. But I knew my older brother, and he wasn’t done.
"What is it, Colton?" I pressed.
"Dude, don't spoil his mood," Gabe said, pointing a finger at Colton. "Or it's a double old-fashioned for you. You’re always relaxed when you’re drunk.”
Colton cleared his throat. “A lot has happened lately. You might not want to jump into a relationship."
"That's not what this is," I said.
Cade cocked a brow. "Really?"
"Really. Penny and I both have baggage. She recently finalized her divorce. We're calling it a fling."
Cade burst out laughing. Gabe gave each of us our drinks.
"Yeah, you just wait a bit and see how that starts changing. That's what Meredith and I said at the beginning too."
I knew where my brother was coming from, but this was different. Penny and I, we'd both been burned badly. Neither of us had anything more to give than a fling.
"Okay, let's change the subject," Cade proposed. "I can see the two of you are already starting to sweat." He pointed back and forth between Colton and Gabe.
Colton shook his head. "Nah, Grandmother is busy enough with all of you. I'm the oldest. She knows better than to get involved in my life."
Jake patted his shoulder. “Age has nothing to do with it. But I agree, let's talk about something else."
"I haven't sent the invitations for the opening party yet," Gabe said. "But I want everyone here."
"Okay," I instantly said.
Colton looked at Cade. "I assume our half brothers will also be here?"
"Obviously, man. You know I'm close to them. Don't be a dick about it."
"No, it's your party. You can invite whomever you want."
I couldn't believe my ears. Not too long ago, Colton would have found an excuse not to join us, but maybe he was coming around.
"Let's toast to another smashing success in the family," Cade said, holding up his glass. We all followed suit, clinking them together. "We should have brought the girls to celebrate too."
"We wanted to," Jake said, "but Natalie has an event tonight.”
“And Meredith is caught up at the office, and she can't leave.
One of these days I'm going to convince her to work with me,” Cade added.
Up until recently, the way Jake and Cade always seemed to think about their women felt foreign to me.
Naomi and I never had any of that. But now I could understand where they were coming from.
Ever since I stepped inside the bar, I couldn't help thinking that Penny would enjoy this place.
I told her that having a fling was easy as long as we followed the rules. But the truth was, I wanted to break more than one already.