Chapter Nineteen
ZOEY
Let it be known that I wasn’t prone to daydreaming. And yet, for the past few weeks, I'd done that a lot… even at the office. Especially at the office. All it took was hearing Colton's voice. If I accidentally saw him, I moved way past daydreaming, and my heart started fluttering. My stomach too.
One afternoon, I got an idea. A dangerous one. Colton had blocked his calendar with “science time” until late in the evening today. He told me that was code for wanting to work without any interruptions. But I had a hunch that he wasn't going to mind mine. I’d make it worth his while.
On one of my coffee breaks, I googled nearby lingerie stores. I was wearing lace underwear but needed a finishing touch. I wanted garters.
I found a store that was only five minutes away. Shortly before they closed, I jogged out the door of our building and headed over there. Fingers crossed that they have what I need!
I'd had a very sexy dream about everything we could do in Colton’s lab. To my intense joy, I found a pair of black garters. By the time I reached my office again, everyone else had left.
Time to put my plan into action.
I closed the door to my office and slid on my garters. You wouldn't know I was wearing them just by looking at me because I appeared perfectly professional.
I schooled my features as I left my office in case anyone else was still here. I went into Colton’s office first, only to find he wasn’t there.
Yes! This was my lucky evening. He was in the lab, and we were going to have super-forbidden but delicious sex there.
I walked briskly to the elevator, still working on schooling my features as I went one floor down and then down the corridor to the lab. I knocked three times at the door. There was no answer.
"Colton?" I called. There was still no answer. I knocked again, but I was met with silence. I plastered my ear to the door. There was no sound. Clearly, he wasn’t here.
Hmm. The only other place he could be was in one of the meeting rooms. I couldn’t imagine why he’d want to go there. He had plenty of space in his office, but he did say once that he liked to switch spots because it got his brain going. Maybe he'd needed a change of scenery.
I headed back up the stairs, working up a sweat, and then I had to stop and readjust the garters.
One of them had slipped down. In my haste to clip it back together, I realized my palms were sweaty.
I straightened up and headed into the biggest meeting room, walking with quick steps. The door was closed.
I knew it! He was inside.
I shimmied my hips, working up a seductive smile, then opened the door wide.
Only to come face-to-face with all his brothers and half brothers.
Colton looked up. "Zoey, did anything happen?"
Shit! I wasn’t prepared for this scenario. I wasn't sure if my poker face was working.
"H-Hey," I said, stammering a bit. "I didn’t realize you had a meeting. Your calendar had 'science time' on it."
"Zoey, hey," Jake said.
"Hi, everyone!” On any other day, I'd make chitchat, but right now I was too embarrassed to say anything. They might not know the intention behind my visit… but I did. "All right then, I'll leave you to your meeting."
"Wait, why did you come by?" Colton asked.
I swallowed hard. Don't blush, Zoey. "It can wait until tomorrow. Have a good evening, everyone."
There was a chorus of "Good night" as I closed the door and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Crisis averted.
COLTON
I stared at the door even after Zoey closed it, wanting to go after her. I had an inkling she'd come here for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was.
“Earth to Colton,” Jake said.
I snapped my gaze away from the door. I'd asked everyone here, and I didn't want to waste their time, but still, my mind was on Zoey.
"Let me just do one thing first," I said. I took out my phone, sending Zoey a quick message.
Colton: Is everything okay?
I put the phone on the table with the screen up so I could see notifications. Then I focused on my family. They were all sitting at the table.
"Thank you for coming here tonight," I started.
"We couldn't say no to a calendar invite, could we?" Maddox teased.
"Don't mind Colton," Gabe said. "He likes to do things a certain way."
"Enough small talk," I said.
"Dude, we just began," Nick protested.
"Yes, but he wants to be quick about it," Maddox said.
Gabe winked at him. "Someone's waiting for him. I don't think for a second that she came in here for a business purpose."
Spencer and Gabe were quick to joke, as usual. Cade cleared his throat. It wasn't easy to know how he’d react—sometimes he took things in stride, yet sometimes he was dead serious.
Maddox looked at Leo and Nick, cocking a brow. Nick cleared his throat. Leo held up his hands in self-defense. Clearly, Maddox had an influence over his younger brothers. I hadn't spent enough time with him to figure out the dynamics yet.
I stared at my youngest brother. "Leave Zoey out of this. I'm not going to engage in locker room talk with you."
Jake cleared his throat. “We're here for a purpose."
I was grateful that he could be the voice of reason even when I wasn’t.
Spencer ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, please make it quick. I haven't been able to sleep the past two nights. Ben's had a fever, so I only have a very limited capacity to focus. I can’t waste it on stupid banter."
Maddox nodded. "All right, so you all know about Dad’s email.”
“Did you speak to him?" I asked.
"No, I told all of you that we’d decide together how to move forward, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I don't want him to think he can pit us against one another," Maddox said.
"Why did he just email you, though?" Cade asked.
Maddox shrugged, looking at Nick and Leo. "I think I'm the last one he was in contact with. I reached out once. It was a long time ago. I don't even know why I did it. Anyway, after that, I never wanted to hear from him again."
"I say we completely ignore it," Jake said.
"I agree with him." I added quickly. No one else seemed to, though, because there were no nods of approval around the table. "You all disagree?" I asked incredulously. "You want to help him out?"
"No," Gabe replied quickly and glanced at Leo, Maddox, and Nick.
I suspected they'd already talked about this among themselves.
My youngest brother was as close with our half brothers as he was with us.
"We just think there's a risk he might reach out to our grandparents if we completely ignore him. "
“That’s my fear too,” Maddox said.
"Are we sure he hasn't done that yet?" Cade asked sharply.
I was surprised he wasn't on Jake's and my side on this one. He’d taken Dad’s infidelity very hard.
"Grandmother hasn't said anything," Jake replied. "I questioned her a lot, and I know she wasn't just hiding something. So you all think we should just give him money?" He sounded affronted. I felt the same way.
Maddox rested his head in one palm, looking at us sideways before straightening up. "I think I should talk to him."
"Dude, what?" Nick asked, clearly taken off guard. "You didn't mention that.”
"He wrote to me. It would be weird if anyone else talked to him. But I actually want to know more about why he needs the money. Does he plan to reinvest it? Is it to pay off debt? I don't know."
"What makes you think he'll be honest with you?" Gabe asked. He seemed worried; I'd never heard him sound like that.
"Maybe he won't be," Maddox replied with a frown. "But I don't think there's any harm in asking. I wouldn't agree on blindly handing him money."
"I wouldn't agree on giving him any money at all," I stated, though with less conviction than before. What if he went to our grandparents for help? I couldn't even believe that a grown-ass man was asking his sons for money. But he was.
"Look, the last thing we need is for him to cause any ruckus," Nick added, putting both hands on the table and lacing his fingers.
"I've scoured the Australian media. He's not making waves there, thank fuck. But you know how things are here. If they get so much as a rumor about him, it could backfire on us.”
"You're right." I hadn't thought about that. We'd all worked hard to restore the Whitley reputation. I didn't want to see it trashed again, but I couldn't find it in myself to give him anything.
Spencer yawned. “I'd hoped we’d agree on something tonight.”
"Spencer, go home and sleep,” I said. “We won’t reach a conclusion tonight. If we do, I'll let you know."
He rose from his chair immediately. "I’m going to go with whatever the majority wants. Honestly, I'm not in the mood to process all this right now."
I didn't blame him. With a small child, he had limited energy, and our brother was very good at prioritizing.
Once he left the room, Jake rose from his chair and paced the room, looking out the window. "I say we do whatever it takes to just make sure he stays out of everyone's lives."
"I agree," I said grudgingly.
Maddox nodded. "All right. Still, we don't know much about this, and I'd like to do some checking first. I’ll also tell him that I've shared this with all of you so he doesn't get any ideas."
"Good," Gabe said.
“I’m going to try and call him right now,” Maddox said, immediately putting his phone to his ear.
With nothing to do but wait, I checked my phone. I had a new message from Zoey.
Zoey: I'd planned to surprise you with a sexy idea, but I totally misread the situation.
Holy fuck! I took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. Damn it, I couldn't believe I was here with these bozos while she was there, waiting for me. What sexy idea did she have in mind?
Colton: Are you still at the office?
She immediately replied.
Zoey: No, I'm already home. I'll probably fall asleep soon. It's been a long day. Come to my place tomorrow morning if you want :)
Disappointment rolled through me. I put the phone down, glancing up at the group. Cade was watching me with a suspicious expression and wiggled his eyebrows.
"So, we were right."
I pointed at him. "Don't start."
Maddox lowered his phone, shaking his head. "He didn’t pick up. I suggest we all go and let Colton get on with things. I’ll get back to you once I hear from him.”
"I agree with you," I said.
Jake and Cade exchanged glances. Gabe was grinning. Nick whistled.
"Good for you," Leo said after a while.
He and Nick were the first ones to get up, and then the rest followed suit.
I texted Zoey again.
Colton: Are you still up?
I walked out of the meeting room, too, intending to head straight to her apartment tonight.
But she didn't reply, which meant she was probably asleep.
Damn it, I needed to see her tonight. I wanted to tell her about the meeting.
Not only so she knew I didn't brush her off for nothing but also because I wanted to share this with her.
Instead, I headed to the lab. I had too much energy to sleep, and the work was endless, so I’d better put it to good use.