Chapter Twenty Four
COLTON
"This place is amazing," Zoey said.
"You've done a great job," I told Nick. "Where's everyone else?"
"We're just about to start our tennis match. You play?" he asked me.
"No.”
"We could come cheer for you," Zoey said.
Nick laughed, and then he turned serious again. "Wait, you meant that? I think Colton's going to shut that down quickly."
"We can join you," I said.
Nick's eyes bulged. He glanced at Zoey. "Well, aren’t you the good influence on him? He's smiling way more since he met you."
I grunted.
"Oh, that I recognize. He's the master of the grunts," Nick said. "Come on. Follow me."
Zoey grinned at me, sending me an air kiss as we followed Nick through the gym. He pointed out the different sections: saunas, steam rooms, massage, and aromatherapy. Then we went down a staircase.
"It's in the basement?" I asked.
"Yes, we have some outdoors, but it's too windy this time of year, and that can influence the game. We've got rooms for ping-pong, racquetball and badminton, and tennis."
My half brother was clever for offering solutions year-round.
I realized that everyone was at the tennis court, even though only Maddox, Leo, Nick, Cade, and Spencer were playing. Gabe, Jake, and I had never played.
Jake was sitting on a chair. I went with Zoey over to him. He stood up, shaking my hand.
"I knew it," Jake said.
"What?"
"From the second you agreed to join us here, we figured Zoey probably talked you into it," Maddox said.
I glanced at all my brothers. "You have conversations about me behind my back?"
"No, just this one time," Leo clarified.
"All right, guys, now let's get to the game," Spencer said.
"How about we talk first?" I suggested.
"No can do, man. We booked the court," Cade said.
"Yes, but you know the owner," Nick replied with a wink. "I can arrange for us to use the court longer if you want to talk first."
“We can start by ripping off the Band-Aid,” Jake suggested.
"Do you guys want me to give you space?" Zoey asked.
"Hell no," I replied.
"Damn, that was fast," Cade teased.
"I, for one, want to get rid of all the excess adrenaline I have first," Spencer said.
That was unexpected. Spencer usually took things calmly. Cade had always been the hotheaded one and Spencer the one to calm him down.
"Because right now my instinct would be to simply tell him to fuck off, and we can't have that," he continued.
Maddox cocked a brow and looked around the group.
"It's fine by me. We don't have plans for today," I said.
Cade looked at Zoey. "Who are you, and what have you done with Colton? This is definitely not our brother. Did he manage to clone himself, and our real brother is locked up in his lab?"
I laughed. "Not at all.”
What a bunch of clowns.
“Is this your way of praising him?" she asked Cade. "I'm not sure if it's working."
Gabe whistled. "You show him, Zoey."
"Come on, let's play," Spencer said. "We can gossip later."
I watched him intently. It was true that he'd been tired ever since Ben came into his life, but I wondered if there was something else going on with my brother, if he needed more support than he let on.
I knew jack shit about taking care of a kid, especially one as small as Ben, but I could offer my skills in other ways.
Maybe I could take some of the workload off him at Whitley Publishing.
I didn't know much about tennis, but I did enjoy watching my brothers. They switched positions between sets, and everyone got to play.
Forty minutes later, Spencer said, "All right, I shouldn't have insisted on playing."
He lost spectacularly.
"Yeah, no shit," Cade said. He sounded annoyed. "Why were you playing so shitty?"
Spencer shook his head. "I haven't slept well in days. Ben's had colic."
"That sucks," Jake said.
"Come on, let's go out for a drink. You're getting a double espresso," Nick told Spencer.
"What are you thinking about?" Zoey asked as we all went up.
I kept her close, putting my arm around her waist. "I'm going to ask my brother if he needs help with the company or something, see if I can help out in any way."
She smiled. "You want to add more to your plate?"
"I can handle it," I assured her.
"You’re a great brother. If you want, I could help with that. I can facilitate communications and so on."
If my brothers weren’t with us on the staircase, I would have pinned her against the wall and kissed her until her legs shook. I couldn't believe she cared about me and my family enough to volunteer to help. She understood without me having to tell her how important this was to me.
She narrowed her eyes. "What exactly is going on in your head? You look like you’re having… sexy thoughts.”
"Fuck yes," I said.
"Elaborate."
As we came out from the staircase, Nick led us to the bar and relaxation area. There were plenty of people around, but they were all sitting on the armchairs and couches.
"Are you sure you don't want me to just go work out while you talk?" Zoey asked. "I don't want to intrude."
"Babe, you're part of the family as far as I'm concerned. I want you to know everything."
She smiled brilliantly as we all sat on the bar stools. They served no alcohol here as far as I knew, just concoctions of fruit juices that looked entirely unappealing.
"All right, everyone,” Maddox said. “Ready?”
I nodded, wanting to get the gist of it and see if it could affect the Whitley name or our grandparents in any way.
“The debts he racked up are to banks and investors. I asked him point-blank if he’d asked shady people for money, and he assured me he hadn't. He didn't make any threats about going to our grandparents or the press.”
"That's good," Cade said. His voice was tight.
"I wouldn't put it past him to try and blackmail us," Jake said.
I agreed with him. When it came to Father, my expectations were rock bottom.
Maddox cleared his throat. "He did, however, point out that he owned shares in Whitley Industries.”
It was a minority package. A vein pulsed in my temple.
Our grandfather had never transferred the majority package to him.
Instead, he gave us grandsons our respective shares when we turned eighteen.
But Father retained the minor package and had received dividends for years.
Which, now that I thought about it, was a nice chunk of change.
"He's essentially asking us to buy him out," Maddox finished.
No one said anything.
I straightened up. "Fuck yes. I’d give him whatever he wants if he gives up his shares."
Even with his minority package, the amount of cash required to do this was astronomical. But I was certain we could come up with it. And it would mean Father was finally going to be out of Whitley Industries—and our lives—for good.
Maddox shrugged. "I feel the same. But he could have just led with that instead of saying he needed money."
"I bet he thought he could just convince us to give him money and he could keep his shares," Jake said. “See, he’s still a fucking snake.”
"You know, we don't always have to think the worst of him," Spencer said.
Yeah, there was my peacemaking brother.
"Yes, we fucking do," Cade replied.
Gabe, Leo, and Nick were silent.
“You three, where do you stand?" I asked. "For me, it’s a no-brainer.”
Zoey curled her arm around mine, and her fingers clasped my wrist. She gave me a meaningful look.
"Colton," she said, nudging me lightly.
"What?" I asked, waiting for the guys to answer my question.
"Bro, I think that's her way of telling you that you can't boss us around," Maddox interjected in a cautious way.
Jake was holding back laughter.
Gabe whistled. "But that doesn't mean he won't try, Zoey. You've still got a few things to learn about our brother.”
Cade straightened up. "You know what? I'm with Colton on this one. We should all crunch numbers and see how much liquidity we actually need. We're talking probably something close to two hundred million."
Zoey stiffened next to me. I knew she wasn't used to this kind of conversation about money. I put my arm around her shoulders.
"Why don't we all check finances while everyone considers where they stand, and then we regroup?" I suggested.
As much as I wanted to get this over with, it wasn’t something we could decide on the spot.
"Anyone else feel like we're rewarding him by giving him what he wants?" Jake asked in a tight voice.
“They are his shares,” I pointed out.
Gabe looked at me. "That's his way of nudging us in the direction he wants."
"Yes, he's got a lot of skill," Zoey said. "I'm starting to learn that."
Leo winked at her. "You and us too."
Nick and Leo hadn't given an opinion either way. "What’s your instinct telling you two?” I asked them.
"I've got to think about it," Nick said.
"I don't like to make big decisions before considering it," Leo added, "but your approach is good. We should check finances first. If that won't work out, then we'll have our answer."
I frowned, looking at Jake and Gabe. All of my brothers were doing spectacularly, but Whitley Biotech was a front-runner. Pharma had always been extremely profitable.
I cleared my throat. "Listen. Don't feel pressured. This doesn’t have to be split equally, okay? Everyone just check how much cash you can spend, and I’ll come up with the rest," I said.
"Now, wait a second,” Jake began.
Everyone started protesting at the same time.
I was starting to learn more and more about my half brothers with this one conversation alone.
They liked to have fun and mess around and sometimes seemed to not take things seriously, but that was only a first impression.
They were cerebral, weighing pros and cons, and I appreciated that. They were very much like Gabe.
“For now, let’s forget I brought it up,” I said. “But keep it in the back of your minds.”
There was a murmur of agreement.
"Maddox, thanks for doing this," Cade said.
Maddox nodded. "No problem. I won't tell him anything for now. I'll wait for all of us to decide.”
“By the way,” Leo said, “we should discuss this with our grandparents too.”
That had crossed my mind as well. “I know.”
Everyone else nodded.
It was one thing to protect them from Dad’s antics, but buying him out of Whitley Industries was another thing altogether. They had a right to know and to veto it if they so desired.
"All right. Who wants to go play tennis again?" Nick asked. “I just got confirmation from my team that we can use one of the courts.”
Leo, Nick, Cade, and Spencer immediately rose to their feet.
Gabe said, "No, man. I'm out. I'm sorry. I don't find watching so fascinating.”
"Yeah, not my cup of tea either," Jake agreed. "I need to go, anyway. I promised Natalie I'd take her out after meeting you guys. She’s at our grandparents’ house with Meredith."
Jake left at the same time as the rest went to the court. Gabe was still here with us.
I got down from the chair and stood next to Zoey, threading my fingers through her hair, stepping closer so I could inhale the scent of her shampoo.
"All right," Gabe said. “I'm going to go too.”
"Wait, I wanted to talk about Spencer," I said. "He seems a bit out of it. Think he needs help? I could take some things off his plate with the company.”
Gabe laughed, throwing his head back. "Will you look at that? You and I do have something in common. I offered that. He bit my head off, so don’t do the same.”
"Okay," I said, feeling mad respect for my little brother because, hell, he had his hands full expanding the distillery.
“Time to head out. I’ll think about this and let the gang know.”
"It's a good thing Maddox has offered to take over conversing with Father. He's doing a good job at it."
Gabe shrugged. "I don't think it's as easy for him as he pretends it is."
"I think you're right," Zoey said. "He seemed a bit uneasy and like he was working hard to cover it up."
"How could you tell that?" I asked.
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."
Gabe pointed at her, then gave her a thumbs-up. "I think you're onto something. I'm going to figure out a way to bring that up to him, see how he's handling it."
Zoey sighed. "Wow. So taking care of each other is a family trait, huh? It's a very attractive one, by the way."
I cleared my throat.
She narrowed her eyes. "Please tell me you're not jealous of your own brother."
Gabe threw his head back, laughing. "You know, I have to give it to Grandmother. She really has a sixth sense. Zoey, you are exactly what Colton needed."
He winked, getting down from his chair. After bidding us goodbye, he left.
I focused on Zoey, wiggling my eyebrows. “How about working out now?”
“Hmm… do you really want to work out, or do you just want to ogle me?”
“I can do both.”
“Of course you can.”
My phone vibrated twice, which meant I'd gotten a new email. I'd forgotten to put it on Airplane Mode. I took it out, intending to just go into settings and then, obviously, went straight to the inbox.
Interim meeting was the subject line at the top of the inbox.
Browning had sent me an email requesting a meeting to discuss the midquarter results.
Strange. It wasn't unheard of. We just hadn't done it in a few years.
Usually, when the company made profits, it wasn't necessary, and we were doing very well right now. Still, it didn't hurt to get together.
"What's wrong?" Zoey asked.
I briefly showed her the email. She looked at me questioningly.
"This is normal," I said.
“When does he want to meet?” she asked.
“Doesn’t say. But it does say he’ll be at the office on Monday, so he’ll drop by. Want to join us?" I asked. “I’d like to introduce you to him.”
She grinned. "I'd love that."
"All right. Now, how about that workout?”
Zoey pinched my abs. “Why does that sound like you’re talking dirty to me?”
I pulled her even closer to me. “Because I am. This is foreplay, babe. Just foreplay.”