Wright Kind of Trouble, page 14
Campbell laughed. “Yeah, at a pub in Germany.”
“Those are the best fans, man.”
Cosmere’s latest studio album had hit all the Billboard milestones. A number one hit, a number one album, most sold vinyl in twenty-four hours that year, most streams for a new album that year, and on and on. Their tour was kicking off from Lubbock, Texas, and they’d sold out the entire football stadium with seats on the field, totaling to nearly a hundred thousand people.
I sometimes still couldn’t believe it was my brother up there. I definitely hated that it meant he was regularly recording in LA. Touring was even worse though. He’d spend the next six to eight months touring the world.
The only time I had plans to see him between now and the end of the tour was graduation. He’d promised that they’d scheduled a break at the start of the summer. So, he would be home to watch me walk.
Campbell punched West after his latest joke and then headed over to Blaire. West laughed and turned back to his siblings.
“So…so…” He waggled his eyebrows. “Whitt says you’re seeing someone.”
I shot Whitt a questioning look. “I am not.”
“You’ve already taken the LSAT. You applied to all the law schools in the country. You have straight As,” Whitt pointed out.
“And?”
“And Bailey says you’re always texting.”
“So? Isn’t every person my age texting all the time?”
“Who’s the guy, Harley?” West asked, throwing his arm over my shoulders. “Afraid to introduce him to your brothers?”
I pushed off of him. “Y’all are assholes. Get off me with that misogynistic bullshit.”
Whitt laughed. “That wasn’t a denial.”
“Already said I wasn’t seeing anyone. And anyway, if I were, I wouldn’t introduce him to you two idiots,” I said with a smile and a wink.
“Wait!” West said. “It’s not like we’d beat him up or anything.”
“Who are we beating up?” Jordan asked, appearing with Julian at his side.
“Good luck tonight, man,” Julian said with a smile, dressed as dapper as ever.
“Thanks,” West said.
“Harley is dating someone,” Whitt told Jordan.
Jordan turned to me in surprise. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Because I’m not seeing anyone,” I protested.
“Who is it?” Julian asked. He smacked his fist into his other hand. “We’ll make sure he treats you right.”
“Oh my God! Y’all are insufferable. I’m never ever telling you.”
“So, there is someone!” Whitt said triumphantly.
I glared at him, but it was good-natured. Because…there wasn’t anyone. There was someone I wanted to be seeing. But between school, law school applications, and the internship I’d taken for the year, I didn’t have time to date.
I was still texting Chase…occasionally. Not enough for Bailey to be a snitch. I was going to have to knock some sense into her for that comment. Just enough for her to catch me smiling to myself around the house.
Now, my brothers—all fucking four of them—were interrogating me. As if they had the right!
“I’m done with this conversation,” I said, backing up. “I hope they cut your keys solo.”
“Hey!” West said, putting his hand to his heart. “Savage.”
I laughed as a manager came around and ushered friends and family from backstage. I fell into step with my remaining brothers as we took a backstage exit that led to an elevator up to The Texas Tech Club, which was attached to our box. I still couldn’t believe that we had a box for this show. I felt so fancy.
I stepped off of the elevator with Jordan and Julian in front of me and Whitt at my back. Between the sea of tall, dark-haired Wrights, I caught a swath of blond hair.
My heart stopped. Chase was here.
Fuck.
I hadn’t known he was coming. He had to know I would be here. It was my brother after all. I hadn’t said anything about it to him, but we hadn’t spoken in a while. He’d been busy at work. I’d been getting in my final applications.
“What is Sinclair doing here?” Jordan grumbled under his breath.
Julian shrugged. “There’re a hundred thousand people here. Everyone who is everyone is here. Just leave it.”
“Whatever,” Jordan said. “At least he’s here with someone else.”
My brain fizzled at the words. I’d been so focused on Chase’s face that I hadn’t noticed he was standing next to a very pretty blonde woman. I’d never seen her before. She was probably about his age or a little younger. She had her hand on his arm. He was laughing at whatever she was saying. So carefree.
A green monster reared up in my body.
And I was no longer in control of what I was doing.
Jordan and Julian had headed toward the box, but I was moving forward, toward Chase. My feet carrying me in that direction before I could really comprehend what I was doing and who I was doing it in front of.
“Hey,” I said.
Chase turned toward me. His face went from laughter to surprise to pleased to confused. “Hey. I didn’t think I’d see you here.”
“No, obviously not.” My eyes shifted briefly to the woman at his side. I stuck my hand out. “Hi, I’m Harley Wright.”
“Hi!” she said cheerfully. “I’m Elsie Cruz.”
“Yes,” Chase said, as if catching up. “This is Kai’s wife.”
“Kai’s…wife,” I repeated.
Chase raised his eyebrows at me. As if to say, What do you think? He wasn’t here with some other woman. This was his friend’s wife. Not…competition. And God, I felt stupid, having thought it. He wasn’t even mine. And yet…
“Do you know my husband?” Elsie asked excitedly.
“Oh, I just know that he’s Chase’s business partner.”
“Well, he was,” Elsie said, elbowing him. “Until he started working for the family company all the time. Poor Kai has been taking up the slack forever.”
“We hired extra people,” Chase said in apology.
“And he’s not here?” I asked, looking between them.
“He’s not a Cosmere fan. Bad taste, except in women,” Elsie said with a laugh.
“Elsie is a huge Cosmere fan.”
Elsie bit her lip. “Not to be weird, but are you the Harley that’s his sister?”
“I am,” I said in surprise. I’d never been recognized for my brother’s fame.
“Wow. So cool. Weston is an incredible keyboardist.”
“He’s actually a classically trained pianist,” Whitt said.
I jumped, having completely forgotten that my other brother was still behind me. Shit. I’d only seen Chase with another woman and gone hazy with jealousy.
Chase’s brow furrowed. “Hey…Whitton.”
“Sinclair,” my brother said.
“Oh, I know that!” Elsie said. “I’ve been following Cosmere since the early days. Weston was such a good addition when Michael quit.”
“He was,” Whitt agreed. But his eyes were still on Chase. “How exactly do you know Harley?”
Chase glanced over at me, and I quickly cleared my throat.
“We danced at Jordan’s wedding, remember?”
“Right,” Whitt said. He was sizing Chase up. “You seemed friendly…like you knew each other from something more recent. I wasn’t aware you knew Chase’s business partner.”
I could see the wheels turning in Whitt’s head. Trying to fit the pieces together. Shit.
“I’m working with prelaw students,” Chase said quickly. “Harley is the most promising student they have in the program.”
My eyes widened at how quickly that lie had fallen off of his tongue. I was working with local lawyers at an internship that went with the prelaw program, but Chase wasn’t personally part of it. It was tricky because Whitt could figure that out. I had no idea what he was thinking.
“How enterprising,” Whitt said. His eyes came to mine. “You didn’t mention you were working with a Sinclair.”
“And now that I see how you’re reacting, I’m glad that I didn’t,” I bit out.
“What’s going on over here?” Eve said, appearing at our side. She nodded her head at Chase. “Hey, Chase.”
“Eve.”
“I need to steal my boyfriend, if you don’t mind.” She slung her arm into Whitt’s and shot Chase an apologetic look.
“By all means,” Chase said, visibly relaxing.
Eve widened her eyes in a way that said we should talk and then pulled Whitt toward the Wright box for the event.
“I should probably go, too.” I nodded at Elsie. “Nice meeting you.”
“You, too! Gah, can I be obnoxious and ask for an autograph from your brother?” she asked with a laugh. Chase elbowed her. “No? Okay, forget I asked.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you!”
I tipped my head at Chase, who looked at me with barely suppressed want, and then walked away. Well, that had nearly been a disaster. What the fuck had I been thinking?
I pulled my phone out and sent him a text.
Quick thinking.
Was surprised you came over at all.
Yeah…
Jealous?
Me? Never!
Uh huh.
I huffed as I stepped into the box with the rest of my family. Yes, I was fucking jealous.
It was fucking hot.
I laughed and covered my mouth when people looked over at me. I sank into a stadium seat, away from prying eyes.
I wasn’t jealous!
You stormed over here with your BROTHER behind you.
* * *
Not a care in the world.
* * *
Then started asking questions of Elsie.
* * *
Try again.
Fine.
Fine.
I was jealous.
Oh I know.
But if I can’t have you, no one can.
He didn’t reply for a few seconds, and I wondered if I’d gone too far. We’d both agreed we could date other people. Saying no one else could have him wasn’t at all what we’d agreed on at any point.
I started to type out another reply, telling him I was kidding…or find a way to backtrack from my response when he said:
Fair.
My insides squirmed at the answer.
It didn’t matter.
I couldn’t have him right now. It was all so fucking complicated. But I wanted him to be mine and no one else’s.
“Well,” Eve said, interrupting my thoughts as she slid into the seat next to me, “that was close.”
“What was?”
“Whitt almost realized that you and Chase were into each other.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to tell him.”
“Uh…there’s…nothing going on with me and Chase.”
“Please. I saw y’all kiss at Jensen’s election party forever ago. I thought it was way over by now, but I was clearly wrong. I had to get Whitt out of there before he realized it, too.”
My mouth hung open, and not a single coherent thought came out of it. Finally, I gasped out, “No one else knows.”
“It’s fine.” She patted my hand. “I’m a good secret keeper.”
“Um…well…thanks?”
“No problem. Just be careful.”
“Because he’s ten years older than me?” I asked softly.
She shrugged. “I suppose that is a factor, but obviously, I dated his dad. So, I can’t talk.”
“Yeah, but…you were twenty-five or whatever when you were dating him.”
“Great. So, I was a fully developed adult and still making horrendous decisions.”
“Do you think it’s a horrendous decision to be into him?”
My heart pitter-pattered in my chest. I hadn’t had anyone to talk to about Chase all this time. For the first time, I wanted to divulge it all. Word vomit the years of turmoil and desire and pain and pining.
“It’s a complicated one, considering your family’s history with them. I’m afraid I made some of it worse.”
“Arnold did that,” I reminded her. “Not you.”
“But now, the Wrights all hate them so much more,” Eve said with a sigh.
“Don’t you hate them?”
“Maybe Arnold. But Chase isn’t his dad.”
“No. He’s not.”
Eve smiled sadly. “I only mean be careful because those Sinclair men are snake charmers. They weave their way in and steal your heart. Before you know it, you’re ensnared, and there’s no way out.”
Too late.
A few years too late.
“But I think you know that,” Eve said. “You’ll make the right decision.”
I sure hoped she was right. Because at this point, I didn’t even know what that was.
20
Chase
January
The powder was fresh on the mountain.
It had snowed all last night, to the relief of everyone who had appeared at Holliday Ski in New Mexico. The weather was always finicky. One year, it hadn’t snowed until early January despite wave after wave of promised snow.
I, for one, was glad that I’d let Blake Holliday cajole me out of Lubbock, which still had some ridiculous temperatures in the seventies for a ski weekend. The Sinclair family chalet was free, and even if it hadn’t been, Blake’s family owned the resort. We’d grown up together on the slopes, and he would have put me up.
“Race to the bottom?” I asked as he scooted his snowboard toward my location.
“You know I’ll fucking kill you, Sinclair.” Blake grinned the daredevil smile that he was known for. He’d started skiing and snowboarding as soon as he could walk. I’d watched him fall face-first into every sport he could master…and then just as recklessly through women.
I hopped my board an inch forward. “Not today. I’ve got you.”
He laughed. “Have a head start then. I’ll see your ass at the lodge.”
It wasn’t even bravado. He was that good. He could have probably gone pro, if his family hadn’t been more set on him taking over the resort. We were alike in that way.
Then, I tipped my board forward and plummeted down the double black diamond. I’d boarded this so many times that I knew precisely the route to take. Unfortunately, Blake had grown up on the slopes. He could have done it blindfolded. I was nearly to the bottom when he zipped past me, flipping me two birds.
I chuckled. I’d known it was coming anyway. When I pulled up next to him at the lodge entrance, he was already hopping off his board and whistling.
“Took you long enough.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Come on,” Blake said, clapping my back. “Let’s go find someone for you to fuck.”
I shook my head at him. I wished that he were joking. Alas, he was not.
The only thing Blake loved more than the mountain was women. Preferably more than one at once.
We stored our boards, changed out of winter gear, and then met back up at the lodge bar. Blake had a reserved booth with whiskeys in hand and food already ordered. We were both perpetually famished after spending all day snowboarding.
I took a glass of whiskey and sank into a seat across from him.
“So, still not dating anyone?” Blake asked.
“You’re not dating anyone either, Holliday,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “I’m dating a few people.”
“Fuck buddies do not equal dating.”
“I’m younger than you. I can still fuck around. Shouldn’t you be married?”
“Why do I put up with you again?”
“Because my family owns the place,” he said with the ease of someone used to getting everything he wanted.
I just laughed at him. There was nothing else to do.
We chatted over our dinner. Blake stood regularly to meet some girl or another, kiss her on the cheek, and promise to see her later. I was sure he was going to have a healthy rotation for the whole weekend before the night’s end.
Me, on the other hand…
“Okay, let’s loosen you up, Sinclair,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
“I’m loose.”
“You need to be easier then. There has to be a girl in the place you want to fuck.”
“You’ve picked up have the bar.”
“Come on,” he coaxed. “Pick one and take them home. You need to get fucked. I’ve never seen you this uptight.”
I shrugged and sipped on my refilled whiskey. “I’m not interested.”
“No?” he asked with raised eyebrows. “Should I be looking for guys for you?”
I nearly spit out my drink. “That is not necessary. Just because I’m not looking to have a one-night stand doesn’t mean I’m into dudes.”
“I’m not judging.”
“I assure you, if I liked guys, I’d let you know.”
“Not my type, bro,” Blake said with a wink.
I shook my head. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Obviously. So, say you were interested, which girl would you pick?”
“As if I’m at a buffet,” I grumbled.
Blake shrugged. “Say you are.”
“Fine.”
I huffed out a breath and actually looked around the room. I hadn’t even been paying attention. My eyes didn’t wander anymore, like they used to. I’d never been even half as bad as Blake, but I used to at least find interest. Now, not so much.
Then, my breath caught.
Because not just anyone was in this bar.
Harley Wright was in the bar.
