Wright Kind of Trouble, page 18
He laughed. “That’s fair. I’ll come say hi.”
I grabbed my nearest black T-shirt nightgown and tossed it over my head as I called out, “I’m coming, Bails!”
Chase was behind me, searching for the remainder of his suit so that he might be decent for my roommate. “Jesus, where the fuck did my shirt go?”
I laughed when I saw he was shirtless but in slacks. “Could you get dressed already?”
“I’m trying, Jesus. What did you do with my clothes?”
“Tore them off your body,” I said with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah.”
I turned to the door and peeked through the hole. “Oh my God!”
“What?” he asked, stilling at the utter terror in my voice.
“It’s my brothers.”
“What?”
“All four of them. Oh my God, hide!”
Another knock on the door.
“Harley! We know you’re in there!”
“Hide!” I insisted. “Go, go, go!”
Chase ground his teeth together and then nodded, hustling back into my bedroom. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking hands. What in the fuck were they doing here?
Then, I opened the door.
26
Harley
“Heyyy,” I drawled. My eyes tracked between my four brothers. “What are y’all doing here?”
“You left the party,” Whitt accused.
“You thought we wouldn’t notice?” Jordan asked.
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t about Chase. They wouldn’t know about Chase. I could hide this for a little longer and tell them on my own terms. Not that it explained what they were doing here.
“Mom told me to leave.”
West pushed past me and into the house. “Well, I don’t know why she did that, but it doesn’t sound like her.”
The rest of my brothers followed into the small living space.
“Come on in,” I muttered under my breath as my four hulking brothers took up the entirety of my house.
My eyes skittered to my closed bedroom door and back. At least they wouldn’t have any reason to go in there. Chase was safe for now. Safe until we figured out what we were going to do.
“I don’t know why any of y’all are here. I just left my party. Who cares?” My voice was shaking. I didn’t even sound like myself.
They were going to know. They were going to know. Fuck.
My brothers looked between themselves and finally nodded at Jordan.
“Owen called,” he admitted.
Oh no.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Had he told them about Chase? Had they come here, knowing that we’d been together? Were they going to barge into the room to find him? I honestly wouldn’t put it past them. There was a reason that we’d been hiding all this time. I was over this chauvinistic bullshit, but my brothers were intimidating on a good day. All four of them together, towering over me with their disapproval, was a lot.
I needed to take back control of this situation.
I took a step back. “I can’t believe you answered.”
“When he called all of us nearly a dozen times, back-to-back-to-back, yeah, I answered,” Jordan admitted.
“I thought he was still blocked,” I said.
“I still have him blocked,” Whitt said. “But he got ahold of Jordan and told us what was going on.”
“Told you what exactly?”
Please, oh please, oh please, don’t have screwed up everything, Owen.
“Harvard,” Jordan said.
I jerked back at that response. The one I hadn’t at all been anticipating. Had Owen told them about our deal? If he had, wouldn’t they be mad about Chase? Because right now, it didn’t seem like that was the case.
“What about Harvard?” I asked.
“You withdrew from Harvard?” Whitt accused.
“Oh,” I whispered.
Oh. Oh no.
Shit, shit, shit.
How had Owen already found out that I’d withdrawn? I had only done it this week, and now, he was knocking down my brothers’ doors to get to me about it. Yes, I’d broken our promise. And he was within his power to break his side of the deal. Maybe it was too much to think that he was going to do the right thing. When had he ever done the right thing?
“Oh?” Whitt asked, fury building. “Just oh? That’s all you have to say? Harley, are you out of your mind?”
“I had good reason for doing what I did.”
“What could possibly be the reason?” Julian asked. “You got into Harvard Law School. You have to go.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
“This is what you’ve always wanted,” Whitt said desperately.
“It’s your dream,” West said. “You’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. This is like me quitting Cosmere.”
“This is nothing like that,” I insisted.
“It’s not far off,” Whitt agreed.
“Can I explain? Or is everyone going to talk over me?” I spat.
Jordan held his hands up. Julian leaned against the sofa, uncomfortable with the direction things were going but still interested. West took a step back. Whitt looked like he wanted to punch something.
“Fine. Explain,” Whitt said.
“I was going to tell everyone about Harvard tomorrow. I was accepted in January. I thought that was what I wanted to do. I spent a lot of time considering it and realized the only reason I was doing it was because it was what I’d always said I wanted. It was what all of you expected of me. I had this full-ride scholarship and a 4.0 at Tech. I should go do the thing.” I gestured off in the distance. “I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Just what I thought I should want to do.”
West sighed. “Fuck.”
Whitt crossed his arms and pursed his lips. He was the guy who had the five-year plan. The one who always knew exactly what he wanted. This was anathema to his person.
“She’s allowed to change her mind,” Julian said.
“It’s a huge change,” Jordan said on a sigh. “I don’t want you to regret it.”
“I won’t,” I insisted.
“You don’t know that,” Whitt argued.
“I can reapply.”
“There’s no guarantee that you’ll get in again.”
I shrugged. “Then, I could go somewhere else. LSAT scores are valid for five years. So, I have five years to decide before I have to retake for new scores. That sounds like enough time to know whether or not I’ve made the right choice.”
“Five years,” Whitt said. “That’s a long time. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
I grinned then. “Well, I’m going to work with you.”
“Come again?” Whitt said.
“And you,” I said to Jordan.
“You’re going to get a job at Wright?” Julian asked in confusion.
“Correction: I already have a job with Wright.”
“No,” Jordan said. “I would have heard about it.”
I shrugged. “Not if I went to Morgan directly. I remembered what you’d said, Whitt, when we moved here, that it felt like this was the position you were meant for. Like it had been waiting for you.” I pointed at Julian. “The same thing happened for you too. Wright Construction is our namesake. Why should y’all get to claim it and not me?”
“It’s not about claiming anything,” Whitt insisted. “It’s about you being smarter than all the rest of us combined and not meeting your potential.”
I took a step back, my hand going to my heart. “Ouch.”
“I didn’t mean it…”
“I think you did,” I said back.
“What he means,” Jordan said, “is that we don’t want you to waste your time.”
“It’s not wasting my time. I’m going to be working in HR to help with a new inclusivity program. That’s what I want to be doing. Helping people and changing the world. One company at a time. I want to start with ours.”
West nodded his head. Julian nudged Jordan, as if to say, Let it be. Only Whitt still looked unconvinced.
“How exactly is Dad involved with all of this?” Whitt asked. “I thought you were no contact.”
“I was.” My eyes darted to the bedroom door again. How to explain this without Chase? Fuck. “It changed last summer. He was at Mom’s.”
“No,” West said. “She said they were over.”
“Well, they’re not. She…you know what? That’s her story. But I saw him, and he offered to pay for law school. If I got into Harvard, I told him that I’d let him. I…didn’t think that I would.”
“That’s a big gamble,” Jordan said.
“Knowing Dad, he probably paid for a new library at the school to guarantee you made it,” Julian grumbled.
“He’d do that,” West agreed.
“What happened to me being brilliant?” I asked.
“Even you know he would,” Whitt said.
“Yeah, he would.”
I hated that I hadn’t even considered it. Had I only gotten into Harvard because of Owen’s resources? Did it matter now that I wasn’t going? It’d be funnier if he’d donated the money and I wasn’t going anyway. Sucker.
“Anyway, can one of y’all be happy for me or something?” I asked. “I’ve watched all of you fuck around with your lives and been there for it. Can’t I do what I want for a change?”
Whitt finally uncrossed his arms. “If this is what you want…”
“It is,” I insisted. “Now, all of you have ganged up on me enough. Can I tell everyone else myself tomorrow, like I planned?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
“Sure.”
A grumbled chorus of responses from my brothers. I laughed at them as I pushed them toward the door, only for a squeak to come from my bedroom door.
I froze, my eyes closing in dismay. Fuck.
West laughed. “Oh man, Harley, is that why you’re rushing us out?”
“You have someone over?” Julian asked.
“That is…none of your business.”
“Come on. Introduce him to your brothers,” West egged me on.
“Definitely not happening.”
“I knew you were seeing someone,” Whitt said.
Then, he and Jordan strode forward at the same time, like the Neanderthals they were.
“Wait!” I called.
But the door was pulled open.
And Chase Sinclair stood in the doorway.
“Fuck,” he said.
“What the fuck, Harley?” Whitt snarled.
“Fuck,” I said softly.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Chase said with his hands up placatingly.
“What does it look like?” Jordan demanded. “Because it looks like you’re screwing our sister.”
“Jor!” I snapped.
“Harley and I are together,” Chase said.
Claiming me.
In front of all of my brothers.
I swooned.
“Like hell you are,” Whitt said.
“Fucking hell, man. How low will you stoop to get back at me?” Jordan demanded.
Chase’s eyes narrowed in anger at the comment. I couldn’t even believe Jordan would go there. This had nothing to do with Jordan and Annie. Or Chase’s relationship with Annie. That had all been over so long ago.
“Who the fuck do you take me for?” Chase snarled.
“A Sinclair—a fucking lying snake!” Jordan said.
He took one more step forward and swung his fist into Chase’s face. A crack sounded in the tussle. Blood poured out of Chase’s nose. My brothers rushed forward to pull Jordan off of him. West pushed past Julian and tried to get his licks in, but Chase had taken a step back.
In all of it, I stood there wordlessly.
Forgotten in the wrath. Discarded in the mayhem. Left to stand sentinel for my brothers’ fury against the man I loved.
I stood, wondering how it had all gone so irrevocably wrong.
And I saw no way to fix it.
None at all.
Not without burning it all down and starting anew.
So, that was what I had to do.
Thank you so much for reading WRIGHT KIND OF TROUBLE! I loved writing the beginning of Chase & Harley’s story! But I couldn’t stop at just one. I wanted to keep writing them forever. So you get a whole other book about them in: Wright Kind of Love
Want a FREE bonus scene with sexy Bailey & Blake? Snowed in with the ski resort owner…
Grab it for FREE here!
Ready for more Chase & Harley? Grab WRIGHT KIND OF LOVE now!
“The conclusion to the Wright duet age gap romance from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde.
* * *
Chase Sinclair should be my enemy. Wrights and Sinclairs don’t mix. Not with years of history and turmoil between our families. A rivalry that only seems to fester and corrode with time.
* * *
Except I’m done denying what I want. We both are. Just when we think we have it figured out, it all blows up in our faces.
* * *
But we’re determined to make this work. Even knowing that the road ahead is uncertain. And everyone wants us to fail. At least we’re doing this together. Everything is on the line. Our friends, our families, our careers. And we’d give it all up.
* * *
He may be from the wrong family, but he’s my Wright person.
Grab your copy of WRIGHT KIND OF LOVE!
A L S O B Y K. A. L I N D E
Like stand alone companion novels about one big family—
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The Wright Boss
The Wright Mistake
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The Wright Love
The Wright One
A Wright Christmas
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Wright Rival
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Wright Kind of Trouble
Wright Kind of Love
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Broken Record
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AVOIDING
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Avoiding Responsibility
Avoiding Temptation
* * *
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Avoiding Boxset
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DIAMOND GIRLS SERIES
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Take Me with You
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to those who encouraged me to make this a duet. I had so much that I wanted to do that I knew if I made it one book it was going to be a monster of a book. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. But I love Chase & Harley so much that I’m glad I gave them double the spotlight. They deserve it!
The soundtrack to this book was: 1989 vault tracks from Taylor Swift especially Say Don’t Go, bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo, Holding Back My Tongue by SEOAN, and Maisie Peters.
About the Author
K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Buffy, traveling to far off destinations, baking insane desserts, and dancing in her spare time.
