“Carter knows who I was referring to,” Aaron answered.
“Tyler doesn’t work for Townsend Industries anymore than I do, yet you don’t give him half the shit you give me.”
“Tyler’s only twenty-five. A career in the NFL lasts all of what? Ten years, maybe. Fifteen if he’s lucky.”
“Damn, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Tyler snarked.
Aaron merely turned harsh eyes on Tyler before dismissing him and returning his gaze back to me. “He’ll join Townsend upon his retirement. Joshua’s growing the real estate division by leaps and bounds, which just leaves you. The oldest brother of all of us and the one who officially shirked his responsibility to play pretend hero.”
Less than a second later, I was in Aaron’s face, while simultaneously shoving my champagne flute into Joshua’s chest for him to take it. I would need my hands free for this confrontation if necessary.
“Listen, asshole, I let you get away with a lot of shit,” I growled in my brother’s scowling face. “But don’teverdisrespect my career choices again. I’ve lived through shit you could never imagine.”
“You’re not the only person who’s lived through shit,” Aaron growled, shoving me back, which caused me to grab him by the collar.
“I will break your–”
“Hey, hey!
“Calm down!”
Tyler and Joshua whisper-called, doing their best to separate Aaron and I.
“Mother and Father are coming over. Relax, guys.”
I stared into Aaron’s angry eyes, mine just as filled with fury. He took a small step backwards and slowly I let the lapels of his tuxedo go. Both of our chests were heaving. I watched as he smoothed down the now wrinkled sides of his tuxedo jacket. I felt Tyler doing the same for my tuxedo but my eyes remained locked on Aaron.
“Play it cool, bro,” Tyler whispered just before our parents reached our group.
“It looked tense over here. Everything alright?” my mother questioned, worried blue eyes looking between her four sons.
“Fine, Mother,” Aaron responded.
“Are you sure?” she asked, placing a hand on his arm.
Aaron’s anger visibly deflated at her touch, but only marginally. He wore whatever chip he had on his shoulder twenty-four seven.
“We’re sure. Just brothers being brothers,” I stated, placing a kiss on my mother’s cheek. She grinned as she glanced up at me.
“It looked a little heavier than brothers play fighting,” my father’s stern voice spoke.
“Carter’s right, Father. We were just messing around and things got a little intense. You know how your two oldest can be.” Josh motioned his head toward Aaron and I.
My father’s brown eyes looked between Aaron and I worriedly.
“Family is always more important than business,” my father stated.
I refrained from rolling my eyes, hoping he wasn’t about to launch into one of his speeches on the importance of family.
“We know, Father,” Tyler interjected. “Without family, none of this would be possible.” Tyler spread his arms wide, looking around at the more than hundred and fifty people on our estate.
“Right. And …”
“And that’s exactly how we plan to keep it,” Joshua finished, knowing this speech like the back of his hand since we’d all been raised on some variant of it.
I narrowed my eyes at Aaron, who’d made a grunting noise.
“Here, honey, this is for you.” My mother handed Aaron a seltzer water with lime. Aaron was the only one of us who never touched alcohol. “Your speech is soon.”
