Very fucking wrong.
Whenever I was in my mother’s presence she was trying to pawn off some daughter of a friend of hers for me to take out. I rolled my eyes at the thought. I’d never had trouble getting women. Not with my six-foot-one height, dark hair, green eyes, and these fucking Townsend freckles women seemed to swoon over.
Nope. Getting pussy wasn’t the problem.
It was getting them to leave that was the real issue.
But I couldn’t exactly explain that to my mother. And as I looked at the reminder message from my mother, my chest tightened with the memory of exactly why I’d kept my distance from anything that resembled a relationship as well as why I felt compelled to donate such as huge amount to the oncology department of the hospital.
I didn’t have time to think about any of that right then. Nor did I care to make the time. Shaking off those memories, I poured my coffee into my mug, and screwed the top on. Minutes later I was out of the door of the home I’d only recently moved into, that was in fact, one of my own company’s projects.
I lived only a few doors down from my two oldest brothers in Cedardwoods, right outside of the city of Williamsport. We’d all purchased homes in the same neighborhood. I may not have wanted a family of my own, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to be close to my brothers and their families.
Due to growing rush hour traffic it took me the full two hours to get to Crestview. As soon as I stepped out of my car, the frowning face of my PM greeted me.
“How’s Ron?” I questioned Dennis, my project manager, not bothering with greetings.
I breezed past Dennis to head toward the lot where the accident had taken place, leaving him to trail me.
“He’s fine,” he began explaining from behind me, walking quickly to keep up with my pace. “A bump on the head from his fall so he’s taking the rest of the day off. Medics didn’t think there was a concussion.”
“He went to the E.R. just to make sure, right?” I leveled a look at Dennis over my shoulder.
“Yeah.”
I nodded. “We’ll take care of the cost. The last fucking thing I need is a lawsuit from this shit,” I grumbled and glanced up toward the dug up dirt where the tractors and other equipment sat. I noticed a few of the workers mingling around the equipment. Everyone had orders from me not to touch anything until I’d arrived.
“Did you get pictures of the tractor?” I questioned Dennis, my eyes still focused on the sight before me.
“Yes, as you instructed.”
I nodded and slowed my steps as we grew closer.
“Ron said he arrived e—” Dennis’ words were cut off when I gave him a withering glare over my shoulder. I didn’t need his commentary at the moment. I trusted my instincts more than anything. I would let them lead me to find out what the hell was going on.
I glanced around the construction site, noting there were only fifteen workers who stood around. “Where’s Joseph?” I finally asked Dennis.
He squinted, looking around. “Joseph?”
“There’re fifteen guys here, plus you, makes sixteen. Ron is at the hospital. Seventeen. There’re eighteen guys who’re supposed to be on site today. I know the names of every single one. Where’s Joseph?”
Dennis blinked, stunned, and began scratching the back of his head.
I narrowed my eyes on him. This was my first time working with him as my project manager. I didn’t like the unsure look he was giving me regarding the absence of one of the workers.
“That’s a lot of workers. How’d you know how many—”
“Dennis, do you have children?” It was a bullshit question. I knew he had two.
He nodded.
“And you know the names of your children, right? Who they play with? You protect them by knowing who you let around your kids, right?”
“Of course.”
I nodded. “As do I. Townsend Real Estate is my baby. I protect it as would any parent their child. I run background checks on every single person who works on my sites. I know every project Townsend touches, like the back of my hand. I know exactly who is supposed to be on site, when, and for how long. That said, Joseph should’ve been here an hour ago. Where is he?”
“He called saying his kid was sick. Had to take him to the doctor,” a voice called from the group of men who were milling about.
