When I got to our meeting room, Adam was working away on his laptop while Lex looked at his phone with a smooshy expression.
My brain was running on adrenaline after the chat with West, so I wanted to get our stuff out of the way so I could get to work.
I started with an update on our current clients, a couple of whom had made inquiries for follow-up campaigns, which was always a good sign.
“We get that you probably got laid a lot this weekend, but we have work to do,” I said, leaning over the table toward Lex.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied defensively. “What’s the issue?”
“The issue, little brother, is that you can’t repeat anything said in this meeting so far because you’re too busy looking out the window and spacing out. I don’t have your twin telepathy, and even I feel slightly horny this morning.”
Lex stared at me. “When do you not feel horny?”
“Good point, but we need to wrap this up because I have places to be.”
They questioned me about my plans, with reason. We usually caught up with work on Monday and set up the week. I’d barely set foot in the office and was already planning on leaving.
“Hey, speaking of clients, how’s the Van Stern account?” Lex asked just as I sipped my hot coffee, causing me to cough and almost spill it all over me.
“What?”
Lex’s eyebrows narrowed. “How is it going with the stained-glass museum? Lior seemed very interested in working with us.”
I couldn’t tell them everything, but I shared what I’d learned about Lior and his business.
“This is all good stuff, Noah,” Lex said. “I can already think of some imagery to go with a campaign. Send him the contracts. I’m excited to work on this.”
Adam had remained mostly quiet. He usually took notes for the meeting and only spoke when his input was required or had something to update us on.
He closed his laptop and looked at me. “Please tell me you haven’t slept with a client.”
“I resent that you think I would.”
I could see this meeting going rapidly downhill, and I wasn’t in the mood to be accused of fucking every person I met. Especially when, one, I hadn’t done that in months, apart fromthe one time with Lior, and two, I hadn’t slept with him since discovering he was a client.
My family wasn’t openly judgmental of me, but I wasn’t blind. My parents wanted me to settle down with someone nice. My brothers lived with a permanent fear that my hooking up with people would be bad for business.
When they stopped asking about Lior, they asked if I was sleeping with Tanner.
It was getting old. Or maybe I was getting old.
“Let’s move to the Lusitana anniversary celebration. Lex, what are the options for the visuals?”
Our parents’ restaurant was turning thirty, so they wanted to celebrate in style. Naturally, they “hired” us to take care of it, which was an additional project to handle on top of everything else.
With Lex distracted with Emery and Adam with the wedding planning, I had to step up and fill the gaps.
Once the meeting ended, I locked myself in my office and brainstormed ideas to help West for a few hours.
A week later, I had a plan, but I needed to do two things. To tell my brothers about my involvement with the charity and to figure out how to get an invite to the mayor’s yearly ball, where I planned on schmoozing the right people to raise money and support for the Star Finders Youth Network Shelter project.
Ever the wingman and soundboard, Jax agreed to meet me at Tanner’s before his night shift.
He had a table, a plate of wings, and a beer for me by the time I arrived.
“Man, you’re the coolest,” I said, bumping his fist.
“I know. What’s the emergency?”
