“Let’s properly introduce ourselves, what do you say?”I stuck out my hand.Sebastian eyed it like I was hiding a buzzer in my palm.“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.I’m Nash Nightingale.Welcome to my property.”
Realization slid over his face as he took my hand and shook it tersely.His grip was painful, brusque, but I didn’t let it show.
“And you must be the brother,” Sebastian said, offering his hand to Archer.
“Yes.That’s my legal name,” Archer said.“The brother.Brother Nightingale.It’s on my birth certificate that way.”
“I take it you’ve heard something about us,” I said, half observation, half question.
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Sebastian said, donning the aloof disdain I’d always associated with him.“Though I’ll be sure to look out for the two of you tomorrow.”
“What’s that?”I asked.
“You said we’ve been in the same room many times,” Sebastian replied.“It stands to reason you’d be at the Development Council’s Annual Summit.”
I swallowed the groan that tried to escape.That fucking event.Archer and I had attended religiously for years, until the judgment surrounding our business practices began to get louder and people in our industry began to turn their noses up.We were a controversial pair, for sure.And some events were easier to ignore altogether, if only because we were tired of the elite getting pissy because we dared to do something for the common good.The Development Council Summit was one we’d stopped going to, and I’d told Marina to shred this year’s invite.
“Maybe you weren’t invited,” Sebastian said, a grin curling at his lips.
“We were,” Archer assured him.
“Brother Nightingale and I will be seeing you there,” I finished.“Maybe we can actually chat business there, now that we’ve proven we aren’t four raccoons in a trench coat posing as professionals.”
Once again, not even a flicker of recognition of my scathing wit.
“Will you be leaving my property soon?”I pressed him.
“We’re not on it,” Sebastian said as he walked away.He approached some of the workers, and soon they were moving their operation to the next property over.
“I guess that means we’re dismissed,” Archer muttered.“Don’t you fucking start calling me Brother Nightingale.”
“You’ve never had another name as far as I’m concerned.”I finally let out the laughter I’d been holding in.
“He seems like the life of the party,” Trojan added as the three of us began walking back to the car.“Guess you’ll find out tomorrow whether that’s true or not.”
“Do we really have to go?”Archer asked with a sigh as he sank into the front seat of the car.
“We do.”I slipped into the back, my mind churning with ideas.“We’re on his radar now.Besides, we need to find out as much as possible about what he’s planning with the Meridian site.”
“Are you coming, Trojan?”Archer grumbled, clearly unenthused about the change in plans.
“If you need me, I’m yours.”His shit eating grin was visible in the rearview mirror, which made Archer and me laugh.
“We always need you,” I told him.“And hey, you can meet my, uh…girlfriend.”
Trojan’s eyes went extra wide.“Say what now?”
It felt so weird to talk about this shit like it was true.I wanted to admit everything to Trojan, but I couldn’t.So I’d view this as practice, if nothing else.“I’m settling down, buddy.”
“I don’t believe it,” Trojan said as he eased into traffic.“Who’s the lucky lady?”
“Her name is Clara.She’ll be with me tomorrow night.You’ll love her.We met years ago but it was always on again and off again until…”
“Now it’s on again.For good.”Archer finished the lie for me.
He was right.At least for the next few months.Eventually I’d be a free man again, though Trojan didn’t need to know all that.
“Can’t wait to meet her.Now where did you say the next property is?”Trojan squinted out the windshield, slowing in front of a new group of apartment buildings.“Is it this one or further down?”
