“Trouble. You really want to be punished again, don’t you?”
“You know it’s not punishment if you enjoy it, Atlas,” Linden said, chuckling.
He pressed a hand to his chest and feigned shock. “I’m terrified. Trust me.”
“Psh… Well, back to work.” With that, Linden left my office, Atlas not far behind.
I sat down at my desk, smiling. I couldn’t remember when I’d had so much fun.
As I followed the hostess to my table, I smiled when I saw the familiar dark brown hair, trailing down her back in thick waves.
Seeing my sister always made me warm inside. We’d been really close growing up. When Linden came to live with us, the three of us were inseparable. Chloe was the only one who knew about my sexual preferences and what I did with Linden.
“Thank you,” I said to the hostess as she left. I rested my hand on my sister’s shoulder, and she looked up with a smile stretched across her face. Her coffee-brown eyes glittered in the dim lighting of the restaurant.
“Hugh,” she said, standing so we could hug each other.
“You look good, Chlo.”
“So do you. How’s Linden?”
“He’s good.”
Before we could dig deeper into each other’s lives, our server stood at our table to take our drink orders. Chloe ordered a mojito, and I ordered an Old Fashioned.
“And how’s Dad?” she asked, frowning.
Dad and Chloe had barely spoken since she’d given up everything to be a pediatric nurse. It was what she wanted to do, so she pursued it fearlessly. Whereas I obeyed every fucking command. I was so fucking proud of her. It was an amazing job, but Dad wanted her to work at Cross Corp. He had plans for all of us, but Chloe refused to play along. Even worse, she’dpromised to stay single. She’d never had any interest in getting married and having kids.
She only came to the house for Mom, and it was only for very special occasions like Christmas or Mom’s birthday.
I shrugged. “He’s Dad, and he’s not happy with me.”
“Oh boy, what’d you do now? What’s that grumpy old horse complaining about this time?”
“Well, we’re being sued because of me.”
Her eyes bugged out of her head. Before she could ask any questions, our server dropped off our drinks and took our order. We started with hummus and homemade bread. I asked for the Shawarma-spiced prime skirt steak frites, and Chloe ordered the pork belly with harissa honey.
When our server left, she leaned forward over the table. “What the hell?”
“Yep. Do you remember that project manager I was seeing for a short time?” Chloe nodded, so I dove into the story about what happened. “Now she wants to sue us… me, specifically, for sexual harassment.”
“That bitch! The audacity. God, Dad must be pissed.”
“He is… told me to stay out of it and to keep it in my pants.”
“Why is he like this? He’s such a control freak.”
“It’s how he’s become so successful.”
She waved a dismissive hand and took a sip of her cocktail. “Whatever. That doesn’t make him a good boss.”
“Good bosses are hard to come by, Chlo.”
“Don’t defend him.”
I raised my hands. “I’m not… Just saying.”
