Mom: Love you!
Nick cleared his throat. “Is there something you need to take care of?”
From beside Avery, Marcus leaned over his shoulder. “Mom’s in matchmaker mode again.”
Ping.
Melody: Since Nick is at the head table tomorrow night, we have an extra seat at ours. Do you have a plus one, or should I find someone to fill it.
Fuck. He couldn’t do another Althea Rutherford. Well, he coulddoher. He just didn’t want to be stuck with her—or another version of her—all night. Or with the expectations that came with that. Not when there would be an all you can eat buffet of beautiful women.
Marcus chuckled. “And Mel.”
Avery elbowed his brother and angled his phone so the nosy fucker couldn’t see.
Spencer’s brow shot up as he leaned back in his chair. “My wife is texting you?”
Ping.
Charlotte: Do you know Haley Young? She’s home for spring break and needs a date to the gala tomorrow night.
“Yeah, Charlotte, too,” Avery scoffed as he threaded his fingers through his hair. “What’s wrong with all the women in this family?”
Nick tapped the stack of reports in front of him. “How do the numbers look for Whitaker?”
Ping.
At the plunge of Nick’s disapproving brows,Avery set his phone to vibrate and stuffed it in his pocket.
“Everything looks good. You should have a copy in your inbox.” He woke his tablet and pulled up the financials for Whitaker Packaging.
As he waited for his brothers to access the file on their laptops, another text buzzed against his thigh. It was going to be a long meeting.
An hour later, Avery fell into the chair behind his desk. The meeting had dragged on, productive, but he hadn’t been able to concentrate with his phone blowing up in his pocket like a vibrator on crack.
Right on cue, it buzzed again. “I swear to fuck…”
He yanked his phone out and flung it across his desk.
“Everything okay?” His admin, Zach, stood just inside his office door. “How’d the meeting go?”
Avery scrubbed both hands over his face and exhaled a long breath. “Spencer’s sending over the contracts this afternoon, and if everything goes well, it’ll be all hands on deck for the next few weeks.”
Zach nodded. “I’ll let the team know.”
Buzz.
He couldn’t dodge their questions forever. Not when they were determined to fuck with his life.
Buzz.
He drummed his fingers on the desk. Maybe if he answered them, they’d leave him the fuck alone. But what the hell was he going to say? Work was the excuse he used for women like Tits, but that didn’t cut it with family.
Hmm, there was the strong possibility he might be coming down with something—strep, the flu, malaria…whatever it took to stop them from riding his ass.
Buzz.
Avery grabbed his phone before it vibrated off the edge of his desk. His mother hadn’t sent any more. Why would she, when she’d enlisted her minions to do her dirty work? There were four more from Melody and two from Charlotte. He skipped over them to read a group text from the Sigmas.
