Outrage pulses in my heart. “Theytoldyou? What the hell happened to client privacy?”
“Oh, it’s alive and well. Thing is,you’renot the client.” Seb looks positively smug. “They have a log of who comes in and out. And apparently you’re interested to know if the lady in question ever came back and left you a note.” He turns to the others. “Which she didn’t.”
“Bro…” Griffin shakes his head.
“Women don’t like it when you’re desperate,” Grant says. “It repels them.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. How’s Aspen doing?”
“Shut up.” He and his wife Aspen are still engaged in a minor cold war over his refusal to be reasonable about her idea of investing in an old college friend’s bar. His reluctance has nothing to do with the business plan being shitty. Rather, it’s personal because the friend happens to have a penis.
“It’s only fifty thousand bucks,” Emmett says. “Let it go. Besides, your wife is smart. She wouldn’t mix business with anything personal.”
Frustrated irritation sparks in Grant’s eyes. “Have you seen the way that motherfucker looks at her?”
“Nope. But I know who Aspen married,” Emmett counters.
We nod. Grant merely sighs. He probably knows he’s wrong but doesn’t want to admit it to his wife. None of us knows how he gets around with an ego that big. “Fine. It isn’t like we’ll become destitute if the bar fails.”
Nicholas lifts his coffee mug. “Now you’re talking.”
“So, back to that stick up your butt… If it’s not the girl, what is it?” Grant says, obviously trying to turn the topic away from his disagreement with Aspen.
Asshole.“My family is pressuring me to marry a Webber. My grandmother in particular absolutely refuses to leave me alone. She set up four dates for me and one of the girls! So that I could ‘get to know and appreciate my options better.’” My hands clench. I fantasize about strangling The Fogeys so often my knuckles ache.
“How did they go?” Grant asks, eyeing me cautiously.
“They didn’t,” I say, in a you-know-me-better-than-that tone. “Then yesterday, she sent a huge brass plaque that readHuxley Lasker-Webberto the office to hang outside my door.”
Emmett and Nicholas spew out their coffee. Noah makes a strangled noise and slaps his chest to dislodge the last piece of waffle he shoved into his mouth. Griffin’s mouth actually hangs open.
“Well… At least she put your last name before theWebber,” Grant says.
“Thank God!” I throw my hands in the air.
“The empire needs its heir married and producing baby heirs,” Seb says.
I shudder. “Ugh. No. I’m not a lawyer, which disqualifies me from being an heir to Huxley & Webber.”
“He’s right.” Noah finally says something rational, only to ruin it by laughing and adding, “You don’t sell your heir to the highest bidder.”
“There was no bidding.” If there had been an auction, it would’ve been better because then I would’ve bid to make myself permanently unavailable.
Noah blinks. “So the family got nothing?”
“There’s a contract,” I grind out.
“Can’t be legal,” Griffin says with a dark scowl.
I clench my teeth. “Unfortunately, it is. I got stupid and trusted my family with a POA once.” I revoked the power of attorney so fast, Mom burst out laughing. Being hooked upto a machine will be better than getting used by my family again. I read the entire infuriating contract twice. “If I fail to marry a Webber within two years of signing, I’m to hand over twenty-five percent of my ownership stake at 4D Agency to my grandmother.” The veins in my head almost popped when I read the clause. It still makes my blood boil.
Emmett winces in sympathy. “Huxley & Webber isn’t one of the best for nothing.”
“Legalized human trafficking.” Noah moves his chin up and down in an I-knew-it nod. “Well, look at it this way, Hux. At least you’re the prize.”
I shoot him a death glare. “Not funny.”
He shows me his palms. “Hey, don’t hate me. I’m not the one sending you a Lasker-Webber name plate. Just pointing out the silver lining.”
