“I’m serious.” He leaned back in his chair. “You’re talking about putting me in the most replaceable department in the company.”
“Or you could see it as earning your way in,” I reasoned. “We’ve all had to do it.”
Jesse rolled his eyes. “I could see it that way, but I’m going to look at it as punishment instead.”
“Bullshit.” I scoffed and raked a hand through my hair. If I kept doing that, he and I were going to wind up with identically messy hair, but I was so fucking frustrated with him that messing up my hair was the least of my worries. “None of us started out in the big chairs. Not even Dad or Harlan. It’s not a punishment to have to learn the game before you become the coach.”
Alex finally spoke, his tone calm but decisive. “This is an opportunity, Jess.”
Jesse glanced at him, unimpressed. “I should’ve known you’d take his side.”
“I take the side that makes sense and today that’s not yours.” He leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. “The fact is that you have to start somewhere and you haven’t been around for years. You need to learn exactly what we’re doing nowadays. How we operate. Things have changed a lot since we were kids.”
He snorted. “Yeah, I know. You two and Nate have made some huge, ballsy moves, but that doesn’t mean you can stick me in any department you want.”
“On the contrary, that’s exactly what it means. Until you actually catch up to the way things are done now, you won’t know enough to be able to help us make any future moves. On top of all that, you’re getting married soon. You should be focusing on your fiancée too, which means I can’t put you in a position that’ll take up too much of your time.”
Jesse waved him off. “My fiancée isn’t taking up much of my time at all. I can?—”
“That’s only because right now Will is doing what you should have been doing all along. He’s picking up your slack. Again. While still staying on top of his job.”
I groaned, seeing the moment the comparison hit my twin. It was the one thing that never failed to set him off, and Alex had just launched that grenade without even thinking about it.
Jesse let out a sharp laugh, pushing himself out of the chair in one swift movement before he scoffed. “You want me to be more like him, don’t you?”
Alex frowned. “Yes, Jesse. I do.”
His jaw tightened, his pulse suddenly hammering under his jaw as his fingers rolled into fists. “You begged me to come back here. Hell, you fucking paid me, so here I am, but I didn’t come home to do your bidding and have you talk shit about me. If you don’t like the way I am, then I’m happy to just fucking leave.”
“Don’t be a brat,” I said evenly. “All he’s really saying is that he wants to be able to count on you. When you start working here, you’re going to have to prove yourself before you climb the ladder. We can’t put you straight into a corner office when there are people here who are more qualified, more reliable, and more experienced.”
The tension in the room snapped tight enough to be cut with a blunt knife. Jesse turned to glower at me. “If you have so many people who are so much better than me, why am I even here?”
“Because they’re notbetterthan you,” I snapped. “They’ve just been here longer, and you’re family. You should be?—”
“Enough,” Alex said, not raising his voice but ending the escalation anyway. “This isn’t a debate. It’s a decision.”
Jesse looked like he had about ten more arguments lined up, none of which he was particularly interested in making constructively, but then there was a sharp knock at the door.We ignored it, still too busy glaring at each other to react, but a moment later, Alex’s assistant appeared, looking apologetic for interrupting, but not enough to actually leave.
“I’m sorry. There’s a woman here to see you and she’s not taking no for an answer.”
Alex shook his head. “Does she have an appointment?”
“No.”
“Then send her away,” he said slowly, like it should’ve been obvious. “I don’t take walk-ins?—”
“I tried, sir. I’m afraid she’s simply refusing to leave.”
“So call security?—”
Before he could even finish the sentence, Eugenie Roderick walked in, her stride so confident that it was like she thought she had every right to be here, interrupting our meeting.
To be fair, given her general attitude to reality, that was probably exactly what she thought. She stopped once she was inside the room, then twisted to wave the assistant away. My eyes widened as I watched her, seriously struggling to believe that anyone could be that arrogant. “Run along now. We won’t be needing you any longer.”
Alex rose slowly. “I’m sorry. Do we know you?”
She smiled directly at me before arching a brow at Jesse. “Long time no see, lover.”
