"Meg, can you take them out of here?" Cliff asked.
"Sure thing," she said, pulling her keys out of her purse. "Where are you guys headed?"
"I don't want to go! I want to watch the explosion!" Henry said and jumped up, making a sound effect. I winced.
"Sorry he's…" I made another helpless gesture.
"A Svensson," Meg said, her mouth flat. "The pervasiveness and lack of variety of their insufferableness is beyond belief, isn't it?"
"They are a unique bunch."
Meg drove us to the PharmaTech offices then parked in the visitors' parking.
Was she walking us inside?I wondered.
But when we got into the lobby, Meghan marched up to the reception desk, Henry and me trailing behind her.
"Good afternoon. I'm Lieutenant Mayor Meghan Loring, and I'm here for a meeting with Mr. Svensson," she said.
"Which one?" the receptionist asked, picking up the phone.
"All of them."
32
Mace
Ithought the kiss with Josie would slake my desire. But it only made it worse. She had felt so good melting against me like chocolate. I shook my head. Josie and her love of candy had gotten to me.
"Anyone in there?" Archer asked, rapping his knuckles against my head.
"Stop it," I said, pushing his hand away.
Garrett held the door to the conference room open for Meghan, and we all stood up. She looked angry. This was going to be another awful meeting.
"She even smells like hellfire and brimstone," Archer whispered to me under his breath.
"I heard that," Meg said.
"How is the lovely lieutenant mayor?" Archer exclaimed. "I'm expecting you to announce your run for president any day now." He pulled out her chair for her. "Please sit down. I'm so sorry you have to deal with all of my brothers. They're uncultured! Uncivilized! Also I locked Hunter in the supply closet." He smiled broadly. There was a slight smile on Meg's face. Maybe the meeting wouldn't be so bad after all.
"I know I'm your favorite Svensson," Archer said, pouring a glass of water for Meg. "So let's chat."
Meg seemed to relax slightly until Hunter rolled into the room, practically yanking the door off the hinges.
"What the hell is wrong with you, locking me in a closet?" he fumed at Archer.
"You actually locked him in a closet?" Meg asked, laughing into her water glass.
"I mean, yeah, that's what I said. Unlike some people, I don't lie."
"Archer, what were you thinking? Hunter could have starved to death in there," I admonished my twin. "Or suffocated for lack of oxygen."
My twin snorted, and I could see Meg tamping down a smirk.
"Look at this big lug," Archer said, whapping Hunter on the back. Hunter snarled, and Archer jerked his hand back. "He'd have survived weeks."
"He didn't have any water," I countered.
