Garrett took the drone. “I don’t trust Avery. Marriage in a few months? Something is not right. You’re smarter than this, Blade. Even Archer, useless as he is, had the good sense to wait six months before proposing and to then plan on a wedding for several years, not months, away.”
“We need to secure that Harris & Schultz contract,” I stated as Avery came into the room with her laptop and a tray of coffee and water. “You all cannot waste your time and energy spying on me. Accept that this relationship is beneficial for everyone and leave it at that.” I knew as soon as I said the words that my brothers would not let it go.
Hunter poured himself a glass of water.
“Coming in late, being hyperaggressive,” he stated. “If the relationship is real, she must have a magic pussy to effect this big a change.”
“Oh my God!” a woman gasped. I whirled around.
Stacy and Kitty the intern were in the doorway. I clenched my jaw. Avery looked slightly sick. So much for keeping our fake relationship hidden from the office. Stacy looked between Avery and me and quietly took a seat.
“Greg,” I snapped at my older brother, “you called this meeting. Start. I don’t have all day.”
He looked up from his laptop and steepled his fingers. “I don’t believe I need to impress on everyone here that winning this project is of utmost importance. Harris & Schultz is a huge contract. I need an update on how things are progressing.”
I looked at Avery, hoping she was okay.
“Now,” Greg said.
“Thanks to Sadie and the Rural Trust, we have a nice deliverable on how our company’s move to Harrogate is going to help the surrounding area. Mr. Schultz is originally from the Rust Belt area, and he’s keen on the work the foundation is doing to lift up the people in those areas,” I said.
“We also have sample applications that Blade has been working on to track not just digital transaction but patterns of cash, real estate sales, and other real asset sales to detect fraud and money laundering across international lines,” Stacy added. She glanced briefly at Avery, who was studiously typing meeting minutes.
“We’ll be showing it in real time,” I told Greg. “It checks the boxes on the types of applications they need to fulfill the requirements of the lawsuit settlements and of the government regulators.”
“I don’t want box checking. Everyone is going to be box checking, including Grant Holbrook. We need to set ThinkX apart,” Greg said.
“That’s where I come in,” Weston said smugly. “Rose Schultz loves me. I really turned on the waterworks when I saw her at the charity function a couple weeks ago that the Rural Trust held. Not only was she impressed with the foundation, she said she felt motherly toward us and said she couldn’t believe that anyone would abandon such nice boys.”
“If only she knew,” Garrett said under his breath, glaring at me.
“She’s going to be very happy to see me tomorrow.”
“At least Blade has a date for the business dinner!” Kitty chirped.
23
Avery
Isank in my chair as Kitty brought up the fact that I was fake sleeping with Blade. All the attention in the room swung back to me. Stacy looked as if she wanted to strangle me.
“Not just a date,” Garrett drawled. “The love of his life.”
Stacy’s expression turned even more murderous.
“Need I remind everyone that Mr. Schultz is very family oriented, though Lord knows why. I can barely tolerate any of you,” Hunter said.
“Weston and Blade, you two will be at the dinner with Hunter. I have to go to Boston to clean up yet another mess. Stacy, as the PM, you will join them. The Holbrooks, I’m assuming, will be there as well with their project managers. We want a good showing. Hunter, please don’t kill anyone.”
“The Holbrooks screwed us over,” Blade’s older brother said flatly.
“And we will snatch this contract out from under them in retaliation,” Greg stated.
I felt sick. The project managers were going to be at the dinner? That meant my father, stepmother, Trevor, and Cassie were going to be there. Crap.
“Stacy, do you have a suitable date?” Greg asked.
“Yes,” she said, glancing at Blade.
