Shelly was supposed to have flown out with Hawk, but he had to deal with a union dispute that had to have their most senior boots on the ground. Which was Shelly. He would show up later, for the actual wedding, he claimed. Although Hawk no longer believed him. “Your ass orchestrated that union shit,” he said when Shelly called him with the news. “You’d do anything to avoid Brackenridge.”
Shelly laughed and denied it all, but Hawk still wasn’t convinced and ended the call.
When he drove up to his childhood mansion and saw the various luxury cars all around the huge horseshoe driveway, including a Lamborghini, several Bentleys and Porsches and Maseratis and Mercedes, Hawk knew his family was there. Although he wasn’t certain whose car belonged to whom, he knew they were his siblings’ cars. But when he entered the home and went down the side corridor that led to the banquet hall, he was confused.
Although his half-sister Amber and her family and friends were assembled throughout the hall on the backside of the family parlor, all of them laughing and talking and drinking as if they belonged there, he didn’t see one single member ofhisfamily. He saw the cars. Where were they?
He went back down the corridor, through the foyer, and into the living room. And that was when he saw his family.
Who he didn’t see was Matty, the brother one year younger than him and the sibling he was closest to. Matty, as CEO of Webster, Inc., was supposedly the most responsible of the siblings, and he was their father’s right-hand man.
He did see his brother Drayton, who was four years younger than him. Dray was the snazzy dresser of the family and was supposedly the least responsible of them all. Although it was a claim Hawk disputed. Dray, he felt, always got a bad rap.
But when Dray saw his big brother, he hopped up from the sofa. “Hawthorne!” he said happily and hurried over to give him that half-hug, half-handshake Webster men were known for. Without asking, Hawk knew immediately who that Lambo belonged to.
Dray was a wealthy man too, but no one had ever been able to figure out where it came from. Rumor had it that he was kept by older, wealthy women around town. Rumor had it that he was a drug dealer. Rumor had it that their mother was bankrolling his lifestyle since their father didn’t believe in supporting grown children. But it was all just rumors.
Then there was Joe Nathan “Nat” Webster, the most explosive of the siblings, temper wise, and the owner ofNat’s, a prime night spot in Memphis that many celebrities frequented. He was on the phone yelling obscenities to one of his club managers when Hawk first walked in. It wasn’t Nat if he wasn’t up in arms about something.
And then there was Minka, a hairstylist and the owner ofShade, the most expensive hair salon in Brackenridge. The way they told it around town was that a woman of means was meaningless if she wasn’t one of Minka’s clients. Hawk always suspected that thetheywho were telling it was Minka himself.
“Hello Mink.”
Minka smiled and threw up his hand. He was not histrionic like Dray, but seemed bored as he stood in the corner with his arms folded. “Why are you here?”
“Pop’s request,” said Hawk. “He called me.”
“That was a call I would have never answered,” Minka said as he looked at his manicured fingernails. But Hawk didn’t take offense. He knew that was his younger brother through and through. He was there, undoubtedly because their father ordered him to be there too, but it was unseemly when Hawk was there for the very same reason. That was Minka.
And then there was Barbara, the youngest of Hawk’s biological siblings at thirty-two, and whom everybody called Babs. She was a smart young lady, with loads of potential, but she never seemed able to get her act together. Her Achilles heel were men. Bad boys to be more precise. From broken heart to broken heart, she was a mess. She still lived at home with their parents.
And in that moment Hawk saw her, she was on the phone with her boyfriend, yelling about how he was lying to her because she saw him with the bitch and on and on and on. Then she ended the call defiantly. But then she frowned as if she was ready to call him right back again.
“Don’t do it, girl,” Minka said to her. “Don’t you do it.”
But she was still in her feelings. And she moved further away from Minka, turned her back to him, and did it anyway. Hawk shook his head.
He looked at Dray. “Where’s Pop and Matty?” he asked him.
“In the parlor. The cops were here when we first got here, but they left a few minutes ago.”
“The police? Why?” Hawk asked.
Dray shrugged his shoulders. “They haven’t told us anything yet. You know how those two are. Pop confides in no one but Matty and Matty confides in no one.”
“Pop would confide in you, too, as his oldest son,” said Nat as he ended his call, “but your ass skipped town.”
“One thing I don’t do is skip,” Hawk said.
Nat smiled and hurried over to his big brother. They half-hugged and half-shook too. “It’s good to see you, bro. It’s been a minute.”
“It has,” Hawk said when they stopped embracing. “Did you see Amber and Pop’s other kids over in the banquet hall?”
Hawk nodded. “It’s crazy.”
“It’s outrageous,” said Nat. “They’re parked in the back all over Ma’s lawn like this is some trailer park. It’s awful. And the idea that Pop’s making us be in her wedding. That’s what’s crazy.”
“No, what’s crazy,” said Minka, “is that we all agreed to be in it.”
