Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I don’t know what’s coming, but it feels like another bucketload of chaos.
It turns out I don’t need to call a meeting to discuss Winnie’s situation.
Dexter is ready to fire full throttle with his starry-eyed St. Louis expansion plan. After Rina leaves and I get my head screwed back on, I head into the Higher Ends office.
We chose the Cardinal Conference Room at our headquarters in Lee’s Summit. With the traffic and everything else that’s happened today, I’m almost five minutes late.
My brothers beat me there, seated with their laptops open, ready to laugh at me. Dex already has the projector on when I walk in.
“You’re late. Is today the apocalypse?” Patton leans back as I shut the door behind me, tilting the chair off its wheels.
“Sit properly before you break your neck, dickhead.”
“You’re never late.”
Dex taps his pen against the large table. “He’s not wrong. What happened? Traffic?”
“I would’ve settled for a fender bender,” I say, grabbing the closest chair. “You really want to know, Rina dropped by.”
“Oh, shit.” Dex drops his pen. “Rina as in… Rina-Rina?”
“Rina as in my ex-wife from Satan’s Express Rina, yes.” I eye the screen, which shows a picture of a high-rise in what I’m guessing is St. Louis.
“Whoa.” Pat lets his chair hit the ground, leveling himself out. “Don’t think you’re getting away without talking about this, Bro. Rina? What the fuck?”
“Mom mentioned she was back in town,” Dexter says. It’s so unexpected, I stare at him. He wrinkles his nose. “Rina visited her yesterday, I guess. I heard about it this morning.”
“Mom?” My throat goes dry.
That suspicion I had earlier tastes like burning bile.
“Guess she wants something,” Patton says. “What did she ask you?”
“She wants more time with Colt.”
Dexter frowns. “No money? She’s not dying, is she?”
I snort, though the idea crossed my mind. Next time I talk to her, I need to do some fishing. See if I can find out if she’s come down with a terminal illness or some shit.
“You guys need to talk, even if you’re on shitty terms,” Pat announces. “This book I read says it’s all about communication. You just need the right place and time—uh, maybe a mediator in your case.”
“Fucking hell, dude. Just because you’re happily married doesn’t make you a shrink.” I nod at the screen. “Any new info for us?”
“I’ve got some options out east, yes,” Dexter says. “But we were still talking about you.”
Damn them.
I drag a hand over my face.
Who knows if they’re trying to help out or if they’re just crapping on me for entertainment.
“Don’t you start too,” I growl.
“You were late over it, dude,” Patton reminds me. “Over Rina.”
Actually, the reason I was late wasn’t because I was thinking about Rina. Sure, her storming back into my life was annoying, but it’s Winnie who’s crashed my day.
Miss Sugarbee keeps crowding my head like a weed.
The way she looked at me, all dewy eyes and heat and longing, like she wanted to be in my arms. Maybe she wanted more, the same hunger I sensed back at Solitude, when I held her too long and pressed her too close for common sense.
And fuck, maybe I wanted more, if I’m being brutally honest.
For an insane minute, I forgot who the fuck I was.
I forgot who she was and what we were doing.
If there’s any silver lining to Hurricane Rina, it’s that. My ex-wife reminds me how much I’ve already paid for woman trouble.
But I promised Winnie I’d talk to my brothers about her plight, and here I am. I tap the table. “Let’s talk about St. Louis.”
After groaning his disappointment, Dex presents his findings.
He suggests working our next place into a thriving green zone for people in the city center. Renewable energy, plants and flowers in the building itself, a smoothie and juice bar like the one Salem suggested in our Kansas City property.
We’re eyeing a property outside an older part of the city, a concrete wasteland lacking a lot of parks and well-lit spaces.
It’s in line with the direction the city council leans, plus it’ll give us advertising you can’t buy.
I have to hand it to him—it’s not bad.
People love green plants and healthy amenities, now more than ever. Even if Junie had a hand in encouraging him to go this route, it could catch on.
Even Patton doesn’t object.
“It’s decent,” he admits, looking at the graph of projected revenue over a five-year period. “Not my style, but some people have no taste. If we can keep the branding, it’s workable.”
“You got The Cardinal in Kansas City. This one’s mine,” Dexter says pointedly. He turns to me. “What do you think, Arch?”
“Looks good, yeah.” I run my pen through my fingers, blinking several times at the screen.
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say? No ripping us a new asshole while you blow your stack over risks and why we should settle for safer growth?” Dexter blows a breath through his teeth. “Okay, man. What is going on?”