Page 50 of Bad Situation

“She’s been like this for a long time—long before Robert. She mentioned opening a studio and I encouraged it. She needs something for herself. You did that with The Shed after you kicked Bitch-Face out. It worked out okay for you.”

Cam is a math teacher, a football coach, and owns a sports training facility in Omaha. The Shed has taken off and is more than a side business now. It’s thriving.

Cam turns to glare at me. “I’m marrying the woman who changed my life tomorrow and you had to bring her up?”

I laugh, but it comes out as a hiccup. “You know I’m happy for you. Why Paige puts up with your shit, I’ll never know, but at least you got your head out of your ass in time.”

He shakes his head like he always does before tipping it to throw back the last of his bourbon.

I go on because I’m tipsy and nothing’s more fun than getting Cam’s goat. “Maybe that will be my toast tomorrow at the reception. I’ll name it, ‘Cam got the girl in spite of being an ass’.”

He shifts to face me, sitting sideway on his lounge. Leaning his elbows to his knees with his empty crystal-cut highball glass dangling from his fingers, he levels his blues on me. “And how are you?”

That sobers me in a way that has nothing to do with the wine. “I told you, I’m fine.”

“Ellie’s not the only one I can read. I come home to get married and both my sisters are lookin’ about as happy with life as a bull whose balls are gonna be served up as Rocky Mountain oysters for dinner. You keep telling me you’re fine so I’ve had to get all the news from Dad. He said the hearing didn’t go your way this week.”

“No.” I sigh and put down my wine because my head is starting to spin. “It didn’t. Thanks for reminding me and knocking me back to reality. I worked hard to drown that out tonight.”

“Patrick needs to get his shit together and put this to bed.”

I frown because Patrick works for me now and no one—not even my brother who I love and is usually larger than life—can demean him. Not when I know he’s doing everything in his power to clear my name. “You know, you can talk about our brother-in-law being a shitty husband, but don’t you dare attack my staff. Patrick is on it, Cam. He’s working angles no one knows. He’s been with MI forever and would do anything for our family. He’s the best, not to mention Lehmans is the largest and strongest firm in North Texas. Sure, it’s a stressful situation, but I don’t plan on wearing orange anytime in the future.”

Cam rubs his face. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You work yourself ragged as it is without this shit weighing you down and it’s showing.”

I narrow my eyes and glare at him. “Thank you for that. It’s lovely to know I’m wearing the stress all over my face. It’s amazing Paige is marrying you. You’re a real charmer.”

“Fuck. Quit twisting my words. Look, I think I know you better than anyone—just like you know Ellie better than anyone. It’s who we are. You might be dishing me your shit while dressed to the nines, but I can see you aren’t yourself. Looking at you is the reason I wanted nothing to do with the company. Just because you’re cut out for it, doesn’t mean I like seeing you deal with all the extra bullshit we know comes with the business.”

“Yeah, well, who else was going to take over? You went your own way and never came home. Ellie studied dance more hours of the day than she did anything else. As soon as you took a job teaching, Dad started grooming me. I’m not an athlete or a ballerina. I didn’t have an out like you two, so I stepped up and worked my ass off. The value of your shares have doubled in the last two years—you’re welcome.”

Cam drops his head, no doubt sick of me at this point, or at least that’s what I think until he looks back up and lowers his voice. “It was always you, Jen. You never saw it, but he’s been molding you since you were a kid. He knew I couldn’t sit in an office all day and finesse people the way you do. Hell, every move Ellie makes is from her heart—she’d giftwrap the oil and give it away before she’d negotiate it for a dime. You’re the one Dad wanted for the job and, from what he says, you’re damn good at it. But, Jenny, there’s more to life than refineries and minerals. Take it from me who took too long to get my head out of my ass—do not let life pass you by. Grab it by the balls and squeeze those motherfuckers ‘til they bleed. You might think you have it all with your million-dollar downtown loft and your closet full of shoes but, trust me, until you feel blood on your hands, you have no idea.”

I swallow back my tears. I never cry and I haven’t shed a tear once since I realized someone’s trying to frame me from inside my own company. But talking to Cam is different. If anyone in my life can look past the shoes, the job, the damn mask I put on every morning—hell—the whole fucking façade, it’s him.

“You forget I’ve seen you at your worst, Jenny. I know you. I’d give my trust fund and my shares to see you at your best and I know for a fact, when you get there, it’s not gonna have one damn thing to do with the family business.”

It doesn’t matter how hard I bite the inside of my lip—my tears tumble over my lids like an unwelcome guest showing up for Sunday dinner. I hate them and I hate that they make me feel weak. “Don’t make me cry. I’m emotional when I’m drunk.”

“You’re not drunk. The summer after my freshman year of college when Rudy Crane called me to come get you because you were wasted at his field party—you were drunk. You threw up all over my new truck and I wanted to kick your ass but I still didn’t tell Mom and Dad. I’ve got your back now, too, and I’m telling you the truth you don’t want to hear. We’re nothing if we don’t shoot straight with each other. You did it for me a couple months ago by keeping Paige close to this family while I was figuring my shit out and I’m doing it for you now. Take it from me, the sooner you get your shit straightened out the better. It’s time to get a life outside of work.”

I don’t agree, disagree, or even acknowledge his genius. I hate and love that he knows me so well.

He stands, towering over me, and holds out a hand. “Come on. Go inside and find a sofa. I’m making the love of my life an honorable woman tomorrow so I can be more than just her baby-daddy.”

I take his hand and let him pull me up but he doesn’t stop there. When he wraps his arms around me, puts his lips to my head, and I mutter into his chest, “I’m happy for you. I really am.”

He gives me a squeeze and I wipe my face on his sweatshirt when he reminds me that, even though he’s a genius, he’s still my brother. “If you call me an asshole tomorrow during your toast, I’ll kick your ass.”

I shrug and sniff, needing a tissue. “That’s okay. I’ll lasso you and drag you behind my horse.”

I feel him laugh even though I’m not kidding. I could lasso his ass to the ground, even in my drunken state, and he knows it. I did it when he was fifteen after he threw a garter snake at me. I hate snakes.

“Go to bed. I’ve left Paige alone too long.”

I push away and look up to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, along with five hundred of your closest friends.”

He shakes his head again and runs his hand through his hair. “For a shotgun wedding, it got out of hand fast, huh?”

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