Page 8 of Inked Persuasion

“This is her first.”

“Dear God, get more caffeine into her,” Archer said.

I narrowed my eyes at all of them as I lowered my hands. “I hate you. All of you.”

“Not as much as you hate Jacob Queen,” Beckett corrected.

“Please, stop it. All of you.”

Another person walked into the room, and I narrowed my eyes at Beckett’s new assistant project manager, Clay.

“I thought we had a meeting about the upcoming project, but if we’re going to talk about castration, I think I’m going to head out,” Clay said cautiously.

I shook my head, rolled my shoulders back, and did my best to become Annabelle Montgomery, Lead Architect of Montgomery Builders. Not broken, weary, and confused Annabelle of Jacob’s past. “No, this is a work environment, and we are not going to discuss…that. Instead, we’re going to go through the major projects we have coming up.”

“First, I want to hear about the fact that Jacob Queen moved into the house next door,” Paige said, and I could’ve thrown my coffee at her. It wasn’t scorching, and it wouldn’t hurt her. But it would startle her and make me feel better. Yes, startling would be nice.

“Jacob, who?” Clay asked.

“ThatJacob?” Archer inquired. “Oh, God. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

“You know, I’m going to get some coffee. I’ll be right back,” Clay said, turning on his heel and practically running out of the office.

“Great, we scared the new guy.” I sighed.

“He’s tough. Storm introduced us. If he can handle the Denver Montgomerys, he can handle us,” Beckett said.

I threw my hands up into the air. “Okay, we’re going to put this out there into the world, and then we’re not going to talk about it again.”

“Why don’t I believe that?” Beckett asked.

I pointed my finger at him and narrowed my eyes. “No. Stop it. No sarcasm.”

“That’s just not going to happen in this family,” Archer said, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Anyway,” I said, ignoring my twin, “Jacob Queen moved into the house next door. And he still hates me. Told me to my face. And almost said no to donuts.”

“From the pink box place?” Paige asked, her eyes wide.

I gave a tight nod. “From the pink box place.”

“That’s sacrilege,” Archer whispered.

“I know. He took them, but I’m pretty sure he probably tossed them. He didn’t want them, didn’t want me in the house. Though after he started yelling, he didn’t want to deal with cops more, so I followed him in. The donuts were still on the entry table when I left.”

That made my brothers blow up, and all of them started shouting at once.

“I’m fine,” I yelled over them.

“Excuse me?” Beckett cut in. “That asshole had the nerve to yell at you, and instead of dealing with cops, something we’re going to talk about, you just walked into his house?”

I grimaced. “It’s not how it sounded. I was perfectly safe. He didn’t even lock me in.” I blinked as Beckett’s, Benjamin’s, and Archer’s eyes all narrowed.

Paige winced beside them and shook her head, mouthing,please stop.

Archer might be my twin, and I might be a couple of minutes older than him, but they all acted like my big, overbearing brothers sometimes. It was a little ridiculous. Paige and I had to deal with them and their macho tendencies in many instances. Usually, I could deal with it, but I was a little shaken after seeing Jacob that morning and discussing what had happened with Jonah. But now, I had a feeling I would have to discuss it again.

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