Page 15 of Inked Obsession

“Okay, today’s your turn to host the meeting,” Annabelle said as she took a seat on the couch I had in the corner. I met with clients in here, as well as in the meeting room. Our family liked to go from office to office for our internal meetings; that way, nothing became stale. I also thought we just liked invading each other’s spaces once in a while since we were siblings and that’s what we did.

“Scooch over,” Paige said and sat down on the other end of the couch before leaning down and pulling Annabelle’s feet on top of her lap.

“You’re wearing a cute little skirt. You don’t want my shoes on you.”

“I’m helping your ankles now. The better we keep your circulation, the easier it’ll be when you’re in your final trimester.”

“I’m not rubbing her feet,” Archer said with a dry laugh as he took a seat next to Benjamin and Clay on the other side of my desk.

“Dear God, don’t make me do it,” Benjamin said dryly, and I snorted as Annabelle scowled at all of us.

“My feet are clean. It was my shoes that I didn’t want to put on her lap. Now that I know you’re all against it, I will be sure to force you to rub my feet. How dare you talk about my feet in a way that could be construed as them being dirty?”

“Look at you, using the big words,” Archer said, teasing his twin.

I shook my head and met Clay’s gaze. When Clay had first started here, he had been a little awkward, sitting in the corner and not wanting to join in. He had been around my cousins enough to know that the Montgomerys worked together, played together, and joked together. Now, he fit right in, but he still didn’t tease a pregnant woman. He was probably smarter than the rest of us.

“Okay, let’s get going,” I said, clearing my throat.

“Aw, big brother, starting the meeting off right,” Paige said as she handed out notebooks to everyone. “I know we have it all on tech, but the client wanted us to have notebooks, as well.”

“We’ve got it, and it’s helping me keep notes,” Benjamin said as he went through it. “I’m working on the design they want for this, but they keep changing how they want the gardens to look, and the stones, and other aspects. Nobody wants a full lawn, but they want it to at least look nice and be up to code, so this will be interesting.”

“Well, don’t plan too far ahead. I have a feeling they’re going to force Annabelle into some changes,” I said softly.

Annabelle cursed. “Already? We’ve already made four different changes for them.”

“I’m the one on-site, and I can tell you they’re going to want changes.”

“Probably the things I was against in the beginning that they’ll now want to change to what I suggested in the first place,” she grumbled and then let out a breath. “And that’s enough complaining about that. Because we can’t do anything but go with what works and what the client wants.”

“I like that refrain,” Archer said, laughing. “So helpful. I have a few jobs around the city for the rest of the week, and Jillian needs me to come down and help her with a major project at the end of the week down in Denver. Is that still okay with everyone?” he asked, and I nodded.

Jillian was Archer’s counterpart back in Denver, and I knew my cousins were working on a major renovation and needed more than one master plumber on hand for it. Archer was the best, so I let him go down there when he could.

“Okay, what else do we have to go through?” I asked as we went over the rest of our checklist. We met like this three times a week, sometimes more, because texting and emails just weren’t enough with a few clients and projects. And it was nice to see my family. I didn’t know if all families could work like this. All five of the kids in my generation worked in one building. Yes, we were on-site constantly, but we still worked together. And we hung out together, did dinners together, and we genuinely liked each other. I didn’t know if everybody could handle that. It had been a little touch and go when my parents weren’t able to let go of the company completely, even though they had said they would walk away. Things were better. There was just that one minor hiccup, but we had moved past it. At least, that’s what I told myself. I still didn’t know exactly what everyone was doing in their personal lives that might hurt how we did things at work, but I wasn’t going to think about that now. Three of the siblings were in steady relationships. Benjamin and I seemed to be the only two bulldogs left. That was fine. I didn’t need anyone. I just needed a good night’s sleep.

Most everyone left, Clay heading over to the project site before me. I had a few more pieces of paperwork to finish. Benjamin had stayed. I glanced at my twin.

“What’s up?”

“I know Clay already bugged you, but do you want to tell me what’s going on with the bags under your eyes?”

I stiffened before I forced myself to relax. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

“Okay, I’m here if you need me. It’s weird that you’re keeping secrets from me, though. You don’t usually.” He tilted his head, and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to say that I had watched somebody die. I didn’t know how to say that I could still feel the blood on my hands.

I didn’t know how to say that I could still hear the echo of that pop, pop, pop in my ears when I tried to go to sleep.

I didn’t know how to tell him that my back ached because of the shelving unit. I didn’t know how to tell anybody. Lee only knew because he had been friends with the man we’d lost. And he had been the one to sign me out of the hospital. I couldn’t tell anyone else because I didn’t want the pitying looks, and I didn’t know how to say that I had been so scared, I hadn’t even been able to save my friend.

I didn’t say anything. I just shrugged and gave my brother a smile that I knew was probably fake enough that my twin could see right through it. After all, he had the same face I did.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re lying to me, but that’s okay. I get it. I don’t mean to be nosy. I’m here if you need me. And so is Brenna. Talk to her.”

I cringed. “Go to work,” I growled.

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