Page 66 of The Forever Rule

“We’re not supposed to say that out loud,” James said with a mock whisper.

Theo just shook his head and poured the rest of us drinks. I ended up with two fingers of whiskey and lifted it to my lips.

“Cheers,” I muttered, and downed half of it.

“That’s a sipping whiskey, dumbass,” James muttered, but I didn’t care. I was going to need a lot more alcohol to get through the evening.

“So, how was your date?” James asked, and I nearly dropped my glass.

“What?”

“A date? You mean he got out of the house?” Dorian asked, hand on his chest.

“I for one, am shocked,” Theo teased, and I flipped them both off.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied.

“You’re going to have to lie a lot better than that,” Flynn put in, shaking his head. “Especially when you go on a date with someone that we know.”

I scowled, glaring at the two brothers I worked with. “Are you serious? Are you having me stalked?”

James scowled right back. “I overheard you. Nobodyelse did, thankfully. So of course I want to know how it went.”

“And then he told me, of course,” Flynn put in, and gestured toward our other brothers. “And we needed to bring you into this. I’ll text Hudson and Ford later so that they know.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Dorian said with a wink.

I sighed. “Why did I have so many brothers?”

“I should really text Kyler too then,” Flynn added.

I snorted. “You should. In fact, we should really make a whole group chat with the twelve of us. It’ll be unhinged.”

“I’d have to turn off notifications at that point,” Theo said, shaking his head. “So, who are we dating?” he asked.

I shook my head, not wanting to answer. At their stares, I gave in. “We’re not dating. It was coffee.”

And a kiss I couldn’t stop thinking about.

“Blakely, my new hire,” James said, although there was a bit of ice to his words.

I looked up at him, confused. “What is with the tone? She doesn’t work for me. It was just coffee.”

“For now.I see the way that you two are around each other. And while it’s not ethically wrong, it is a shit storm. You know what Dad always said, remember the rules, and don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“First, fuck off. Second, are we really going to worry about that certain rule,” Dorian said, surprising me.

“You know I can answer for myself,” I said dryly.

But Dorian continued anyway. “You shouldn’t haveto. Fuck Dad’s rules. He didn’t live by them. As is evidenced by twelve kids.”

The others started bickering, and I just stood between them, wondering if any of us were grieving.

We could just walk away, let everything go to a trust, and not deal with any of the mess that he had left behind, but part of me didn’t want to do that. I wanted to get to know the people who had been fucked over just as much as we had. I just didn’t like the fact that there were strings that came with it.

“You’re not going to say anything?” Theo asked, his voice soft.

“You guys are saying enough for me. And no, I don’t know if I’m going to date Blakely. It was just coffee.” And yet I had been the one to say I wanted more. Only the moment I’d stepped away, I’d heard my father’s voice in my head and getting away from his words had always been a problem for me—even when I lied to myself it wasn’t.

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