Page 2 of Two Steps Ahead

Didn’t say anything as she removed her hand a second later and left.

Ten minutes later, he headed down the stairs. He could hear the rest of the boys running around, bouncing a ball, yelling about some video game—the general chaos always present in the house.

As he waited, Weston silently stared at the photographs all over the wall. They were pretty chaotic—snapshots Sheila or Clinton had taken. Some of just the two of them, some with Luke, Brax or Chance in them.

A family.

No pictures of Weston, but that was okay. Sometimes there wasn’t room for everyone.

But at least tonight he’d get to eat spaghetti.

Chapter One

Weston Patterson’s eyebrows raised as his brother Brax ducked into his office and hid behind the door. “Do we have some sort of armed perp in the lobby I need to know about?”

Brax shook his head. “Worse.”

It could only be one thing then. “Chance and Maci are at it again?”

“Yep. She erased his chicken scratches on the whiteboard and he’s about to blow a gasket.”

Maci Ford had been San Antonio Security’s office manager for over a year now. The woman was a godsend when it came to organizing and running the office. Weston had no idea how they’d survived without her.

Two of his three brothers felt the same. Brax and Luke all but worshipped the ground her color-coded-file-categorizing feet walked on. Particularly because it meant they didn’t have to do the filing themselves like they had the first five years their security and private protection business had been open.

But Weston’s other brother, Chance, didn’t quite seem to have the same appreciation for Maci. It was a source of constant entertainment for the rest of them to watch their normally unflappable brother get oh so flappable around Maci.

“Sometimes you can be a real jackass, Chance Patterson.” Maci’s words floated in from down the hallway.

Weston chuckled. “How long do you think it’ll be before Chance threatens to fire her?”

“As soon as he does, you know she’s just going to bring up her contract.”

Maci couldn’t be fired unless all four brothers agreed it needed to happen. And the way she’d helped them to get the office and business organized over the past year, nobody but Chance would even consider getting rid of her.

Not that Chance would. Weston loved to hear his brother get put in his place by the sassy office manager. Loved that she got Chance out of his own head.

Just like Weston loved seeing how relaxed Brax was now that he was married and had a son of his own. And how happy Luke was with his fiancée, Claire.

None of the four Patterson brothers were related by blood, but they were very definitely family. And there was no one else Weston would rather be in business with than these three men.

“Hey, Maci,” Brax called out. “Do you think we can change our business cards to say Brax, Luke, Weston and Jackass Patterson?”

“I’ll get right on it!” she yelled back without missing a beat in her mock argument with Chance.

Brax grinned, probably about to egg them on. Weston just shook his head. He’d always been the quietest of the Patterson brothers ever since they’d all been adopted by Sheila and Clinton as teenagers. He was never going to be as outgoing or friendly as his brothers.

Too many scars—both the ones marring his skin and the ones on his soul.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy being around them. His family accepted him for who he was. Didn’t expect him to be chatty.

His cell phone rang and he grabbed it from his desk, frowning down at the info that lit the screen.

Leo Delacruz Industries.

That was not a call he was expecting; a huge blast from his past. He stared down at it as it continued to ring. Brax motioned to see if he should leave for privacy but Weston shook his head before answering.

“This is Weston Patterson.”

---