Page 4 of Red Mountain Burning
There’s only one way to respond,Brooks thought.I must respect the line of command.
“You’re the boss, Jake.” Brooks turned and poured the leftover wine from his glass into a barrel.
Jake ran a hand through his hair. “I know you’re not happy.”
Even if he wasn’t going to say as much, Brooks wasn’t going to deny it. “You don’t think it’s a bad idea to invite someone struggling with addiction into the belly of the beast?” He heard a forklift run its forks under a pallet around the corner.
Jake shrugged. “If Carmen can’t handle it, we’ll pull her out. She wants to spend more time with me and needs something to do out here. She sure as hell isn’t going to take up knitting. She wants to be a part of this thing we’re building, especially now that Emilia’s going to work for us through the summer. On top of that, you and I both know Carmen needs to stop traveling. These photo shoots, the endorsement trips, that’s what’s getting her in trouble. The people in the fashion industry run hard and fast, and that’s not what she needs. She needs the safety and quiet of Red Mountain. And she needs a job out here,” he added, “something to get her mind off herself.”
“Understood.” There wasn’t much more to say. Brooks wouldn’t dare admit that, for the first time in months, he could seriously see himself following Adriana and Zack to Florida.
This was the beginning of the end. Somehow, someway, Brooks knew for certain that their brotherhood would suffer because of this news. Most likely, by the end of it all, only one of them would remain standing on the mountain. Carmen was that powerful, that much of a toxic web weaver, and she would always be first in Jake’s world. Above his children. Above theterroir. Hell, even above himself. No man in Washington valued the union of a marriage more, even if he went to his grave protecting it.
