Page 53 of Greed

I hesitated when Holden asked if I wanted to head up to his beach house in East Hampton last night.

Rook piled on the pressure when he texted me to get on board with the plan.

I admit that I reached out to see what Abby had on her plate for the weekend before I fully committed to taking the trip with my friends.

As soon as she told me that she would be spending most of her Saturday and Sunday with her sister, I decided that a beach escape was exactly what I needed.

Sean gave me shit via text on the drive up because he’s certain his daughter will arrive when I’m more than a few hours away. According to everything I’ve read online, first babies take their sweet time being born. If Callie does go into labor, I’ll take Holden’s car, head back to the city and then send Rygar to East Hampton to fetch the two of them.

“Another beer?” Rook asks.

I turn my head to see him standing to my left near a massive wall of windows overlooking the ocean. They slide open to an all-brick patio that leads to the beach.

The house is a showstopper, and when Holden inherited it from his grandmother a few months ago, he was shocked.

He wasn’t sure how to feel, but he’s slowly come to terms with her death, and the fact this house that we’ve all hung out in since we were teenagers now belongs to him.

“I’m good.” I swat a hand in the air to brush off the idea. “I should do some work.”

“You should hit the sand.” Rook points toward the beach. “Or the pool.”

The pool is where I spent most of the morning. I swam laps last night after we arrived and again this morning. It’s not a part of my regular workout routine, but I welcomed the tranquility it provided.

“I will,” I say. “Work first.”

“No work.” Rook chuckles as he wanders further into the room dressed only in board shorts.

Holden and I are wearing shorts too, but we both have on T-shirts. We sat down in this massive living room a few minutes ago so we could both check emails.

I point at him. “Says the guy who can’t tear his gaze away from his phone for twenty seconds.”

“It’s Kirby.” He waves his phone in the air. “Chesca gave our girl carte blanche with her phone, so I’m all in on this emoji conversation we’ve got going on.”

“Since when do you do emojis?” Holden laughs. “You’re the asshole who gave me hell for weeks after I accidentally sent you a smiley face emoji.”

“You’re not my daughter.” Rook smiles. “Kirby loves them, so this dad does too.”

I watch as he taps his fingers over the screen of his phone. “You should have brought her up with us, Rook.”

“Next time.” He nods. “Chesca is in New York for three days. She wanted the time with Kirby alone, so I’ll get my chance to bring her here another weekend.”

“Anytime.” Holden drinks from the beer bottle in his hand. “I’ll text you both the keypad code so you can come whenever you want.”

“Anytime?” Rook asks.

“Why the fuck not?” Holden replies with a chuckle. “If you bring a woman here, clean the sheets after, though. Those guestrooms aren’t just for you.”

“I don’t have time for women,” Rook scoffs.

They both direct their attention to me, so I shake my head. “My bed serves me well. I don’t need to drag her all the way up here.”

I wince when I realize what I just said. I don’t bother trying to retract it because it’s out there.

“Her?” Holden is the first to spit the word out. “Questions, Declan. I’ve got questions.”

“I second that.” Rook pops two fingers in the air. “Let’s start with her name.”

“Let’s not.” I chuckle. “I’m not telling either of you anything.”

---