Page 73 of Flirting with the CEO

I snapped my gaze away from the door. I'd asked everyone here, and I didn't want to waste their time, but still, my mind was on Zoey.

"Let me just do one thing first," I said. I took out my phone, sending Zoey a quick message.

Colton: Is everything okay?

I put the phone on the table with the screen up so I could see notifications. Then I focused on my family. They were all sitting at the table.

"Thank you for coming here tonight," I started.

"We couldn't say no to a calendar invite, could we?" Maddox teased.

"Don't mind Colton," Gabe said. "He likes to do things a certain way."

"Enough small talk," I said.

"Dude, we just began," Nick protested.

"Yes, but he wants to be quick about it," Maddox said.

Gabe winked at him. "Someone's waiting for him. I don't think for a second that she came in here for a business purpose."

Spencer and Gabe were quick to joke, as usual. Cade cleared his throat. It wasn't easy to know how he’d react—sometimes he took things in stride, yet sometimes he was dead serious.

Maddox looked at Leo and Nick, cocking a brow. Nick cleared his throat. Leo held up his hands in self-defense. Clearly, Maddox had an influence over his younger brothers. I hadn't spent enough time with him to figure out the dynamics yet.

I stared at my youngest brother. "Leave Zoey out of this. I'm not going to engage in locker room talk with you."

Jake cleared his throat. “We're here for a purpose."

I was grateful that he could be the voice of reason even when I wasn’t.

Spencer ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, please make it quick. I haven't been able to sleep the past two nights. Ben's had a fever, so I only have a very limited capacity to focus. I can’t waste it on stupid banter."

Maddox nodded. "All right, so you all know about Dad’s email.”

“Did you speak to him?" I asked.

"No, I told all of you that we’d decide together how to move forward, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I don't want him to think he can pit us against one another," Maddox said.

"Why did he just email you, though?" Cade asked.

Maddox shrugged, looking at Nick and Leo. "I think I'm the last one he was in contact with. I reached out once. It was a long time ago. I don't even know why I did it. Anyway, after that, I never wanted to hear from him again."

"I say we completely ignore it," Jake said.

"I agree with him." I added quickly. No one else seemed to, though, because there were no nods of approval around the table. "You all disagree?" I asked incredulously. "You want to help him out?"

"No," Gabe replied quickly and glanced at Leo, Maddox, and Nick. I suspected they'd already talked about this among themselves. My youngest brother was as close with our half brothers as he was with us. "We just think there's a risk he might reach out to our grandparents if we completely ignore him."

“That’s my fear too,” Maddox said.

"Are we sure he hasn't done that yet?" Cade asked sharply.

I was surprised he wasn't on Jake's and my side on this one. He’d taken Dad’s infidelity very hard.

"Grandmother hasn't said anything," Jake replied. "I questioned her a lot, and I know she wasn't just hiding something. So you all think we should just give him money?" He sounded affronted. I felt the same way.

Maddox rested his head in one palm, looking at us sideways before straightening up. "I think I should talk to him."

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