Sighing, I slid my hand down my face. I turned my chair and stared out the window, listening to the sound of people checking in for the weekend. Thursdays and Fridays were our busiest days, which meant less time to think and more time to work. I listened to happy couples chattering about what they were going to do for the day and families arguing over what they were going to eat. I rolled my eyes as people walked by, my eyes fixated on the landscape in front of me.
When my brothers and I first got this thing started up, we were so excited. Dylan took the helm as the oldest when he graduated from the local college. Took some business courses and thought he was hot shit and all. He said he was dead set on building something we could all be proud of one day. Then when Mom and Dad died, he threw himself into his work with a vengeance.
So did the rest of us.
Their deaths didn’t surprise us, but the proximity of them did. Dad’s liver and kidneys finally gave out, and Mom had a heart attack a couple days later from all the stress. Between having a weak heart to drinking with Dad like they’d done throughout their whole marriage, it was a miracle she was still standing. But the stress of him dying and having to bury him was what did her in.
We all threw our lives into this business to get away from it. I think Dylan more than all of us was impacted by their deaths. As the oldest, he saw it as his responsibility to take care of all of us. Especially when Mom and Dad started getting worse. He split his time between building up this main resort and paying their medical bills, trying to get them the best care he could.
But when two stubborn-headed people don’t want help, there’s not much anyone can do for them.
As we graduated, we all found our own positions in the company. And the more manpower Dylan took on, the bigger we grew. We fell into our niches purely by accident, and the accident had taken us to heights we could never have dreamed about. It was a hectic life full of reward and sacrifice, but it was worth it.
The day was long, and I was glad it was over. Katie stayed in her office for most of the day, not even emerging for lunch when I knocked on her door. I was worried about her. How swamped she was with stuff and the long hours she was working some days. This was supposed to help her get some money so she could get off to doing what she wanted to do. This wasn’t supposed to chain her to a job she didn’t want.
I wanted to talk to her about it, but she never came out for me to intercept.
I heard her heels clicking by just before six. I went over to my door and threw it open, trying to catch her before she left for the day. But just as quickly as she had walked by, she disappeared, her blonde curls fluttering behind her as she dashed into the women’s restroom.
Then a few minutes later, she was out the door without a word said to any of us.
“Wyatt!”
I turned my head at the sound of Dylan’s voice.
“Come on! Meeting time.”
Meeting? The hell kinda meeting did we have on a Thursday night? It was time for my ass to go home. It was time for me to roll in bed, watch television, and try to get some sort of fuckin’ inspiration as to how the hell I was going to start advertising for this new resort we were building.
But as Caleb and Andrew went walking past me, I shut my office door and followed.
“What gives?” I asked. “Somethin’ wrong?”
“We all gotta talk,” Dylan said.
“Should I have stopped Katie on her way out?” I asked.
“No, because this is about Katie,” Dylan said.
“All the more reason to have her here.”
“We need to get this all out on the table,” Dylan said. “So, I’ll start. I know Katie’s slept with all of us.”
“Seriously? We’re doin’ this now?” I asked.
“I also have a theory that we all have feelin’s for her,” Dylan said.
“We all know Wyatt professed his love to ‘er on pizza day,” Andrew said.
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“And you’ve got it written all over that face of yours whenever ya see her,” Caleb said.
“Well, what about you guys? Dylan, I see how you look at her,” I said.
“We all look at her a certain way because Dylan’s right,” Andrew said. “What’s the damn point?”
“So, we’re all on the same page?” Dylan asked. “We’ve all slept with her, and we all care about her?”