“You must be the responsible twin,” she smiled at me as she leaned back, playing with the loose braid over her shoulder. Veronica was teasing me as I shrugged and looked back at her. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
We assigned her some stuff at her desk to make it look like we were separate and Brandon glanced at me once she closed the door.
Brandon
“You were as into that night as the rest of us. Why are you acting like a damn monk now?” I asked as Brent pulled up some emails.
“I don’t want anyone knowing about Veronica, much less Friday night,” he told me with a sharp glance. “Tracy can never know that it was us.”
“I get that. I completely agree with that.” I threw up my hands. “I was giving her a hard time since she has a good sense of humor.”
“Just be careful, Bran. We need to keep this professional. It’s getting close to being careless,” Brent told me as I sighed. “With Cici, she didn’t want to be caught. I think that that one wouldn’t mind.”
“Do you think that she’d try to fuck with us?” I leaned forward as he gave me a worried look. “What do you know about her?”
“She caused some trouble in college. Nothing criminal, but she liked drama. I think that she still might, and Veronica is just twenty-three. We need to be smart about this, especially since she is sleeping around the office.” Dad would have never tolerated that and I was reminded of that by the way that my brother looked at me. He looked so much like Dad, which meant that I did as well. Brent just had his look down so well that it freaked me out sometimes.
I laughed when I came back from lunch and heard noises from the bathroom. Brent had been seduced, and I smiled at the sounds of Veronica’s contained moans as I took a seat at the desk. I met up with a friend at her apartment, getting mine there today after the serious talk this morning.
There was laughter and Veronica slipped out of the door first, fixing her dress. “Did you two kiss and make up?” I asked as she stared at me.
“He needs to stop being so serious,” she replied as my brother came out, buttoning his slacks.
“Don’t say a word,” he warned me as I held up a bag from a local deli. “You didn’t go to lunch?”
“I had an errand to run. I got this on the way back for all of us.”
“Thanks,” Brent said as he stepped forward to search the bag. He pulled out a sandwich for himself and a salad, offering it to Veronica. “Want it?”
“Absolutely. You sucked the life out of me.” Her delivery was clean as I laughed and he cocked an eyebrow at her.
“I think it was you that was doing the sucking.”
She took her salad to her desk after some joking back and forth, and he and I ate our sandwiches. “Who did you see?” Brent asked me as I grinned.
“Car,” I replied as he nodded. "I didn’t plan on it, but we ran into each other and took advantage of it. Kind of like you did.”
“She came in after you left when I was getting ready to. Before I knew it, we were naked in the bathroo
m, and she had me. Veronica knows what she’s doing.” He shook his head and sipped the water on the desk.
“She just wanted you to relax.” I shrugged and took another bite of the turkey sandwich. “This is fun, Brent. Nothing more.”
“I think Mom inadvertently made me feel guilty at lunch the other day. You know that she’s never approved of our lifestyle. At work, she’d do that even more.” I looked at him, taking a bite of his sandwich. “This is important to the family, our running this place.”
“I get that.” I stared at him. I always had, but this was a good balance for us, and we were successful at it. We were doing great.
“No more shit like Friday night. I told Veronica the same thing. Just us.” His eyes were firm as he looked at me, so much like Dad that sadness washed over me for a little while. “We can’t risk it.”
“Agreed. I have shit on the side, so I’m fine. You did too, last I checked,” I reminded Brent as he nodded. “Now were successful business owner man whores instead of some spoiled rich ones.”
That made my brother laugh, relaxing him as I joined in. We finished our lunch and looked at some new clients, getting input from some of the managers over the course of the afternoon. I liked this work, this power that we held. I sensed a different vibe out in public, respect. People talked to us like they used to speak with Dad, sharing advice or talking stocks. That shit used to bore me to death, but now, it was interesting. I knew what I was saying in a conversation.
There were invitations to business dinners within the first year. We’d go, meeting up with Veronica at the hotel for some sexual relief afterward if we didn’t have plans with some other women. Now that we were doing well in the business world, we were even more attractive to the female population. I couldn’t keep up with the number of times that we were hit on, even though our reputation was still out there in the papers and gossip magazines. I guess working a real job just made them seem less important.
It seemed like paradise. We had Veronica at work and even at the hotel and some social events if the opportunity presented itself. I saw Carlie and a few other girls on a regular basis, keeping away from the party scene far more than I did before. I missed the traveling and all the fun without responsibility, but I missed Dad as well. I had to do all of this for him. We planned to take some time off to go to the Belize house with Mom and Ash come Summer, but it was still the beginning of Fall for us. Summer seemed like a lifetime away.
I wanted to schedule a Winter getaway to Aspen, just Brent, me, and some friends. I hadn’t been skiing in a while, and it sounded great just to let loose for a few days. Now that everything was going smoothly at the office, I hoped that we could get away.