Chapter Two
The plane had come down into Rob’s private airfield, and we were escorted on a speedboat to the island where we would be staying.
“Doesn’t it feel weird, to own a private island when some people can’t even afford housing?” I pointed out to Rob as we walked up the dock toward the main cluster of huts, if you could call the massive buildings done in a psuedo-tiki style “huts”.
“Not really,” he said, “Not when my company funded the building of 2,000 hospitals last year, discovered a new treatment for early-stage cancer, and might make space travel accessible for humanity on a regular basis.”
I shrugged. Not my usual move, but I wasn’t sure what to say to that, except, “Owning your own island still feels like overkill to me.”
“If I didn’t own this island, nobody would use it. It’s worthless except to filthy billionaires like me,” he said, “And even worse millionaires like my brother.”
Right. I’d forgotten his brother was going to be here.
“Why did you invite him, again?” I asked Rob.
“Because of my mother,” he sighed, “She was heartbroken he couldn’t make it to the wedding. She wants us to quote-unquote bond.”
“But you hate each other,” I pointed out, kind of unnecessarily.
Rob nodded. “But what can you do? He’s my little brother. Just don’t listen to anything he says or care about what he does. Then it’ll be fine.”
“Did he not make it to the wedding, or did you not invite him?” I asked.
Rob shrugged. I was so not into all the shrugging today, but I kept holding his hand even though now I was glaring at him as we stepped into the main building.
“Big bro!” a booming baritone bounced out of the shadows and into our line of sight.
He held out a hand for Rob to shake, and basically ignored me and Anya. Even though he’d never met me before. His new sister-in-law.
Rob slid my hand from his right into his left, holding on to me while he shook his brother’s hand. It was smooth but also kind of awkward.
“How’s it going, bro-Rob?” his brother gripped his hand and pumped vigorously.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Clearly he’d already been out swimming, because he was sopping wet and trailing water and sand across the wood floors.
He looked a lot like Rob- handsome, a little younger, a little shorter, but more built. He clearly spent more time weightlifting. He had perfect teeth.
His skin was shiny from the water dripping off of him, and his hair was a sunny gold, slicked back. He had the scruffy start of a beard over a strong jaw.
I kept my eyes on his face. His abs had abs. It was almost unsettling to look at, he was so muscular.
I didn’t like him. Guys with bodies like that almost never combine them with feminist principles.
But I was determined to be the common-sense, down-to-earth glue that brought Rob’s family together. At the very least, I wanted to be able to be in the same room as them without it being weird.
I let go of Rob and stepped forward, holding my hand out toward Rob’s brother.
I remembered his name, so I said, “Hi Joseph, I’m Amelia.”
He looked at me with confusion, and shook my hand quickly before saying, “Sorry, I don’t know you, but you look familiar. Are you my bro’s secretary, or something? Sorry if I hit it and quit it, he’s been through a lot of secretaries, and so have I.”
My jaw dropped. That was literally the douchiest thing I could have imagined him saying.
Rob said, smiling through the effort of gritted teeth, “That’s your new sister-in-law. Best be nice, she controls the largest portion of your investments.”
“She looks like she can’t control a hairbrush,” he said.
“Can you control your steroid abuse?” I quipped. I was not about to deal with this. Not on what was supposed to be my honeymoon.