“Hi,” I said weakly.
Just then the basement door opened and Colton entered the kitchen. He was in workout clothes and was dripping with sweat. He stopped dead at the sight of the people in the kitchen. Despite the situation I couldn’t stop my eyes running over his low hanging shorts and sweat soaked t-shirt that sculpted his upper body. It was so wrong to stand here and admire him at this moment, but I couldn’t look away from him.
He looked from his dad to Mary Ellen and then he exhaled. He glanced at me once. I didn’t meet his eyes.
“I’ll go wake them up,” he said resignedly. His father clasped his shoulder as he passed them and then it was just the three of us again.
“Coffee?” I blurted. Mary Ellen murmured please as Jake nodded.
I heard distant doors opening and then a stampede of feet. I kept my back to them as they entered the kitchen. There were mumbled greetings and then an awkward silence descended.
I turned.
Matt and Theo were staring at me. A mix of confusion and disbelief obvious on their faces. I averted my eyes.
“The sitting room then?” Mary Ellen suggested.
If I hadn’t felt like I had just stabbed them all in the back, it would have been funny watching the four of them trot past her like naughty children.
“You too.” Came the terse command from Jake. I nodded. I poured two coffees and carried them through to the sitting room.
The four of them sat down. I hovered. Mary Ellen came to me and clasped my hand. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be singled out.
She turned to the four of them. Her eyes hard as they rested on Connor. “You should start to explain yourself now, explain to your father, your brother and your friends.”
Connor gulped. He looked to his brother for support.
Colton shook his head. “Just tell them Con. I’m tired of it all,” he slumped back in his seat. He closed his eyes. He looked so worn out. I noticed he had managed to change into non-sweaty clothes. Who was he? Superman?
“I wasn’t thinking properly,” Connor began, bringing my attention back into the present. He leaped to his feet. He ran through the beginning of the year and my leaving. Then how he had met Corey and he became more settled. He said he was jealous of Jake taking Colton to Japan for the deal.
He wanted to show his dad he could make good investments too. Jake’s focus was laser sharp. Connor couldn’t meet his father’s gaze.
“I arranged for the bank to transfer five hundred thousand from my trust fund.”
“How?” Jake demanded.
“I forged both your and Colton’s signature,” he admitted. Colton shook his head again as Jake leaned back in his chair, assessing his son coolly.
“Continue,” Jake directed.
“I got the money transferred into my everyday account and then opened a new account for the funds,” Connor coughed. “I had checked out the new development downtown, you know the mall expansion?” He looked quickly at us all. No one reacted. He took a deep breath. “I put out some feelers with the info that I was looking to invest.”
“You decided to make investment queries on a multi-million-dollar project with $500k?” Jake asked. “To who?”
Connor nodded. “There were some guys in a fraternity. I’d heard their dads had connections. I knew I would need more, but I thought if I got in, then when you saw what a good investment it was, you would want to back it.”
Jake said nothing, he merely gestured for Connor to continue.
“I made a connection. I swear dad I thought he was legit,” he pleaded. Jake still said nothing. Connor took a deep breath in the stony silence. “We had a couple of business meetings. Then on the third meeting he told me I needed to sink all of the money to be considered an investor,” he slumped in his seat.
“He took all the money? In one go?” Colton demanded incredulously. I remembered this was the first time the guys were hearing this too.
Connor nodded miserably. “When the transfer was complete, he told me to get out,” Connor looked like he was going to burst into tears. “I protested, told him we had a deal. That the contract was in front of us and just needed signed. He told me we had nothing. There was no contract, nothing. He thanked me for the gift.”
Jake said nothing, Colton looked absolutely furious. The other two were shaking their heads in disbelief.
How had he been so stupid?