Part 44 (2/2)
He walked along the dock, then stepped onto his brother's houseboat and knocked on the front door.
”It's Cal,” he called in warning. ”Don't answer the door naked.”
Reid pulled open the front door and grinned. ”Don't want to be intimidated, huh?”
”Like that would happen.”
Reid, dressed in sweats and barefoot, led the way into the kitchen. ”Let's not have that conversation. Coffee?”
”Sure.”
Reid poured them each a cup from the pot. Without speaking, they walked into the living room and sat down.
Houseboat didn't fully describe the remodeled twenty-two-hundred-square-foot luxury home on the water. There was every modern convenience and the added pleasure of being directly on LakeWas.h.i.+ngton.
”Penny wants you skinned alive and served with salsa,” Reid said conversationally.
”She mentioned that, huh?”
”She ranted and yelled. Then she cried.” Reid looked at Cal. ”You get that one for free this time, but don't let it happen again.”
Cal knew his brother wasn't kidding. ”You were right. I should have told her about Lindsey.”
He waited for the crowing ”I told you so,” but Reid only sipped his coffee. The silence told Cal how bad things were.
He wondered if his brother knew that he and Penny had slept together. That night had been spectacular-and not just for the hot s.e.x. There had been something about being with her again....
Warning signs flashed on and off in his brain. No emotions allowed, he reminded himself. No feeling. It wasn't smart, it wasn't safe and in the end, everyone suffered.
”I hate that b.i.t.c.h,” Reid said.
It took Cal a second to realize he meant Gloria. ”She loves to screw with us.”
”It's because we won't do what she wants.”
”I have,” Cal said. ”More than once.”
Reid glanced at him. ”That's because you were the oldest and were trying to protect the rest of us.”
True enough, but that didn't make him feel any better about his decisions. ”Gloria's been on my a.s.s about taking over the company,” he said. ”Why would she pull something like this? She has to know it'll p.i.s.s me off.”
”She wants to make sure you don't get back together with Penny more than she wants you to run the corporation. She can't forgive Penny for walking out on one of her precious grandsons.”
Made sense, Cal thought. ”Still, it's my fault Gloria had ammunition in the first place. If I'd told Penny about Lindsey, Gloria couldn't have f.u.c.ked things up.”
”We've all made bad choices,” Reid said. ”Now you'll deal with yours.”
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