Once we were done eating,Rhett and I returned to my room to get ready for the party. Not only was it a national holiday, but we were also celebrating my boyfriend’s recent promotion to team leader on my protection detail. He’d assumed he wouldn’t get the job after facing disciplinary action, but Tanner had pushed for Rhett to still be considered for the job.
The house was in full chaos as the party planner directed her staff and the caterer on what to do before everyone arrived.
While in my bathroom fixing my hair, there was a knock on the door. Rhett turned to answer it, and I peeked around the corner. He cracked it open, spoke to whoever was on the other side, and then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Thank you. I’ll let him know,” Rhett said to the person who I assumed was Agent Shea. He was the lead agent while we were in Cape Cod because Rhett, Day, Bernard, and Vance were guests. Rhett closed the door and turned to me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Finnegan is on his way.”
I balked, not expecting those words to come out of his mouth. Finn wasn’t invited to the party and was supposed to be in D.C. with my folks. “What? Why?”
“He wants to talk to you.”
I began pacing. “Talk to me? There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Hey.” Rhett reached out and grabbed my wrist to stop me. “When someone is in recovery, one of the steps is usually to make amends with the people they hurt—”
“He almost got me killed,” I clipped, as though Rhett didn’t know that.
“I know, baby boy, but this is part of the process to help him get better.”
“So, I’m supposed to pretend I’m okay with getting shot because of him?”
Rhett let go of my wrist. “No, of course not, but since he’s your brother, you might feel better if you hear him out.”
It wasn’t like I never wanted to speak to my brother again, but it had only been a little over three months since I’d almost died. Everything was too fresh and too raw still. “Yeah, well, he doesn’t need to come all this way to do it. He’s trying to ruin the party he wasn’t invited to.”
“I know,” Rhett agreed. “I’m not going to force you to speak with him. I was only saying it’s probably part of his steps to recovery. If you want, we’ll have agents turn him away.”
I let out a long groan and paced again. Fuck my brother. He may have been born first, but that didn’t mean he was the boss of me.
My phone buzzed with a text, and I glanced at my watch to see it was from Finn.
Please talk to me
Was it some sort of ESP? Did he know what I was feeling because we were identical? Good. Maybe he felt my pain when I’d almost died.
“I’ll go tell Shea to turn him away.” Rhett took a step toward the door.
“Wait!” I called out and groaned again. I looked up at the white ceiling and then said to my boyfriend, “No. If I don’t talk to him, I’ll be thinking about it all night, and I don’t want him to ruin another party for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but I want you with me.”
“Absolutely.”
Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I shot my brother a text:
You have 5 minutes
I strode to the door and opened it, Rhett a step behind me. When I saw Agent Shea, I ordered, “Have Finn meet me in my father’s office.”
“Yes, sir,” Shea responded.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and my palms were sweaty. I wasn’t nervous but pissed. Of all the times Finn could try to meet with me, the day of the first party I was hosting without my parents’ involvement wasn’t the right one. Finn probably thought by telling me he was sorry that I would tell him all was forgiven and he could stay for the party.
