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“Anthony?”
She heard the scrape of a chair, and then Ted was in front of the man.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The silence in the small shop was suddenly absolute. No clink of a cup settling in a saucer, nothing. All eyes were on the two men. The tension between them was so thick, Mandy could feel it from behind the counter.
“I need to speak with you.”
“Outside.” Ted nodded to the door, and the men walked out, closing it behind them.
“Who the hell is that?” Jack asked.
“I’d take a guess and suggest it’s someone from our Teddy Bear’s past. And not a someone he’s too keen to reconnect with,” Fin added.
Mandy agreed.
Chapter 5
It took a lot to unsettle Ted. He’d encountered and coped with a great deal in his lifetime, but the appearance of a member of his family was enough to make him run for cover.
“What are you doing here, Anthony?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
Anthony was nervous. The middle Hosking brother, he’d been the loudest and most driven. From the start he’d let Ted know he believed that he should have been born first. That Ted did not have what it took to live up to being the firstborn son of Senator Edward Hosking, Sr.
Dressed as if he was about to enter a business meeting, Anthony’s hair was immaculate, and he wore that expression Ted had always loathed. He’d labeled it smug once.
“They have these things called phones these days. Email also. There’s plenty of ways you could have got hold of me without coming here.”
“No, I needed to speak with you in person.”
“You came here to speak with me dressed in a suit? Your shorts at the cleaners?” Ted liked to annoy Anthony on the rare occasion they met, because no one else did.
“Just because you’ve let your standards slip doesn’t mean I have to.”
Ted snorted.
“Good morning.” Anthony smiled to someone behind him.
“Put your sleaze away, brother, no one here will be voting for you.”
“It’s called being polite,” Anthony snapped.
“Whatever. Now tell me what you’re doing here?”
“I can’t just come to visit you?”
He was slick, charming, and Ted would trust a snake oil salesman more.
“Cut the BS and tell me why you’re here, Anthony. You’re not really the drop-in-to-visit-big-brother type, like Toby.”
“Neither are you.”
True.
“I’m running for senate and I want your support.”
