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Chapter Three
Van slammed into the locker room and wondered when the fuck his day had gone to hell.
And then he stopped because he was way more angry than he should be. It was right there, the need to go and have this out with Hale.
Why?
He didn’t get angry often. Never with Hale.
He was pissed because he was excited about seeing Elisa. More excited than he wanted to admit, and the idea that Hale was going to fuck this up for him caused this weird rage he was feeling.
His cell phone buzzed, and he was happy for the distraction.
Until he saw who it was. Jake. His brother who had everything and never once fucked up the world.
His brother who had shown him such kindness and opened his home to him and offered him a future he’d never thought he could have. Yeah, that brother. He was on the edge and hated the nasty jealousy he was feeling. He shoved it down deep and answered the phone. “Hey, Jake.”
“Hey,” Jake answered, and there was something going on in the background. Music was playing somewhere behind Jake. “I’m sorry to bother you but I haven’t gotten your tuition bill in and I thought it was due soon.”
Yep. That brother who wanted to make sure he didn’t miss paying for a grown-ass man’s tuition because he’d promised to help out. “I don’t actually register until January. I think I’m going to be able to pay for this semester. I’ve got some money saved up, and we don’t have to worry about rent for a couple of months.”
Because Hale had worked out a deal with the Taggarts that allowed them to live in the cabin while Hale was renovating it, and when he was done they would move straight into the Hollister-Wright’s cabin. Callie and her family would be staying at the Talbot estate until the new addition was ready for move-in.
It was a job that could last longer than the spring, long into the summer, and he would have a decision to make.
“I would rather you saved,” Jake said. “Dallas real estate isn’t cheap, and even rent can be expensive. I’m looking around trying to find a good starter place for the two of you. Luckily I found some fixer uppers since Hale’s so good with renovations. By the way, I’ve already got a list of clients lined up for him. He won’t have trouble finding work.”
He wasn’t having any trouble here. Hale had a long list of people waiting for his services, and he’d caught Hale more than once looking longingly at real estate listings in the area.
“That’s great. I’ll let you know when I’m going to register,” Van conceded. “But you have to know I intend to pay you back.”
“You can pay me back by taking over the marketing team one day. I’m not joking, brother. This guy is killing me. Adam hired him, and he thinks we’re some kind of happy-ass, ‘we’ll track down the family dog if you pay us enough’ company. He wants us to do commercials. I’m not doing commercials.”
But commercials sold, and he wasn’t actually opposed to that for Miles-Dean, Weston, and Murdoch Investigations. They wouldn’t be happy family dog commercials since what the company specialized in was missing persons. Actually, what he thought they should do was work with some cold case television shows or podcasts. They could build their name in a viral way. Still, he wasn’t going to argue with Jake. The way to sell an idea like that was to work on Adam first. If he could get Adam on board with that form of marketing, Jake would follow.
Of course if he could figure out a way to make Hale slightly more talkative, he could try to sell a renovation show. Hale was brilliant when it came to fixing things and coming up with ways to make things work on a small budget. Given the cabin they were working on now, it would be a renovation/ghost hunters crossover show. Flip or Haunt. Love It or Sage It. The possibilities were endless.
“I don’t think you should hand over your entire marketing team to a kid who recently graduated from college,” Van began and then winced. “I should amend that. I’m not exactly a kid. How about to a dude just getting his shit together at almost thirty.”
“Stop,” Jake said, his tone going deep. It was times like this it was easy to remember his brother had been in the military, and he hadn’t been doing simple jobs. His brother had been Special Forces and damn good at his job. “Don’t talk about yourself like that or you’re going to end up meeting with my friend Kai.”
Kai was a therapist. “You know I’ve been to therapy before.”
Jake chuckled over the line. “You’ve been to a shaman and had your palm read many times. I’m joking about sending you to Kai, but it’s not such a terrible thing to do. It can be good to talk things out.”
