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I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but I didn’t need to. Beck knew what I meant. Even if Dad didn’t forgive our mistake. Even if we didn’t get the business or he was furious about the marriage.
“You always tell me you have my back,” he said. “Well, I have yours too.”
I pulled him in tight, hugging him, letting out a shuddering breath. “Maybe if Dad’s really mad, I can convince him to make you the boss so you can keep me out of trouble.”
“Do not make me kick your ass.”
I laughed. “What?”
“This isn’t all on you, Wes. That’s what I keep saying. We’re a team. We will face Dad together.”
I licked my lips nervously. “Yeah, okay. But what about, uh…outside of work? We’re in a shitty position to tell him the truth.”
Beckett nodded. “It’s not great, no. Do you want to hold off until things settle down?”
Just the thought of keeping our secret from Dad, of continuing to fear he’d find out another way or judge us harshly once he did know, made me feel sick. I couldn’t keep doing it. And it wasn’t just me who’d have to keep that secret. It was Beckett too. It was Andi. Colt. All our friends.
“I don’t think I can hide how I feel anymore.”
Beckett smiled nervously. “Yeah, me neither. We’ve come too far.”
We really had. It seemed like a lifetime ago we’d agreed to leave what happened in Vegas behind us and go back to being stepbrothers. We’d been naive to think we could bury those feelings when they were so strong.
The door swung open, and Dad emerged into the hall, a sour look on his face.
“Well, thanks for leaving me to face the masses in there,” he grumbled. “It was a heck of a homecoming.”
Beckett and I rose to our feet, our quiet moment bursting like a balloon.
“Shit, Dad, sorry,” I said. “I needed some air.”
Beckett nodded. “Yeah, I was just…”
“Checking on Wes,” Dad said wryly. “I know. You two are always in sync.”
We exchanged an uncertain look.
I cleared my throat. “I take full responsibility for the oversight with the park. Just please don’t hold Beckett accountable for what happened in there.”
“Well, I sure as heck will,” Dad said. “If you fucked up, you did it together.”
I winced. “But I was the one who—”
“Shut up, Wes,” Beckett said. “He’s right.”
“What matters now is finding a solution,” Dad said. “Forget about dinner tomorrow. You both need to come over tonight and we need to get to the bottom of some things.”
“Now?” I asked, caught off-guard.
“Yeah, now,” he said. “I’ll call Carol and let her know to put on some coffee. It might be a long night.”
We watched him stalk down the hall toward the exit.
Well, shit. It seemed the moment of truth had arrived—with a sledgehammer to destroy our vision of a friendly family dinner confession after proving ourselves as competent business owners.
We were going from the pan and straight into the fire.
“Buckle up,” I muttered. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
