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7
“Well, well, well…” a voice Austin would know anywhere called out from behind him. “Who do we have here?”
Austin stopped and turned around to see his oldest brother, Chris, walking toward him with a wide smile on his face, followed by his twin brothers, Ben and Harry. He hadn’t seen his brothers since his return from Palm Beach and it was good to see them. As much as he loved them all, Austin had always had a closer relationship with Chris throughout his life. He supposed that it was because their twin brothers, Ben and Harry, shared the whole twin vibe, and he and Chris were always on the outside looking in when it came to the twins’ special relationship. Regardless, it made him smile to see the three of them together.
“Looking tan and fit, Austin,” Chris said as he went in for a hug.
Austin embraced his brother. “Is there any other way to look after spending time away?” He laughed. “I’ve got a reputation to maintain,” he teased as he nudged his brother on the arm, and then moved in to give Ben and Harry hugs, too.
“It’s good to see you, man,” Henry responded, giving his brother one more look from head to toe. “Why haven’t we seen you since you’ve been back home?”
“I think you’ve all been doing something they call… work,” Austin joked, as he looked at his three brothers with a smile.
“Well, I’ve gotta say, the Florida sunshine suits you well,” Ben remarked, taking one more long look at his youngest brother.
“Nothing like that Florida sun…” Austin replied, looking at his brother. “Coming back here with the temperatures still below 60 is no way to live.”
“Well, it’s good to have you back. We heard you had a meeting with dad upon your arrival,” Harry chimed in, “so we thought we would come and find you to get the scoop.”
“Oh, yeah,” Austin said slyly, looking back and forth at his three older brothers, “who gave you my whereabouts?”
“You know Mom can’t keep a secret to save her life,” Ben joked. “She’s been texting us all morning about you being here.”
“Yeah, we hear it's official that you’re at The Oxford,” Chris added, gesturing for Austin to walk with them. They were headed into the executive office suite area of The Oxford, aware that listening ears were just about everywhere.
“Don’t even get me started, Chris,” Austin said, closing the door behind him. “He’s got me with the Events team. I better not find out that you three had a hand in this,” Austin said quietly, not wanting anyone to listen.
“Us?” Chris laughed. “Since when do we have a say about anything that Dad decides to do with his business?”
“Well,” Austin continued, looking out the windows, “Someone put the freaking bug in his ear. I arrived home from Palm Beach, and the next day I was told I had a job.
“Anyway, it’s good to see you three, but I’m on my way to a meeting, so I just have a few minutes,” Austin said as he looked around Chris’s large and elegant office. “Wow, you have your own office here now, huh?” Austin asked, surprised by the development. “I didn’t know you were in this deep.”
“In this deep?” Chris chuckled. “Come on, Austin. You make it sound like this place is a prison cell.”
He looked over at Ben and Harry, who had taken seats in Chris’s office, “Do you guys have a set-up like this, too?”
“Come on, Austin,” Harry shot back, “don’t be like that. You know this has been Dad’s plan forever. Having offices of our own can’t be that shocking. Like Chris said, it’s not prison.”
“I don’t mean it like that, but… honestly, what the hell has happened over the last year? I thought you guys were just getting your feet wet. Now you have offices? I mean, your office Chris… it looks like Dad’s.”
As he glanced around Chris’s office, it was obvious this wasn’t a recent office move. There were photos and paintings on the walls of various Rhode Island landmarks. File folders and papers were scattered across the executive desk. There was a clothing rack in the corner with freshly pressed suits, along with shoes neatly arranged underneath. Books were neatly stacked on the shelves behind his desk. His office looked lived in and used, which was something Austin hadn’t expected to see.
“Austin, are you kidding me right now?” Chris shot back. “You can’t be this dense about The Oxford and what Dad’s been trying to do over the last year or so.” He looked over at Ben and Harry, who sat nodding their heads in agreement with Chris.
“Dense?” Austin responded. “What’s that supposed to mean? I come home to find you and Ben and Harry set up here at The Oxford like it’s been this happy family business for our entire lives. It’s bullshit.”
“First off,” Chris said, sitting down behind his desk and loosening his tie a bit. His baby brother was the most spoiled and catered to of the four of them, but Chris had never said anything because they all had it pretty easy. “You’ve lived a carefree life way more than any of us. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but it’s past time that you got your shit together. You know that Dad’s been wanting to bring us into the business for the last few years. I don’t know why there’s been a sudden shift to get us all in ASAP, but he has been pretty adamant about moving things along quickly, especially with you. This place is continuously growing and expanding, and new opportunities are coming up regularly. Dad can’t possibly keep up without some help, and he wants it to be from us. It’s our inheritance for Chris sakes and I, for one, don’t see that as bullshit. Everything we have as individuals is because of this place.”
“I’m not saying it isn’t,” Austin answered, aware of the irritated tone in his brother’s voice. “I’m just saying, I’m back after six weeks and there’s some kind of urgency about passing the reins along. I thought you were just being groomed,” Austin said, and then looked over at his twin brothers, “and that you guys were finding your place here. I’m back and the three of you make it look like you’ve been here for years. I’m just asking, what the hell happened?”
“We were in talks with Dad to come in and start learning the business way before you left for Palm Beach to figure out things. In actuality, we started discussing things with Dad when you were in Italy with your buddies over a year ago,” Ben remarked.
“And why was I not included on these conversations?” Austin asked in a cocky tone, hoping to catch his brothers in a lie.
“Who the hell knows?” Chris huffed, sitting back in his desk chair and staring back at his brother. “I’ve given up wondering why you have always had a different set of rules and expectations than Ben, and Harry and me.”
Austin looked confused and shook his head at his brothers. His parents did not treat him any differently than his three older brothers. Sure, he had always given them headaches when it came to things like school, friends, partying, and spending, but his brothers were no angels either.
