Page 57 of The Merger
“How else am I supposed to get you to want to be married to me?” I asked.
“I’m already married to you.”
“But you don’t want to be,” I mumbled.
“Move in with me,” she blurted out.
“What?” I think it was possible I was as drunk as Beck. “I’m already moving in with you. We talked about it before I left?” I thought I remembered that.
She sighed into the phone. “You told me you were moving in, but I didn’t agree with you. Now, I’m saying I want you to move in. You’re right, we’re married and I need to give us more of a chance. I know I’ve been distant. If you promise not to listen to my dumbass brother and Beck, I will try harder.”
“I’m really tired,” I admitted.
“Yeah, I bet. Jana is coming to get you guys. I’ll see you soon.”
ChapterTwenty-One
Sabrina
“How drunk are they?” I asked Jana as I slid into her car.
She pulled out into traffic and headed toward the sound. “Pretty smashed. Colt said that Beck is crawling on the floor talking about wanting more kids. Apparently, he’s started to detail exactly how he plans to make them. Colt’s drunk, but Stryker and Beck are flat out sloppy at this point. Beck most of all.”
I shook my head. “You’d think they’d never had a drink before.”
“Beck hasn’t had a drink in almost a year. Not since he got Evie back and his mom pried a bottle of Scotch from his hand. Colt has cut way back, but I guess they felt your marital issues required lots of booze.”
She looked over at me with a sympathetic expression before returning her focus to the road. “They’re probably trying to talk Stryker into kidnapping you.”
I groaned. “I’m really regretting thinking Colt whisking you away to that private island was romantic.”
She shrugged. “No interruptions. A ripped, pierced, tattooed sex god all to myself. Yeah, you don’t hear me complaining about it anymore.”
“Gross.” I gagged. “We might not share blood, but he’s still my brother. I really don’t want to hear about any metal Colt is rocking considering I’ve seen his virgin ear lobes.”
Jana laughed. I’m glad the mental image I’d try and scrub from my brain didn’t concern her.
She weaved through traffic as I hung on to the handle by the window. “Be honest with me, what is holding you back from Stryker? You seem to have chemistry together, so I don’t think you’re uninterested. He’s sexy as hell, smart, and totally devoted to you.”
She was right. He was all of those things. At least it seemed so right now. “I don’t know if I trust it. Doesn’t he seem too good to be true? I mean except for his temper. He can be a total asshole.”
She shrugged. “Is he an asshole to you? And don’t bring up him snapping at you when you barged into his office. He didn’t know it was you, and to be honest, the employees at my company are a bag of dicks.”
She had a point there. “Yeah, especially that guy Jeffries. He actually helped your father cover up embezzling from the company.”
We hadn’t had a chance to go over all the fine details with her, because as soon as Stryker fired Jeffries, he decided it was time to get my sister out of my apartment.
Jana’s mouth fell open. “I’m actually surprised. I’m not sure why. My father is as shady as they come, but I just hadn’t expected he’d steal from the company. I honestly just thought he was a shit businessman. He’s always cared more about appearances and status than doing any actual work. I guess I just thought he’d be too lazy to actually steal.”
“Well, Jeffries is gone. We need to track down those accounts and we’ll have to inform the SEC,” I said. It felt lame to talk about the procedures when it was her father who would be on the hook. She might not like him, but it didn’t mean part of her didn’t still love him. At least that’s how I felt about my mom.
Her fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “I’m not going to think about all of that right now. We’ve got drunk husbands to pick up.”
I looked around inside the vehicle. “Is that why we’re in Evie’s car?”
“Can you believe this beast? I’m thinking Beck isn’t joking about having a bunch of kids. This car could haul eight people.”
“What I can’t believe is that Beck expects Evie to drive this big-ass SUV in Seattle traffic.”