House Rules(20)

I flipped the bat onto my shoulder. “You understand the rules, and plan to follow them in the future?”

He nodded. “Yes, Mr. Hawes. I apologize.”

“Good. Now get the fuck out of my office.”

He stood slowly, favoring his side, and limped toward the door, his breath wheezing in and out. As he reached for the handle, I reminded him, “Make sure you pay Jason on the way out.”

“Yes, Mr. Hawes.”

I knocked on the door letting Jason know it was okay to unlock it. Weller held onto the doorframe, using it to support himself as he made his way back to the bar.

The door shut behind him and I walked over to the sideboard. Anger still tightened the muscles in my shoulders. A few shots of bourbon should do it. There was still a ton of shit to get done before dinner.

A few hours later and I’d finally gotten enough of the paperwork from the dealership sorted. My father and I were going to have to have a long conversation about running the business. There were definitely changes that had to be made if we were going to continue to survive with all of the new technology.

The traffic agitated my raw nerves. For some reason nothing settled me, not even the four shots I’d drank earlier. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but one thing was for sure: I needed to get my head on straight before I arrived at my parents’.

The chefs at both bars were some of the best out there, but none of them compared to Mom or Ashton. Some days I was a little jealous Ashton had the skills he did in the kitchen. In no way did I want to be a chef, but being able to make myself a decent meal would be helpful. Shit, I could probably burn water if I tried.

Ordering out every night got old, so dinner at my parents’ was always worth it. The trade off was Mom and Elena’s interference in my love life; their incessant quest to find me a woman. Like I had to struggle on that front. Ashton wanted to settle down. The whole idea of love and marriage was something he looked forward to.

Me . . . not so much.

The thought of being tied down to one woman for the rest of my life made my dick shrivel up. My mom and dad were happy, but sometimes I wondered if Mom held Dad’s balls in a glass jar, only letting him have them when she wanted. He was a mean son of a bitch when it came to business yet when Mom was around, he acted like an angel. In all my life, only one woman had intrigued me enough to let her stay the night, not since Hilary. Even then, I didn't let her stay the night until months later. I forced the thoughts of Tess from my head.

Over the last few months, they’d become even more determined. One of these nights, I needed to sit down with Ashton and Dad and figure out what the hell had brought it all on. Maybe then I could turn that shit off. Until then, I’d have to deal with the offers to set me up on blind dates and avoid them at all costs. There were only so many random excuses I could give them. Elena might understand. Mom, on the other hand, had made it clear more than once that she didn’t want to hear that I had no intention of settling down.

I pulled up outside and settled myself, before climbing out and handing my keys to the valet, heading to the elevator. The doors opened on their floor. I didn’t bother to knock.

“Look who decided to join us.” Ashton smirked from where he sat on the couch, his arm resting over Elena’s shoulders.

“Maybe you should be in the kitchen making me some dinner?” I pulled off my coat and dropped it over the back of the couch.

He took a sip of the drink in his hand at the same time a glass appeared before me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad nod at the glass. Mom may have been better at knowing when something was bothering Ashton, but it was Dad who could read me like a book. He took the seat next to me. “We’ll talk later,” he said, low enough so only I could hear.

I nodded and turned back to Ashton. None of us wanted Mom to catch us talking about work anywhere outside my dad’s office. I took a long, slow sip, the burn helping to soothe my frayed nerves.

With a heavy sigh I leaned back into the couch. It was the first time I’d relaxed all day. My eyes slid shut and I let the peace of the room surround me. I had to know it wouldn’t last.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard the creak of the kitchen door. I glanced up to say hi to my mom, since I was probably already in enough shit with her for not stopping in as soon as I got there, and that’s when I saw the gleam in Ashton’s eyes. The way he pulled Elena closer to him.

Fuck. What was he up to?

“Miller,” Mom scolded. “Why didn’t you come say hi to me when you got here?”

She took the seat on the other side of me and I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “Sorry, Mom. I wanted to let you finish cooking dinner, then we could sit and talk all we wanted.”