The Wright Boss(30)

"Hey," I said, sidling up next to Austin.

"Hey. What's up?" Austin said.

"Hey, man," Patrick said. "Good to have you in town. I haven't had a chance to see you around the office yet. Is it weird, working at Wright?"

"Yeah, a little weird," I conceded.

Patrick worked for Wright Construction, too. He crunched numbers and dealt with expenses, and at the beginning of the summer, he had been promoted to a more managerial role. I gathered that he made more money and worked less.

"Well, Austin thinks you'll be playing golf again soon. We're all rooting for you."

"Thanks," I said. I turned to the bartender before I could curse my back again. "Maker's Mark, neat."

"You got it," she said, reaching for the bottle.

"Oh, yeah. Landon, this is Mindi. Mindi, this is Austin's brother Landon."

She winked at me. "Nice to meet you. You're the younger brother, right?"

"I am," I confirmed.

"Cute. I like brothers."

I tilted my head at her, trying to see if I was gathering what she was signaling. Her lips curled into a mischievous grin. Yep, I wasn't wrong. She was definitely interested in a threesome.

She was clearly Patrick's type. Crazy. He loved them crazy.

Austin elbowed Patrick. "Hear that, man? She likes brothers."

Patrick shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. I'm down."

He could say that since he didn't have a brother.

Mindi giggled and topped off his drink. "You boys are silly."

Patrick grinned at her. "That, we are."

"Hey, did you see your girl was here?" Austin asked, clapping me on the back. 

"My … girl?" I asked in confusion and also borderline panic. The last time one of my brothers had said something like that, Miranda had flown in from Tampa to corner me.

"Yeah, dude. Check it out," Austin said. He pointed to a table across the room from us.

And there was Heidi. On her date. With some douche bag.

My jealousy, which had subdued in the time that I allowed myself to be distracted, flared up again like an inferno. One second, I had been laughing about Patrick's new crazy girl, and the next, I wanted to walk over there and interrupt Heidi's date.

Who the fuck was he anyway? I'd never seen him before. Not that I'd lived in Lubbock for a while.

"Wait, what am I missing?" Patrick asked. "Who is Landon's girl? God, help us all, not Miranda."

"Nah, dude. Heidi Martin," Austin said, filling him in.

I didn't have it in me to deny it. I wanted Heidi. The month apart after that kiss and all the realizations about Miranda had solidified it. I'd thought I'd come back and we'd pick up where we left off. I hadn't thought she'd already be seeing someone else. "Who is she with?"

Both guys shrugged. Neither of them knew, which meant I was going to need to find out.

"So … you and Heidi?" Patrick asked in surprise. "Didn't you date her best friend?"

"Isn't her best friend dating my brother?" I demanded.

Why did Emery always have to be a sticking point? We hadn't dated in more than ten years. Plus, it wasn't as if she or Jensen had talked to me before they started dating.

"Point," Patrick agreed.

"Seriously, I don't get you two," Austin said. "How can you let her go on a date with someone else? Is this because of you and Miranda?"

"No," I ground out.

"Well, are you going to go stop her? Because I figured that, if you two were fucking, you wouldn't let her date someone else."

"Whoa! Nice, man!" Patrick said, holding his hand up for me to give him a high five. "Moving on from that bitch as fast as possible I see."

"We're not fucking," I corrected them.

"Well, except for that one time," Austin said with raised eyebrows.

"That is not what happened, dude," I told him in frustration.

I'd been so bogged down in dealing with Miranda that I hadn't even told Austin that Heidi and I hadn't been together. And he still clearly thought that we had.

"Suuurrre," Austin said, dragging out the word.

"Well, this will be fun," Patrick said.

He had a shit-eating grin on his face, and I was sure that only meant trouble.

"Hey, Mindi."

"Yeah, babe?"

"Can you send a drink to that table?" he asked, pointing out Heidi.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You're sending a drink to another girl?" Mindi pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

"It's from Landon," he told her.

"Do not do that," I groaned. "That would look really bad."

"Ah, have some fun!" Patrick said. "She looks miserable on her date anyway. She'll appreciate it."