“Darryl!”
“Promise me, Mattie!”
Maitlyn met her brother’s gaze and held it for a brief moment. As she slowly nodded her head, she slid both her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers. “Whatever you want, Darryl,” she said unconvincingly.
“I mean it,” Darryl intoned as he headed toward the back bedroom and his luggage, instinctively knowing that every one of his siblings would know about what happened before the clock struck midnight. “Don’t you dare tell Mommy and Daddy!”
Grabbing his leather bags, he headed back to the front of his home and his sister, who was still assessing the damage Asia had caused. As he stood beside her, he was suddenly grateful for the time away. By midnight he’d be on the red-eye flight headed east, soaring sky-high as he headed to his parents’ home in New Orleans. Tomorrow he’d be back to work, ready for one of the most rewarding opportunities of his career. And with any luck everything about his time with Asia Landry would soon be nothing but a bad memory.
* * *
Katherine Boudreaux tossed up her hands in exasperation. “She tried to kill you? Lord, have mercy!” she exclaimed, the palm of her hand pressed tight to her chest.
“Asia did not try to kill me, Mom,” Darryl said as he looked toward his brother for help.
The oldest of the Boudreaux offspring, Mason Boudreaux, shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t look at me. I wasn’t there. I was just repeating what Maitlyn told me.”
Darryl blew out a deep sigh. He opened his mouth to make his point when their father interjected. “Just for the record, son, when a woman points a gun at you and pulls the trigger, she’s past the point of trying to scare you,” Senior Boudreaux said matter-of-factly.
Darryl rolled his eyes. “Maitlyn has blown this whole thing out of proportion.”
“We wouldn’t have even known if it hadn’t been for your sister,” Katherine noted, her finger waving at her son. “And I’m not happy about that. I’m not happy at all.” Katherine shook her head. “Come get some breakfast. Y’all got a long day today,” she ordered.
Mason glanced at his brother. Both men knew their mother was angry and Katherine Boudreaux angry could get them all hurt. He tipped his head toward Darryl as he turned to follow their mother.
Darryl muttered under his breath as he made his way out of the room. “I swear I’m going to wring Maitlyn’s neck for this.”
Mason smiled as he and his father locked gazes. “I’ll talk to him,” he said softly.
Senior nodded his approval. “Darryl needs to take this more seriously. Now, let’s go get some breakfast before your mother beats him, you and me, too.”
* * *
By the time Darryl and Mason made their way through New Orleans to the Roosevelt Hotel, the two men were laughing heartily. Breakfast had been tense as their mother had slapped bacon, eggs and grits onto their porcelain plates. But by the end of the meal she’d calmed down enough to listen to Darryl’s apology. Mason had been poking fun at him since.
“It’s just like what happened when that mess went down with me in Thailand. The old folks were mad because they heard about it from the girls and not from me. Your sisters will get you in trouble every time. I don’t know why you haven’t learned that yet,” Mason said with a robust chuckle.
Darryl shook his head. “Maitlyn better be glad we’re not kids anymore, because I’d find a mud hole for her sure ’nuff!”
Mason grinned. “But Maitlyn kept her promise. She didn’t tell them. She just told the rest of us. Your other sisters all called and broke the news to them. Then, of course, the minute I walked through the door they were looking at me to confirm it. You know you should have called each one of us and made us pinkie swear.”
“I’m still going to wring her neck,” Darryl exclaimed.
Mason shook his head. “So what do you plan to do?”
His brother shrugged. “Nothing. The court system will deal with Asia and I plan to focus all my attention on this project.”
“I’m sure that throwing yourself into your work will make it all go away,” he said, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
With a roll of his eyes, Darryl changed the subject. “So, what’s Mr. Charles like? I’m really looking forward to working with him and his firm.”
Mason smiled. “Kenneth is quite the character. I think this will be a great partnership.”
“I’m anxious to meet him and his son, Cam. That’s his son’s name, right, Cam Charles? I admire a lot of his work, as well.”
Mason’s eyes widened. “Oh, Cam’s not a—” he started, suddenly interrupted by the cell phone chiming loudly from the breast pocket of his suit jacket. He held up his index finger, gesturing for Darryl to hold his thought. Mason pulled the device into his hand, grinning as the smartphone’s screen projected an image of his wife.
“Hey, baby!”
Phaedra Stallion-Boudreaux exclaimed joyously on the other end. “Good morning, good-lookin’! Are you busy?”
“Darryl and I are headed into a meeting. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Missing you, though.”
“I miss you, too, darling,” he said, his voice dropping an octave. “How long are you planning to stay in Texas?”
“That’s why I’m calling you, actually. I have to fly to New York. I’ve been hired to get some shots of the city for a tourism project. I’ll be there for at least a week, and then I’ll head to New Orleans.”
Mason nodded into the receiver. His wife’s photography career was important to her and despite the abundance of wealth they shared, he supported her desire to work and have her own. She’d been fiercely independent when they’d first met and was even more so since she’d become his wife.
“Mason, you still there?” Phaedra questioned.
“Sorry, baby. I’m fine,” he responded. “Are you going to be okay traveling by yourself?” he asked.
Phaedra laughed. “I can’t believe you asked me that,” she said. “But for the record, I won’t be alone. Mark is going with me.”
Mason laughed with her. “You know how I worry about you.”
“I’m not the one who goes around getting kidnapped,” she teased, reminding him of the time she’d had to call upon her newly discovered brothers to help find him in Thailand. She continued, “I’ll be fine. You’re just as bad as my brothers.”
Her husband grinned as he thought about his new in-laws. Phaedra had only recently come to know her four brothers, John, Matthew, Mark and Luke Stallion. Doing business with the family had been the catalyst that had opened the doors to his relationship with their baby sister. He would be forever grateful. “We’ll, I’m glad he’ll be there with
