Page 74 of Broken Brothers

Well, in other news, New York taxi cabs liked to honk. But I tried my damndest to act surprised.

“For real?” I said, hoping not to oversell my reaction. “I would not have guessed. She struck me as too professional to engage in something like that.”

“Meh,” Morgan said, crossing his arms. “We can’t control who we like. We can only control our reaction to it. Her reactions may be good, but she still likes you.”

“OK,” I said, pausing between my words slowly. “And? Your… point?”

“My point?” Morgan said. “No point. Just telling you what’s obvious to everyone around you.”

Damn. Maybe it’s not much of a secret. If Morgan knows… maybe her coworkers know.

In which case, why am I hiding it? Morgan doesn’t seem perturbed by it. On the other hand, he doesn’t know I’ve done anything yet.

“Well, that’s great, but I’m not going to do anything about it.”

“You’re not?”

Morgan seemed more like the big brother daring the little one to do something stupid than he did a business partner right now. So I shoved him while laughing, hoping to get in the game of it all.

“Why would I? It’s business, not pleasure. You know how badly I got fucked over the last time I tried to do that.”

“Exactly,” Morgan said.

Huh? What the hell did he mean? That was his point… so he wanted me to go back in?

“Confused? Instead of being fucked over, Chance, now you can be the one to get information. Now you can be the one to learn more from the woman instead of the woman learning more from you. You have a magnetic presence we would be foolish not to use.”

“Ohhh.”

I had to shoot the idea down as quickly as I got. This was a little too Edwin Hunt-like from Morgan, and MCH had no room for that in any fashion. We could make a shitload of money and never have to rely on an inheritance or any of the like from Edwin Hunt, but had to make damn sure not to inherit any of his worst tendencies.

“Yeah, that is not going to happen, Morgan.”

“No?”

He wasn’t getting it. Maybe he was also a little drunk; I didn’t think so, but I didn’t want to rule out the possibility.

“No, no, no,” I said. “That’s a dick move and a fucked up move. Think of how badly Layla screwed me over, Morgan. If I use Claire liking me to our advantage—”

Morgan started to say something, bit his lip, and sighed.

“Dad’s teachings get borrowed a little too much sometime,” he said, crossing his arms. “You were right. I’m sorry. I just… you know how things are for me. I’m so stressed. I just want us to start taking off now. I’m impatient. And it seems I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get something now. I’m sorry.”

“I get it,” I said. “I mean, I don’t. Neither of us have really gotten the other’s life in a fair way. We’re brothers, but we’re two different people.”

Morgan looked hurt by my words, but it was painfully true. I was an adopted son, he was a favorite son. I was a listener, hewas a participant with the Hunts. I was an outsider, he was an insider.

Nothing short of being reborn would change that, and I was pretty sure no amount of Silicon Valley magic would change that any time soon.

But I also realized what I had said may have struck a chord too harsh with Morgan, who was dealing with the kind of internal pressure I would never have to face. I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him gently.

“Hey, but we’re going to pull through this just fine,” I said with a smile. “If I can get over all of the things that happened with Layla, then you can survive this. We all do stupid shit under duress.”

Like make out with the woman whose business you’ve invested in, for example. That one will go over so swimmingly. Just imagine meeting her other investors and wondering if they’ve made out with her.

And… I feel jealous over that?

“I know,” Morgan said. “Let me reframe it as such. You have a power. I don’t mean that in some corny ass way either. You have a charm about you that makes women swoon in ways that I could never make happen. You can charm men into liking you even if they believe everything you don’t. I’m not saying we have to use this in an unethical way. But…”