Page 75 of Broken Brothers

“I should use everything in the toolbox to my advantage, whatever it takes,” I finished for him.

I saw the point. I didn’t have to break ethical barriers, but stretching them? Or at least getting close enough that I could extend out and touch them a little bit?

Besides, all negotiations had a little bit of dirt on them at the end of the day. If they didn’t, it was because one side capitulated far too quickly. I was never going to do that, for better or for worse, and the kind of people that we would be dealing witheither wouldn’t or they would have the lawyers and teams that wouldn’t.

“Exactly,” he said.

He sighed and looked to the door.

“You want another drink, don’t you?” I said.

“After this week, I want another bar,” Morgan said. “You want in?”

I didn’t think it would be awkward if I returned. Claire had not yet emerged, which suggested to me she was either thinking about what had happened, ordered another drink, or had somehow passed by without either of us noticing. The last idea seemed the most impossible, but it wasn’t totally impossible.

“I’m good,” I said.

The truth was, if Claire and I were to do something, we had to keep it private and completely between us. Not even Morgan could know, at least not this early. Maybe eventually, but eventually was a long, long time away.

And I knew if I went back in there with Morgan, not only would Claire wonder why I had returned, for the amount she drank, it was unlikely she would keep quiet either.

“OK,” Morgan said. “Hey, I love you man.”

It was an odd admission from a man who didn’t look drunk, but then I realized he wasn’t drunk. He was just too tired and too exhausted to be anything other than completely honest.

“I know that you may think I started MCH to help you, and I did a bit,” Morgan said. “But your work is helping me so much, too. Dad is just beating me down, and you could have just as easily said fuck it, do your own thing and figure it out. But you have already secured Rising Sun and put us at least in a fighting position with Virtual Realty. More than that, you don’t mock me for my spot. I know men are supposed to fight, but sometimes, I just don’t want to fucking hear it. But you get it, and for that, I am so appreciative.”

“Dude,” I said, genuinely touched.

I went over and hugged him. Strange as it sounded, I needed that just as much as Morgan probably did.

I needed to know that not everyone close to me wanted to use me or fuck me over. Morgan was always the one I trusted unconditionally, but it was nice to be reminded of our commitment and trust to each other. It was nice to know that we didn’t have to look behind each other’s backs for knives that would wind up stabbing each other. We might fight and argue, but we would never destroy the other person for personal gain.

“I think you should probably call it a night too,” I said, patting his arm firmly. “You like tired as shit.”

“You don’t say,” Morgan said. “All right. If you insist.”

“I do,” I said. “Let’s spend this weekend doing as little as possible. OK? We’ll reconvene Monday and figure out next steps once you finish work.”

“Alright,” Morgan said.

We hugged one more time. I had a strange feeling, out of nowhere, that I was being watched, but when I looked around, I didn’t see anyone. Perhaps my paranoia had a point, given that my rejection of Edwin Hunt was not that far removed, but we had also not raised our voices so loudly as to bring attention to ourselves.

With one more firm handshake, the two of us went back to our respective apartments, perhaps a little more confused about events but certainly starting to make a little more sense of them.

32

When I awoke the next morning, as I had almost come to expect from my daily life, I now had two messages from the two usual suspects.

Claire McLendon.

And Layla Taylor.

Strangely, my interactions with Claire had left me more sympathetic and open to Layla. Perhaps having a new love interest had made it a little easier to forgive the previous one, or maybe realizing how hard it was to reject the opportunities power of sex gave made me more sympathetic to her. Either way, it wasn’t like I was about to go and do something stupid.

I did, however, decide to do something I would have considered stupid just a couple of weeks before.

I agreed to meet Layla for coffee later that day.