Rebound (Boomerang #2)(24)

“Let me bloody hell swear the way I want to, Adam. Okay, please? And all you guys do during that retreat is ski. I’m awesome at that. I should totally go.”

“Believe it or not, it’s a work event,” Rhett says.

“Then that’s the kind of jay-oh-bee I want.”

This could go on all day if I let it. “Guys, I’m on a schedule,” I say, and Rhett shifts right into work gear, filling me in on the location change. Usually, we stay at a resort, but this time we’ll be at a rental home. Still on the resort property, but it’ll give us more privacy and better common areas. It’s a great idea and I tell him so, but Rhett didn’t need my approval to go forward. He just wanted to talk. The camaraderie retreat in Jackson Hole is his Christmas.

I check my watch, and Grey notices.

“Adam has a boat date with some girl,” he says. “Wait. Rhett—you probably know her. Alison. Is she hot?”

I reach over and smack the back of Grey’s head, which only makes him laugh.

“You’re going boating with Alison Quick?” Rhett asks. He doesn’t sound surprised, which means the office grapevine has been working.

“No,” I say. “I’m going on a social outing with Graham Quick, his wife, and his daughter. It’s relationship-building. So I can earn their trust. So I get the money we need.”

Rhett frowns. “Adam . . . maybe you shouldn’t go.”

“You don’t think I can earn their trust?”

“No. Of course it’s not that. Look, I don’t how to say this but . . .” Rhett casts an anxious glance at Grey. “You don’t exactly stay with girls.”

“How is that relevant to boating?”

“It’s relevant to Alison Quick,” he says. “And she’s relevant to Graham Quick. What happens when you move on? What happens to the investment money then?”

“You’re making an awful lot of assumptions, Rhett. Believe it or not, it’s a work event.” As I say this, I think of how many times he walked by my office and saw me and Alison talking—about Boomerang. I spent all day with her last week. But I had to. So what if it turns out I liked it?

“Come on, Adam. I know your type, and she’s—”

“I’m not going to lose this deal. For anything.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you to move on. I do, man. Just pick any other—”

“Did Cookie put you up to this?” I ask before I can stop myself. Rhett and Cookie have never pried this much into my personal life. I mean professional life.

He frowns. “Cookie? No. She didn’t say anything to me. Did she come to you?”

I know I’ve just made him even more nervous about Alison.

“She might have mentioned something. And you’re wrong, Rhett. Alison’s not my type. On the surface, maybe. Other than that, she’s totally different.”

My words hang in the air for a few seconds.

Grey’s eyebrows draw together slightly, a rare seriousness settling in his expression.

“I have to get going,” I say, standing. Mia Galliano is waiting for me. Last night, I asked her to fill in when Julia canceled. Not exactly a date, like I’d told Alison, but Mia will be a great reminder that it’s a work event.

“Okay.” Rhett crosses his arms. “Eye on the prize, Blackwood.”

“Always.” I grab my keys from the hook. Grey gets up and follows me out to the garage. I climb into the Rover and lower the window.

“She’s totally different?” he says, propping his arms on the car.

He wants me to elaborate, but what is there to say? I have no idea what I’m dealing with. I’ve just discovered a new continent. I need some time to get my bearings.

“Okay,” Grey nods. He runs a hand over his forearm. He has full sleeves on both arms. On his left forearm, he has a smaller version of the tattoo on my shoulder. He got it for me. For Chloe. As a tribute.

I know he’s working up the guts to say something else. I wait, hoping he’ll tell me what happened between him and Mom.

“I sang last night.”

“You what?”

“I sang at the club last night. It just happened by accident. I’ve been hanging out with these guys in a band. Their front man had to go to the hospital yesterday morning for his appendix? It ruptured or something nasty like that, so they called me. They didn’t want to cancel, so I took his place. I only knew a few of their songs, and the rest were covers, but . . .” He shrugs. “I sang.”

It takes me a minute to absorb this. He hasn’t done anything besides surf and party since he moved out here in August, so hearing this stirs something inside me that feels a lot like relief.

I try to imagine it. My little brother with a microphone in his hands. Stage lights. A band behind him. It’s surprisingly easy to picture, but I’ve never actually heard him sing. Not even in the car or around the house.

“I didn’t even know you could do that.”

“Neither did I until I got up on stage.” He smiles. “I almost puked I was so nervous.”

“But it was good?”

“Yeah. Adam, it was . . . amazing. They asked me to do it again.”

I hesitate, because I know this is the million-dollar question. Whether he’ll actually lock into it. Grey’s not like me. I go full throttle on everything. No matter what it is, I strive to be the best. But he’s choosy. Few things in this world draw out the best of him. Few things stick. “Will you?”