“It was pride,” I spit out. “I bruised his fucking ego, so he drug his feet.”

“Well, he can drag his feet all the way to the unemployment office.”

I nod grimly. “That doesn’t help that young man’s widow and two small kids.”

“We’ll make sure they’re very well taken care of.”

“Something tells me she’d rather have her husband,” I whisper sadly.

“Eli,” Beau begins and scratches his scruffy cheek. “I wanted to tell you, I was really fucking proud of you last night.”

I raise a brow and watch my older brother. He’s my best friend, and we respect each other, but we’re men.

We don’t get mushy.

I shift in my chair, uncomfortable, but he keeps going.

“You handled the situation perfectly.”

“I didn’t do it alone,” I remind him. “You were right there with me, taking on your fair share of the work.”

“Yes, and I’ll continue to, but you did great. Dad would have been impressed.”

I smirk. “Right.”

Beau cocks his head, narrows his eyes. “Dad loved you.”

“I know.”

And I do. But, he didn’t respect me, and wasn’t impressed by anything I did once in my life.

“You’re a good man, Eli. A fair one. A good leader. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Is she gone?” he asks suddenly, changing the subject.

“Yes.”

He sighs. “And you let her go.”

“She doesn’t live here, Beau. She has a life and a job.”

He shakes his head at me. “I’m sorry you missed last night with her. She was good for you.”

So am I. So fucking sorry.

“Did you at least call and say goodbye?”

“I’m not a dick, Beau. Of course. I called and wished her safe travels.”

His jaw drops. “That’s it?”

“What else was there to say? Discuss the weather? Exchange recipes? Pledge my undying love?”

“You’re wrong,” Beau says quietly, as he stands and shoves his hands in his pockets, the same way I do, looking very much like our father. “You are a dick.”

“Never claimed otherwise,” I mutter as he walks away. I check my phone, for what I’m not sure. She may have landed by now. I tried to call Declan earlier to ask him how she was this morning, but he’s not answering my calls.

He’s probably either asleep or bouncing on one of his groupies.

I’d give just about anything to hear her voice right now, to smooth the rough edges left from holding that young widow through the night while she cried long, heartbroken sobs against my chest for a man who’s never coming home. From being awake for too fucking long.

From already missing her.

But she’s gone, and I have a business to run. So I schedule a mid-morning mandatory meeting with the men at the shipyard and hurry to shower and dress to make it there on time.

This is my life. This is what’s important. Kate was just a pleasant distraction. It’s time to get back to business.

***

“I don’t give a fuck. I want it done. Today. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” I hang up and bring up an email, just as Savannah and Declan saunter into my office.

“I see you’re just your usual puppies and rainbows self,” Declan says dryly, as he lowers himself into a chair, a smirk on his face.

“What do you want?”

“We want to talk to you,” Savannah says. She folds her hands in her lap, sitting straight in the chair, head high, the way she always does. But her eyes are sad, and that kills me.

“How are you, bebe?” I ask her softly.

“Worried about you,” she replies.

“Alright.” I sit back in my chair and rub my fingers over my mouth. “What’s up?”

“We’ve come to point out that you’re back to your old asshole ways,” Declan says.

“How would you know?” I ask with a raised brow. “You haven’t spoken to me in two weeks.”

“And I’d rather not speak to you now either, but Van talked me into it.”

“Since you’re talking to me, would you like to explain why you’d rather not?”

“Because you’re a fucking dick, and you made Kate cry.”

“What?” I scowl at them both. “I haven’t spoken to Kate since she left two weeks ago.”

“Oh, we know,” Savannah replies. “And you’re back to your BK attitude.”

“BK?”

“Before Kate.”

“Is this an intervention?” I ask with a laugh, and immediately wish for a glass of bourbon.

“Yes, if you’d like to call it that,” Van replies. “It’s an asshole intervention.”

“Noted. You can see yourselves out.”

“You don’t even want to know if she’s okay?” Declan asks incredulously. “No, so, how’s Kate?”

“So, how’s Kate?”

His jaw and fists clench, but before he can say anything else, Savannah jumps in. “She’s…fine.”

What the fuck does that mean?

“Why did you let her leave?” Savannah asks.

“I have a better question,” Dec interrupts. “Why did you fuck Cindy while Kate was twenty feet away, worried about you, wondering when you were coming back?”