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a hardass, but he’s a fair one, at least usually he is. The only thing he’s not been flexible about is the fact that I need to take my place in the family business, hence my finance degree. I can think of about a hundred jobs I’d rather do that don’t involve having to wear a suit and tie every day, but there’s no way I’m letting my dad down. I’ll suck it up and deal with it for him and our family.
    I tune back in to the conversation, and Max is trying to blow off what he did to his closest friend. “It wasn’t like that, Pop. It was just that something came up.”—He stops when I start to laugh and glares at me. I try to cover my laughter with a cough, but I fail miserably.
    “Yeah,” I agree, “something came up all right.”
    Max kicks me under the table and fuck it hurts. Little shit knows exactly where to kick for maximum damage. We stare across the table, each promising retribution silently, but we’re interrupted by our mother. “Maxie,” she says with a sigh, and the oft-used nickname for my brother makes me chuckle. It’s such a girlie name. Max looks down, not wanting to meet our mother’s eyes, knowing she’s disappointed in him. “It’s bad enough Clay tortures the poor girl. Do you have to make things worse?”
    “Hey!” I complain. “Wait a minute. How’d I get dragged into this? I gave her a ride to the apartment after ‘Maxie’ here didn’t show to pick her up. It’s not my fault he decided it was more important to …” my father clears his throat, letting me know it’s time to shut up. We might technically be adults now, but he doesn’t like our mom knowing about our exploits. And he really doesn’t like Linc knowing any of the shady shit we do. “Sorry,” I mutter, looking down at my bowl as I stir the contents, properly chastised. I chance a look over at Max, and he looks the way I feel. As much as I’m loving the fact that he’s the one in trouble now, I feel a little bad for him. He can’t help the fact that Kat has a thing for him and he doesn’t feel the way she does. I just don’t know why he doesn’t let her down easy, instead of letting her hope for something I don’t think is ever going to happen. Is he really so oblivious he can’t see she wears her heart on her sleeve where he’s concerned?
    Mom echoes my thoughts. “Maxwell James, you should be ashamed of yourself. That girl has been your best friend for years, always there for you and this is how you repay her?” Max looks like someone kicked his puppy, but that doesn’t faze her. “You need to be a little more sensitive to her feelings. You’re my son and I love you, but Kat’s spent so much time here that she’s practically a member of the family. As much as I hope you’ll wise up and realize what you’ve got in her, I’m not holding out hope that it’s going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, you need to handle her with care. One day you’re going to regret the way you’re treating her. I just hope you haven’t done irreparable harm to your relationship with her with the way you’ve been acting.”
    A wide smile spreads across my face. It’s usually me who’s being yelled at for being a dick to a girl, especially Kat. So the fact that this time it’s Max? Well, that’s pretty fucking sweet. Unfortunately, Mom can’t let a chance to remind me how I treat her go by, so I’m next on her shit list. “And Clayton, while it was nice of you to offer her a ride home, you need to check with your brother in the future to make sure you aren’t bringing her into another situation like the one today.” Dafuq? How did I still end up being the bad guy? I don’t get a chance to protest. “Do you boys understand?” she says in a voice we’ve heard plenty. It’s her daughters would have been so much easier voice.
    “Yes ma’am,” Max and I say in unison, ready to get the attention off of us.
    The rest of dinner passes uneventfully with Linc talking about the project he