THE WRIGHT MISTAKE (Wright #3)

2. Austin

2

Austin

“You motherfucker!” Julia screamed.

She shoved me in the chest, trying to get away from me as fast as she could in the lake. I released her with a laugh.

She just glared at me. “Don’t f*****g laugh at me.”

Then, she punched me in the shoulder. Hard.

“s**t, Jules!”

The girl knew how to f*****g punch. Jesus Christ! I hadn’t had the privilege of finding that out the last time we were together. No, the last time she’d just slapped the s**t out of me. Two for two.

“Austin, leave her alone,” Heidi said with exasperation in her voice.

“It was just a joke,” I said with a shrug.

Julia splashed water at me in a huff and began to swim back to the dock. I could hear her cursing my name under her breath.

“Seriously, Jules, lighten up a bit,” I said, leaning backward in the water and grinning up at her.

She climbed out of the water, and her eyes were fiery hatred when she whirled back to look at me. I could barely hold her gaze.

Not because she was so angry. Seriously, she needed to chill the f**k out. It was Memorial Day weekend. We were supposed to be having a good time.

But rather because she was dripping wet from head to toe. Her short jean shorts clung to her muscular legs, and the flimsy black tank stuck to her curves like a second skin. I could just envision the black lace bra she was wearing beneath the material, and suddenly, I wasn’t thinking with the right head any longer. f**k.

God-f*****g-damn it, she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever laid eyes on. There was something feral about her. Something dangerous and dark and predatory. A feeling that radiated from her that said she was a badass b***h, and everyone should beware. She had a f*****g do-not-disturb sign plastered to her ample chest. And all of it had only intrigued me more and more every time my drunk ass landed in her office. I’d never admit I’d been doing stupid s**t just to get sent to the head of HR.

“You ruined my shoes,” Julia snarled at me before turning on her heel and stalking away from the water. Her feet squelched in her worn slip-on Vans.

Heidi smacked me up the side of the head. “Why do you have to be such a d**k?”

“He really can’t help it,” Patrick insisted.

“Thanks, bro.”

I shot him a disdainful look, but he only grinned like a fool. He was eating this up, the shithead.

Heidi hauled herself out of the lake and grabbed her discarded clothing. She was tall and thin and mouthy with eyes that looked straight through a guy. I’d always thought she was fun, and I was glad that she’d loosened Landon up. Even if she was staring down at me right now like she was going to roast me on a spit.

“I brought her here to help her get over her breakup, not so that you could be an asshole to her, like usual.”

I held my hands up and laughed. “You all take this way too seriously.”

Heidi shook her head. “You don’t take anything seriously.”

Then, she was trudging down the dock, following in Julia’s wet footprints.

I turned to face Patrick and just shrugged. “Women.”

Patrick laughed hysterically at me as soon as Heidi was out of earshot. “Man, you are so done for.”

“Whatever, man.”

“Oh, f**k off, Austin. You’re so going to f**k Julia this weekend.”

I shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that.”

Patrick splashed me as he swam back toward the dock and pulled himself up to sit on the edge. “She’s so f*****g pissed at you.”

I lay back, floating, and stared at the sun burning bright overhead. “She’ll get over it.”

“I’d almost think that you weren’t totally into her.”

“Whatever.”

Patrick laughed again as he popped open a beer. “I can’t wait to watch this play out. I sure hope you keep acting like an idiot.”

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” a voice called from the end of the dock.

I righted myself and saw my sister Morgan walking down the dock. She was four years younger than me but was second-in-command at Wright Construction. We had all been born and bred to work for the company, but Morgan was the only one who really relished in it. Only twenty-seven years old and one of the most powerful women in business. She’d landed on three Thirty Under Thirty lists this year. She would have made our parents proud…if either of them were still alive.

“Morgan,” I said with a grin. “Here I thought, we’d never see you out of a business suit.”

“Traded it in for something cuter. What do you think the board would say if I showed up in this suit instead?” she asked, twirling in place in her white bikini.

Even though she addressed the comment to me, her eyes were fixed on Patrick. The i***t was the only person alive who didn’t realize that Morgan had been head over heels for him since they were kids. But I wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. The thought of my best friend hooking up with my little sister made me want to stab something or vomit or both.

“Probably start a riot,” I told her.

“Indeed,” she said with a wicked grin, as if she were contemplating it. “Now, tell me what you idiots did to upset Julia already? We just got here!”

Patrick raised his hands. “Don’t look at me.”

“Oh, who’s surprised that Austin is the troublemaker?”

“I just pulled her into the water with me.”

“Fully clothed,” Patrick coughed.

Morgan shot me an imperious look. “I have the power to relegate you to the couch. So, watch yourself.”

“Oh no, not the couch!” I cried as I heaved myself onto the dock. “I’ll make it up to you, Mor. How about a hug?”

“Don’t you dare,” she said, pointing her finger at me.

I darted toward her, and she took a step backward, as if we were sword fighting and she were testing her opponent. I took another step, and Patrick howled with laughter.

“I think she’ll make you sleep on the roof if you throw her into the water,” Patrick said.

“It’s Jensen’s house. He’ll get a say.”

“He always sides with me,” Morgan snapped. She had three older brothers. She knew how to fight dirty if need be. “And you won’t even get the roof when I’m done with you.”

“Fine. Fine,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat. “You win.”

“Don’t think I don’t know your tricks,” Morgan said.

“I bow to thee, fair maiden.”

I dipped down low, and when I straightened, I threw her over my shoulder. She screamed and beat my back.

“If you throw me in that water, I will murder you!”

I hauled her to the edge of the dock and pretended to release her. She screamed right before I caught her and then dropped her back onto her feet.

But, when she looked up at me, she was laughing. Morgan might be Jensen’s mini me, but she and I always had the most fun.

“Come on. Dinner is almost ready,” Morgan said, clapping me on the back and then falling into step with Patrick, back up the hill to the house.

I grabbed the beer as I followed them, cracking one open as I went. Julia might have joked about me always drinking, but alcohol was just a part of my life. We had a special relationship. The constant buzz. The feeling of the pain disappearing.

That was what alcohol was.

Freedom.

Pure, unadulterated bliss.

If there was anything I could rely on, it was that a drink would silence everything always buzzing around in my head. It kept me numb and pleasant. I didn’t even remember my life before it. And, frankly, I didn’t want to.

The lake house was in chaos when I entered. Luggage everywhere. People everywhere—cooking, talking, drinking. With all four of my siblings and their plus-ones and kids, we had eleven people at the house for the full weekend. Emery’s sister and her family would join us tomorrow. It made me want to get another drink already.

I finally meandered out of the house and found Jensen at the grill. He nodded his head at me.

“What’s up?” I said.

“Heard you threw Julia into the lake.”

“I didn’t throw her.”

“Semantics,” Jensen said. “I don’t care what you do, Austin. Just trying to make this as much of a drama-free weekend as possible. I know that’s nearly impossible when we get the whole Wright family together, but don’t start s**t, okay?”

Jensen, the fixer, the CEO of Wright Construction, and my older brother. No one would ever guess we were only three years apart, considering Jensen treated us more like he was a father than our brother at times. Not that we’d had a good example of a father figure.

“Yeah. Sure. I’ll do that.”

Jensen reached into a bag on the ground and brought out a bottle of top-shelf whiskey. He grinned as he passed it to me. A peace offering.

I opened the bottle and poured the pair of us a drink. It was smooth and hot as it went down. Perfection in one little bottle.

When the food was ready, we all made up plates and took a seat around the fire pit Heidi had put together. She had schooled Landon in her fire-building skills, and he looked the worse for wear with her torment.

“Girl Scouts,” she insisted with a shrug.

I got my food last, feeling more than a buzz for the first time in a while. It took a lot to get me drunk. A lot. But this s**t that Jensen had bought was incredible, and we had been downing it like water.

My eyes roamed the seating at the fire pit, and against my better judgment, I decided to do something stupid.

“Hey,” I said, nodding at the seat next to Julia. “This seat taken?”

Julia warily looked up at me. She’d changed out of her wet clothes, and she was in cotton shorts and an Ohio State T-shirt. “Depends.”

“On what?”

“If you’re done being a dick.”

I shrugged and sank into the seat. “Probably not.”

She laughed, short and stilted. “Of course not.”

“So, you haven’t gotten over me pulling you into the lake then?”

“Is this your idea of an apology?”

“No.”

“You’re really insufferable, you know that, right?” Her chest heaved, and she glanced away from me.

“Maybe you should have a drink.” I offered her the bottle of liquor.

“That’s your answer to everything. Have a drink. Drinking doesn’t solve problems, Austin. It creates them.”

“Your choice.”

I set the bottle back down and dug into my cheeseburger. I was starving, so anything would have tasted good, but Jensen really knew what he was doing on the grill. Julia had fallen silent and was picking at her food. She was the only one here who wasn’t part of the family. Emery and Heidi, unofficially. Patrick had been around since we were kids, so he hardly counted. But Julia had only moved here two years ago.

My family was overbearing at the best of times. Had to be completely overwhelming otherwise.

“Hey, you want to see something cool?” I asked.

“I’ve already seen your d**k. It’s not that interesting.”

“That’s a lie, and we both know it.”

She arched an eyebrow.

“Look, I’d be happy to give you another look if you don’t remember,” I said, standing and reaching for my swim trunks.

“Austin!” she said, jumping to her feet. “Cut it out.”

“Come on. Let me show you something.”

“I really do not want to go anywhere with you.” She pulled back her arm as I reached for it.

“Christ, just trust me, Jules.”

“I don’t.”

She strode back into the lake house, and I followed her at a close clip.

“Jules…”

She whirled around. “Stop calling me that. You know I don’t like it. It’s Julia. You can call me Julia, like everyone else.”

“Fine. Julia.” I stepped up to her, as if I were approaching a wild animal. And, with her unruly red hair down, tangling around her shoulders, she gave a pretty good impression of being one. “I thought you’d like to see this.”

She stumbled forward a step, as if drawn by an invisible cord that linked us together. As drawn to me as I was to her. Or maybe I was drunk and imagining things because her eyes shuttered, and that spark was gone.

“Why do you think I’d like it?”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

Her curiosity must have piqued enough because she finally gave me a stiff nod. “All right. Where to?”

I grabbed her wrist, and she only glared at me.

“Follow me. It’s almost time.”