30: LIES

SETH

“I’m starting to think we need to fire Jewel.”

“What? Why?” Cole asked, surprised, putting down his papers. “Did something happen?”

“What hasn’t happened,” I said tensely, taking a moment to look down at the forest as I walked by the window. “She’s not outright sabotaging Delilah’s work anymore that I know of after you had a talk with her a few weeks ago. There are just… some nasty rumors going around that might make Delilah very uncomfortable. Rumors I’m pretty sure Jewel didn’t help with.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “So let them talk. Delilah isn’t ashamed of being with us. Are you ashamed of it, brother? Afraid people will think we grew up loving each other unnaturally?”

“I’m afraid of how it might hurt Delilah.” Cole wasn’t taking me seriously, which made me come over and push his paper down. Trying to keep my voice down so I didn’t wake up Delilah, who was currently sleeping in my room. “I’m serious. You need to go handle her.”

“Handle her? Brother, if you forget, you’re the one that invited her into the whole trio concept just as you did Delilah. Then you retained a friendship with her more than I ever have. Why is it that I have to be the one to handle her?”

My jaw ticked. “I had a meeting with her today and confronted her. I may have told her I was in a relationship with her by accident.”

Cole pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose, giving a deep sigh. “Great.”

“I was pissed off and said something stupid.”

“Clearly,” Cole replied, running his fingers over his chin. “I didn’t want to fire her either, but to be perfectly honest, I think she’s been stealing a lot of Lily’s work and she’s not speaking up about it. Her designs improved significantly after she was hired on.”

“Sounds like Jewel,” Seth admitted, frowning. “She’s had such a hard life I don’t want to fire her. It’s just she’s been causing problem after problem since the break up. The women of the company are afraid to talk to us when she’s around.”

Cole shook his head a bit. “How exactly are you wanting me to handle it? I still don’t get that.”

“Cole, I’m not an idiot. She thinks Delilah is in a relationship with me. You tend to run your mouth when you're drunk. Just go out drinking with her. Let it slip I’m having a bad night with Delilah. I come to the bar. And watch, she’ll try to be all over me in a second.”

“After you told her Delilah is in a relationship with you.”

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. “Tell you what. We tell Delilah and get her involved somehow. She can help us handle it.”

Cole snorted, stretching slightly. “Handle it, she’ll probably be like a fucking assassin. Don’t drag Delilah into our bullshit. I’ll handle Jewel.”

“How?”

Cole grinned, the conversation ending as the door to my room opened. A very ruffled-looking Delilah emerged with large bags under her eyes. This schedule was killing her despite trying her best to travel early to her other job. The drive was close to two hours from Cascadia to Portland one way. Cole and I started to insist on Wednesdays and Thursdays to stay in a hotel overnight when we noticed how tired she was getting home. Choosing to drive and meet her after her shift to have dinner and an excuse.

She hardly said anything, giving a small wave as she exited to the shower. The moment the water turned on, making it feel safe enough to talk again as Cole leaned forward. “Well, I do have an idea.”

“Which is?”

“She’s fucking exhausted, and she’s jumping rooms. We used to share a room as kids so I don’t see an issue with a California king if we can find a place closer to Portland. That way we’re all just having to drive an hour there and back. That’s not as bad.”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised Cole was the one suggesting something like that. “You realize that’s short of trying to settle down with her, right?”

“What? No, it’s not. It just makes sense,” Cole said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “Stop making it weird or she won’t go for it. It’ll be cost-effective for her to split rent with us three ways, we don’t have to do this room rotation crap where she’s losing her mind finding her clothes. If she even wants something special in a certain house, we could always buy it too, but I thought renting might be—”

“No, let's stick with renting. Present it the way you’re going to,” I encouraged, not letting him derail himself or discourage what he was proposing. “I just don’t quite get how that works with Jewel?”

Cole pointed at me with a grin. “That is what I will handle. Don’t worry. She’ll either get the point and we can move on with our work and friendship. Or she’ll be gone the next day, one way or another.”

“I don’t like the idea of ‘or another,’” I admitted, glancing at the shower door. Worried Delilah could come in the line of fire if Jewel decided to be a little… crazy.

“It’ll be fine. Trust me,” Cole said with a small wink, picking up his paper, unconcerned once more.