novelxo Elf Against the Wall: Chapter 24
My brother hissed like a rain-drenched cat as I took the three-piece suit out of its garment bag.
“You’re going to wear that?” The disgust twisted Hudson’s face.
“Some of us are grown adults and can wear a suit without complaining.”
“They’re itchy.”
“You’re a toddler. I don’t know how Gracie puts up with you.” I shook out the trousers.
“You’re supposed to be her murderous boyfriend. You could wear jeans,” Hudson argued.
“Someone’s jealous I can pull off the James Bond look better than they can.”
Jake came at me with a small pair of tweezers. “Just let me get a couple of those nose hairs.”
“No. Get away from me. I don’t have—ow!”
He’d jabbed me in the cheek with the tweezers.
“Get out of my room.”
“I put condoms in your wallet,” Jake called as he walked away. “I see how the Murphy women drool all over you. We don’t want to be back here in nine months while you juggle your baby mamas. You need to start putting him on those jobs that require flirting, Hudson.”
“The problem is that he’s good-looking, but the minute he opens his mouth, you realize he’s a complete imbecile.” My eldest brother smirked.
“I said out!”
I combed my hair back with a severe side part then gelled it in place and inspected my reflection in the cracked mirror hanging above the dresser propped up on repurposed 1970s encyclopedias.
Maybe if my ancestors hadn’t lost the family fortune, I would have been a billionaire with women falling all over me. Not a walking failure.
I pulled on the suit jacket and let it settle on my shoulders, forcing my posture military straight.
Hopefully, if all went well, this would be the last time I had to deal with the Murphys.
“You look like a terrorist,” Talbot remarked cheerfully as I took the metal staircase two at a time down to the field office.
Christmas carols blared from Jake’s laptop as he set up a command center with multiple computer monitors.
“Cuff links.” Lawrence dropped the heavy pieces of silver in my outstretched palm.
“Those are mine,” Hudson growled.
“You’re never going to wear them,” Lawrence shot back. “Getting you in a clean Polo requires a written edict from heaven. Gracie said he could borrow them.”
“He has to look the part,” Talbot quipped as he rolled the little locomotive around on the desk. I’d been working on repairing it and was waiting on a new switchboard.
“Aren’t the Murphys going to think something’s up if you show up like this?” Hudson was concerned.
“They’re used to me now. Mostly. Once they’re all drunk, I’ll just have to bait them into talking. They’ll only see the suit. I’ll get confirmation of the fraud they committed then done, all wrapped up in a neat package. Merry Christmas.”
“What about Evie?” Lawrence looked at me expectantly.
“What about her?” I fastened the cuff links.
“You still have to find proof that her ex threw her under the bus.”
“That is not the priority this evening,” I warned my bothers. “Clearing the ledger is.”
“You’re just going to bounce on her?” Talbot seemed worried.
“She is not important.” I hardened my heart as I said it.
“You could have a celebratory hookup,” Jake goaded. “I bet she’d be fun.”
“She’d totally be down for riding you like a motorcycle.”
I kicked Lawrence in the back of the knee with the sharp heel of the dress boot, making him yelp.
“Make sure you all are watching on comms.” I checked my watch then stuck the comm radio in my ear.
“I am not lending you my truck,” Hudson warned me when he saw me near his keys.
I picked up the motorcycle helmet.
“I don’t want your dumb truck, Hudson. I’m making an entrance.”