Boston

"B! We have a few reservations for tonight and we need to get prep going!" Jackson yells at me as soon as I'm through the back door of the restaurant.

  It's 4P.M. and I am usually here before this, but I had a meeting at a bank this afternoon. No one is taking me all that seriously, being a young guy who's trying to save his brother's business. And my brother has terrible credit, I'm finding out. Alexander made a ton of mistakes and I'm not sure I can clean up the mess. It's a hell of a mess.

  "I'm on it," I yell back to Jackson, and then start delegating tasks to everyone in the kitchen.

  Jackson is the front of house manager, and he's pretty damn good at it. He takes care of the tables and keeps the waitresses in line. There's three of them, waitresses, and there's me and two guys back here in the kitchen. It's a busy area of Manhattan and Alexander knew that. He knew taking over an old pub and making it an upscale restaurant could be good. He went to school and learned how to make amazing food. But he wasn't good with money and he wasn't good at managing people. He was a damn good chef, though, which I am not.

  I'm just learning as I go.

  It's a busy night, as usual, but we get by without many issues. The actually day to day work is fine, it's the behind the scenes crap I've been dealing with that is wearing me down. The bills piling up on Alexander's office desk. The calls from the banks and the people he's borrowed from. The ordering, the cleaning, everything. It's too much.

  My mom is right though. I don't really have a right to complain. I took this on, knowing it wasn't going to be easy. And I have no obligation to this place, or these people.

  I'm doing it for my brother. 

  It's after 11P.M. that evening when I'm in the office and there's a knock on the door. I'm right in the middle of trying to get the order through for the meat for the next week, so I grumble, not wanting to be interrupted.

  "Yeah?" I call out, even though the door is closed.

  When it opens, I see that it's Lauren, my brother's girlfriend, who often hangs out or helps out wherever needed. I'm surprised to see her now, when the restaurant is closed and mostly everyone is gone home.

  Lauren is petite and half Mexican, with dark hair and eyes. She's always been nice to me, even though I'm her boyfriend's younger brother. She's well travelled and well educated. To say I have been crushing on her since I first met her, a year ago, is an understatement.

  "Hey," I say, barely glancing up at her.

  Besides the order, I've been starting at bills and invoices for fifteen minutes and my vision is blurry. I'm exhausted from the day and it would be nice to get home and crash.

  "Hi." She's wearing a tight black skirt and a blue tank top and her hair is back in a tight bun.

  She's gorgeous, and twenty two, and also works as a model part time. Alexander met her at a bar over a year ago, and they have been together ever since.

  "You need something?" I ask her, because I really just want to finish up what I'm doing and get home.

  She walks in further and closes the door behind her. "I went to see Alex today."

  I swallow hard. I'm not in the mood to start thinking abut my brother right now. Most days, I work hard and do everything I need to do and barely think about the fact that my brother is laying in the hospital in a coma. "I was there yesterday," I say back. "No change."

  "Yeah. One of the nurses told me to keep talking to him. She said he can hear us-"

  "Lauren, I have stuff to do here and I really want to get home," I interrupt her.

  "I know. I'm sorry. I just... miss him. I just..." She lets her voice trail off and walks closer to me and stops right by the desk, where I'm sitting.

  I know what she's doing. She's tried it one other time. She's lonely and sad and she thinks I am interested in making her feel better. She thinks it's okay because we're both sad. We were drinking two weeks ago, after hours here at Swirlies, and she kissed me. I didn't even immediately push her away, but then I did. I get it, her boyfriend is in a coma and it has been two months. But he's my brother.

  "Lauren... you should go," I say, before I let something happen that I know we shouldn't do.

  I've haven't been making the best choices since I've been here, either. I've gone to bars late and night and had sex with random women. I've called and left messages for Sarah, telling her I miss her and want her back. I just need to blow off steam sometimes. But I can't do this with Lauren. Not sober, anyway.

  "Okay... if you want me to go," she says, but she places her hand on my forearm and it sends a chill down my spine.

  Fuck.

  I stand up quickly, and I know this moment is the one where I decide what happens. I should step back, but instead I pull her close to me. We're breathing the same air for a moment before I kiss her. She immediately moans and leans into me and I reach down and grab her ass and get her closer. I need her, even though I know it's wrong. I need to get off and she wants it, too. I lean down and bite her neck as she reaches to undo my pants. It's fast and hot and over way sooner than I'd like, but that's for the best. Once we're back upright and clothes fixed up, she looks up at me with those big eyes.

  "You can't tell anyone," I tell her, seriously.

  "I was going to say the same thing," she says back, then licks her lips before turning and walking back to the door.

*

  I wake up the next day and regret it, completely. I can't trust Lauren to not tell anyone, and now I've really put myself in a bad situation. If Jackson finds out, he'll kill me. Damn it, what did I do? I'm not stupid, I know better than to do what I did.

  My phone is ringing as I'm drinking my coffee, thinking about how much I've fucked up in such a short amount of time.

  It's the bank.

  "Hello, Boston Hatt speaking."

  "Hello Mr. Hatt. It's Louise Marner, from the Bank of New York. I had a meeting with Albert Cross, who you met with yesterday."

  "Okay." My heart is racing.

  "I understand you need some time extended on the loan, which we fully understand, but I can't authorize it without your brother or the co-signer agreeing in person."

  "My brother's in a coma. It's been two months."

  "I understand that, but there's not much else I can do," she says, with only a bit of concern in her voice.

  "The co-signer?" I ask, even though I'm not sure I want to know.

  "Someone named Mr. Thomas Raine."

  Thomas Raine? Who the hell is that?

  "Okay, I'll see what I can find out. Thank you," I finish.

  "We'll be in touch, Mr. Hatt."

  Great. Alexander purchased a ton of new equipment and took out loans and borrowed money to pay for that and the renovations, two years ago, and now it's on me to figure out how to sort this out.

  A part of me wants to take my mother's advice and just back out of it all. There's nothing tying me to the restaurant or to the city. But It's been two months and I'm really in deep here. And even though I have now had sex with his girlfriend, I want my brother to wake up and still have his restaurant. I want Alexander to be proud of me for stepping him. I want... my brother back.

  I call Jackson and leave a message that I'm taking the day off to deal with bank stuff. He texts me back and asks me to come in later, for a couple of hours, so I agree. I always give in to Jackson. He was like my second brother when we were growing up, and now we need each other more than ever. I am realizing that while I say I'm here for Alexander, I'm just as much here for Jackson. Leaving the city now would be really screwing over him, too.

  I've been close to calling my dad and begging to borrow money to fix this mess. Once, I called and let it ring, but he didn't answer. He would do it, but it would hang over my head forever. He has more money than he needs and he lives alone in California, working his life away. But I know that Alexander would hate it if I did that. And I'm still banking on my brother waking up.