A Quartet of Desire

Chapter 22: They're Gone

*Sean's POV*

"Shit," Ryan mumbled to himself while looking at his phone.

I sighed, only moments ago thinking that this day couldn't get any worse. It was rare for us to have to work on a Saturday morning, which only soured our moods further to have our weekend stripped from us. We had been working long before the sun rose and were making little to no progress on anything. With every step forward we were shoved two steps back. Whatever new round of bad news Ryan just received was only icing on the cake.

"What is it now?" I grumbled, not pulling my eyes from the inventory list in front of me.

"Dad," he droned, drawing the word out for two full syllables. "He texted both of us and just said 'Home. Now.' So apparently he's pissed about something."

Groaning, I leaned against the doorframe. We had spent all morning double checking one of our warehouses that had been tampered with the night before, and I was already exhausted and frustrated. "Probably heard about how I almost broke Saoirse's leg."

"Or about how I almost killed Claire from embarrassment," Ryan sighed and leaned against a shelf. I glanced at the shelf to make sure it was sturdy enough to hold his weight; the last thing I needed was for him to knock over another damn shelf. He ran a hand through his messy hair and rolled his eyes. "He probably thinks we did all that stupid shit last night on purpose to get out of the marriages."

For a moment, I thought about suggesting we pretended like we never saw the message for another hour or so, but that would only make him angrier. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense since we haven't done much to show them that we are actually trying now. Now's as good a time as any to take a fucking break. Might as well go now and get that lecture over with then grab lunch."

Ryan and I grabbed our jackets and left the warehouse. While I drove us to our parents' home, Ryan sent out a new work schedule to our employees. Security in all of our warehouses would be increased from today forward until we figured out what the hell was going on with our shipments. I was getting tired of dealing with this shit already, and that meant that everyone was buckling down until we got to the bottom of it.

"I know I probably shouldn't say this," Ryan started, "but I feel like the bad dates with Claire and Saoirse should be low priority right now. We've clearly got issues going on in the business, and that needs to be our main focus. There'll be time to figure things out with the girls in the future."

Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't disagree with you, but don't let that leave this car."

"I know, I was just saying," he replied, slumping back in his seat.

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet as we listened to the news over the radio. Ryan continued checking in with our various teams while I hurdled us down the interstate. When we arrived at the house, I was surprised to see Mickey's vehicle parked out front. I parked next to him, and paused before exiting the vehicle. Both Ryan and I sluggishly stepping out of the car, neither of us ready to face our father's wrath over such trivial matters.

Jackson met us at the front door and pointed towards the stairwell. There was no playful spark in his face today; whatever was going on was serious. "Your dad's up in his office."

"The hell is going on?" Ryan asked.

We only received a headshake from Jackson and another gesture for us to head upstairs. Ryan and I exchanged a look before ascending the stairs to our dad's office. When I opened the door, our dad was pacing the room on the phone. "Alright, then shoot me a message when they do."