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Tori grinned as she looked up at him. “You’ve put on some serious muscle.”
    â€œIt’s a lot of grunt work.” And it had felt good after years toiling behind a desk.
    He thought about whether to ask about Bex now or save it for later when his brothers were around. But the decision was made for him when Liam and Kyle walked in. Okay, it wasn’t everyone, but it was close enough. Evan would hate the confrontation anyway.
    Ultimately, Hayden didn’t have to say anything.
    â€œHay, can we talk to you for a second?” Liam asked, running his hand through his dark hair, which was standing completely on end. In fact, both he and Kyle looked as though they’d just rolled out of bed. Literally.
    Hayden casually sipped his coffee, but on the inside his emotions had begun to seethe. The shock he’d felt at seeing Bex and hearing about her job had transitioned to anger and hurt.
    He gestured toward his sisters. “Let me guess, you two ran into Bex. Then you texted these two”—he pointed toward his brothers—“to meet you down here. That sound about right?”
    â€œNailed it,” Kyle said. His blond hair was just as tousled as Liam’s. More so, since it was a bit longer. “Look, we’re really sorry we didn’t tell you. We’d planned to when you got home. You know, on Tuesday .”
    Hayden’s anger got the better of him. “I’m terribly sorry my surprise fucked up your plans. Guess that’ll teach me to try to be the fun one.” He sent a pointed look at Kyle since he seemed to have the market on fun. But that’s how it was in their family. Everyone had a place, a role, an identity. And forget trying to break out of that.
    â€œWe deserve that,” Tori said softly. “And you are the fun one. So much more fun than these losers.” She rolled her eyes at Liam and Kyle.
    Hayden appreciated her saying that, but knew it wasn’t true. Kyle was the life of every party. And while Liam wasn’t fun, he was exciting, what with his daredevil adventures and playboy attitude.
    Meanwhile, Hayden was dependable. Friendly. Boring.
    Geez, he was seriously jet-lagged. He shook his head and worked to gain control of his emotions. But it was hard. As the unplanned seventh kid with sextuplet siblings who’d had their own freaking reality show, he’d always felt like the odd kid out.
    Liam threw an irritated glance at their brother. “Kyle didn’t mean to say it like that. He meant we wanted to tell you in person. We thought we owed it to you.”
    Hayden wasn’t buying it. “I’d think you’d owe it to me to talk to me before you actually hired her. Tell me, Liam, how would you feel if we’d hired Whitney Parker?”
    She was the woman Liam had hooked up with for a while and who had tried to extort him for sex a few months ago when her father had filed an appeal against their zoning change for the hotel. She’d offered to make the legal battle go away if Liam would sleep with her.
    â€œYou can’t compare her to Bex,” Liam said, frowning. “Please, for the love of God, don’t compare her to Bex. We like Bex. We always have.”
    That was great, but Bex hadn’t dumped them. If she had, maybe then they wouldn’t like her. Hayden hadn’t, but at the same time, he hadn’t been able to stop loving her either. Not until Alex’s death had given him the wake-up call he’d needed to finally put his life in motion.
    He didn’t want to be bothered by Bex working here. But was his anger about her, or was it about his siblings leaving him out of a decision and once again making him feel like the odd one out? He realized he didn’t want to address either one. It was too damn much effort.
    â€œYou know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m not here for the day-to-day anymore, so what you decide to do hiring-wise isn’t my