AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then I’m your boss.”
It wasn’t a question.
I nodded again.
“Then I really fucking need you to stay away from me tonight.”
I sucked in a breath, shocked by the roughness in his voice. I didn’t even know what to say.
Not that it mattered.
Because he walked away from me.
I stood there, hands shaking a little. My knees felt weak and I was unable to move. I was afraid that I might have just lost everything I had never even known I wanted.
I suddenly became aware that Jolene Hart, who was a country music sensation, and one of my brother and MacKay’s friends, was standing a foot away and clearly had heard at least a portion of our conversation.
“He could have at least gotten you a drink before he stomped off,” she said with a sympathetic smile.
I laughed uneasily, no clue what Jolene was thinking or how potentially bad that could be. She was one of our brand influencers and I had to play it cool. Also, she was wrong. MacKay didn’t owe me anything. I didn’t deserve anything.
“I’m a bit of a lightweight,” I said. “Okay, a lot of a lightweight. It’s probably better he didn’t get me a drink. Ironic given that this is a launch party for Four Brothers rye, right?” I smiled brightly.
She was having none of me trying to turn the conversation to the label. Jolene, who was wearing a teeny tiny cocktail dress covered in sapphire sequins, looped her arm through mine and pulled me forward. “Then let’s get some of those chocolates over on the dessert table. A girl needs some form of comfort when her man is being a dickhead.”
“Who is being a dickhead?” I asked uneasily. Jolene’s boyfriend Chance Rivers, who was also her writing partner, wasn’t at the party. It was my understanding he was sober and steering clear of alcohol related events at this point in his recovery.
I was going to pretend she wasn’t talking about MacKay because that would not be good for his image. For the distillery.
“MacKay. I heard what he said.”
Shit.
“How long have y’all been together?”
I stumbled in my heels. “Oh, no, no, we’re not together. This was just a… work thing.”
Jolene stopped leading me and stared up at me. In spite of her sky high heels, she was still substantially shorter than me. “Honey, you are not fooling anyone. Especially someone who has made an entire career out of singing about relationships. I saw you looking at him. You’re in love with him.”
My acting skills obviously needed work. Or maybe I was just tired of trying to pretend. I’d never been good at it. Not even as a kid. I wore my feelings on my face.
“My brother doesn’t know,” I blurted out.
Her eyebrows shot up but she just slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. “That’s fine. Your brother doesn’t need to know all of your personal business. Mine certainly does not.”
I wasn’t sure why I’d even said that, except I didn’t want her to confront MacKay in any way. Or even casually mention anything in front of him or Cash. We were over before we’d started and I didn’t any of that being introduced at work.
“But, it sounds like you and MacKay need to sort out what you’re doing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so frustrated. He’s usually a chill guy. Even with that psycho he dated before.” Jolene started walking again.
It seemed everyone thought his ex was awful. I wondered what he had seen in her and what that said about his interest in me. Maybe I was awful too and I just didn’t know it. That was a terrifying thought.
We approached the dessert table and Jolene picked up some little chocolate confection and popped the whole thing in her mouth. “I hope someone took a picture of that and posts it,” she said, after she chewed and swallowed.
I picked up my own chocolate. I could use a little sugar comfort. “They say chocolate pairs well with bourbon. I think it pairs well with my mouth.”
Jolene laughed. “It’s better than a lot of things I’ve put in my mouth in my twenty-five years.” She winked.
I almost choked on the mini dessert.
