An Excerpt from Beyond The Hate
Chapter 1
Paisley – a woman who has no intention of being dragged into her friends’ matchmaking games
Paisley
“T his is utterly ridiculous. I'm not doing it.”
“Please, please, please, please,” Chloe begs as she jumps up and down.
“I'm not the singer of the group.”
I nod to Maya who holds up her hands. “I'm not allowed to sing. Mermaid Karaoke is for single ladies.”
I hate to repeat myself but, “Mermaid Karaoke is ridiculous.”
Women dressed up as mermaids – complete with seashell bras – and singing on a stage to attract men is absurd.
“It’s a tradition,” Sophia says.
I purse my lips since she is unfortunately correct. Smuggler’s Hideaway – the island on which we live – is fond of hosting quirky and mystical based events to attract tourists. Based on how crowded the Bootlegger bar is, it’s working.
“Come on,” Nova cajoles. “You’re the only single member of our group left.”
Thanks for the reminder. Merely a year ago at this very Mermaid Karaoke festival all five of us were single.
But then Sophia got together with her brother’s best friend, the boy she’s been in love with forever. Chloe married her neighbor to save his daughter and fell in love. Nova got pregnant with the resort owner’s baby and now they’re engaged. And, finally, Maya is at long last engaged to the man she’s been obsessed with since high school.
A wave of jealousy punches me in the stomach, but I ignore it. I’m happy for Maya. I truly am. It’s not her fault the boy I liked in high school is a Grade A asshole.
“None of you sang Mermaid Karaoke when you were single. In fact, I distinctly remember us avoiding Bootlegger and drinking at the Rumrunner bar instead.”
Maya holds up her hand. “I sang Mermaid Karaoke.”
“And you were marvelous.”
I’m not just saying this to give my shy friend a confidence boost. She really was marvelous. Maya can sing. Which is why Chloe dared her to join the choir in high school. Maya was afraid to join even though she loves singing. But no one can resist a dare from Chloe. She won’t let you.
Nova smiles as she motions to the stage. “Why don’t you go be marvelous?”
I snort. “Because the sound of my singing reminds Chloe of fingernails on a chalkboard.”
Chloe cringes. “I didn’t say the sound was bad.”
I hold up my hand. “There’s no reason to backpedal. I’m self aware. I know I can’t sing.”
Sophia leans close to whisper in Chloe’s ear. “Too bad she isn’t self aware about how much she wants to get into Eli’s pants.”
Eli. It always comes back to Eli with this group. This is the problem with having friends you’ve known since you were in diapers. They know all about your past – including secret crushes you’d rather everyone forgot about.
Although, they don’t know my biggest secret. I never did tell them why Eli moved from the ‘crush’ column to the ‘I want nothing to do with him’ column in high school. And I never will. I prefer to avoid humiliation when I can. Thus, my refusal to sing Mermaid Karaoke.
Fortunately for me, I have an ace up my sleeve.
“You do know mermaids aren’t real.”
Chloe gasps and Nova clutches her chest while Maya glares at me. The residents of Smuggler’s Hideaway are big believers in mermaids. There’s even a legend about a mermaid who threw herself off of the cliffs near Mermaid Mystical Gardens when her lover drowned.
The legends are good for tourism. They’re also a fallacy.
And completely unnecessary to draw tourists to the island. They are enough true stories about smugglers and their use of the island to hide their loot during Prohibition. There are even ‘secret’ underground passages under city hall visitors can tour.
Sophia sighs. “I thought we were past this when you agreed to name the Saison beer Mystic Mermaid Saison.”
“I agreed because you convinced me the name would be good for marketing.”
Sophia is the marketing manager of the brewery the five of us own, Five Fathoms Brewing. Since marketing is not my area of expertise – my expertise is limited to the brewing of beer – I followed her advice with regard to the name of our latest Saison beer.
“Based on sales, the idea was great,” Maya says.
Maya is the financial manager for the brewery. Sales and numbers I understand. They are fact based after all.
“Customers are loving it,” Chloe adds. “I ran out of stock on the first night at the bar.”
In addition to brewing beer, Five Fathoms also has a bar and restaurant. Chloe manages them.
“And it’s easy to sell to our clients,” Nova says.
Everything is easy to sell for Nova. The woman smiles and people rush to do her bidding. Which is good for Five Fathoms since she’s our sales manager.
Sophia glares at me. I lift my eyebrows. “What?”
“You changed the subject to beer.”
“You’re the one who brought up our Saison beer.”
“If you don’t go up there and sing, I’m going to steal moonshine from those women.” Chloe points to a table of women dressed as mermaids. Guessing by the way they’re swaying to the music, they’ve had enough moonshine.
I snort. “You’ve been eyeing their table for five minutes. You’re going to steal their moonshine anyway.”
She huffs. “Could you be less observant for five minutes?”
Not really. I’ve tried to be less observant. To not notice everything happening around me. To not remember every conversation we have. To bite my tongue before I note another fact no one cares about.
It didn’t work so I leaned into it instead. And Paisley the Perpetual Know It All was born.
My stomach sours. I sincerely hate the nickname everyone in high school loved to taunt me with. I especially hate the boy who coined the phrase.
And there I go thinking about Eli again.
I simply can’t eradicate him from my thoughts. The cute boy from high school with jet black hair and bright blue eyes has become a handsome man with a deep, gravelly voice I long to hear the sound of. And then there are those muscles. Why does a billionaire have a need for strong biceps and wide shoulders?
He should—
I cut those thoughts off. I am usually in perfect control of my thoughts. But not when it comes to him .
I blame his return to the island. I was fine when he was off living his billionaire life somewhere else. But he moved back to Smuggler’s Hideaway a few months ago and now my mind conjures him at the oddest of times. It’s beyond annoying.
There is one surefire way to get my mind and everyone else’s off of Eli. I can challenge Chloe.
“I dare you to jump on this table, run across the room to the bar without touching the floor and without getting caught by Sloane.”
“Or any of the security,” Sophia adds.
Chloe rubs her hands together. “I got this.”
“I thought you weren’t the wild child anymore,” Nova says.
Chloe has a bit of a reputation for being wild. Although, really, no one in this friend group can point fingers. We’ve all gotten into our fair share of trouble. None of which was instigated by me. Naturally.
Chloe winks at Nova. “I’m not a child.” She kicks off her shoes before jumping onto the table.
“Maybe we should add she’s not allowed to waste alcohol,” Maya mutters as she rushes to save our beers before Chloe knocks them off of our table.
“Don’t you worry. I don’t abuse alcohol. Are we timing this?”
Sophia jiggles her phone. “Got it.”
“Don’t use your phone,” Nova says. “We’ll need it to contact your brother, Weston, when Chloe’s detained.”
Chloe snorts. “Weston’s not the only cop on this island. My husband’s one, too. I’m not getting arrested.”
Maya sighs. “She truly believes she won’t get arrested because Lucas is a police officer.”
For good reason. Lucas would never allow her to be arrested. Even if she deserves it. Which she often does in my opinion.
“Ten, nine, eight,” Sophia counts down.
Others in the bar notice Chloe on the table and Sophia counting down and join in. They have no idea what’s happening but smugglers are troublemakers down to their bones. If they notice shenanigans, they won’t snitch. They’ll sooner join in. And let chaos reign.
“Five, four, three, two, one. GO!”
Chloe jumps to the next table and people scramble to remove their drinks before they fall. “Bar.” She motions in the direction of the bar and people hurry out of her way.
The mermaid stops singing and the music changes to Bad Boys. Chloe throws her hands up in the air and sings along. I cringe. There’s a reason no one besides Maya ever sang karaoke.
The bartender climbs onto the bar. She crosses her arms and glares at Chloe. Uh oh. Sloane’s pissed.
I cough to hide my grin. I knew there was no way Sloane wouldn’t stop Chloe. The bartender has had her eye on us since we showed up at the bar. And she wasn’t subtle about it either. Nope. She tapped her eyes and shouted “I’m watching you!” across the bar.
Chloe skids to a halt on the table in front of Sloane.
“It’s as if you want me to ban you from my bar,” Sloane says.
“You ban us from the bar Five Fathoms won’t supply you beer anymore.”
“You willing to take the risk?” Sloane challenges.
The door bangs open and Lucas and Weston stride inside. They must be on duty since they’re in uniform. Chloe’s husband, Lucas, takes in the scene and drops his chin to his chest with a sigh.
Weston slaps him on the back. “You owe me twenty bucks.”
Three men rush into the bar behind Lucas and Weston. Maya, Nova, and Sophia hurry across the bar to their partners – Caleb, Hudson, and Flynn. And I’m left behind.
I’m always left behind. The sole woman in the group who doesn’t have a man. And never will. Been there. Done that. Have the scars on my heart to prove it.
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