Chapter 9
Of all the speakeasies in the world, he had to walk into mine.
Sophia
I scowl at the computer. “Why aren’t you working, damn it?”
“Try restarting it. Restarting always works for me,” Maya suggests and I startle.
I forgot I wasn’t alone. In Atlanta, I had my own corner office. At Five Fathoms Brewing, I share an office above the bar and restaurant with Maya and Nova.
“How is restarting my computer going to help me prove I legally represent Five Fathoms Brewing to these social media jerks?”
“Someone’s grumpy. Do you need a coffee?” she asks.
“I don’t want coffee,” I grumble.
Coffee is how this whole mess began. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since I moved in with Flynn and I already nearly succumbed to temptation and embarrassed myself. At least no one saw me throw myself at Flynn this time.
“Can I help?” Nova asks.
I catch myself before I snark at her. Being bitchy to my friends is not going to help matters. “No, but thank you.”
Chloe sails into the room. “I know what you need.”
“What are you doing up here? Aren’t you supposed to be managing the restaurant?”
Chloe manages the bar and restaurant for Five Fathoms since the idea of sitting behind a boring desk all day gives her hives.
She winks. “Don’t you worry. I’ve got everything under control.”
“How awesome for you,” I mutter as I return my attention to my screen and the stupid bot that’s claiming I’m a bot. “I am not a bot. I’m human.”
Chloe drags me away from my desk. “Let’s not break the computer because you’re sexually frustrated.”
“I’m not sexually frustrated.”
Maya giggles. “And I’m not shy and afraid of my own shadow.”
I frown. “You’re not afraid of your own shadow.”
“Stop trying to distract us from the main topic of conversation.”
My nose wrinkles. “What’s the main topic of conversation?”
Chloe fists her hands on her hips. “How you’re sexually frustrated because you’re living in a house with the man you want to strip naked and taste every inch of.”
I bury my face in my hands. “I want to go back to Atlanta.” Where no one knows how obsessed I am with my brother’s best friend.
“What happened?” Chloe asks.
“Nothing happened.”
She snorts. “You’ve been a grump all day. What happened?”
“I’m not a grump.”
“I hate to disagree,” Nova says. “But you have been a grump all day. Not as grumpy as Hudson but a grump nevertheless.”
“Who’s Hudson?”
“I concur with Nova,” Paisley says.
I glance around the room. Paisley shouldn’t be here. She should be at the brewery across from the parking lot.
Maya points to her phone. “Speaker.”
Chloe claps her hands. “We can sit around here all day debating the level of Sophia’s grumpiness—”
“Grumpiness is not a word,” Paisley interrupts to say.
“Or,” Chloe raises her voice to drown out Paisley’s protests, “we can do something about it.”
Maya groans. “I have a feeling I don’t want to hear what she says next.”
I’m with her on this one. Chloe and her ideas are dangerous.
“Let’s hit the bar.”
I shake my head. “No way. It’s Mermaid Karaoke Week.”
Mermaid Karaoke Week on Smuggler’s Hideaway is similar to Spring Break in Florida. Except most of the visitors are women. The last thing I need is to bump into Flynn picking up a mermaid. Having a cop for a brother wouldn’t save me from jail for gouging out a woman’s eyes.
She grins. “Not at Rumrunner .”
“Don’t you have a bar and restaurant to manage?”
“It’s Wednesday. The least busy day of the week.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “What other excuses do you have?”
“I have a ton of work to do.”
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.”
I scowl. I don’t want my work to wait. I want to show my friends I can do this job.
“I don’t want to.”
Maya sighs. “I don’t want to either, but I have a feeling I get no say in what’s happening.”
Chloe points at her. “You are not staying home with your books tonight.”
“I do more than read, you know. I am taking classes to become a CPA,” Maya says.
Nova shakes her head. “You don’t need to be a CPA to be the financial guru of Five Fathoms.”
Chloe wags her finger at Maya. “Plus, you’re on summer break.”
Maya sighs. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“But I—” Paisley begins.
“Nope.” Chloe cuts her off. “You are coming with us. Wrap up whatever Freaky Friday thing you’re working on and get your behind over here.”
“Freaky Friday is not an experiment. It’s a movie,” Paisley says before she hangs up.
“Whoo-hoo!” Nova cheers. “The girls are back in town and we’re going out tonight!”
Chloe high-fives her. “At least someone’s excited.”
“I’m excited I don’t have to deal with bots anymore,” I say as I shut down my computer.
Chloe herds us out the door and into the parking lot. “Sophia’s driving.”
“Why do I have to drive?”
She rolls her eyes. “Because you’re the only one with a car.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
Chloe, Nova, Maya, and Paisley all live in Smuggler’s Rest where the brewery is located. And where I thought I would be living. No. Where I will be living. Just as soon as my water problem is solved.
Paisley rushes out of the brewery and we pile into my car for the short drive to Rumrunner . The bar is a speakeasy complete with a hidden entrance in an alley. Tourists are required to get a password from their website but locals are admitted without one.
“Hey, Trent,” Chloe greets when he opens the speakeasy window.
He opens the door and motions us in. “Slim pickings today. Most of the local men are at the Bootlegger .”
“Good,” I mutter as I pass him.
We settle into a booth in the corner near the dance floor. A band is getting ready to play on the stage. They must not be local since I don’t recognize any of the players.
A waitress arrives at our table. “Hey, Sophia. I heard you were back.”
I jump out of the booth to give her a hug. “Harper. It’s good to see you. I didn’t expect you to still be working here.”
“I own the place now.”
I feel a ping of jealousy – I was supposed to be the successful one from our high school graduating class – but I force a smile. “Congratulations. Good for you.”
“A round of moonshine shots,” Chloe orders when I sit down.
I hold up my hand. “I can’t drink. I’m driving.”
Nova pats my hand. “No worries. You can get a taxi home.”
I groan. “No, I don’t want Shepard driving me home. He’ll phone my parents to tell them I’ve been out drinking all night before I make it inside the house.”
“So?” Paisley asks. “You’re a grown woman. Who cares what your parents think?”
“I care when they interrogate me about why I came home alone or why I didn’t ask them to join us.”
“Your parents are cool. I can ring them now.” Maya picks up her phone, but I bat it away.
“No.”
I inhale a deep breath and calm my thoughts before I speak again. My friends don’t have the same type of relationship with their parents as I do. There’s a reason they spent most of their time at my house growing up. I should be thankful for my crazy parents.
“I want a night out with my best friends.”
Nova beams at me. “We missed you.”
I squeeze her arm. “I missed you, too.”
“A round of moonshine shots and some smuggler appetizers coming right up,” Harper repeats our order.
“We didn’t order appetizers,” I say.
“Trust me. You’re going to want food in your stomach.” She winks.
Guessing by how Chloe’s bouncing in her seat, she’s right.
The shots arrive and Chloe raises hers in the air. “To good friends.”
“And beer!” We chime in as we clink our glasses together.
The moonshine burns as it travels down my throat. I barely manage to hold in a cough. Moonshine on Smuggler’s Hideaway isn’t the same as the moonshine you can buy in other places. There aren’t any fancy flavors. No blackberry or apple pie to mask the alcohol.
Moonshine is moonshine the way the smugglers made it during prohibition. Except for the poison. I hope.
“Having good friends increases your life expectancy,” Paisley proclaims.
I frown at her. “I had friends in Atlanta.”
Chloe wraps her arm around my shoulders. “But none as good as us.”
Harper returns with our appetizers and a round of beer. Other girls may drink fancy cocktails with umbrellas in them or sip wine in elegant glasses. Not us. We’re beer lovers at heart. Which is good since we founded a brewery together.
I shove a crabmeat ball into my mouth and moan. “There’s nothing as good as seafood on the island.”
“The girls are back in town. The girls are back in town,” Chloe sings.
“Weston probably has extra patrols out tonight,” Maya says.
“We’re not eighteen anymore. We are no longer troublemakers. We are serious business owners,” I claim.
Paisley raises her eyebrows. “And you didn’t get drunk last Christmas and decide to go skinny dipping with Sammy.”
“No one told me the punch was spiked.” I’m a liar. The punch is always spiked at my house.
“Drunk poker is going to be way more fun with you back home,” Nova declares.
“I can’t believe everyone is still playing drunk poker with my parents every month.”
“I’m going to be playing drunk poker when I’m blind and deaf,” Chloe says.
Paisley purses her lips. “It’s literally impossible to play poker if you can’t see the cards.”
“Good evening, Bootleggers!”
“Oh goodie. The band’s starting. I want to dance.” Chloe shoves me out of the booth.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way I can get out of dancing tonight,” I say as I stand for her to get up.
“Nope.” She grins. “Especially considering who just showed up.”
I follow her gaze. Flynn.
My nerve endings tingle as they come alive. My body is ready to sprint across the room and jump into his waiting arms.
Except his arms aren’t waiting. And he’s scowling. Just like my big brother.
There’s only one thing to do. I follow Chloe onto the dance floor. I will ignore Flynn the same way I ignore my actual big brother.
My heart snorts. Sure, you will.