Chapter Twenty-Six
“I’M NOT FIRING Luz.”
Sammie stood in the doorway of Robert Everly’s office. Tension lined her shoulders and a vicious rage seeped into her quiet words.
Robert looked up, his lips a thin line. He squinted at her. “Yes, you will.”
“No.” Sammie stepped fully into the office.
The place was meticulously arranged, everything perfectly placed.
Emotionless minimalism.A stark contrast to her cluttered, tiny desk in the brewhouse.
“I won’t do it. Luz has worked hard for this company.
She’s good at her job. If anyone is being let go, it needs to be Carson. ”
Robert watched her for a too-long moment before a sharp chuckle left him. “You don’t get to make that call. Carson stays, Luz goes, end of discussion.”
Sammie leaned forward, resting her hands on his desk, towering over him. Robert shrank back, a small movement that he tried to hide with a dismissive shrug. But Sammie could see it there, in his eyes, in the way his white skin went a couple shades paler.
“Carson isn’t good at his job.” Sammie dropped her voice lower, letting her words sink in, waiting for Robert to react.
He held her gaze, but Sammie knew how to dig in her heels with the best of them, and bit back a grin when he finally looked away first. “Luz is good at her job. I don’t give a fuck if he’s your nephew, if one of them has to go, it’s going to be him. ”
Robert picked up a pen from his desk, spinning it slowly between his fingers.
“Samantha.” The name grated, and Sammie felt a muscle in her jaw twitch.
“If Carson is so terrible at this job, I think that speaks more to your failing leadership than his skills. I know this might be a novel concept for you, but as the owner, I do understand what goes into the work done here.” He paused, and Sammie opened her mouth, ready with a rebuttal, but Robert held up a hand. “Any idiot can do this job.”
Sammie froze. Every sound around her intensified. The struggling AC unit in the window. The distant ring of the canning line. Her own pounding heartbeat.
Any idiot can do this job.
All the time she’d spent in this place, perfecting her recipes, helping to build a successful brand. All of the long days, the early mornings and the late nights. Literal blood, sweat, and tears spilled for a company that didn’t care about her in the least.
“Okay.” Sammie rose to her full height, letting her hands fall to her sides. Robert had the gall to look smug. He really thought he’d won. Sammie fought past the fear of speaking out, the fear of an unknown future.
Any idiot can do this job.
“You fire her.” Sammie jabbed a finger toward the bastard sitting behind his desk, comfortable in the air conditioning while her people sweat through their clothes to make the product that kept his nails perfectly manicured and his wallet fully padded. “I quit.”
Robert blinked. Sammie turned and walked out, letting his cry of “Sammie, wait!” fall on uncaring ears.
Her hands shook as she made her way through the building. Tears stung her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. She didn’t let herself think about what she had just done, about how it might be the biggest mistake she’d ever made.
About what losing her salary would mean for her future. For her granny’s house.
Sammie shoved through the door to the brewhouse, ignoring the shrill sound of Robert’s voice as he followed several dozen steps behind.
She marched toward the canning line, where Luz and Carson were both working.
Music blared over the ceiling speaker, and both of them were belting along at the top of their lungs to some emo white boy melodically yelling about a girl.
She would miss this. Despite the issues, despite Carson and his many mishaps.
Despite the heat and the long days and the occasionally bad batch of beer.
Underneath all of the frustrations lay a job that Sammie loved.
But the bad had finally piled on too much, and she couldn’t shoulder it any longer.
“What’s wrong?” Luz watched Sammie approach, concern furrowing her brow as she leaned over and hit pause on her phone. Carson looked up, taking in Sammie’s glower and pressing the button to stop the line.
“I’m out.” Sammie hooked her thumb over her shoulder where she heard Robert crash through the door behind her. “That fuckass is on his way over here to fire you.”
“Wait, what?” Carson came around to their side of the canning line. Luz gaped at Sammie.
“I’m fired?” Her big brown eyes pierced straight to Sammie’s heart.
“I tried to get him to back down.” Sammie shrugged. “I’m sorry, Luz. You’ve been great.”
“You’re firing her?” Carson’s eyes were looking past Sammie’s shoulder. He looked so different from his uncle in that moment. Taller, steadier, a resolute fire burning in his eyes that Sammie had never seen before.
“Let’s all just take a breath.” Robert was there, slipping into his schmooziest persona as he tried to join their little group. “You can all be reasonable, I know you can. Give me a chance to explain.”
“Nope.” Sammie popped the p on the word, refusing to grace him with even a glance. Her attention was focused solely on her two protégés. “He said any idiot can do this job, so I figure he should be able to handle it by himself just fine.”
Luz nodded, understanding washing over her features, along with a solid amount of defeat that echoed what Sammie herself felt. People like Robert, they always came out on top in the end. But that didn’t mean Sammie and Luz needed to make it easy for him.
Carson, though. Sammie stepped back as he came forward, a gleeful rage spreading across his features.
“Fuck you, Rob.” Carson was in his face.
“You’re going to run this place into the ground with your shitty decisions.
The budget can’t sustain the people you’ve employed for years?
Maybe that’s because you’ve got seven family members on payroll that have never stepped a foot in this goddamn place.
Maybe it’s because you let grandma come in and redecorate with no restraint.
Maybe it’s because instead of getting out in the community and actually marketing our product, you’d rather spend another day at your boring ass country club circling jerking with your pretentious ass buddies who’ve never worked a day in their lives.
I only took this job because mom wanted me to, and I only stayed because of Luz.
I don’t need you, and I’m sure not going to stick around and be part of the trash fire you’re turning this place into with all your investor buddies who only care about profits. ”
Well shit. Sammie hadn’t seen that coming.
And, honestly, she couldn’t help herself. She tried, she really did, but seeing Carson go nuclear like that, seeing Robert fucking Everly standing speechless before him, it was just too good.
Sammie laughed. A full-body, brutal kind of laugh that had everyone around her nearly jumping out of their skins.
“Not a whole lot I can add to that.” There was something uniquely satisfying about seeing a man like Robert be dressed down by someone equal to him.
Sammie reached out, slapping Carson on the back.
That was when she noticed his hand wrapped around Luz’s, his body shielding her from Robert.
“Good job, kid. Don’t think I’ve been giving you enough credit.
” She paused as Carson finally looked at her. “You’re shit at brewing beer, though.”
Another laugh rang out, this time from Luz. “She’s right, you’re really not good at this.” Carson smiled then, too, and suddenly the whole situation looked a little less terrible.
“You… you don’t get to talk to me like that!” Robert was sputtering, fuming, all that was missing was the steam coming out of his ears. Sammie paid him no mind.
“We out, then?” She raised a brow at Luz and Carson. They both nodded. Sammie grinned. “Cool. Come on.”
And without even a spare glance in his direction, the entire brewhouse staff of Everly Brew Works walked out together, leaving Robert alone to clean up the mess he’d made for himself.
Sammie: Hey Zehra
Sammie: Still looking for a brewer?
Zehra: FINALLY
Zehra: When can you start, dear?
Sammie: Whenever you need me
Zehra: Welcome to the team, Sammie. Happy to have you <3
~
Bowen: So like, i’m still in shock
Bowen: Our CAPTAIN is a porn star
Eric: don’t just say it like that, be respectful!
Bowen: I am being respectful! I love porn stars!
Aaron: Oh my god.
Kieran: I prefer the term sex worker.
Bowen: Our CAPTAIN is a sex worker
Bowen: Omg does atticus know???????
Bowen: Let me be there when you tell him
Bowen: Please I am begging
Bowen: You fuck his SISTER on CAMERA
Aaron: So unbelievably crass at every opportunity.
Kieran: Atticus knows.
Kieran: He has no problem with it.
Eric: okay but does he know you’re IN LOVE with his sister?
Aaron: Asking the important questions.
Kieran: …
Kieran: He does not.
Bowen: Oh my god he’s either gonna kill you or kiss you
Bowen: Equal chances for either option
Eric: but what are you gonna do??????????
Eric: you gotta fix it cap!
Aaron: Sammie’s cool, don’t fuck this up.
Kieran: Don’t worry.
Kieran: I might have a plan.
Bowen: A PLAN
Bowen: AHHHHHHHHHHH
Eric: how can we help??????
Aaron: You two bring chaos to every situation you encounter.
Aaron: He absolutely, under no circumstances, should include you in any sort of plan.
Kieran: Actually…