Chapter 19
Everly
Roaming the Malibu farmer’s market is one of my favorite things to do when we fly down for business.
Julian always tries to make time to take me.
If we lived here, I’d be loaded down with local food items. Since we fly home tomorrow, I’m content to simply indulge on the spot.
Sinking my teeth into the sweetest peach I’ve ever eaten sends my eyes rolling back, my lids closing and throat humming with a deep “mmm.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” The timber of Julian’s voice is low, for my ears only.
I open my eyes to see him watching me, his eyes a deep ocean blue. “Wanna taste?” I offer the peach to him.
He nods, never taking his eyes off mine. Ignoring the fruit in my hand, he leans over and more sucks than kisses my lips. Then, leaning till his lips touch my ear, whispers, “Delicious.”
I can’t help the giggle that bubbles in my throat and the heat that swirls in my belly.
“Aren’t you Julian McKay?”
Our heads swivel simultaneously toward the voice, a striking young woman accompanied by two others just as striking.
“Hi. Yep. Nice to meet you.” Julian extends his right hand and smiles. I can tell he’s embarrassed, though he fakes it well. Encounters like these are becoming more and more frequent. He reaches down with his other hand and clasps mine as he greets the women.
Since I agreed to join him on the McKay content, Callie’s team has been setting up my “brand.” They’re teasing the McKay Method on socials, creating buzz, building curiosity.
And thankfully, her new team created social accounts for me that I don’t have to manage or even look at so far.
Julian and I have flown to SoCal twice to film content since I signed on officially.
This trip will be the last before we hard launch his company on his birthday, which is coming up October 22nd.
They picked the day strategically—a psychological draw.
Ironically, I’m learning all about this in class right now.
My psych course though is framing it as manipulation.
Ashley promises this launch will not be that.
Just using psychology to market strategically, he assured. Noted.
ASH seems to have a bottomless ocean of resources to make shit happen, and Julian and I are being swept up in the current.
It could easily get overwhelming, but Ashley runs ASH just like he lives his life—with kindness and generosity.
For a whirlwind it’s been pretty stress free.
I haven’t panicked once, which I’m counting as a win.
Of course, I’m still living in anonymity for the most part.
But Julian is now getting recognized when we’re out in public, especially in ASH territory.
I’m not sure who gets more uncomfortable with the encounters—him or me.
Considering it’s mostly young, beautiful women approaching him, it might be me.
But Ashley is even coaching him on handling that with grace.
I’m merely taking notes from the sidelines.
I want to be proud and supportive, not shallow and jealous.
The fact that my green flag of a man doesn’t have one ounce of interest in his fans beyond being grateful for their support goes a long way in helping me in that role.
“This is my girlfriend, Everly. She’ll be running the performance mindset part of the company for us.” Julian handles the group of women with impressive charm.
“Hi, ladies. Great to meet you. Will you be joining the McKay Method when we launch? Lots of fun giveaways to the first ones.”
McKay Method will include a free birthday merch box for the first thousand people to download the app and sign up for the premium package.
The merch box will include things like water bottles, hats, stickers and the sore muscle cream Julian and Allie made, Blue Heat—which is also being commercialized and sold now.
If a member refers a friend and they sign up for a premium package, both members get a free month of membership.
If the push is a success, they may extend it through his “birthday month” and try to get 10k downloads in the first month.
My pitch is met with enthusiastic yesses and other affirmations. Their excitement is contagious.
I catch Julian’s bright blue eyes over their heads, and he winks at me, which never fails to make my stomach flip.
I’m so proud of this beautiful man. He deserves all of this so much.
That I get to help him realize this level of success is just a bonus.
As we wave goodbye to his fan club, he laces his fingers through mine, and we turn and walk toward the parking lot to our borrowed car.
***
“So, what are you doing for your birthday? Shall we have a celebration? Like a launch party?” Allie asks as she hands Julian a beer.
“No.” His reply is as instant as mine.
“Yes.” I lock gazes with him on our simultaneous conflicting replies. “Oh, c’mon. Let’s celebrate your birthday. Would we do it here or in Blue Lake?”
“Who would we even invite? I’m not big on celebrating my birthday.”
“This is different though. It can just be about business if you want to look at it that way,” Ashley chimes in, then takes a sip of his beer.
Julian rolls his eyes at me and Allie and reluctantly agrees. “Fine. But let’s do it at Blue Lake. In fact, let’s do it at Brew and ask Pete and Shelley to join us. Lettie.”
“Done,” Allie and I say at the same time, which makes us both giggle.
Julian just shakes his head, resigned.
Flying home the next morning, Julian brings up the birthday celebration again. “Maybe Lilly and Noah can come home for it—a quick weekend. Since Allie and Ashley won’t be able to fly home for it.”
“Yeah, I’ll ask,” I say, nodding.
“Why do you sound less than thrilled by that?”
“No, it’s not that. I think there might be trouble in paradise.”
“What? Nooo.” He swings his wide-eyed stare toward me.
“Maybe it’s freshman year growing pains. I don’t know. She said he’s spending a ton of time with the frat guys. Mainly one named Seth. Taught him how to surf, and according to Lill, it’s now ‘his whole personality.’” I use my fingers as quote marks.
Julian doesn’t respond, just raises his eyebrows in wonder.
I change the subject. Because if a couple as seemingly solid as Noah and Lilly are struggling, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. “Ya know, I’ve always wanted to learn to surf. Have you ever done it?”
He shakes his head, smiling. “I’m not sure I’m a strong enough swimmer. Out of respect for the ocean, I think I’ll stick to cliff jumping in Blue Lake.”
“Fair.” I smile back. Meanwhile, my mind drifts back to my friend. I check my signal and decide to text her while we’re in the air.
Me: Hey Lill. How’s everything?
Three dots appear right away. I drum my fingernails against the back of the phone, antsy for her reply.
Lilly: Long story. New development, I think we’re just friends now. ?
Lilly: I’m surprisingly okay. It doesn’t feel much different than it’s been for a while.
Me: Wow. OK. That’s a lot. Landing now. Talk later? ?
Lilly: For sure. Love you.
Me: Love you too.
“How’s Lilly?” Julian doesn’t look up from his laptop when he asks. And I wonder for a moment how he knew. Not like I was hiding it, but I didn’t say. Does he just know me that well? The thought has me smiling to myself and feeling a twinge of guilt over my friend and her situationship.
“Weirdly okay. Lilly is a G. Just a badass. Ya know?” I roll my head on the seat to look at him.
“Like someone else I know.” He taps his index finger on my nose and leans over to place a soft peck on my lips.
I feel the pressure build behind my eyes, and I blink a couple times to clear it. How’d I get so lucky? I blurt out the thought in my head. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“Mmm, you’ve got that backwards, sweet girl. I’m the lucky one.”
“Can we just agree it’s a tie?” I roll my eyes.
“Kiss me, sassy girl, and I’ll agree to whatever you want.”
“Ooh, this just got interesting.”
“We’re landing. We don’t have time for this.”
“And you call Via a cockblocker.”
“That sass is gonna get my bookish girl a plot twist.”
A giggle bubbles in my throat. “Ooh, I see what you did there. Promise?” I lower my gaze and look up at him under my lashes.
I’m so turned on by the shift in our conversation, I clench my knees together.
Julian lowers his gaze to my legs, tracking the slight movement.
His eyes are deep indigo, pupils wide when he brings them back to mine.
His visible swallow drops my eyes to his throat. My tongue swipes across my dry lips.
“You’re right, you are lucky. Lucky this plane just landed. But I predict that luck runs out when we hit Blue Lake.”
“I guess that depends on your definition of luck.” One eyebrow quirks up in challenge.
“You’re not wrong.” His deep baritone chuckle follows me down the aisle as I try to walk like I’m unaffected by our banter.