Chapter 2 #2
“There’s a bottle of Royal Spades in my office with your name on it, Sebby-boy.” I’d been prepared, knowing he was going to hate this new mix I toyed with today.
“How’s the wedding planning?” I asked Andy as Seb took himself out back to grab another bottle.
“I suggested we elope. Apparently, that was selfish,” he replied looking perplexed.
“I’m not even going to pretend to understand women,” Jay scoffed, and Andy sighed.
“I don’t think they’re meant to be understood. Least of all by you, Jay,” I chipped just as Seb returned, a bottle of my first whiskey firmly in his grasp.
“You’re not wrong there, brother,” Seb laughed, pulling a seat out at the makeshift poker table I’d arranged for tonight.
We didn’t often have it here but with all the girls out, and unlimited liquor on hand, I was happy to host. Plus, it meant I had more time to work, which with not much else to distract me, was all I did these days.
I liked being surrounded by my people, the laughter and banter a comforting kind of distraction from the noises in my head and mixing the two worlds was my shortcut to feeling good.
It meant I could show them new pours or things I’d created, knowing they’d give me the God’s honest truth.
Sometimes brutally. But it also meant I could watch something I’d created be enjoyed by the people I cared about most. Especially now, when I wasn’t much of a drinker myself - staying clear-headed to keep the fog at bay.
Because when the fog crept in, I lost my sense of control and that was never a good thing.
“Your office is a fucking pigsty,” Seb reprimanded as he handed the bottle to Andy.
“Nothing is ever up to your standards.” I rolled my eyes, I could have left my chair untucked and he’d comment about how growing up with a full-time maid showed.
“Bro, I feel like I need a Tetanus shot after being in there.” The apoplectic scowl he wore as if he genuinely meant it, sent me and I barked a laugh.
“Fuck off!” It was hard not to laugh at the precision with which he did things. “I do probably need some help though. I’m nearly three months behind on the books.”
“Have you put an ad out?” Jack asked, as if I hadn’t been interviewing every day for a month.
And complaining about it just as often.
“Mate, I’ve interviewed almost every single person in the city. They’re either not qualified, confidently incompetent or would drive me to fucking drink,” I quipped.
“In the words of the great Mr. Smalls, rule number four, never get high on your own supply,” Jay sang before they all started reciting Biggie’s Ten Crack Commandments as if any of them had any rapping ability.
“Evangeline!” Seb exclaimed randomly, ending the impromptu performance, thank fucking God.
Everyone went quiet, looking towards Sebastian as if he’d grown a second head.
“What about her?” Andy asked before I could.
I hadn’t seen Sebastian’s younger sister since the night he opened his new jazz and whiskey bar, and she arrived with some guy who was not in any way good enough for her.
Not that I would have the first clue what was good for her, but it definitely wasn’t that fucker with a sweaty brow and clammy palms.
Even more irritating - seeing her stirred old habits and she’d haunted my dreams ever since.
A weird habit I’d garnered as a child, only since that night, was now constant.
The dreams were originally random and innocent, changing and evolving with understanding and hormones.
The teenage shift bringing on a whole new type of dream, and now, realising she was very, very grown up had awoken something sinister.
I spent my nights giving in to fantasies I couldn’t afford, waking up with regret clinging to my skin at the loss of control my subconscious had when it came to her.
And months of trying to ignore her hadn’t done a thing.
Not that I said as much to anyone. Some things were best left unsaid especially when your mate had warned plenty of other people away from her over the years.
Ironically, I’d either been by his side or leading the charge in the fight for those bastards to keep their filthy paws and thoughts away from her.
All while secretly dreaming of doing the very thing I’d warned them against.
She’d always been the one we protected. But those dreams - and many thoughts while awake - were depraved.
Especially when they haunted me with visions of long dark curls falling down her back or the depth of those eyes which lingered in my thoughts on more nights than I would ever admit.
It wasn’t a familial annoyance I felt when I noticed the way her date’s hand lingered on her waist like it had been there before.
Like it had felt the skin underneath and knew what she enjoyed.
Jolting me back to the present, Seb’s proclamation cut through my hidden thoughts.
“She can work for you.” His eyes widened as if he’d solved the puzzle of the century.
“Fuck, she can work here, Coop. She needs a six-week internship running books and hasn’t been able to find anything.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.
You need someone and if she’s working here, I know she won’t have some cocksucker of a boss.
Well mostly…” He smirked, staring at me expectantly.
Oh, fuck. This wasn’t good. The total opposite of good.
I scoffed forcibly. “She’s way too good to be wasted on my boring admin.”
Fuck, I couldn’t have her here, not with the dreams and the way she could see inside my soul.
“I don’t mean permanently. But she’s been having a hard time getting her foot in the door and it’s only six weeks.
” Seb said plainly, like I was an idiot.
Like being in the same warehouse with his little sister was no big deal.
Helping her was no big deal. Having her and that smart mind and even smarter mouth close to me was no big deal.
“Uhhhh, sounds good, I guess.” I shrugged effortlessly hoping the indifference was showing more than my internal panic.
Have her work here. Yeah, that wouldn’t be weird at all.
“What do you mean, you guess? You know Eva. She’s smart as shit. She looks over my stuff constantly and sorts it out in one third of the time it takes my very well fucking paid bookkeepers.”
He was right. Her structured, equation loving mind was exactly what I needed, and relief is what I should be feeling. Fucking relief.
I should be ecstatic that there was a solution to my problem and someone who could help me clean the ledgers before end of financial year, so my father would stop with his incessant fucking emails. Emails demanding an update on the business like he had shares in the company.
But Evangeline? It felt like a disaster waiting to happen.
Having her near me - working for me - was unequivocally troublesome. For reasons I wouldn’t admit to myself, let alone her brother.
“Of course,” I said with more assurance than I felt.
“Tell her to call me and we can arrange it. Now are we here to play?” I asked, desperate for a distraction which did not involve Evangeline Micallef.
The same girl who knew exactly how to get me to reveal everything I’d ever thought, sometimes before I even realised.
The same girl who until recently, I’d pushed deep within, out of sight, out of mind.
Until she walked into Seb’s new bar, with that navy dress and fucking memorable body.
A vicious reminder of everything I thought I didn’t want.
Yep, it was official. Regardless of the hand I was drawn tonight, I was royally fucking flushed.
The shrill tone of Seb’s phone cut through the air just as I’d thrown my fifth hand of the night.
Fifth.
I was off my game, and I’d lost a fair amount of money as well as pride. And to the Coach of all people. There was nothing worse than a gloating Jay who was currently galloping around the distillery as if he’d won the fucking Melbourne Cup.
“Wait, slow down, Evangeline. What happened?” Seb’s voice held an edge of panic, and all eyes turned to him, as everyone knew if something happened to Eva, their women could be involved too.
Her voice was muffled through the phone. Murmurings broken only by the loud thump of music in the background, but I knew her well enough to know the raw cadence of her voice was because she was crying.
“He grabbed you?” He spat, his gaze unintentionally flicking to mine and I was up and out of my chair, not needing to hear more.
I hadn’t felt it in years, but the moment Seb’s words registered, that innate drive to protect her came roaring back.
Adrenaline lit up my nerves, sharp and sudden as I sprinted to my office and wrenched my keys from the desk.
“What the fuck is happening?” Andy challenged impatiently.
“We’re coming now, Eva, just breathe!” Seb chastised, ending the call before looking directly at me. “We need to go.”
“What the fuck is going on, Micallef!” Jack said, the panic clear in his voice too.
“I don’t fucking know. Some guys were harassing them or something. Marls and Flick are wasted, Eva isn’t sure where Winter is and Arna may or may not have punched someone after they wouldn’t let go of my sister!”
“Where are they?” Even to my own ears, my voice held a chill. A detached calm which was as familiar as it was unnatural.
“Sherry’s.”
“That place is notorious for people having their drinks spiked,” my eyes darted to Jay’s at his proclamation, any remaining rationality dissolving into chaos.
“Sergio is waiting outside,” Andy snapped, but I couldn’t acknowledge him or the offer to get in his car with his driver.
Someone touched Eva.
Someone put their fucking hands on her and she was crying.
At a fucking dingy nightclub. Crying.
“I’m taking the bike!” I spat, the world narrowing to my primal need to get to her.
“Keep your fucking head, Coop!” Seb yelled, only I’d already mounted the bike and was disappearing into the distance before I registered his words.