“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,” Iquipped.
“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,verygrown 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.
