“I’ve been here for a while now. Jacinta and I are in the middle of a conversation!” I can hear the annoyance in her tone despite the music, which is loud even though it’s muted by general club standards.
Shit! We are?
“Yes, but now you’re done.” Hope waves a hand, and a security guard appears behind her, making Kerry jump to her feet.
“Okay, okay, no need for that.” She shuffles out of her seat and looks for somewhere else in the booth to sit, but no one moves. Hope stares each and every one of the others down. “You’re all done. Take a hike and find someone else to sponge off of. This tab is closed.”
Everyone starts to argue with her, but she stands her ground, glaring at them.
“Is there a problem here, Ms. Summers?” The security guard steps up, and I just smirk when everyone looks at me because they have failed to remember that Hope is now a Summers too.
“No, it’s fine. They were all just leaving,” she answers. He crosses his arms and adds his weighted stare to Hope’s, and the people surrounding me practically shrivel up. It’s a mass exodus from my booth as they all rush away without a backward glance.
She high-fives the guard. “Thanks, Dean.”
“My pleasure,” he says with a grin, giving us both a wink before returning to his place at the top of the stairs that lead to the VIP area.
Hope’s giggling as she sits down. “Did you enjoy that?” I ask her, already knowing her response. As someone who found herself part of our family because she formed a genuine connection with my brother, then the rest of us, she’s always taken a harsh view of the sycophants that only seek to use us.
“Fuck yes. You know I’ve always hated the Summers’ clingers. I know it’s part of the deal, but I’m not changing who I am now. I can be nice for business, but this is social, and that crap doesn’t fly with me.” She waves a hand, and a waitress wearing a black cat costume, like all the other female staff, comes over to clear the mess off our table.
“Such assholes, happily drinking on your dime and just as happy to stab you in the back at the next function you don’t attend. I already heard whispers of you having a falling out with your family because not one of the brothers is here to celebrate your birthday. I think those two are fueling that.” She points a manicured finger at Lindy and Rowena, my PA and new designer, who are flirting with a couple of B-grade movie stars at the bar. “I doubt any of them realize we all attended a funeral this morning, so they can be somewhat excused, but those two, they are just stirring up trouble. Why haven’t you fired them yet?” she asks, moving the tray in front of us now that there’s more space. I smile and thank the girl who’s wiping down the table, pulling a twenty-dollar bill from my cleavage and passing it to her. She thanks me without flinching over where it came from and heads back to the bar. I guess they have seen worse. At least it’s not sweaty.
“What are these?” I ask my adopted sister, ignoring her question about Lindy and Rowena. I’m not entirely sure I know the answer. Honestly, I’ve chased off my brothers’ girlfriends faster than I’ve cleaned up the mess that is my work life. Have I really been that burnt out for so long?
Hope frowns, and I can feel her weighted stare, but she’s out of luck. I feel her sigh more than hear it, then she reaches out, grabbing the four shot glasses. She puts two in front of me and two in front of her before going back for the cocktail glasses. The cocktail glasses are actually conical chemistry beakers, each one filled with a green liquid and what looks like a gummy eyeball floating in it. It’s also smoking, which is a nice festive touch.
“That one is called a Zombie Brain.” She points to one that’s full of white liquid with red running around the inside of her glass, and I wrinkle my nose. She shifts her finger and points to the other glass. This one is full of black liquid with a gold kind of haze floating through it. “And those are called Black Magic. As for these, they’re the club special tonight—Mad Doctor. It’s sour apple flavored, and it’s delicious. I had one while I was checking on a few things for Jaxon downstairs.” She places the smoking concoction in front of me and picks up her Zombie Brain. “Come on, let’s forget about everything and just have a good time tonight. We’ll worry about the rumors and speculation tomorrow. Your dad has the new head of PR working up a statement for the press since we’ve been so close-lipped on what happened. The press has been respectful, but that’s over now. You guys are about to become cannon fodder for the media once more.”
My stomach lurches at the thought of the press harassing us. I’msoover all the attention. Once upon a time, I would have smiled and waved and enjoyed having all the cameras on me, but I can see how that was a reaction to the lack of attention from my mother when I was younger. It was toxic attention, not the right kind, and it did more harm than good.
“Let’s drink these, then you and I can go down on that dance floor amongst the lowly peasants and blow off some steam.” Hope’s clearly excited about dancing, and even though the thought of being surrounded by all those people, with them touching me and watching my every move, fills me with dread, I can’t let my new sister down.
“Woo-hoo, let’s get this party started!” I plaster on a smile and grab my drink. Clinking them together, we toss them back. The coconut taste is a surprise, and I feel my eyebrows jump. “Oh, that wasn’t so bad,” I say, and she licks her lips, catching a drop she missed.
“No, they were delicious. They go in the drink again column. Let’s try these.” Again, we clink our shot glasses together, and I physically brace myself. There aren’t many black liquors, so I’m pretty sure I know what this one is going to taste like. Sure enough, when I throw it back, the distinct taste of anise hits my taste buds, but there’s something else that slightly tempers the abrasive taste.
“Oh, that one wasn’t horrible either,” Hope says, looking at the shot glass before sticking her tongue in it, trying to get a bit more of the residue.
“Hope! How much did you have to drink downstairs?” I ask, giggling while she tries to tongue her shot glass. She stops and looks sideways at me before putting the glass down, a sheepish smile on her face.
“I may have had two Mad Doctors, but they’re fucking delicious. And so was that.”
“I think it might have been Baileys that gave it the hazy color, and you’re right, another for the again list,” I tell her before picking up my beaker. The dry ice has stopped smoking now, so I can take a sip without worrying about hurting myself. The sour apple flavor is a tart contrast to the licorice from the sambuca, and my tongue rebels, not entirely happy with what I’m putting it through. After a couple of sips, it chills and happily accepts the refreshing, cold beverage.
“How are things going at the house? Are you enjoying your sabbatical? I feel like I haven’t seen you and Harlow since the kidnapping,” Hope says, taking a sip of her Mad Doctor. Before I can answer, she continues, “Apart from Jaxon, the guys have finally started coming back to work, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to last all that long. I think there might be more than just Holden making a career move. When I was down in HR the other day, finalizing Cole’s employment, I heard a couple of people talking about more interviews for big positions in the company.”
I’m people watching instead of looking at her, but the hurt in her voice makes me turn to her once more. Sure enough, she’s looking wounded and put out, and it suddenly occurs to me that Hope has been holding everything together at work while the rest of us try to recover from what happened. She hasn’t had a chance to examine her own feelings because she’s been making sure we all have companies to come back to at the end of the day.
I reach for her hand and scoot closer, resting my head on her shoulder. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry you’re feeling left out. It wasn’t our intention. You’ve been in the city dealing with Neighpalm every time this has come up in conversation. It wasn’t planned, and I guess we all assumed someone had filled you in. I’m actually surprised Dad didn’t say anything to you. I know he’s been going in a couple of times a week.”
Hope’s hand tightens in mine before she pulls away. “Yes, but he’s as busy as I am, so we barely even see each other. With Nana and Poppy off on an extended vacation to visit with Ben, and you guys dealing with Willow Castle and the zoo, there just hasn’t been time to sit down and catch up. So imagine my surprise when I heard that not only are we opening applications for Neighpalm Couture and the new Neighpalm Cruise Lines, but there’s rumors being whispered of a Neighpalm Entertainment and an amusement park we might have purchased.”
“Babe, we’re not hiding anything. I’m not sure how HR heard about that. We certainly haven’t said anything to anyone, so they must have an outside source. Nobody should know about it because it’s a surprise for Harlow that Declan’s revealing tonight. I only just found out about it yesterday because Oliver let something slip when Harlow wasn’t around. Nana and Poppy are back tomorrow, and we’re having a party at Dad’s. I’ll make sure we fill you in on everything that’s been going on. I promise we’ll do better. It’s just been a lot, you know?”
She’s still frowning, but she shakes it off. “Okay, I’d like that. I haven’t been home in weeks. I haven’t even had a chance to move all my stuff in or get the furniture into storage. I was going to keep my apartment, but Nana convinced me I didn’t need it since I can use the family suite at the hotel when I need to stay in town.”
“Come on then. Let’s blow off some steam, like you said, and tomorrow I will help you arrange this week. Harlow and the guys will be so pleased to see you, and if we get time, I can show you what we’ve been doing over at their place.”
