“We appreciate that, but it won’t be necessary. I intend to pay the bill for my husband and all our friends.”
Strangled noises came from two of the players, and I immediately picked up on the man’s curt attitude. He thought I was hitting on his husband. Goddamn it. I had to end this shitshow, and when this night was over, I was getting drunk with Alejandro.
I nodded once. “Please enjoy your dinner. Sophia will show you to your table.”
Turning to return to the kitchen, I stopped at a table or two to make sure everyone was enjoying their dinner.
Before I walked into the kitchen, I turned and looked at the commander one more time. The resemblance was uncanny. Logically, I knew it wasn’t him, because he had been younger and I was one of the pallbearers at his funeral. But it still shook me and made me miss my friend.
When I got into the kitchen, Stella looked at me expectantly. “How’d it go?”
One look at my face told her something wasn’t right. “Preston, what happened out there?”
I ran my fingers over my mouth, wanting another shot of whiskey. After I relayed the exchange, she furrowed her brow. “Why did he get so upset?”
Sighing, I looked around at for the bottle ofFireball.
“Preston! Why did he get upset?”
I had to get this over with. “HethoughtIhitonhishusband.” There. Now she knew.
Stella burst out laughing, and I wanted to crawl under the table. “Why the fuck are you laughing?”
I stood with my hands on my hips, waiting for her to get herself under control. It was difficult not to laugh at myself. But when she knew why, she wouldn’t laugh.
“Oh, Preston. It has been a shitty day. What made him think you were hitting on his man?”
I dropped my gaze to the floor. “I held his hand too long.”
Her eyes widened, and I could see the impending laughter brewing. “Why did you do that exactly?”
I looked her in the eyes, and without humor, I told her why. “The commander looks exactly like Seth. And it shocked the fuck out of me.”
Stella’s laughter fell away, and she leaned in to hug me. Even though she’d never met him, she knew how it had affected me when he died. “I’m so sorry, Preston. I know that had to be difficult.”
I nodded again, no words for how deeply the hurt cut me and Alejandro both when our friend and suite mate was killed our senior year of college. We were like brothers.
Allowing myself a moment to grieve for my friend, I stepped into my office and closed the door to let the grief wash over me.
CHAPTER1
NICK
“Hey,Nick. I need to talk to you and Ben when things slow down.”
Normally those words would be cause for alarm. But the smile on Alejandro’s face had me curious about what was going on. I glanced at my friend and co-bartender, Ben, who smirked at me and shrugged.
“You firing us, boss?”
Alejandro scoffed when he walked back around to our side of the bar after delivering two burgers to the guys in a corner booth.
“You wish, Benjamin. Not likely, unless you fuck up really badly.”
I watched their interactions like a tennis match as I made an Old Fashioned for one of the servers. Now it was Ben’s turn to serve. “No problem then, Papi. When I fuck up, it’s really good.”
Alejandro rolled his eyes, then grabbed the damp towel on the bar as he walked by. “Smartass,” Alejandro growled without heat, then tossed the towel at him before walking back to the kitchen.
Alejandro Sanchez was the best boss I’d ever had. He was friendly to everyone until someone gave him a reason to lose his shit. And if he did, which happened rarely, you better get the heck out of the way and hope it isn’t aimed at you.
