“Is that right?” Brian says with a lift of his brow. I grab the four of them beers, lining them up while ignoring Nate and popping an extra one open for myself.
“Oh, yeah,” Nate continues with a teasing tone. “Jake’s inlove—”
“No way.” Brian covers his mouth, wide-eyed in mock horror.
“Yup. With Hot Friend.” Nate takes a slug of his beer, and I scowl at him. He doesn’t know it but now is clearly not the time.
“Don’t listen to him. She’s just a friend.”And she’s tryingnotto be, I don’t add.
“Afuckingfriend,” Nate says. The four of them laugh, and I force a smirk so I don’t seem uptight about the subject, though I couldn’t hate this conversation more.
“We’re not hooking up,” is all I say. “Drop it.”
Nate does air quotes while rolling his eyes. Brian shoves his shoulder while Gerry laughs, but Vince… He pays close attention.
“But, she does hook up, though, right?” Vince leans into the bar. “Just not with you? So, like, any one of us can try. Since y’all are just friends and all.” A jealous fury rages deep in my gut at the cut of his tongue. I give him a cold stare, warning him to back the fuck off. He gives me a smug smirk in response that screamschallenge accepted.
Nate and his asshole friends.
“Whatever, man. Friends, not friends. I’m happy you’re happy, dude.” Brian raises his bottle to cheers, and I do the same, doing my best to ignore how far from happy I currently am. “Anyway, listen,” Brian continues as the rest of the group falls away. “There’s an opening coming up in my division. Some guy’s getting promoted so his position’s up for grabs. It’s entry level, but it’s Stratford, so youknowit’s just a matter of time before you make your way up the ladder. They like to hire from within so it’s hard to get an outsider in there, but I was thinking of dropping your name in the hat. Think you’d be interested?”
“In Seattle?”
“Yeah. You into it?”
I take a long swig of my beer, thinking about timing and how inconvenient this all is. Or maybe it’s for the best since Alana wants nothing to do with me. I nod agreeably. Even though I have zero interest in moving right now. Maybe a change would be good.
“Cool. I’ll put in a good word, then. You know what would be good, too? A letter of recommendation from a professor. Or your advisor or something.”
I do a quick mental recap of how horribly I sabotaged my last semester, followed by my current semester where I’ve done the absolute least just to get by in Stanley’s class. Neither are good representations of my work ethic, and it’s not like I can say I was going through a tough time and beg for a good rec, anyway. Whatever. I guess I screwed myself more than I thought I did.
“I’ll think of something.”
Brian slaps my shoulder, proud and excited, and I sip my beer, pretending I’m actually invested in what it is he’s offering—a career. A new life.Again.
“You gonna stay and hang out after?” he asks.
“Nah, I’ll probably head out.”
“Come on. I’m only here for two nights. You can spare some time to have a couple beers with your boy.” My eyes bounce from the guys, then back to Brian. “Hour, tops.” He holds a hand up. “Scout’s honor.”
I scoff. “You grew up in Brooklyn.”
“Yeah.” He smirks. “Scouts of Bone Thugs and Harmony.”
That one gets a laugh out of me.
The chatter moves into regular talk as I work to prep the bar before opening—basic catch ups, who has what final next week, post break plans, opinions on this season's football stats. It’s enough to keep my mind somewhat level.
The bar fills up quickly. Before I realize it, I’m moving from one end to the other and back again, serving drink after drink to every salivating patron. Donn’s is more of a beer and shots kind of joint, but tonight’s festivities have brought in more than the usual crowd.
Including Macey Bromwell, who is now standing in front of me, undressing me with her piercing green eyes. Long black locks flow down her back and over her shoulder in bouncy, layered waves. Her lips spread into a seductive smile, her shining white teeth curtained by the dark red painted on them.
“Jake Cooper,” she sings. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Macey.” I nod, giving her just enough eye contact to avoid being rude, but not enough to misunderstand my lack of interest. When she realizes how little attention I’m planning on giving her, she reaches into her hat of tricks.
“Notice anything different about me?” she asks.
