Page 36 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

Zachary

I come out of Undertow with four beers and four waters, and the eternal optimism that I can carry them all, and maybe even more, in one trip. Steph's following behind me, carrying the giant bag of corn chips I pilfered from the kitchen's pantry, despite Mick, our chef, yelling at me to "put them in a damn bowl, do you want your patrons to think we're all a bunch of heathens?!" I lay the bottles on the folding picnic table the guys have set up outside to free up a table for the guests.

"You want me to grab napkins too?" Steph asks, angling herself so she's in my eyeline instead of beside me.

I give her a tight smile. "Nah, just ask Priya to bring some when she comes out here pretending to bring appetisers, but she's really flirting with Marcus."

She laughs and squeezes my arm. "You're so funny. We should have you up there on open mic night instead of behind the bar." Over her shoulder, Marcus makes a gagging face as Alexia is doing a good job of looking anywhere but at us.

I take a step back, letting Steph’s hand fall from my arm. "Nah, wouldn't want to show up the customers. Speaking of which..." I tilt my head back towards the bar.

Her face falls, almost imperceptibly. Two years working together, and I can read her pretty well.

"Let me know if I can get you anything else, guys." She glances at Alexia. "And guys'...friend?"

"Her name's Alexia. She's our new roommate," Rhys says, without looking her way, just grabbing his water and taking a long sip. “And Leon’s sister. So she’ll be treated no differently than if she were one of us. Make sure everyone knows it when you go back inside.”

If Steph is affected by his response, she doesn't show it as she gives Alexia a smile and then leaves.

"Be nice," I hiss, once she's out of earshot. "She's one of our best employees. She works the customers like nobody's business. It's not a coincidence our intake is up like twenty-five percent on nights she's working the bar."

Marcus cocks an eyebrow. “Yeah? Well, let's see how well she's going to work once she realises you're not ever going to be interested in her."

I scrunch up my face, trying not to turn to Alexia to see what her reaction is to that. "She knows, okay? We've talked about it. She's only being playful."

Marcus reaches over and pinches my cheek. "I mean, who can blame her. He's such a cutie, right, Lexi?"

Alexia almost chokes on her beer, standing up to brush the errant drop off her shirt before sitting back down.

"Wow. That's...one way of saying no, Lex, but you didn't have to choke," I kid once I'm sure she's okay. I know I should leave it alone, but I can't help provoking her a little.

She glares at me, but then her eyes sparkle and she grabs a chip, munching on it thoughtfully as she says, "Well, it just surprises me that you're the one she's clearly flirting with when Marcus the Panty-Melting Manwhore is sitting right here."

A twinge of jealousy that she brought him into the conversation rises in me, but before I can say something stupid⁠—

"Whoa!" Marcus shouts, his beer half to his mouth. "What did I do? Why am I out here catching strays?"

She throws her half-eaten chip at him. "You scared those poor landlords half to death! I think some of them are going to sleep tonight thinking building inspectors are going to be knocking down their doors tomorrow morning."

A growl from the depths of his building code living soul escapes out of him. "Half of them will be getting a visit! And what about Rhys?"

Rhys slides him a look over the rim of his beer.

"What about him? He barely said anything," I say, pettily siding with the housemate that Alexia isn't calling Panty Melting.

"I'm not talking about the inspections. I'm talking about how he's all quiet, but he's really playing the broody intellectual. The women all love it. They're always asking, 'Who's the mystery man?'" Marcus scoffs. "Mystery my ass. He just doesn't talk because he can't carry an interesting conversation. No woman at a bar wants to hear about workplace grievance procedures."

I expect her to laugh again, but this time she surprises us all by saying, "Hey, some women like a guy who can talk about more than how much horsepower their work truck has, or where you can get the best IPA."

Even Rhys stops drinking, but he doesn't look at her.

And now I’m pissed at both of them.

A weird tension falls on the table, and for a moment, we're all silent.

A door slams, and a guest comes out of one of the five portaloos set up right outside the back door, the fallout from Sunday's plumbing catastrophe. Overnight Marcus and Hunter had somehow managed to have five state of the art portable toilets set up, with a whole hand washing station, complete with sanitisers, dryers and paper towel dispensers. We have round the clock security patrolling the area and it’s well lit. No one is going to use our temporary toilet situation as a reason not to come back. Leon's only input from afar had been, "Make sure it's something I'd rate at least a 4.5 flushes!"

"So, are we going to tal—" Alexia starts.