It made me worry about her all alone in her apartment too, Hank and some scattered heels her only defense if someone broke in. God knows I almost snapped my neck over a pair when we watched Dracula the night before I flew out.
She wasn’t the most coordinated person I had met and was barely big enough to ride a rollercoaster, let alone defend herself. We texted periodically, so I knew she was okay, but the thought still lingered as I worked, jarring enough I needed to step away to clear my head.
It had been less than a week, and I couldn’t get her off my mind, daydreaming about her in meetings and texting her crappy jokes every chance I got. Phone sex was our new thing, and someone had a gift for bringing me to full-mast with a suggestive photo or innuendo.
Despite the danger signs, I couldn’t bring myself to turn to Privately again, deleting the app entirely. It didn’t feel right to look, not while I still had someone like her around.
You got a minute?
I shot the text off to Luke, needing a dose of tough love to get it together. I was dangerously close to considering the impossible.
Luke: Always.
I dialed him, sitting in an armchair before the windows overlooking the downtown lights, skyscrapers jutting into the night sky as beacons of wealth and power. The city was unlike any other, the backdrop my new scenery for years to come. In a few short months, it’d be my home, the place I’d settle until retirement came knocking.
As lustrous as it was, it seemed hollow, a flashy object with little behind it. It didn’t feel homey like Tampa aside from the heat. Ithaca wasn’t quite the right fit either, but at least it had an undercurrent I could work with. In time maybe it’d grow on me. Much like someone had.
“Long time no talk, Runway!” Luke greeted, voice booming.
It was an hour ahead there, and he seemed awfully chipper for ten o’clock on a Thursday. Then again, Luke was always raring to go. He lived life on the edge with no one to answer to. He didn’t have to worry about being well-rested for conference calls or meetings. He was the boss. He could show up hungover and exhausted, and no one could say a thing.
It was a kick in the nads to realize the last bits of my flesh and blood would be in a different time zone once I moved. Tampa was farther, but at least it didn’t feel that way. The time would be another daily reminder.
“I’ve texted!” We hadn’t spoken since our disagreement over Bianca, but I had texted him. We had a revolving group chat between us brothers, an easy way to keep one another in the loop.
“Yeah, well, if I get kidnapped and probed by aliens, you’ll never know because you’ve been texting with a Martian rather than calling to check in.”
“Excuse the fuck out of me, but you haven’t called either, Lucas.”
“Don’t call me that,” he breathed, annoyed. He loathed his birth name. We called him Lucas Mucus growing up, and he’d never gotten over it. “I’ve been busy. The shit with the brewery is nuts. I have permits and paperwork out the ass. We don’t all have worker bee assistants, big guy.”
“I don’t have one,” I replied. If I found one with enough zing, I would in no time, however. “But you’re forgiven. How are things going?”
“With the shop? Great. With the brewery? A fucking headache. I want to open by spring, but we keep hitting snags with construction. You know how it goes.”
He was opening the first brewery in Briar, a large complex with a tasting room, restaurant, and event space. When he first showed me the plans, I was in awe, the old sawmill transformed. Luke was an entrepreneur with a vision, much like Ethan, while I stuck to the confines of Corporate America. I was envious of their freedom, running the show their own ways.
“It’ll sort itself out. Do you have any launch ideas?”
“I’m working on some options, but I booked my first event in the summer.”
That was quick. Who booked an event while a place was still under construction?
“Dang, someone’s hot for you. Who’s the lucky customer?”
“Olivia.”
The name was familiar, but I couldn’t place the face. “Olivia?”
“Roberts.”
My stomach dropped. She was the younger sister of Josie, the girl that ripped him to shreds as a teenager. Like Bianca had done to me, she scorched him from the inside out.
“Oh shit, dude.”
That was the last thing I was expecting. I was thinking the chick was one of his former fuck buddies. Then it would have at least been humorous. Anything with Roberts attached to it spelled trouble. Big time.
“Oh yeah. A big wedding with all the frills of Briar royalty.”
“I’m surprised Ed would let her.” The patriarch and former mayor was not a fan of any Barrett for as far back as I remembered. I always wondered if our sperm donor screwed him over somehow. The hatred was too obvious for it to be a general disliking.
“Per Olivia, she doesn’t give a damn what the old man thinks. Funny how different siblings can be.”
“Or similar,” I reminded, chuckling.
“Very true. But enough woe is me. How are you doing? Everything good?”
Elena flashed through my mind, memories of her nestled up in the covers by my side lingering. I longed for her scent, the faint hint of coconut gone from the pillowcase I smuggled out of town. Was it creepy? Yes. Was it embarrassing? Yes. Did I give a damn? No.
“Yes, and no,” I admitted. “Work is
