“Don’t act like you’re a hero.” Sebastian retorts. “Brett’s been a bartender for ten years. He can handle himself.”
“You trashed the barandyou hit a guy?” I ask, my tone sharp. “You were, like, the least-aggressive hockey player I’ve ever met. You used to get squeamish when we watched violent movies.”
Sebastian snickers, and Brantley glares at him.
“And what bathroom incidents?” I place my hands on my hips as I stare at him.
Who is this guy?
“He broke a sink fucking some girl in the women’s restroom,” Sebastian answers.
I don’t know why that information hits me right in the gut, but it makes me feel nauseous.
“I paid for that,” Brantley mumbles.
“He puked all over himself—and the stall—more than once,” Seb continues. “I had to pay our janitor overtime to clean upthatcrime scene?—”
“Oh,come on,” Brantley interjects, but Sebastian is on a roll.
“—and Gabriella paid for his Uber home. And this was allbeforehe instigated a goddamn bar fight over nothing.”
“It wasn’t over nothing!” Brantley roars.
Sebastian pushes Brantley, and I burst forward, wedging my small body between them before the altercation escalates, and press a firm hand to each of their chests. Their bodies are tight with tension against me, and for some reason, heat blooms between my legs.
“They were hockey players, okay?” Brantley yells. “New recruits. Snotty little upstarts acting like my injury was somehow my fault.”
Sebastian and Brantley stare each other down, the testosterone thick between them.
“Enough!” I command, and they freeze, looking down at me. I clear my throat.
They look a little bewildered as my hands fist their shirts before letting go. “Can you guys not fight like brainless frat idiots?”
Brantley steps back. “Excuse me for trying to fix my poor excuse for a life.” He storms out of the office like a child.
I roll my eyes at his dramatics and stare at Seb.
He does a double take when he catches my look. “What? The guy is a complete waste of space.”
I glance at the door. “He lost his entire career, Seb. You’re telling me you would be a ray of sunshine if something happened to the pub? Hockey was his pub.”
“Yeah, whatever. Go after him,” Sebastian mutters, waving his hand, though he doesn’t look happy about it.
I smile gratefully and chase after Brantley.
CHAPTER FIVE
BRANTLEY
Istomp down the alleyway and turn onto the sidewalk, flexing my hands into fists in an effort to calm the anger stinging my veins. I hate being angry. My dad was always angry, and I was always the reason. I don’t want to be like him—though my social habits have been suspiciously similar lately.
“B, wait!”
My pace falters. I stop and look back, feeling the tension leave my body as I watch Fiona approach.
I’ve been stalking Fiona Flowers on Instagram for the past three years. I know about her jobs, her friends (who used to be my friends), and her beautiful girlfriend, Anna. I followed it all like a creep, but I never reached out. I didn’t, however, know she was in my city working at Brothers’ Beer & Bourbon.
Fiona looks like she does in her pictures, except a thousand times more stunning. As she jogs toward me, the sea air whips her long auburn hair across her forehead and tangles strands in her full pink lips, which she pushes away impatiently. She’s thicker now than she was in college, but it only makes her T-shirt and fitted jeans hug her soft curves in a way that causes mydick to twitch despite my agitated state. When she gets closer to me, I’m not surprised to see the name of her favorite band, the Foo Fighters, scrawled across her chest.
