Page 27 of Hammer and Hops

“What do you think you’re doing?” Everett shoved me as soon as we stepped on the sidewalk. “You actually want me to need your help. You enjoy it. That’s your M.O., isn’t it? You’re the helper. You need everyone to need you so you can be the hero. I’ve got your number, mister.” I couldn’t believe he was spouting all of that, particularly after I’d opened up to him about my sister and how I’d felt as a child. It seemed like an illegal punch below the belt.

“Dude, you got me all wrong.” I stepped away from the door, not wanting to cause more of a scene.

“Don’t dude me.” He stormed off, leaving me wondering what the hell had happened. “I can’t trust anybody,” he yelled, throwing his hands in the air, as he stomped down the sidewalk. I thought we were on solid footing, then he just accused me of being controlling or something? Is that what he meant? I wanted him to need me? For what? I did like helping people, especially my friends and people I cared about, but he was taking it to the next level. I was confused and didn’t know what the fuck to do about that.

Chapter nineteen

Bad Beer – Everett

Lukas pulled a sample from one of the giant stainless-steel vats. “Check this out, Boss.” He held it up to the light and the color was definitely off. It was too dark and not caramel enough. He handed me the glass.

“Hmm…” I took a whiff, and it smelled a bit sour.

“That’s not all. Taste it.”

I took a sip. And spit it back in the glass. “Ugh. What the hell?” It wasn’t even so much that it was wrong, but it was bad—really bad. I repeated myself, but more seriously, “What the hell?”

“Seems like someone messed with it.”

“Messed with it? How could someone even get in here to do that?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s contaminated. We have to empty this and start over. And clean the vat thoroughly.” That last bit went without saying. Of course it needed decontamination.

“That’s going to set us back weeks.” It took nearly a month to perfect a batch. That kind of timing was why we had multiple vats going at all times. This was going to hit my pocketbook big time. I rubbed my hands through my hair, wanting to pull it out. “Let’s go look at the security video.” I sure as hell hoped we didn’t see Cameron on it. He was the only other person who had any kind of access to the building. Was he that sneaky?

The contamination had to have occurred within a two-day window based on the other testing Lukas conducted. And after nearly an hour of looking through recordings, we found absolutely nothing.

“This isn’t working.” But something had to be done. This was out of hand.

I double-checked who placed the fake order, but it didn’t make sense. I really needed help. I shoved back from my desk and blew out a long, exasperated breath.

“Maybe we should talk to the security guy over at Queen’s Gaming. I heard that when they first moved to town, the owner had some kind of issue. Maybe they can help. At least to set up security. And by we, I mean you.” Lukas raised his eyebrow.

“You’re probably not wrong. I’ll give them a call.”

Chapter twenty

Where’s this going? Cameron

After Everett stormed off, I went back into the store where Jackie was eyeing me with entirely too much sympathy in his eyes.

“What?”

“You know, Alfred and I didn’t start off all that great either.”

“I remember.” In fact, Alfred was the reason Jackie had put his pool in, impressing the guy and providing me, Jay, and my cousins with some side work. “Are you trying to tell me to put in a pool?”

“Eh. Wouldn’t work unless you filled it with beer.”

“There’s an idea.”

“Seriously, though. Same thing. He’s mad at you for trying to help him? I don’t get that, but it means you can’t give him any assistance with anything.”

“Like that’s going to happen. Huh, more likely to fill a pool with beer, dude, than stop helping.”

“Right. But if you’re not careful, you’ll push him away.”

“He’s already pushing himself away.”