Page 115 of Already Callin’ You Mine

“You mean ForU?”

I crinkle my brow in confusion. I hope he means ForU, the social media video app, and not actually U2. That’s a band. Hell, for all I know they have an app too, but I’m not directing anyone to it if so.

“Yeah, that. And I commented on a bunch of videos. That girlie moonshine company is at it again, so this time, I let them have it.”

Errrr…what?

“What do you mean by have it?” I ask, stepping away from Jace.

My heart rate spikes, panic wiggling its way into my veins. This isn’t good. I can already tell. Like I said, Brandt is a nice guy. Kind, thoughtful, laid-back, salt of the earth kind of dude. His priorities are his friends, family, and his brewery. And not always in that order. Social media is not his thing. We established that early on.

Reaching into his pocket, Brandt pulls out his phone, tapping the screen a few times, then turning it to show me. A video plays on the screen with fast moving clips of people at the holiday parties, everyone appearing happy and festive. Then the text appears.

Don’t let your holiday turn into a sob story.

Oh, shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

I have no idea if this was a targeted slogan or not. Whoever runs Wink & Shine’s social media account and I shared some friendly fire back and forth after the Party Mode slogan, which gained us both some traction online. And at least for Southern Brothers, that translated to sales. I assume it did for Wink & Shine as well. So it’s totally possible they thought that maybe we could duplicate that for the holidays.

Something I would be down for. I’m here for it. But…it needs to be organic. It needs to be lighthearted. It needs to be all in the name of fun and product endorsement.

It should not ever come from a place of letting someone “have it.”

I swallow hard, clicking on the comments section, more than a little afraid of what I’m going to find. Sure enough, right there at the top is the most liked and most responded to comment.

Brandt’s.

At least our name doesn’t sound like a stripper’s act.

Oh, shit…

And just in case there was any confusion, he set his username to SouthernBrothersBrandt. So…there’s that.

Fuuuuuuck…

“Brandt, no. You can’t do this,” I say, shaking my head.

“What? It’s funny.”

I close my eyes, sucking in a hard, deep breath. Because boy humor. Yes, on some levels it’s funny. And if we were standing around joking with the creators of Wink & Shine and said this out loud, we’d probably all laugh. But to put it in writing, on social media, for the world to see…not so much.

It comes off rude. Catty. And frankly, kind of mean. Like a jealous, fourth-grade put-down. And does not leave Southern Brothers in a good light.

“You can’t just attack other brands like this.”

“You did.” He shrugs, like this is no big deal.

“No, what I did was very different. It was playful. It was banter. This…this is…” I don’t even have the words to tell him. How did we get here?

“Borderline slander,” Jace offers.

“Libel,” Margeaux offers, peering over my shoulder. I have no idea when she joined us, but I’m too focused on the matter at hand to be startled. “Technically, it’s written, so it’s libel, rather than slander. But either way, potential grounds for a defamation suit.”

She’s joking. She has to be fucking joking.

“It’s a joke,” Brandt says again.