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ChapterSeven
GEMMA
Iwalked into the brewery but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw three bartenders. Felix, Asher, and a blonde girl I’d never met before were behind the bar, taking care of customers. That didn’t seem right. I was supposed to be on tonight. Declan mentioned getting more wait staff this summer, so maybe the unknown blonde was just shadowing the guys.
I walked over to the bar and put on my apron when Felix glanced at me in confusion. “What?” I snapped at him.
Yeah… I might still be mad that he cut and ran after we had sex. I might have been an extra bitch to him because of it. I’d admit, it was immature of me, but I was hurt. I knew it had been a one-night stand, but I didn’t know he would leave without saying goodbye. That made me feel like garbage. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since he had already shown his true colors, but I fell for his charm and the way he made me feel when his lips were on mine.
I tried to move on and forget about the night we spent together. But I was still struggling with all the dating apps. I’d gotten ghosted a couple times since that night, and I had another date bail. Safe to say, I was still convinced Felix cursed me. I had been charging my crystals more than ever, trying to put out my positive energy into the universe, but it wasn’t working.
Anytime I saw Felix, rage bubbled up inside me. I wasn’t myself around him. I held in all that negative energy and expelled it onto him. It wasn’t good, but he made me so mad, I couldn’t help myself.
Felix still had his pierced eyebrow raised at me. “You’re not on the schedule.”
I stared at him, unblinking as his words settled on me. That couldn’t be right.
“What?”
“You’re not supposed to work tonight.”
He had to be mistaken. I always worked Wednesday nights, and the weekends, too. Declan always gave me the good shifts.
I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed.
Declan.
Of course.
He really wanted me to be the marketing director. He was doing this to punish me.
I walked past the bar toward Declan’s office in the back. His office door was closed, but my eyes narrowed as I stared at the printout of the schedule hanging up on the wall outside. I wasn’t on the schedule tonight, or tomorrow, or at all this weekend. That had to be a mistake. It just had to be. I glanced down to next week, and I had no shifts on the schedule either. Zero. That wasn’t right.
I swung open the door and stormed into the office. Declan sat behind his computer typing away, and he barely looked up at the commotion I made.
“You’re not on the schedule,” he said, never once taking his eyes off his screen.
“No, I’m not. What the fuck?”
He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. I took it but bounced my knees up and down to keep myself from exploding. Declan steepled his hands over his clean-shaven face. “I want you to take the marketing director position.”
I leaned my head back and groaned.
“Come on, Gemma.”
“Why are you pushing this? I already said no.”
He gave me a hard look and started counting off on his hand. “One, I can pay you more. Two, you’re good at this shit. And three, I’m the boss, so if I want to promote you, I’m gonna do it.”
“So you’re punishing me by not giving me hours?”
He sighed. “I’m still gonna pay you. I know you work twenty-four seven on the social channels. And you manage Felix with getting the art done in time. That’s not your job as a bartender. I don’t ask that of Wyatt, or Claudia, or even Asher. I only trust you.”
“But I don’t want this.”
He ran a hand through his short-cropped brown hair. “Gem, stop being a pain in my ass. You have so many great ideas—the collaboration with the tattoo shop and selling beer at the tree lighting ceremony. You planned Avery and Nolan’s wedding up in the loft and then helped us rent that space for events. This is what you should be doing.”
Planning Avery and Nolan’s quickie Christmas wedding had been fun. I got to decorate the loft upstairs like a Christmas winter wonderland. I even made a Christmas-style flower crown for Avery to wear instead of a veil. I surprised them both by having the staff set up brunch before they went on their honeymoon. It had been stressful, but I had a lot of fun doing it.
