AllFreeNovel
Share Us
by J. Margot Critch
CHAPTER ONE
THEMUSICPUMPEDthroughout the nightclub, bouncing off the walls and hitting Quin Rexford, as he felt every thump of the bass beat in his chest. He’d been looking forward to the night out with his friends—the opportunity to have some drinks, meet some women, drop some cash in the VIP sections of his favorite clubs. It looked as though his friends were having a great time—chatting up women, downing shots and fist-pumping to house music—but Quin just wasn’t feeling it.
His friend Luis sat down heavily on the VIP couch next to Quin, winded from dancing. Quin had spied him earlier with two women next to the DJ booth. “It’s been way too long since we’ve done this, man,” Luis said, holding out his closed fist.
Quin smiled and bumped his own fist against his friend’s. “Yeah, really,” he replied without much enthusiasm.
Luis recognized something was wrong. “You okay, man?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just beat. Work’s been kind of rough lately.”
“You work too hard,” Luis laughed.
Quin laughed, too, but he looked away and rolled his eyes. Luis was his best friend, but the man had come from money. He’d never worked a day in his life and had no idea about the necessity of working hard to stay afloat. Not that he and his siblings, Reid and Gemma, were in any danger of drowning. Together, the three of them ran Rexford Rum Distillery, the business that had been in their family for generations. Through hard work and determination, and a bit of luck, over the past several years, they’d managed to make Rexford Rum one of the most popular rum brands in the country.
But staying on top was another matter altogether. His brother Reid, the eldest sibling, handled the financial end of the business and his younger sister, Gemma, was the master distiller and—despite her age—one of the best in the country. And that left Quin. He was more of the marketing/PR guy. But he knew that Reid considered that to be just a fancy term for the guy who hosted parties at clubs and talked to athletes and celebrities.
“You guys are in the big leagues now,” Luis said. “Hire an assistant to help with the workload.”
“I already have an assistant,” Quin told him. “But all of these extra hours are to fix a major mistake that I made. It’s up to me to straighten it out.”
“Is everything okay?”
“It will be.” Quin knew he wasn’t going to get away without telling his friend the whole shameful story. “A couple of months ago, we had a big deal lined up. It would have been huge, too—international distribution. Everything was on track. But I blew it.”
“What happened?”
He laughed to himself, not because the situation was funny, but because it was so goddamn embarrassed. “I had sex with the CEO’s wife.”
Luis laughed. “What? Why would you do that?”
“She and her husband were in town. I met her at a function. She didn’t tell me she was married. Let alone to our distributor.” Quin had decided to ignore the indent around the bottom of her ring finger on her left hand where a wedding band would have sat. He’d reasoned that maybe she was divorced, but he never asked, and hadn’t been told. He knew it had been shady, but at the time he hadn’t cared.
“Oh, God.”
“Just wait. There’s more.”
“Of course, there’s more.”
“We were caught by her husband coming out of the women’s room at the very function where we were announcing the distribution deal.”
He could tell Luis was stifling his own shocked laugh. “Oh, man. And the deal was off?”
“Was it ever. Luckily, no one else at the party, or any of the press, caught wind of it, and I managed to avoid being punched in the face, but it was bad. I Gemma was pissed, but it was a good week or so before Reid would speak to me.” He would have gladly taken their anger, but it was that he’d disappointed them—that was the real punch to the gut for him. “That’s why I’ve been pulling these crazy hours lately. I’m trying to make it right. I’ve got something else in the works, but it hasn’t been easy.”
“Putting in extra work by going to parties and hanging out with celebrities? I saw your picture in some of those society-who’s-who-in-Miami-type blogs.”
Quin had attended a few parties lately. Trying to win over his potential client had required his attendance at them. “That sounds like something Reid would say. He doesn’t take me seriously,” he revealed.
“Nah,” Luis said. “You work just as hard as the rest of them.”
“‘Going to parties and hanging out with celebrities’?” he asked. “That’s what you just said.” Quin frowned. Up until recently, his job in marketing for Rexford Rum had been one big party—late nights, schmoozing with celebrities, nightclubs, bottle service, models. But lately he was trying something new. Since he’d almost ruined the business, he was striving to atone, and he had another big deal in the works, but he had to work hard for it.
Luis shrugged. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone plays their part. Even I can see that. Sure, you treat your job like a party—everyone wishes they could have as much fun at work as you do. But we haven’t seen you at all lately. I was starting to worry. Tell me, though, what’s keeping you so busy? Can you share who has you out putting in overtime?”
“I’ve been working finalizing a pretty big deal with Seacoast Prestige, and it’s taking many more late nights and long hours than I’d anticipated.”
