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I looked into Austin’s eyes, considered telling him the whole truth, and then realized I didn’t want to.
“I dated his brother for a while before I moved to New York.”
He narrowed his eyes and considered that. “Ask to be removed from his account. Let someone else handle the brewery campaign. I don’t want you around him.”
“Excuse me?” I scoffed. Austin liked to be in control of everything, but that was beyond the pale.
“I don’t want you to have to spend time with him. Not after the way he behaved at the restaurant. Tell them to reassign you.”
I was suddenly so angry, I almost couldn’t speak. There were so many things I wanted to say that I didn’t know where to start.
“I told you how this campaign was my shot at a big promotion the day they assigned it to me,” I said in disbelief that he’d ask me—no,tellme— to give it up just like that.
“I know. There’ll be other chances at a promotion.” He turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders, then tried to smile. “It’s just for the best, Lana. I don’t want you around someone like him. Why don’t you send your boss a message right now? Then we can put this behind us and enjoy the rest of the evening.”
I pulled away from him and stood, pointing at the door. “Get out.”
He chuckled. “Don’t be so dramatic, Lana.”
“I said leave, Austin. I don’t know who the hell you think you are that you can justtellme what to do, but I’ve had enough of it for one day. Go home.”
I turned and walked away as if I fully expected him to go. I essentially dismissed him. I was more than done with his asshole behavior.
He did walk toward the door, but he stopped before he opened it.
“I don’t want you around him, Lana. Call me when you’ve come to your senses and been reassigned.”
I gasped. He left and closed the door before what I was thinking turned into the words I wanted to say.Fuck off.
26
DYLAN
“Fucking Austin.”I slammed my clipboard down and sat, hoping I was nicer to the last two suppliers I’d talked to than I felt like I had been. “That fucking bastard.”
Brent stopped checking boxes on his never-ending list of to-dos, and looked up from his own clipboard
I’d been a bear since we saw Austin and Lana in the restaurant a couple of days earlier. After we’d left, Brent had wisely not said a word about it, and had mostly walked softly around me since.
I couldn't believe it when I saw that Lana was dating Austin.
Of all people. That dipshit was the reason I lost the bar in my divorce settlement. He pulled every dirty trick in the book to make sure I got screwed over.
And now he was dating Lana?
Brent laced his fingers together behind his head and stretched.
“Okay, I’m settling in to hear a story, because there’s a lot more to this thanfucking Austin. I’d like to know about it so I don’t get caught in some cross-fire anger down the road because I say or do the wrong thing.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I said, but there wasn’t much heat behind it.
“You’ve seen Austin around town for years and have never as much as given him a stink-eye. Well, maybe a few times, early on. But at the restaurant, I thought you were going to pick him up and body slam him or something. What was that about?” His eyebrows shot up. “And don’t tell me stress or that you were in a bad mood. I know you better than that. You don’t get your feathers ruffled that easily.”
“Hey, I can be an asshole when I’m stressed and in a shitty mood.”
“You can. But you almost never do it in public, and not because of a little nobody from your past like Austin.”
When I didn’t say anything right away, Brent asked, “It’s Lana, isn’t it?”
